When we take the time to look, the more we see

First the crocuses peeked through the bare earth, then the daffodils began to toss their yellow manes joyfully in the warm breezes. Spring has been arriving in these last weeks at Villa St. Joseph with a determined yet gentle presence telling the good news of the resurrection upon all the earth. Last week we had Dana, a freelance journalist from NCR’s Global Sisters Report, come to visit. She was eager to hear how this integrated vision of ecology and spirituality had come to be one of the key and vital ministries of a Sister of St. Joseph in the world today. After chatting with her for a time we led her on a tour of our land, first through St. Joseph’s Community Gardens where she chatted with and videoed some of the gardeners. Although the gardens were just coming to life, she was surprised to find how much was already beginning to flourish, little onions, tiny lettuce, and early peas poking their way through the crusts of earth.

As often happens when you are touring someone around on our land here, an unexpected lesson presented itself to me. As we walked over the front lawn leading down to the lake, I spied a few of the tiny wild violets that were blooming in their small but largely unnoticed way. I had missed seeing them this spring, had been too busy. As I crouched down Dana followed with her camera. When I was kneeling admiring the few wonderful, intricate wild violets I had chanced to notice, my gaze looked up a touch and there I saw more and more of the precious violets revealing their tiny but wondrous unfolding of God’s beauty. I said to Dana, “When we take the time to look, the more we see.”

As we had shared with her our project to grow milkweed for the Monarchs, she mentioned to me again how she’d like to see a milkweed growing, she’d never seen one before. Well, really it was too early. But as we walked through the east field, sure enough there were a few milkweed seedlings just coming up. She crouched down in wonder with her camera, then I could see the camera lifting up a little across the field. I followed her gaze and then she turned to me smiling and said, “the more you look the more you see- amazing to see how many more little milkweeds there are!”

That simple lesson has stayed with me all week, there is so much beauty and hope just nearby, if only we look and see.

Linda Gregg, CSJ

Mrs. Goose III

This is a short feature on Mrs. Goose the Third. Prior to her arrival we have had two other Canadian geese nest and hatch their offspring on the roof of our residence.

T.S. Eliot once wrote, “April is the cruelest month.” This statement certainly applies to weather conditions this season.

Mrs. Goose ensconced on the edge of the green roof above the chapel, three stories high, braved the elements with endurance. Meanwhile, her mate often kept a weather eye on actions one roof above.

At the crack-of-dawn on May 2^nd all was ready and Mrs. Goose and her fledglings appeared on the grass below. It seems as soon as the goslings emerge from the shell they are urged out of the nest, don their flight gear and steer toward land.

We saw Mrs. Goose and her four goslings rustling about in the rain and nipping at blades of grass. Alas, on further observation, two little birds took the wrong turn and landed in an enclosed gutter by the chapel window. One fellow met his death on contact but the other gosling paced about frantically . . .  Sisters of St. Joseph to the rescue . . .   Sister Loretta with a net affair and diligence helped him over the top to freedom. 

Mother Goose and her goslings are now splashing and swimming in the Thames River.

The cruelness of April became a welcoming May. 

Sr. Eileen Foran 

What Happens When Our Bishops Visit Pope Francis

Recently Pope Francis met with all bishops in Ontario for their “ad limina” visit; the last ad limina visit for bishops in Canada was in 2006. 

The Latin words ad limina apostolorum mean "to the threshold of (the basilicas) of the Apostles". The Ad Limina visits derive from the ancient tradition of each Bishop in the world regularly visiting the tombs of Saint Peter and Saint Paul to seek the guidance of these two "pillars" on which the Church of Christ is built. The highlights of the Ad Limina visits, as indicated in the Directory for the Ad Limina Visits, are the pilgrimage to the tombs of the two Apostles, the meeting with the Holy Father, and the discussions with the personnel of the dicasteries.

