News from Visitation Province
JPIC (Justice Peace and Integrity of Creation) Core Committee Meeting (ZOOM) was held Monday, May 30.
Members made plans to interview applicants for the coordinator’s position. Interviews will be held during the first week of June.
35 people registered to take part in discussions on Listening to Indigenous Voices. Invitations to discussion facilitators will be forthcoming and those who accept will meet in early June. All persons who registered have been contacted and invited to gather later in June. We hope by organizing now we will be ready to begin the study in September.
We continue to work towards being designated a Blue Community. A Zoom meeting will be offered to Sisters and Associates in our Province, with Paul Barnes and Sister Agnes Karges, CSJ, sharing information on becoming a Blue Community.
Eleanor McCloskey, CND, for JPIC Core Committe
"Always Visitation" was the theme chosen by Associate Patricia MacNeil and Sister Nina Glinski for their facilitation of the Ottawa Visitation gathering of sisters and associates on a lovely Sunday afternoon on Patricia's outdoor deck. The weather was comforting after the ‘derecho’, last weekend, a long-lived, fast-moving thunderstorm that caused widespread damage. This was our long awaited first in-person gathering since before COVID. We shared conversation, faith, prayer, renewal of vows and commitments topped off by a delicious potluck meal. We felt accompanied by Marguerite, Congregation de Notre-Dame ancestors, and “the One Source who unites us into one single family.”
Nina Glinski, CND, and Kathy Kelly, Associate
On Sunday, May 29th, Sisters and Associates celebrated Eucharist including renewal of vows and promises in Bon-Secours Chapel in Old Montreal
Carmen and Miguel met Peg and Carl for the first time. For a year and a half, Peg and Carl had accompanied them via Zoom as Carmen and Miquel prepared to make their promises last January. This visitation was filled with emotion and gratitude and all associates and sisters, in so many parts of Mother Earth, were in our prayer in this special place in Ville Marie. The joy of being with each other in person after two and a half years was palpable!
Maura McGrath, CND, with associates and sisters in Montreal
In June, we commemorate National Indigenous History Month. During this month, take time to recognize the rich history, heritage, resilience and diversity of First Nations, Inuit and Métis Peoples across Canada.
Kathy Kelly, Associate
World Environment Day is June 5
Theme is “Only one Earth” In the universe are billions of galaxies, In our galaxy are billions of planets, But there is #OnlyOneEarth. Let’s take care of it.
Kathy Kelly, Associate
The Feast of the Visitation was celebrated at the CND Health Center in Sydney, with a prayer service, song and sharing stories. We were also fortunate to celebrate the 75th Jubilee of Sr. Margaret Mac Donell. She was presented with gifts and beautiful tributes. We were pleased to have Sr. Catherine Walker, Sr. Anna Cordeau and Sr. Gerry Cordeau take part in our celebration. Following the celebration, we were treated with lobster dinners. It was a wonderful day for all.
Arlene Rutledge, Coordinator
Book Recommendation
“Into the Mess and Other Jesus Stories: Reflections on the Life of Christ” by Debie Thomas. He was a disrupter and a peacemaker, a rebel and a rabbi. His friends were the riffraff and his enemies the religious elite. He was a wounded man who healed the sick, the homeless man who fed the hungry, the convicted criminal who released the captives and the dead man who conquered the grave. The stories he told were scandalous and the stories he lived changed the world. To reflect on the Jesus of the Gospels is to reflect on paradox, mystery, wonder, and messiness. It is to find God in the shadows, the tensions, and the ambiguities of life on earth as it is. The Jesus that emerges here is not the sanitized Christ of piety and platitude, but the Christ of complicated joys and transcendent sorrows. This is the story of the Incarnate God who finds and loves us in the messiness of our lives.
Clara Nasello, CND
Webinar: INDIGENOUS PEOPLES AND THE CHURCH
Walking Together Toward Healing and Reconciliation
MONDAY, JUNE 6TH – Register here.
7-9 pm Eastern / 6-8 pm Central / 5-7 pm Mountain / 4-6 pm Pacific
Sponsored by the Catholic Native Boarding School Accountability and Healing Project (AHP)in collaboration with the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, CCCB.ca
All are invited to participate in a special two-hour conversation with Archbishop Donald Bolen of Regina, Saskatchewan, and three members of Canada’s Indigenous Delegation: Joanna Landry (First Nations), Gary Gagnon (Métis), and William Angalik (Inuit). These delegates will share what they experienced in their meetings with Pope Francis while at the Vatican, March 28th – April 1st. Our facilitator will be Maka Black Elk, Executive Director for Truth and Healing at Red Cloud Indian School in Pine Ridge, SD.
Maura McGrath, CND