A Piece of My Heart Remains in Nova Scotia

Note:  Conni Dubick, President of NACAR, attended the ARCAN Conference June 6-7 in Halifax and spoke to conference attendees.  Enroute to her home in Ohio she penned this letter and asked that it be shared with all the conference participants.  

_________________________________

Conni Dubick, OPA,
President, North American Conference of Associates
and Religious (NACAR)

Dear ARCAN Friends,

As I sit in the Halifax airport, I am tying to absorb into my soul the hospitality and visitation that was palpable in my visit to Mount Saint Vincent University and an ARCAN conference.  I am contemplating the Spirit-filled insightful words shared by many and my broadened understanding of the charism in my Gospel Family.  Then, add to that my experience of the amazing granite sculptures by both mother nature and artist William deGarthe at Peggy’s Cove, the sound of Atlantic waves and the lone bagpiper.  It was, to use Ilia Delio’s words, an enormous experience of “God’s unimaginable, unruly, creative, spontaneous and unfolding love”.   The welcoming embrace of Peg and Carl (Madigan), the ARCAN membership and guests and our Anne, the Redemptorist, touched my heart.

As a result, the first announcement I will be making at our NACAR Board conference call this week will be to sing ARCAN praises!  Your regional network of Associates and Religious for the Canadian provinces is a model of regional development.  And with your example and participation in NACAR, you will offer energy to our collaborative efforts in North America.  

So I have a request that you go to www.nacar.org to check out the NACAR website.  The upcoming June issue of THE ASSOCIATE is our latest effort to use our online magazine to both inform and invite the participation of our members.  This June issue describes congregational “corporate stances” as yet another way that Sisters and Associates are speaking out on today’s justice issues.  NACAR would like to hear from you with information on your congregation’s corporate stances to inform our readers as well as any other Associates news and events.

Please check out the website, consider a congregational and/or individual membership.  Because remember the words of Judi, Jane, Ilia and Jesus challenging ARCAN and NACAR to see the power of unity, urgency and imagination!

Blessings for peace,   

Conni Dubick, Dominican Associate of Peace, 

President of NACAR 

and, new best friend of ARCAN

ARCAN Conference Breaks New Ground

Delegates send strong message to committee to forge ahead

ARCAN conference delegates celebrate closing ritual.

Over one hundred enthusiastic delegates attended the ARCAN conference this weekend at Mount Saint Vincent University.   They expressed wholehearted appreciation for the event noting it was a resounding success.

Guest presenter Anne Walsh led the participants in story, song and reflection for the day and a half gathering.   Her insightful presentations captured the imagination of the assembly and united sisters and associates in a common thrust for the future.

At the Saturday morning business meeting there was strong support urging the organizing committee to continue to move forward in the development of the Atlantic network of sisters and associates.

Peggy Gorman, A-rscj and Claire Pottie, A-sc

The conference concluded late Saturday afternoon.

More Books of Interest !

Note:  The following listing of books was compiled by Peggy Gorman of the ARCAN Committee. The intent was to copy this list and insert in conference folders.   However in the interest of "conserving paper" it was decided to publish this list online.  Happy reading !

Women, Spirituality and Transformative Leadership: where grace meets power

Edited by Kathy Schaef, Kay Kindall, Kathleen S. Hurtz, PHD Reverend Guo Chien

Skylight Paths Publishing 2012

ISBN 978-1-59473-313-0

This book showcases women’s spiritual leadership and its patterns of transformation.

Remembering the Women

Women's Stories from Scripture for Sundays and Festivals

Compiled by J. Frank Henderson, forward by Marjorie Proctor- Smith 

Essays by Jean Campbell OSH, Ruth Fox OSB, Eileen Schuller OSU

Liturgy Training Publication 1998

ISBN 1-56954-174-0

More than 250 Scripture passages from the old and new testaments, witness to women’s presence in the bible. These women are prophets, queens, warriors, slaves, prostitutes, virgins and heroes.