Bishops throughout the world meet usually every five years with the Pope to present reports of their dioceses and discuss issues in their jurisdictions within the perspective of the universal church. In Canada, the meetings with Pope Francis are held with bishops from each of four regions, Quebec, Western/Northern provinces and territories, and the Atlantic dioceses. The 11 minute video below features Bishop Fabbro from London and Bishop Crosby from Hamilton. The bishops speak of their experience in meeting with Pope Francis individually and as a group. A segment is included of the bishops and Pope Francis meeting in the Vatican as a group.

Pat McKeon CSJ

Women’s Voices Grow Stronger…

The United Nation’s Commission on the Status of Women recently hosted their 61^st Forum with a focus on Women and Girl’s Economic Empowerment in the Changing World of Work. More than 8000 women, feminists and women’s organizations, and some men, united for a common purpose. If women are to achieve gender equality by 2030 (Equality and inclusion are at the heart of the 2030 Agenda for the UN’s Agenda for Sustainable Development), we must all recognize the gender gap in work and employment and create a cohesive action-oriented plan that all NGO’s can support.

The Sisters of St. Joseph have an NGO office in New York at the UN. This gave me the opportunity to join this global effort to work towards gender equality and economic empowerment for women and girl’s. It is not possible to describe in a blog the multiple workshops with women presenting what is happening in their part of the world. Rather I would like to outline in a series of short blogs the incredible accomplishments already achieved by women (previous gatherings and conferences) and critical work that still needs to happen in order to achieve equality, given the multiple challenges faced by women today. 

The Forum gives women, an opportunity to come together and ensure through the good work that is happening around the world that on one is left behind. There is still much to do. We must continue to reach out to the most marginalized women and girls, and those experiencing multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination. Civil society plays a critical role in addressing the unique needs of these women and girls and capitalizing on their strengths and agency to move toward substantive equality, a Planet 50 – 50 by 2030.  We in Canada, although better than some parts of the world, still have work to move the needle along to achieve gender equality.

This ambitious goal offers me inspiration and possibilities for strengthening partnerships and alliance so efforts can continue to increase the diversity and number of people working on the achievement of gender equality. Wherever you are, we all become more conscious of how our places of employment are working to achieve gender equality.  We each can do something to help move us along toward achieving this goal by 2030.  Our voices are needed and they are growing stronger.

Joan Atkinson, CSJ

Proud to Protect Refugees

The recent election results in the United States have caused panic and fear in many people, causing them to turn to Canada for refuge. It is important to note, however, people all over the world have been seeking for a safe haven prior to the current political status of the United States. After the election, there were over 200,000 visits on the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada website inquiring about how to move to Canada; if this number seems high, well the United Nations estimates that there about 24 million refugees in the world today, and half of these refugees are under 18. That makes around 12 million children who have been made refugees looking for safety. I think the numbers speak for themselves, and they are staggering… overwhelming.

Many people don’t know what to do with these figures; some in denial, some blame refugees themselves for their plight, some try to find ways to open their homes and their borders. You may have seen television reports of a huge detention facility near Toronto. Some Canadian born children have been detained, or have been forced out of their own country because their parents are failed refugee claimants. Family separation should not happen, but it does. Families are torn apart.  Because of the length of time it takes to navigate the stages in the refugee process, parents are sometimes separated from their children for years before the family can be reunited. Even when parents are reunited with their children, sometimes it has been so long that the children don’t know the parents. Heartbreak like this should not happen, people being deported to danger should not happen, people should not be feared because of their race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership of any group, but they all happen.

As Canadians, we must recognize not only our neighbors from the South unable to acquire immigration status, but also acknowledge those from a different place, a different continent, the rest of the world. 1 John 3:18 says “…let us not love with words or speech, but with actions and in truth,” therefore, it is up to each of us to be Christ bearers, to stand up and say hello, welcome in.  Join us.  We respect you.  We acknowledge your pain and suffering.  We are inspired by your courage. We learn from you. We are stronger with you.   

My name is Claire R., Ministry Specialist for Inland Protection of Refugees for the Diocese of London, and I am Proud to Protect Refugees.