Saturday, June 30, 2012

Spring Meeting of ARCAN Committee

Committee Engages in Strategic Planning Process


ARCAN Committee Members
Seated:  Phyllis Gallant, cnd; Liz Murnaghan, A-csm;
Claudette Gallant, csm
Standing: Margie Gillis, sc; Frances Johnston, csm;
Winnie Odo, A-cnd; Carmelita Pittman, A-pbvm; Peggy Gorman, A-rscj;
Peg Madigan, A-cnd; Cora Shebib, A-sc
Missing:  Maureen O'Keefe, rsm; Regina Shapter, A-rsm;
Ruth O'Reilly, pbvm

The bulk of the May meeting was dedicated to the development of a strategic plan.  

It was acknowledged that while the Committee spent their meeting time deliberating about these questions, it would be equally important to ask these questions of the general membership of ARCAN.
  • What do members of the Network need?
  • What are the critical issues facing the Network?
  • What are its strengths?
  • What threats might face the Network?
So we invite you to consider these questions !  You may choose to respond as an individual or you may wish to confer with other associates or sisters.   Send your thoughts and opinions.   You can comment at the end of this article or email your response to arcantheleadingedge@gmail.com  

The Committee will continue with its planning process at its next meeting in October.

"Network" is the language of our time


Reflections on 10 years of ARCAN

by:  Margie Gillis, sc


ARCAN owes some measure of gratitude to its founders, Sister Alma MacLellan, cnd and Associate Peg Madigan, cnd.     Ten years ago when they came up with this idea it was new, it was a risk.   As with most things of this sort one usually doesn’t realize it’s significance, its future value, until much later.

But look how things have changed in a mere ten years.   We knew congregations would diminish in size and influence over time.   For this we’ve been somewhat prepared.   But I don’t think we realized how quickly the church would change……...some would say “disintegrate”.    

In this historic time of fast-paced and wide spread change and disintegration there is increasing need to develop new ways, new structures, to fill the gap created by crumbling old structures.

That brings me to ARCAN.  On the grand scale of things it is a rather small and unexceptional organization.   But it is not insignificant.  I have a different appreciation of its stature after reading a most interesting book entitled Network Logic: Who Governs In An Interconnected World?  (edited by Helen McCarthy, Paul Miller and Paul Skidmore, published online by Demos.  See www.demos.co.uk/files/networklogic.pdf?1240939425).     

It’s rather interesting, perhaps even prophetic, that the original committee members chose the word “network” to describe this new Atlantic wide accumulation of sisters and their associates.   Alma and Peg, of the Congregation of Notre Dame, knew other congregations had similar efforts and they instinctively felt the need to gather everyone together in some way to learn and connect – to network.   Based on Network Logic’s logic, perhaps the choice to establish the ARCAN “network” was quite futuristic.

One of the contributors to Network Logic, sociologist Manuel Castells, says that the proliferation of computerization and the recent explosion of information and communication technologies has us paying more attention to the nature of networks.   “We live in a network society, he says, not an information society or a knowledge society.”

Networks are clearly having a huge impact on the way we live.  Social media networks such as Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, have changed the way we organize, meet, and the speed in which we congregate (Occupy, Arab Spring, Quebec Student Movement).   Network Logic points out that, unlike traditional institutions, networks have no obvious leader, no clear structure, no definitive org chart; networks self-organize, morph and change.  

Castells further makes the case that, in the modern world with exploding communication technology, networks have new and important power and significance.  "Power does not reside in institutions, not even the state or large corporations".  He says, "It is located in the networks that structure our society.”  My!  How times have changed !    

There is a recognizable shift in our world.  New social, political and religious landscapes are emerging.  The associate movement and, in Atlantic Canada, the ARCAN Network, is a part of this shift.    In the face of declining traditional institutions people want to come together in some new ways to explore, talk, deliberate and act.   Where once there were boundaries and walls (between religious congregations, between denominations, between sacred and secular) today there are doorways and bridges.

On two occasions over the past 10 years ARCAN has convened its general membership to talk about "the network".    The first was 2007 and the second conference took place last year, 2011.   The energy grows.   And the ARCAN Committee grows increasingly enthusiastic about its potential. 

Network is the language of our time.  Network is the structure of our time.  Thanks Alma & Peg !






Charism: A Diamond With Many Facets

Note:  Anne Walsh will be the guest presenter at our  2014 conference.  She is an associate of the Redemptorist community in St. John's Newfoundland.  Anne is currently the Director of Adult Faith Formation in the Archdiocese of St. John's.


by:  Anne Walsh


As I write these reflections, I am sitting in my sixth-floor apartment, looking out over the city of St. John’s as evening descends and falls. A few moments ago, the rays of the setting sun caught on a multi-faceted crystal in my window, one of a number of sun-catchers that I have collected over the years. For long minutes the light hung on first one facet and then another, moving and dancing on my floor and walls. I was fascinated. “That’s exactly the image that wish to convey in my writing!” I thought in grateful amazement. “Charism-- One diamond with innumerable facets.” Let’s think about that for a moment. 

How many charisms are there? That’s a trick question. We usually think of many charisms, carried and borne forth into the world by many religious communities. Each community is characterized by a unique “spirit.” For example, Sisters of Mercy speak about their charism as one of joyful service of the poor, the suffering, and the uneducated. Redemptorists speak of their charism as that of evangelizing the poor and being evangelized by the poor. These “charisms” are obviously related, though distinctively nuanced or coloured.

Let’s take a step backward. I have come to believe that there is but one charism, one Spirit. That charism is the spirit of Jesus Christ. The charism is Love, life-giving, life-enhancing, life-altering, death-transcending Love. There are many facets of that Love, and it is these facets that we are usually referring to when we speak of “charism.”