Praying with Visionary Women

By Bridget Mary Meehan SFCC, art by Doris Klein CSA

Bowman and Littlefield Publisher, Inc. 1999

ISBN 1-58051-063-9

This book summons us to pray with 20 great women of faith through the ages Hildegard of Bingen to Dorothy Day. These women will change your life and enrich your spiritual journey with new possibilities of self- discovery, wisdom, creativity and friendship.

Field of Compassion: How the New Cosmology is Transforming Spiritual Life

By Judy Cannato

Sorin Books 2010

ISBN 10-1-933495-21-9

This book examines the interconnectedness of the physical and spiritual worlds.

Radical Amazement

By Judy Cannato

Sorin Books 2006

Twentieth century science completely rewrote the story of our universe. Now this thoughtful, practical guide reveals the harmony of science and spirituality and invites us to explore the connectedness of all of creation.

Jesus in the New Universe Story

By Cletus Wessels

Orbis Books 2013

ISBN 1-57075-465-9

This book is about how to understand the meaning of Jesus Christ in the context of what modern cosmology tells us about the nature of the universe.

The Holy Longing:  the search for a christian spirituality

By Ron Rolheiser

Doubleday 1998

ISBN 0-985-49418-1

Rolheiser grounds his vision of spirituality in hard real life experiences and tells tough truths. In the end it is the hard truths of compassion, forgiveness and action in the world that give us a true and lasting hope.

Biblical Foundations of Spirituality: Touching a Finger to the Flame

By Barbara Bowe rscj

Rowman and Littlefield Publishers Inc. 2003

The author invites the reader to “touch a finger to the flame” of the sacred text of the Bible by offering guidance on what to read, how to read and why to read the Bible as a source of spiritual nourishment. The author saya “our Spirituality is our lived relationship with the Other who is God”

Psalms for Praying

By Nan Merrill

Continuum Publisher 1996

ISBN 0-8264-1045-6

Merrill’s psalms evoke the deep sense of reverence and soul stirring dialogue with the Divine in a loving contemplative manner.

Becoming the Sign:  Sacramental Living in a Post Conciliar Church

By Kathleen Hughes rscj

Paulist Press  2012

ISBN 978-08091-4824-0

This book “is an attempt to open up the mystery of our sacramental life and its intimate relationship with the way we live our lives.”

Our One Great Act of Fidelity:  Waiting for Christ in the Eucharist

By Ron Rolheiser

Doubleday 2011

ISBN 978-0-307-88703-0

This book is a series of reflections on the Eucharist.

The Breath of the Soul: Reflections on Prayer

By Joan Chittister

Novalis 2009

This book helps us to prepare for and engage in prayer and to make prayer an authentic, real, deep, and profound part of our lives.

The Art of Life:  Monastic wisdom for everyday

By Joan Chittister

Novalis 2012

ISBN 978-2-89646-537-8

This is a book of daily reflections using great works of art for inspiration, and is full of wisdom, wit, encouragement and advice.

To Bless the Space Between Us: A work of blessings

By John O’ Donahue

Doubleday 2008

ISBN 978-0-385-52227-4

This book is a beautiful collection of blessings to help readers through both the everyday and extraordinary events of their lives.

The Invisible Embrace  Beauty: Rediscovering the true source of Compassion, Serenity and Hope

By John O’ Donohue

Harper Collins 2005

ISBN 0-06-095726-3

John O’ Donohue opens our minds and hearts to our own relationship with beauty by exposing the infinity and mystery of its breadth.

The Naked Now:  Learning to See as the Mystics See

By Richard Rohr

Crossroad Publishing Company 2011

Rohr says “it is living in the naked now, the sacrament of the present moment that will teach us how to actually experience our experiences, whether good or bad and let them transform us.”

Quest for the Living God:  Mapping Frontiers in the Theology of God

By Elizabeth A. Johnson

The Continuum International Publishing Group 2007

ISBN 978-1-4411-7462-8

This book challenges us to glimpse the living God in fresh ways. This God, who dwells in unspeakable light and engages the world with merciful love bringing the mystery of that love ineffably closer.

