InFormation 2022 No. 1 : Catholic Sisters Week : Called to Bear Witness, by Romina Sapinoso, SC

InFormation Bulletins - InFormation 2022 No.1 Spring

"Our Catholic faith and vocation is the DNA imprinted in every cell of our being calling us forth to be life and nourishment for our world. The reading on the works of mercy reminds us of the fruit that we are called to bear as Catholics and as women religious in this world - feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the imprisoned, counsel, comfort, pray. These are all part of who we are. The needs of the world are great in every generation and our DNA calls us to place ourselves in those areas of needs."


Click here to access the full article.
Members must be logged in to view this content

Cover of InFormation 2022 Number 1, Spring
Author: 
Sapinoso, Romina, SC

InFormation 2018 No. 3 : Discipleship as a Tool for Formation for Mission, by Patricia Schoelles, SSJ

InFormation Bulletins - InFormation 2018 No.3 Fall

"The concrete gospel imagery of disciples literally being called by and “following after” Jesus offers a symbol by which Christian individuals and communities can focus on and understand their fundamental definition of themselves. According to discipleship imagery, this basic identity is construed in terms of focusing on the person of Jesus and letting one’s own life be shaped and formed by his, by living in companionship with him, by sharing in his mission and serving the inauguration of the kingdom. Religious communities offer a unique setting to undertake these activities and thus adopt this worldview."


Click here to access the full article.
Members must be logged in to view this content

Image from InFormation 2018 Number 3, Fall
Author: 
Schoelles, Patricia, SSJ

InFormation 2018 No. 4 : Pope Francis's Guide to Holiness, by Daniel P. Horan, OFM

InFormation Bulletins - InFormation 2018 No.4 Winter

"Having renewed our understanding of the Communion of Saints as an inclusive community of the baptized that is called to participate in God’s holiness and become friends of God and prophets, and having been given a contemporary guide by Pope Francis for how to live out this vocation, we conclude by looking at what it means for us to become the saints we are."


Click here to access the full article.
Members must be logged in to view this content

Image from InFormation 2018 Number 4, Winter
Author: 
Horan, Daniel P., OFM
Formation Resources: 

InFormation 2019 No. 4 : Starfish, by Gregory Evers, CPPS

InFormation Bulletins - InFormation 2019 No.4 Winter

"To be signs of courageous hope is to face the reality of brokenness and injustice in our world with compassion, love and mercy. It is to be resilient when times get tough and celebrate when the small victories come along. When we see the sheer number of starfish washed up on our shores, it is easy to become overwhelmed and to question whether what we are doing really makes a difference. But, courageous hope never fades. Like the boy and the starfish, what we do matters to this one."


Click here to access the full article.
Members must be logged in to view this content

Image from InFormation 2019 Number 4, Winter
Author: 
Evers, Gregory, CPPS
Formation Resources: 

InFormation 2019 No. 4 : Faith and Hope : Receiving Others with a Spirit of Sisterhood, by Patricia Murray, BVM

InFormation Bulletins - InFormation 2019 No.4 Winter

"In a profound way, this makes us more relevant than ever; it places us in communion with the people of our time and place - especially those at the peripheries. While we can be justly proud of past achievements, we also have to acknowledge our past blindness and negligence especially where we failed to protect the most vulnerable among us. We are called to face the future with the same courage and conviction of our founders and foundresses, convinced what matters is our presence and our encounters with the people of today and their needs."


Click here to access the full article.
Members must be logged in to view this content

Image from InFormation 2019 Number 4, Winter
Author: 
Murray, Patricia, BVM

InFormation 2020 No. 1 : Nuns & Nones : Stories of Spiritual Formation for Today, by Katie Gordon

InFormation Bulletins - InFormation 2020 No.1 Spring

"When we start to realize the shared calls to action, it becomes incredibly powerful to imagine what it might mean to gather forces – across traditions and generations. There are bridges to be built that can transform how we exercise our collective power in response to the greatest issues of our time. And in the process, we too grow in the ways we understand and relate to one another, and to our world. It is evolutionary and revolutionary hand-in-hand; it is rooted in tradition while responding to the signs of the times. It is the intersection of the emerging reality of religious life and spirituality today, and the prophetic stance. It feels like, frankly, exactly the moment we are all here for."