Love is like a diamond. It has as many facets as there are people, for love is always unique and new, always dancing in the mystery that is “you” and “me,” always shaped by our shared history, or by a movement of the heart-- compassion, gratitude, grief, contrition…

Given this reality, human beings share common interests and motivations. People group together for all kinds of reasons. Various people, over history, have come together around common interests, responding to a shared sense of need. Over time, people have heard the cries of the poor, the uneducated, the dying, the disenfranchised, the fearful, and have identified in their common sense of call a shared spirit, a shared sense of purpose. Evangelical “families” have been formed, each facets of the One Diamond. Once, those families encompassed professed religious. Sometimes there were priests and brothers in one evangelical family. Sometimes there were choir sisters and lay sisters. Sometimes there were a number of institutes which shared a common heritage or founder. Today, we witness the flowering of other forms of expression of charism. Many religious communities have begun to walk with “Associates,” “partners in mission,” “lay missionaries,” etc.

One image for the dynamic relationship shared by vowed religious and associates is the image of a family. These two, professed and associates, are really two elements that, together, constitute an “evangelical family.” Laurent Boisvert, in a short book that changed my life, describes these as “a community of belonging.” He writes:

                        The evangelical family constitutes a community of belonging,
                        not in the sense of a life under the same roof, but in that of
                        interdependent proximity which is rooted in the welcoming and
                        implementation of a particular aspect of the Gospel, of a certain
                        face of Jesus Christ... What drives the different ways of living
                        the privileged evangelical aspect is to witness, to participate
                        in the same mission.[1]


So, the community of belonging does not live all together under one roof, but we may nevertheless be united under the “roof” of a particular manifestation of the Holy Spirit, as it has been lived out by a particular religious community. I’ve been playing with Boisvert’s ideas, and his four characteristic dimensions of “charism,” and dhere’s what I have come up with, a few ideas to share with you.

1. Together, the members of an “evangelical family” look at the world and people through a shared lens. All share a common set of “glasses.” We see the Gospel from one particular aspect. When Redemptorists look at Jesus in the Gospels, we look for his interaction with the poor, the disenfranchised, with a particular eye to how they are changed in the encounter with the poor. For Redemptorists, evangelization is a two-way street.
·      In the case of the evangelical family to which you have been called, what would this lens be?
·      How does your “family” perceive or interpret the Gospel?
           
2. Together, in related but different ways depending on the concrete situations of our lives, the members of the evangelical family live the Gospel from this aspect. We look at people and needs and the world a little differently, and this makes a difference to how we live, the choices and commitments we make, the volunteer opportunities we choose, the partners we choose, the cause to which we give ourselves.
·      In the case of your evangelical “family,” what is distinctive about the way the members choose to live?
·      How do associates share this way of living?
           
3. Together, we experience a common sense of Mission. We bear witness to the life-changing power of the Gospel in a manner that flows directly from our gifts, talents, our way of seeing the world, our way of reading the Gospel. I started out life as a teacher, but from the start, I fell in love with the poor. They “ruined” me, as St. Paul might say, and forever after I oriented by life choices toward proclaiming Good News among the poor, whether that meant the materially poor or those rendered poor because of their age, or where they lived, or their lack of options or education. When I met the Redemptorists, with whom I felt so “at home,” I recognized that others saw things more or less the way I did. It was freeing.
·      How does the your “family” witness to the Gospel?
·      What is distinctive and life-giving about this? … for professed members? … for associates? … for those with and among whom you live and minister?

4. Together, the members of the evangelical family are Fruitful. Our common witness and work makes the world a better place, one life at a time. We build up and nurture the Reign of God through our common call, way of looking at the world and witness.
·      Do you see the development and flowering of the Professed-Associate relationship as “new life” for the community? … for the Church? … for the world?
·      How is the Professed-Associate relationship bearing fruit? What fruit do you discern is being borne?

One diamond, many facets. It is our privilege, yours and mine, to live in this exciting time, in which such possibilities are open to us. This is a time of rebirth and revitalization. God grant that we will have the courage and the perseverance to grasp the opportunity presented to us. God grant us willing hands and grateful, generous spirits to undertake the foundational work that lies before us. God grant us friends and humour to lighten the loads. God grant us days of sunshine on which we can observe and wonder at the Light that shines in and through us and our companions.



[1] Laurent Boisvert. Charism: An Evangelical Visage to Incarnate and Manifest (Québec: Éditiones Franciscaines, 1994), p. 44

New Challenges and Ventures in Mabou


The Congregation of Notre Dame Sisters invited and challenged a CND Associate couple to both reside and to work at their Renewal Centre in Mabou, Nova Scotia.
St. Joseph's Renewal Centre, Mabou, Nova Scotia
Carl & Peg Madigan began their new ministry at St. Joseph Renewal Centre one year ago.  The downsizing and selling of their home in Truro were a challenge but the many graces that have come into play were far greater.
Having the opportunity to live in community with the Sisters has been most rewarding, although they do have a small bungalow on site to retire to at the end of the day.

They are part of a team of four managing the Centre and working closely together with the goal to maintain and expand the usage of this beautiful facility.
Several new programs and services were offered last fall:  Catholicism 201, Discovering Christ, Advent and Lenten series, Marriage Preparation, ongoing Retreat Planning, Spiritual Direction and Prayer Companioning are also now being offered.
Visit their website:   http://www.stjosephrenewalcentre.com
Peg & Carl invite you to drop a line or visit the Centre to book a retreat time.  They would be happy to see you & give you a tour.
Carl & Peg Madigan
St.josrctr@ns.sympatico.ca
(902) 945-2392