Prayers to Sophia:  Deepening our relationship with Holy Wisdom

By Joyce Rupp

ISBN 13-978-1-893732-84

This is a deep evocative book of prayers to Divine Wisdom conscious, personal, and reminiscent of Rumi. Joyce Rupp helps open us to the Divine Feminine within us. 

Drawn into the Mystery of Jesus through the Gospel of John

By John Vanier

Paulist Press 2004

ISBN 0-8091-4296-1

John Vanier shares the music he has heard behind the words and flow of this Gospel. The song has warmed and stirred his heart, given hope, meaning and orientation to his life with all that is beautiful and broken with in him.

Can We Save the Catholic Church

By Hans Kung

William Collins 2013

ISBN 13-978-0007-522026

Hans Kung presents what Catholics have long been yearning for: modern responses to the challenges of a modern world.

New Seeds of Contemplation

By Thomas Merton

New Directions reprint 2007

ISBN 10-97808-112-17248

This book is a revised and expanded version of Merton’s earlier book and offers a guide to contemplative life. Merton describes contemplation as life itself: fully awake, fully active, fully aware. 

Seven Sacred Pauses:  Living mindfully through each day

By Macrina Wiederkehr

Ave Maria Press 2010

ISBN 10-1933-495243

This book invites us to live attuned to living in the present moment and to develop a kindred spirit with the rich tradition of the sacred hours. In this book Macrina uses scripture, poetry, reflection and personal stories.

Registration Now Open for 2014 ARCAN Conference.

Register Early!  Bring a friend!  Register Online!

The 2014 ARCAN conference is fast approaching.  The dates are June 6-7 and the location is Mount Saint Vincent University, Halifax, Nova Scotia.

To print your copy of the
brochure, click here.
https://www.dropbox.com/
s/k2nq5082uwkr2o6/ARCAN%
20Conference%202014.
Registration%20Form
%20%289%29%20copy.pdf

This conference and its theme "Called to Relationship - Widening the Embrace"  is shaping up to be an exciting, stimulating and must-attend event for associates, sisters, and others interested in this growing movement.

Anne Walsh, Redemptorist associate from Newfoundland, will break open this theme and provide plenty of grist for the conversation mill !   Her style as an intelligent and energetic speaker and facilitator is well known and we are thrilled she will be among us.

Anne Walsh, ARCAN conference
 presenter and facilitator.

The conference will begin at 7pm on Friday evening (June 6th) and end with a closing ritual on Saturday (June 7th) beginning at 4pm.   The event will take place at Rosaria Hall on the MSVU campus. 

Conference participants can book over night accommodations at MSVU but must book directly through Conference Services at MSVU.
Email:  reservations@msvu.ca
Web Form:  www.msvu.ca/stay 

The rate for a single dorm room with shared bath or an apartment share is $45.56 which includes taxes, parking and breakfast. 

Registration brochures are available and can be obtained by contacting:
Cora Shebib:  cora.shebib@gmail.com   (902-794-4679)
Winnie Odo:  twinnieodo@seaside.ns.ca   (902-862-2330)
Claudette Gallant,csm:  claudettebgallant@hotmail.com
Peggy Gorman:  pgorman@gmail.com
Also, you can contact any member of the ARCAN committee for conference information.

If you wish to register online, click the link below.  It's easy !

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1iklYAvw
1akS2v4V2TxqFcTYIE-ttbL8AMSzWC_
3APhU/viewform




To locate the conference site at Rosaria Student Centre at Mount Saint Vincent University visit:  http://www.msvu.ca/site/media/msvu/campusmap.pdf    (the Rosaria Student Centre is #21 on the map).

See you in June !

Presentation Associate Newsletter Celebrates Strength of Growing Movement

"A new moment of widening our tents" !

___________

Submitted by:  Carmelita Pittman & Ruth O'Reilly, pvbm

The Presentation Sisters of Newfoundland and Labrador recently published their second newsletter bursting with news of their growing associate movement. 

