Contemplating What We Have Learned From Covid-19

It is most evident how much we take for granted. Shaking hands, hugging, spending time with family and friends, travelling to other countries, and helping without fear are some of them. This pandemic is a very real and very scary threat so we have quickly learned to adapt our activities and behaviours to make health and security the top priority. The reality of this infectious and fatal disease has made us cautiously optimistic that things will get better if we all do our part.

“Mostly we have learned that
life is precious.”

We are discovering who we truly can be as a society. We have such great capacity for compassion and empathy as evidenced by frontline workers. We have learned how to cultivate courage and strength as we watch families connecting with loved ones in long term care facilities and seniors’ residences. Sheltering in place has given us the ability to be more imaginative with our time. We have been inspired to explore our own creative abilities by the many individuals sewing masks, making face shields and companies repurposing factories and tools to make much-needed ventilators and PPE for medical personnel.

Mostly we have learned that life is precious. We have learned that we benefit from living in the here and now, spending more time for ‘being’ instead of always ‘doing.’ We have learned to slow down, simplify our lives, and become more aware of the interconnectedness of all life. From that perspective, we can appreciate each new day and all of life.

- Grace McGuire, Associate of the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph in Canada, Pembroke, Ontario

Determined to Break Through

Here, on this small piece of the planet, long-awaited summer is here at last. Though we are only just at the beginning of summer, we are already in the midst of a heatwave. Of course, doing those usual summer things like going to the beach is, well, you know, not happening. Lockdown rather cramps our style, sigh. Going for a long walk tends to be the highlight of these summer days. 

Since oppressive heat and humidity have settled in I much prefer evening walks. While out for a walk last night, I caught sight of a tenacious little sapling sprouting out of a stump.  I stared at it for quite some time, captivated by its determination and will to sprout and thrive.  Against all odds, it will not give up. 

Nor should we. This pandemic may threaten to cut us off from what we call our normal lives. However, despite everything we have been through during these difficult months, something new is determined to break through. Let us be the midwives helping to bring forth the new and life-giving for all people.

-Sister Magdalena Vogt, cps

Father's Day

Father’s Day

Father’s Day is such a mix of emotions for me.  

On the one hand, I think of my own dad who passed away four years ago this summer.  My dad loved me so much.  He consistently let me know every chance he had. I most definitely loved him back, although I wasn’t so outward showing about it at times.  

My dad was a very kind soul, who had an infectious personality that could make anyone laugh out loud.  I miss all the little things he did for me growing up.  Cooking my favorite meals, driving me to friend’s houses, always encouraging me to do my best, wrestling with me on the living room floor, amongst so many other things.

I really wish my dad was here with us now to meet his grandchildren.  He would have instantly fallen in love with them, and they would reciprocate that love.  I have no doubt about that.  

In some weird way, perhaps they may have already met.  Perhaps it was in Heaven.  Perhaps, my dad had something to do with the tiny miracles my wife and I had after a specialist told us to give up hope.  

I am a dad now.  Two times in fact!  We have a beautiful, energetic 2.5-year-old girl and an adorable 1-year-old boy who’s got quite the appetite - and dance moves!  

Believe me……It’s a lot of work.  Exhausting at times.  Two babies that are 19 months apart can wear anyone out.  Some days it feels like it is never-ending, especially in this COVID era, but then there are days where you wish the time with them never ever ends.  The joy, laughter, and fun make every hard day manageable.

My kids have taught me so much.  I’ve learned how to multitask in the non-digital form, how to make countless ponytails, the importance of nap times, and Advil...amongst many other things. 

It’s through my own kids that I experience the love, spirit, and bond that my dad and I had.  

Happy Father’s Day Dad!  I miss you.

-Mike Noronha, Guest Contributor

Black Lives and Catholicism

A black Sister, Theresa Maxis, founded the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in Monroe, Michigan. Her name was suppressed in history. Here is a link to an article about her in America magazine -

What a forgotten black nun can teach us about racism and Covid-19

https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2020/04/23/what-forgotten-black-nun-can-teach-us-about-racism-and-covid-19

There is also a book titled “Building Sisterhood” for those who are interested.

Another book to check out is “Hidden and Forgotten: African Absence in the Consciousness of the Catholic Church in Canada” by Dr. Iheanyi M. Enwerem, O.P.

