World Water Day in London

Several Sisters of St. Joseph participated in the World Water Day rally in London, on March 22, 2019.  The aim of the rally was threefold: to protest the poor condition of drinking water in First Nations communities; to highlight the infringement of First Nations water rights in the water bottling process; to stress environmental issues related to water.

The rally began at eleven a.m. in Victoria Park amid drumming and prayers. The event was organized by the Association of Iroquois and Allied Indians (AIAI). Sister Sue Wilson csj, in her opening remarks, explained how joining in activities such as World Water Day increases awareness: “When the Sisters of St. Joseph became a Blue Community, it was a wider effort to deepen our relationship with the watershed.  And we are learning from Indigenous neighbours to reconnect with the watershed as a source of life, as relation, as a spiritual connection”.

Following the introductory rites, the participants marched through downtown London and arrived at Harris Park where a moving tobacco ceremony ensued. Each person was given tobacco to be held in the left hand.  We formed silent intentions and were invited to release the tobacco into the swiftly flowing Thames River.  This sacred action was a testimonial that allowed The Creator to receive anyone’s pain, suffering and injustice.  Interestingly, it was noted that the wind calmed and all was silent as we cast our offering into the water.

The day’s events were both prayerful and solemn. The friendship experienced among the group left a lasting imprint upon Mother Earth as we danced together hand in hand to the beat of the sacred drum.

- Linda Parent csj

- Jean Moylan csj

A Lenten Reflection - The Third Sunday of Lent

There have been times in my life when the words of a song have reached deep into my being and touched my spirit in what I call holy moments of oneness with self, God and creation.  One such song is the Lenten hymn “We Rise Again from Ashes”.  I am particularly drawn to the Second Verse. 

We offer you our failures,

We offer you attempts,

The gifts not fully given,

The dreams not fully dreamt.

Give our stumblings direction,

Give our visions wider view,

An offering of ashes, an offering to you.

In a reflection written by Father Ron Rolheiser he states that more people go to church on Ash Wednesday than on any other day of the year.  Why?  As a symbol, they are blunt, and speak the language of the soul.  Something inside each of us knows why receiving the Ashes means so much “Dust thou art and unto dust thou shalt return.”

As I reflect upon the ashes I will receive this Lent, I will be reminded of human frailty that keeps me from being open to the transformative power of the Spirit at work in me.  I will be praying for the grace to seek direction for my stumblings and a wider view for my visions, all the while mindful that Easter is on the horizon.

 - Sr. Lucy Godfrey, csj

Appreciating Water

When I lived in Jamaica from 1993 to 2007, our water supply would frequently be cut off and though it was often for a matter of hours/overnight as opposed to days on end, still the impact was felt.

I never appreciated water so much as when I heard the happy gurgling sound when the taps were turned on again when the water began to flow.

It was in my heart and mind to somehow get involved in protecting the precious resource of water once I had returned to Canada. In Canada I don’t believe I ever had to go without water and the preciousness of it faded into the background.

Nevertheless, I was thrilled when our congregation of the Sisters of St Joseph in Canada decided last year to give a substantial donation to Water First (water first.ngo) towards an internship program for indigenous youth regarding how to monitor the water supply to First Nations reserves- one small step in water protection and promoting water as a human right.

I was also glad when our congregation decided to become a Blue Community   and hire a Coordinator to assist us.

Fast forward to today. I just returned from a global witnessing trip in Dominica with 2 other Sisters of St Joseph (Sr Ann MacDonald, pictured above) where we stayed with two Presentation Sisters and an Associate of the Presentation Sisters who minister there. While there, a crew working on the roads in the re-building of Dominica after the devastating destruction unleashed by Hurricane Maria in 2017, ruptured a water main and we were six women without water for 24 hours. 

This inconvenience is minor when compared to water issues that millions of people face every day around the world.

I was once again reminded of the precious gift that water is and my/our own responsibility to do all we can to reduce our use of water and to guard against contamination of water.