In it, Sister Sharon Fagan, Congregational Leader, writes:

As we come to the end of the year 2013 we look back with gratitude for the blessings we have shared.  In particular, we give thanks for the new associates who were welcomed from across the island during the Fall.   It is a new moment of widening our tents and deepening our relationships with one another for the sake of the whole earth community .

Twenty-five men and women were welcomed as Presentation associates this Fall with celebrations in St John's, Corner Brook and Grand Falls -Windsor.   

To view the complete newsletter, click on the link below
http://www.presentationsisters.ca/announcements/newsdec2013.pdf

RSCJ Associates Celebrate "Decade of Blessings"

Note:  The Society of the Sacred Heart (RSCJ) is an international congregation serving in 41 countries throughout the world.   There are over 2500 women worldwide.  In 2013 the sisters of the United States and Canada combined to form one North American province.  In Canada the RSCJ's live in Halifax, Ottawa, Montreal, and Prince George British Columbia.

Peggy Gorman is an associate of the Society of the Sacred Heart in Halifax and submitted this article commemorating their 10th anniversary as associates in Halifax.

________________________________

Submitted by:  Peggy Gorman, RSCJ Associate

Ten years ago, six women felt called to a relationship with the RSCJ's that would deepen our prayer life, allow us to live the richness of the charism of Cor Unum (one heart), and provide us with the opportunity to interact more fully with the Canadian RSCJ's.

L to R standing:  Donna Dolan,rscj; Peggy Gorman,
Colleen Quinn, Norma Heffernan,rscj;
Patricia Donnelly (Associate Candidate), Margaret Boyd.
Front:  Barb Martell, Pauline Scott, Susan Atkinson.
Missing:  Judy Sapp.

The intervening years have allowed us to fulfill our goals, to grow in numbers and to renew our commitment to make known the heart of Christ in our personal and professional lives. 

Today we celebrate the women we have become, the "yes" given wholeheartedly by the provincial team ten years ago, the RSCJ mentors that we have been privileged to journey with especially Mary Finlayson and Maureen Currie who encouraged us to study the constitutions, develop skills in preparing and leading prayer, and to attend to our inner life.  We give thanks for those RSCJ's who have followed them and are most thankful for the relationship we have with all of the Canadian RSCJ's.

We have also been enriched by the opportunity to attend and/or prepare assemblies, to develop our associate brochure which includes an innukshuk of words, to compose our commitment statement, to study the lives of the Mothers’ General, to meet with members of the provincial and international leadership and most importantly to pray with, break bread with and share our lives with our sisters.

Today we remember!
We celebrate!
We give thanks!
We look forward to what is to come! 

"Carving Tools" Needed for June Associate Conference in Halifax !

Ever wonder what religious life might look like in the future ?  Do you wonder if maybe we are on the cusp of a wildly exciting transformation into something very new ?  Would you like to be part of a conversation with many others from throughout the Atlantic provinces wondering the same thing ?  Then you won't want to miss this upcoming ARCAN conference, June 6-7, 2014, at Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax.

Anne Walsh (above) facilitated the Antigonish Diocesan
Congress in October 2013.

We really are carving a unique future !  A new dimension of religious lifestyle is waiting to emerge and we have the exciting privilege and responsibility to be part of its forming.  

Michelangelo said, "I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free."   That's a beautiful image for the newly shaping associate relationship. After several years, its form and fashion is showing strong identifying lines and characteristics as it emerges from the marble of traditional religious life. However, more chiseling and chipping needs to be done.  That's what we'll be doing on June 6-7, 2014, at Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax. 

The conference will feature the intellect, experience and wit of Anne Walsh, a Redemptorist Associate from Newfoundland, who will facilitate the conference proceedings (for bio see article posted November 30, 2013).  Anne's reputation as a praised speaker and facilitator is spreading and we are thrilled she will be with us.  She, undoubtedly, will present us with some carving tools and invite us to continue to chip away !