News from Visitation Province (Canada)
Marguerite Bourgeoys 400th Anniversary Retreat
Sixteen sisters and associates responded to Sisters Jo, Sheila and Maura’s invitation to pray the 400th Retreat together. We gathered on four Monday mornings and shared our personal reflections on the wonderful and inspiring material: In the Garden of Our Common Home with Marguerite. During our last gathering this past Monday, we were asked for a word that has evoked within us during our shared retreat experience. The word cloud is a collection of what surfaced and a glimpse into the richness of the group. May Marguerite continue to inspire, guide and unite us during this year of uncertainty!
Andrews of Charlottetown Congregation de Notre-Dame Internationality Celebration
Together we met in our Community room which was beautifully decorated for a special prayer prepared by a group of our Sisters from Central America and chaired by Sister Anne Gillis. Four spaces were prepared to symbolize the journey: the space of origin, the space of renunciation, the space of path and the space of horizon and these were represented by symbols along the way. Flags of the different countries where our Sisters have been were also placed and special readings were read and pilgrimage songs were sung. It was very meaningful for us as we prayed together and knew that we were on holy ground.
Eileen Doiron, CND
Interculturality – November 15th
What does it mean to belong? How do we know when we’ve experienced belonging? These are samples of the short snappers that invited us to gutsy answers as we joined in a ZOOM with sisters and associates last Sunday. Blessed Sacrament Sustainability Committee organized the session attended by forty-four participants. The topic for our reflection and sharing was Interculturality. Anna Rowley, assisted by Karen Volpe, Carole Lombardo, Catherine Holmquist and Regina Smith, guided us through music, PowerPoint, prayer and private moments. We had two opportunities to move into chat rooms (groups of 4) and meet new people as we shared our answers. After the Gospel story of the Good Samaritan, the questions were: Who is your neighbor? What boundaries do you place on whom you welcome as your neighbor?
Among my takeaways, I learned that living interculturally; that is, living with persons from differing cultures and respecting the differences is not quite the same as living interculturality, which includes efforts to intentionally make a home for each other.
Eleanor McCloskey, CND