The “listeners” reflect on general chapter
JUST Words invited the sisters who served as listeners during General Chapter to talk about their experience. We edited the conversation into a Q&A format to capture their insights.
Sister Susan Karina Dickey is vice-president for mission integration at St. Dominic Health Services, Jackson, Miss.; Sister Katherine O’Connor is beginning a new ministry teaching English language learners in Springfield; Sister Kathleen Ryan has just completed her ministry as director of the Dominican Literacy Center, Aurora, Ill., and Sister Sharon Zayac is an Earth literacy and eco-spirituality educator on the team at Jubilee Farm, Springfield, Ill.
JW: What was it like for you to participate in this general chapter as a listener knowing you’d be responsible for drafting the chapter statement for approval by the chapter delegates?
SZ: I suppose I was listening in a different way because I knew I would be held accountable for it when the four of us gathered. It was a more intensive listening for me than usual.
KOC: It was very energizing! One of the amazing things to me was how committed we are to the Prayer for the Life of the World from the 2019 chapter. It was a surprise.
JW: How did you come to see that?
KOC: When we had discussions at our table, people kept referring to the prayer. Sisters seemed to recognize, in hindsight, how the prayer has led us to think about interculturality. It really helped us to come to
unity, I think.
SKD: I, too, found that we had been profoundly influenced by the words of the chapter prayer. At our house it was part of our evening prayer so we recited it countless times. Apparently, others did, too.
JW: As we talk in mid-May, we are a bit more than a month past chapter. What stands out in your minds now that you’ve had some space to ponder?
SZ: Reflecting back, I sense three important movements during chapter: our faithfulness to the Prayer for the Life of the World, our readiness to move past anxiety about change, and our recognition that living interculturally is a witness much needed today.
SKD: Yes. Compared to other chapters I’ve been part of, I didn’t get that sense of apprehension or fear of the future. This is an anxious time in the world; we are not immune from that. But I found a wonderful
openness—an eagerness—to engage in collaboration with other Dominican communities.
KOC: You said it, Karina. The contemplative spirit of our chapter allowed us not to be bound by fear and anxiety. It’s hard to be living at this time in our country and not experience those things. Chapter created a space that allowed us to move beyond it.
KR: My sense throughout chapter was of being both deeply reflective and outward-focused. Our contemplative time deepened our congregational self knowledge, which is so necessary for a fruitful, lasting impact.
JW: How much of that has to do with an evolution in understanding the purpose of our lives?
SZ: Yes, we talk about a transformation of consciousness. I think we are living into it. We are moving into a deeper understanding that it is not what we do but who we are together. That takes time to come to, and the wisdom that comes from aging is part of that.
SKD: Yes, aging contributes to it. I’m also seeing the influence of Pope Francis. One of his recurring themes is encounter…encountering the other. I think there is a realization that to encounter others—intercultural living is a high ideal, one we might strive for by truly encountering people of other cultures—even among those with whom we live!
SZ: We did speak about that, didn’t we? We talked about the fact that we have different cultural backgrounds and as a congregation we have a culture. We are beginning to understand that culture is not just ethnic culture. It is that, and it is also the culture of LGBTQ persons, for example, and other groups we encounter. Culture is more than just faith or ethnicity.
KR: Having Sister of St. Joseph Carol Zinn open the chapter was good. She has a wide vision [as executive director of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious]. Her theme was that there is a new, shifting reality in religious life. That was good for us to absorb.
SKD: Carol is grounded in the ecclesiology of the Catholic church, and through that lens she reminded us that we are part of a larger whole. She also spoke about our relationship to Jesus. Her talk was comprehensive, addressing the 360 degrees of religious life. I thought it was good groundwork for the work of chapter.
KOC: Part of her gift was helping us know we are not in this by ourselves. Almost all religious congregations are going through this kind of change.
SZ: I don’t think we can underestimate that. I also think what helped was to realize we are doing this together as a group of Dominican congregations. You can handle a lot of things when you know you are not by yourself.
JW: Are you noticing any impact on your lives since chapter closed?
KOC: For me, just transitioning from one ministry to another, and just completing sabbatical, everything is new. I do think there is more openness to things, trying to move forward.
KR: I’m sure the chapter statement will become something we live into, like we did the Prayer for the Life of the World, but there hasn’t been that much time!
SKD: I’m pleased that there seems to be widespread recognition that the future is going to look different for our younger sisters and even those who are into their 50s and early 60s. I’m looking forward to getting more engaged interculturally.
SZ: I’m not sure it’s made an impact for me yet! But I feel sure that whatever comes next, we really are committed to doing it together. That is encouraging to me.