Our lives and those of the generations after us depend on it.

- Sr. Nancy Sullivan, csj

The Sisters of St. Joseph are also proud supporters of the incredible work that Water First does. Please visit their site to see the impact they are making - Everyone deserves access to safe, clean drinking water.

Sisters of St. Joseph Awards of Excellence

St. Joseph’s Health Care held one of its premier annual events on March 19, 2019.  Four exceptional women received a Sisters of St. Joseph Award for Excellence at Parkwood Auditorium in London.  Honoured were: 

Dr. Rookaya Mather, ophthalmologist, Ivey Eye Institute, St. Joseph’s Hospital

Martha Scott, occupational therapist, community Stroke Rehabilitation Team, Parkwood      Institute

Corrine Wilson, registered practical nurse, Assessment Program, Parkwood Institute Mental Health

Marie Carroll, dietary aide, Food and Nutrition Services, Mount Hope Centre for Long Term Care.

Following a warm welcome by Dr. Gillian Kernaghan, CEO, and congratulations from Margaret Kellow, The Board of Directors, Sister Cecilia Dronzek (pictured far left) brought congratulations from the Sisters of St. Joseph and gave a brief address outlined below:

Today March 19^th is a special day for us, the Sisters of St. Joseph, as we celebrate the feast of St. Joseph our patron. Back at our home, it is a day of great celebration. It is a pleasure for me to join in your celebration of those judged by their peers as persons who reflect and embody the values of respect, excellence and compassion in the workplace.

Last month I attended one of King’s University College lecture series. The speaker was Sr. Teresa Maya, a religious sister from San Antonio Texas. Her topic was building a culture of encounter throughout our world. She challenged us to build bridges across all that divides humanity and to cross the bridges others have built.

That same week, I read an article in the Winter Issue of Occasional Papers. The editor wrote that the focus for this issue came from a 2015 book by Daniel Goldman on the Dalai Lama entitled, “A Force for Good”.  In it, Goldman details the Dalai Lama’s belief that every compassion-driven human act is integral for a more peaceful, harmonious world. Intentionally combining our collective energy and compassion as a force for good in the world is the only way, the Dali Lama asserts, that we can tackle the intractable problems plaguing our world.

As I read through what your peers said about you, the recipients of the Sisters of St. Joseph Awards for Excellence and as I reflected on what inspired me both from the lecture and the editorial, the words, “creating a culture of encounter”, “building bridges”, and “belief that every compassion-driven human act is a force for good in our world”, I could see similar threads in both their concepts and your qualities as stated by your co-workers who nominated each of you for this special award. It is evident that the values on which St. Joseph’s Health Center was founded are alive and active to this day. - Sr. Cecilia Dronzek

Sr. Jean Moylan

Transformation and Transfiguration

In Philippians 3:17, we hear St. Paul challenge “Sisters and brothers, join in imitating me.” How can we imitate Paul? We see it in the earlier passage (3 b) “for Him I have accepted the loss of everything, and I look on everything as so much rubbish if only I can have Christ and be given a place in Him.” Paul put his faith in God as did Abram in our first reading, Genesis 15:5

How blessed we are today to know that we have Christ and have a place in Him if we keep our eyes fixed on Him, trust Him and as Paul encourages “stand firm in the Lord”.

In St. Luke’s Gospel 9:28-36, the Transfiguration is the final event before Jesus took the road to Jerusalem. Peter, James and John saw the divinity of Jesus – yet in their human weakness during Jesus’ Passion, Peter denied Jesus and the other two ran away.

How often do we fail to see the divine in those we meet daily? The first line of a hymn that we sing on this Sunday is– “We behold the splendor of God, shining on the face of Jesus.” Let us replace the word “Jesus” with the names of those we meet today.

If we keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, “He will transform our wretched bodies into copies of his glorious body.” Phil. 3:21

 - Carole Anne Guay CSJ