A Life Well Lived

“The life and death of each of us has its effect on others”. These words of St. Paul have been constant in my mind since the January 5^th memorial service in honour of Catherine Finlayson.  London’s beautiful Colborne Street United Church was crammed to the rafters with family, friends, colleagues and people whose professional, philanthropic or business lives were personally touched by Catherine’s loving presence and outreach over the past forty years.

At the time of her death on Dec. 28, 2017, Catherine was the Executive Director, Advancement and Alumni at Fanshawe College as well as Executive Director of the Fanshawe College Foundation.  It was in the latter connection that Sister Joan Atkinson and I were present at her memorial service.  Almost a decade ago, the Sisters of St. Joseph made a sizable donation to Fanshawe College to establish the Sisters of St. Joseph Bursary for single mothers. This bursary enables single mothers to attend Fanshawe College and earn diplomas in various fields and find satisfying employment.  Throughout the intervening years, we have admired Catherine’s dedication to her work, enhancing the bursary and spreading it to other Fanshawe campuses. Last fall, Catherine and a colleague took several members of our congregation on a tour of the Clinton and Goderich campuses. Although her health was failing, she went out of her way to make the day pleasant, interesting and informative.

Since Catherine was not one to talk about herself, it was inspiring to be present at her memorial service and learn of the magnitude of her influence in London and surrounding areas.  This poised and engaging woman cared deeply that individuals and groups be successful and prosper.  Due to her efforts through education, journalism, mentorship, fundraising and charitable giving, many received the assistance they needed to be successful in a multitude of ways.

Catherine will be missed deeply by her loving husband James MacNeil, her four adult children, their spouses, her grandchildren and all those whose lives she touched through helping others.  She was a faith-filled, successful and treasured advocate for good.  Now, her works shine as bright stars in the heavens.

Jean Moylan, CSJ

This Christmas Season is Rich with Song and Symbol!

The Christmas season is rich with song and symbol. Today being the 9^th day of Christmas as we count along to the feast of the Epiphany, a dancing image emerges in 9 ladies dancing. (8 maids a-milking, 7 swans a-swimming, 6 geese a-laying, 5 golden rings, 4 calling birds, 3 French hens, 2 turtle-doves and a partridge in a pear tree!!!)

It is the dancing image that attracted me today, because there is reason to rejoice. We received word from our Office for Systemic Justice through Sue Wilson, CSJ, that it is a time to celebrate. In my words it is a time to dance. Why? Because there is a little bit of justice and peace being born in our world. In the midst of darkness light is radiating hope.

The darkness is the environmental and human-rights abuses that occur in countries where our Canadian-owned mining companies are operative.

The light: in December 2017, a spokesperson for Canadian Trade Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne announced that the Ombudsperson’s Office will open in early 2018 – something many of our Sisters and Associates/Companions have  been lobbying for by joining the wider collective of concerned citizens who have urged the Canadian government to implement an Ombudsperson for the extractive (mining) sector in Canada. This office will have an “advisory and robust investigative mandate”. 

Many Canadians have been writing letters, and attending meetings to raise their concerns about the lack of accountability for these injustices.

With projects in over 100 countries, Canada is home to half of the world’s mining and mineral exploration companies. The current mechanism to address issues is ineffective in that the participation of the extractive-sector companies is voluntary and complaints are never made public. This new Ombudsperson would investigate allegations, make recommendations to the mining companies and the Canadian government. The Office would be independent of political or corporate influence and accountable to Canadians through public reporting.

Numerous Canadians have been urging the government for this change recognizing that the current policy does not reflect our Canadian values. As one bishop has stated: “We cannot accept the unethical way Canadian mining companies have been operating in Latin America or other regions of the world, taking the absence of effective regulatory schemes as a reason to shirk their ethical responsibilities.”

So the news of the early 2018 Office opening is indeed cause to dance. And this dance reflects the energy and movement of not a beautiful soloist, but that of a multitude of persons, joining together in effort to create a new pattern of hope.

It is stated that the carol “The Twelve Days of Christmas” held a hidden message for persecuted people in the 16^th and 17^th centuries.  The number 9 represented the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit.

