Little Design Goes Global - Part II of III

Welcome to the second conversation with Sisters Wendy Cotter and Rosemary O’Toole talking about Little Design Communities.

“Beams of Love” © Mary Southard, CSJ, www.marysouthardart.org [i]

Wendy:  How did your Medaille Online Course begin?  

Rosemary: Well, I believe it was the Spirit! The responses to the Médaille Correspondence Course suggested to me that it was time to share both the research and the reflections online to open up a global conversation. Rudy Camelin, the husband of one of our Little Designers, skillfully set us up with a secure Forum, and with his guidance, I easily handled the registrations and weekly administration.

For fifty-two weeks of the year 2008-2009, I posted a ten-page PDF Lesson based on some aspect of Father Médaille’s writings. Each week the participating students could share their comments and interact with each other. Beyond my expectations, the Médaille Online Course attracted 1,390 registered participants from twenty-six different countries. The Forum is still active today. You can register for free and access the Médaille Online Course[ii] from our Upper Room website.

Wendy: These numbers speak to the real hunger and thirst for ‘the more’ both among the Sisters and associates and so many others to study our spirituality.

Rosemary: Yes Wendy, I have to say it caught on like a wildfire! Active members spread the email link and encouraged others to try it. I heard that many Sisters printed out the pages and shared them with others who did not have computer access. For me, the most rewarding aspect of this online experience was reading the weekly sharing of hearts - sometimes thirty or forty responses posted. A global connection with our Médaillan spirituality happened. And they asked for more…

Wendy: So was it that response that led you to consider creating a website for Little Design Communities?

Rosemary:  Exactly! In 2012, we discerned it was time to create a Little Design Communities website. Since our Ottawa small communities had been exploring the way to live this more contemplative lifestyle for fifteen years, we felt sure that we could share our experience and resources with others who might be seeking a kind of community that could support and enhance their spiritual lives as they lived in their own homes.

The website shares the vision and history of Little Design Communities. To keep the global conversation going, I posted weekly commentaries on the forty-two paragraphs of The Eucharistic Letter and readers added comments. It is loaded with a YouTube video, free downloads, resources, and guidelines for how to start your own Little Design Community. We hope it will become the ‘go to’ place for all information about Little Design Communities[iii]. Check out the FAQ section.

Wendy: Rosemary, tell us about your invitation to the International Center in Le Puy, for sessions on the Little Design.

Rosemary: This was a huge surprise! One fall morning in 2012, I received a phone call from Sr. Valerie, who had just returned from a Board Meeting in Le Puy, inviting me to offer a session at the International Centre in Le Puy, France in June 2013. I knew in my heart I was being called to present on the theme: Little Design Communities Rebirthing: The Eucharistic Letter Revisited. Sr. Claudette, a staff member, and I shared animated Skype calls, and the readiness and warmth of welcome opened wide the door for me to share Little Design in the place of our origins. What a time and place for announcing its rebirthing!  

Wendy:  As you know, I was a participant in the second of the sessions you offered there at the Center. I think all of us felt the charism of the first Sisters as we reflected on The Eucharistic Letter with you Rosemary.    

Rosemary: I have to tell you, Wendy, this was possibly the first time I had spoken without timidity, beyond the walls of The Upper Room, about these Little Design communities. I felt empowered in the Spirit to proclaim such good news to anyone who would ask or listen. I was invited back in 2014 and 2015 to offer the same Little Design Communities Rebirthing ten-day experience. Over those three years, twenty Sisters, twenty-five women, and one man participated. The countries they went back to included: France, the USA, Canada, India, England, Wales, Italy, Brazil, Haiti, and Spain.

Wendy: It meant so much to all of us to include our trip to the Lyon Motherhouse, visit the archives and actually see the copy of The Eucharistic Letter. 

Pilgrims and Sisters in the Archives in Lyon with The Eucharistic Letter, June 2013

Rosemary: My heart leapt with joy! We saw with our own eyes, and read sections of the handwritten text written by one of our early sisters. The only copy ever found, seven and one-half pages in length are preserved here. It was time to bring it into the light of day after 360 years!  

Wendy: Rosemary, was it right after that when you brought the ten-day experience back here to Canada?

Rosemary: Yes Wendy, I consulted Sr. Veronica and she encouraged me to offer a similar ten-day experience at Galilee Centre in Arnprior, ON. The immersion of the Little Design way of life fits in our modern world experience. I invited Sr. Monica Hartnett, SSJ from London U.K. to co-host these days with me. Actually, we presented Little Design Communities Rebirthing at Galilee Centre three times,

in the summer of 2016, 2017 and 2018. And over those three summers, we guided twenty-nine participants – eleven Sisters, sixteen women and two men - through the program (Canada, USA, Mexico and England).

First Session at Galilee Centre, July 2016

Wendy: Well, Rosemary, in our third and last blog, I’m looking forward to hearing about how you see the future of these Little Design Communities!

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[i] Mary Southard, CSJ, LaGrange, Illinois, USA. Gratefully, Mary gave us permission to use Beams of Love for our Little Design Communities website logo in 2012 and all printed LDC materials.

[ii] Visit the Médaille Online Course

[iii] Visit the Little Design Communities website.