During these times of people rising up against racism and oppression, it is a good time to examine our roles as people of faith, and the history of our institutions. We can heal from learning about history, and go forward more truthfully, prepared to serve as restorers of the breach. According to Isaiah 58:

Is this not, rather, the fast that I choose:

releasing those bound unjustly,

untying the thongs of the yoke;

Setting free the oppressed,

breaking off every yoke?

Is it not sharing your bread with the hungry,

bringing the afflicted and the homeless into your house;

Clothing the naked when you see them,

and not turning your back on your own flesh?

Then your light shall break forth like the dawn,

and your wound shall quickly be healed;

Your vindication shall go before you,

and the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.

Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer,

you shall cry for help, and he will say: “Here I am!”

If you remove the yoke from among you,

the accusing finger, and malicious speech;

If you lavish your food on the hungry

and satisfy the afflicted;

Then your light shall rise in the darkness,

and your gloom shall become like midday;

Then the LORD will guide you always

and satisfy your thirst in parched places,

will give strength to your bones

And you shall be like a watered garden,

like a flowing spring whose waters never fail.

Your people shall rebuild the ancient ruins;

the foundations from ages past you shall raise up;

“Repairer of the breach,” they shall call you,

“Restorer of ruined dwellings.”

For those who want to join me in taking part in the digital Poor Peoples’ March on Washington on June 20, 2020, please visit https://www.poorpeoplescampaign.org/

 - Mary Kosta, Congregational Archivist

NORMAL is overrated (Or is it?)

Have you read any of Lisa Genova’s books?  If you have, you know they tend to be both fascinating and disturbing.  I would encourage you to read her books, though, in my humble opinion, they are probably not the type of book you would want to read during a time of isolation. 

This morning, while walking the first laps of my daily Camino on my indoor circuit, a phrase from her book Left Neglected which I read weeks prior to the pandemic, sprang to mind: “normal is overrated.”  In her book, Lisa Genova tells a story of resilience in the face of a devastating diagnosis.  After a car crash the protagonist, Sarah Nickerson, a career-driven supermom in her thirties, is left with a traumatic brain disorder called “left neglect.” Sarah’s brain injury completely erases the entire left side of her world. With incredible willpower and endless therapies, she eventually regains some of her mobility. Then one day she joins her husband and two children on a skiing trip. No longer able to ski with her family she sits and watches them from the lobby of the hotel.  Her trusty cane in hand, she goes to check out the rental place for skis and snowboards. Here Sarah meets a man who inadvertently changes her attitude about her life she no longer considers to be normal. The man offers to teach her snowboarding on boards adapted for folks with disabilities. After much coaxing, she agrees to give it a try.  As she begins to gain confidence on the slopes, she learns how to remain upright and maneuver a snowboard. After a few tumbles, she begins to complain about how clumsy and awkward she is, adding, “This isn’t normal. This isn’t how you snowboard.”  Her tutor’s response, “What’s normal anyway? Normal is overrated if you ask me” changes Sarah’s life.  Normal’s overrated.  (Left Neglected, Lisa Genova)

Well, here we are, still in lockdown, and far removed from what we used to call normal, considered to be normal. Here it is yet again, that word, that concept of the normal.  Again, and again we question our need for a new normal.  Yes, the old was overrated.  Since we agree on that, what then are the practicalities that will ensure a new normal?

“Some say normal is for people without any courage.”

I am beginning to sound like a broken record. Maybe that’s okay, lots of things are broken these days. What is it with this abnormal normal to which I keep returning?  Is it because that old normal was familiar and to a certain degree felt comfortable like an old pair of shoes?  Is it because they fit comfortably without too much thought given to why we don’t do things differently?  Is it because the new and unfamiliar will be challenging, possibly downright scary?  Some say normal is for people without any courage. Others say normal is boring. Collectively we are saying our former lives were not normal, yet many want it back. Surely it is not because they lack courage or are boring. It sounds as if we are caught between a rock and a hard place, midway between what was and is not yet.  Is it the fear of the unknown and how we might get there?  We are faced with a puzzling and disturbing paradox. We feel comfortable and secure in our familiar normal, and yet we say it is overrated, needs to be changed, sigh. We know how hard it is for all of us during this pandemic but especially for the children when everything in our normal lives has been disrupted.  So where do we go from here? While writing this blog, I received an email from Thomas Hübl advertising his upcoming series, “Building Blocks for a New Culture.” I was struck by this topic: “The Global Rite of Passage – Who will We Choose to Be.”  Yes, who?

- Sr. Magdalena Vogt, cps