So on this 9^th day of Christmas, we rejoice that many of these 9 fruits: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, have shaped our character and values, bringing light into the darkness. And so we dance in the light of Christ, rejoicing in a micro-incarnation of peace and justice on earth.

Sources:

www.kairoscanada.org/what-we-do/ecological-justice/open4justice

www.cccb.ca/site/eng/media-room/statements-a-letters/4773

Sue Wilson CSJ, Office for Systemic Justice

Blogger: Loretta Manzara, CSJ, musician striving to affect change in the world, one hymn at a time.

Write for Rights 2017

On the 70^th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, people around the world again took part in Amnesty International’s global write-a-thon. Known as the Write for Rights, people write letters to convince government officials to release people imprisoned for expressing their opinion, and to end other human rights abuses.

This is the sixth year that the Sisters of St. Joseph in London have taken part in Write for Rights. This year, the Sisters wrote a total of 74 letters and 61 postcards to add to the global total. As of December 12, there were 1,304,742 letters, emails, petitions and cards sent by letter writers from all around the world.

To learn more about the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, please visit: http://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/

To support Amnesty International, please visit: https://www.amnesty.ca/

Guest Blogger Mary Kosta, Archivist, Sisters of St. Joseph in Canada 

Walk on Earth Gently

The world’s government leaders and members of our human family have been gathered in Bonn, Germany for the UN Convention on Climate Change. Today is the final day of this meeting which has brought together the leaders of nations to provide a comprehensive awareness of the reinforcement and progression of concrete actions taking place all over the world in order to meet the objectives set out in the Paris Climate Agreement.  It has been presided over by the Government of Fiji, an island nation which is disappearing because of rising oceans.

Our world leaders were supported and encouraged by a message from the Leaders of the World Religions, “Walk on Earth Gently”.  As we witness our own nation’s leadership refusing to participate in the Paris Agreement, we recognize the leadership and love and personal conversion being called forth in each and every one of us in response to this greatest moral crisis humanity has ever had to face.

Let us be strengthened and inspired by our global Religious leaders in their message to the world’s government leaders and the members of our human family:

“Earth is a blessing. She supports life and is the basis of all our economies. She conveys beauty and evokes our recognition of something greater than ourselves. She is our temple, our mosque, our sanctuary, our cathedral. Our home.”   (Excerpt from “Walk on Earth Gently”)

I encourage you to read and reflect on the full text of this beautiful and profound invitation to us, the human family. 

Reflection and Artwork (titled Touch the Earth) by Sr. Mary Southard, CSJ (used with permission)
Mary Southard Art www.marysouthardart.org

Listening Has Power to Change the World

As Sisters of St. Joseph who daily meditate, contemplate and desire to effect change in our world, we have become intrigued with the work of Thomas Hubl and William Ury. 

Hubl, living in Tel Aviv, is a contemporary spiritual teacher and founder of the Academy of Inner Science.

Ury is an American author, academic and negotiation expert who co-founded the Harvard Program on Negotiation.  He works around the world, assisting nations and groups to solve their problems through deep listening and respect.

To learn about Hubl and Ury’s innovative and collaborative experience program, about 25 of us have joined their online six-month course, “Meditate and Mediate”.  Together with over 500 participants around the globe, we are exploring “an exciting and emerging field that blends spiritual development, contemplative practices, psychology, collective healing, meditation, negotiation and conflict resolution”.

Our motivation in joining this “Meditate and Mediate” initiative is to become part of a connected leadership in our present world where structures change rapidly.  We need to be prepared to see a vision for being in service for the huge shifts that lie ahead of us.  By our learning, we hope to refine how to build bridges between our inner and outer world and develop intact relationships that resolve conflict.  Through learning, meditation and listening to our inner space, we aspire to maintain peace to carry to the outer world in our encounters with others. 

On a practical note, our homework between now and the next video conference, will be to attempt to listen fully to others, with our whole being, “as if our body had eyes and ears all over it.” This deep listening avoids getting absorbed in my own mind and my own understanding.  I think this will be a challenging practice.

Jean Moylan, CSJ