Click here to access the full article.
Members must be logged in to view this content

Image from InFormation 2020 Number 1, Spring
Author: 
Gordon, Katie

InFormation 2020 No. 1 : Where Hope and Courage Meet, by Norma Pimentel

InFormation Bulletins - InFormation 2020 No.1 Spring

"You have to see, not be afraid, have courage, courage. Together, we can help others overcome those obstacles, those difficulties in life. I believe though we have to be like lions that are not afraid to face what we have before us so we can accompany others who need our strength and our courage to face life’s difficulties. But we must do it with the gentleness of souls."


Click here to access the full article.
Members must be logged in to view this content

Image from InFormation 2020 Number 1, Spring
Author: 
Pimentel, Norma, MJ

InFormation 2020 No. 2 : The Life and Vocation of Religious Brothers : Religious Brothers Day Guide

InFormation Bulletins - InFormation 2020 No.2 Summer

"Religious brothers distinguish and define their consecration through profession to the evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity, and obedience. These vows express the intent to live a life that is dedicated to more deeply entering into the mystery of God. Through this commitment, a brother recognizes how he is also a mediator of the very love he has received."


Click here to access the full article.
Members must be logged in to view this content

Image from InFormation 2020 Number 2, Summer
Formation Resources: 

InFormation 2020 No. 2 : Catholic Sisters Week Reflection : So If I Am Not a Worker Bee Anymore What Am I?, by Barbara Reid, OP

InFormation Bulletins - InFormation 2020 No.2 Summer

"A shift from thinking of myself and my sisters as worker bees for God, constantly making ourselves available to God’s people do God’s work, shifting to making myself constantly available to God for the sake of God’s people. It may sound like a subtle difference, but actually, it’s quite a change in what’s at the center. The starting point and the anchor for everything is not me and my desire to serve God, but God’s steadfast love and everything flows from that."


Click here to access the full article.
Members must be logged in to view this content

Image from InFormation 2020 Number 2, Summer
Author: 
Reid, Barbara, OP
Formation Resources: 

InFormation 2020 No. 4 : Advent's Deeper Invitation : Walking the Ancient Path, by Ted Dunn, PhD

InFormation Bulletins - InFormation 2020 No.4 Winter

"This leap of faith and the path of transformation are ancient paths of peril and promise. I, and others, can offer guidance, but the choices are yours to make. Your choices will determine, not only your own future, but will have a hand in determining the eventual fate of Religious Life and of our planet. You could choose to sit on the sideline and wait and see what happens. Or, you could choose to participate as proactive agents of transformation."


Click here to access the full article.
Members must be logged in to view this content

Cover of InFormation 2020 Number 4, Winter
Author: 
Dunn, Ted, PhD

InFormation 2021 No. 1 : Book Review, Religious Life for Our World : Creating Communities of Hope, by Patricia Crowley, OSB

InFormation Bulletins - InFormation 2021 No.1 Spring

"Maria Cimperman’s new book will be a gift to religious communities who are looking for hope-filled ways to stimulate discussions about the future of religious life both locally and globally. While definitely directed at men and women religious, some of material may very well be fodder for building community in lay circles as well as it recognizes that each baptized person is called to create community and spread love in our world"


Click here to access the full article.
Members must be logged in to view this content

Cover of InFormation 2021 Number 1, Spring
Author: 
Crowley, Patricia, OSB

InFormation 2021 No. 2 : Celebrating Traditions, Changing the World, by Mary Haddard, RSM

InFormation Bulletins - InFormation 2021 No.2 Summer

"Today, our lives continue to be shaped by a singular commitment to make God’s love known in our suffering world. We believe that each life is sacred; that all share in the common good; and that we have a responsibility to ensure a preferential option for those who are poor and marginalized."


Click here to access the full article.
Members must be logged in to view this content

Cover of InFormation 2021 Number 2, Summer
Author: 
Haddad, Mary, RSM
Formation Resources: 

InFormation 2021 No. 2 : Hope Restored, by Mary Jane Lubinski, OP

InFormation Bulletins - InFormation 2021 No.2 Summer

"The invitation to serve at the border was the signpost that a curve lay ahead. A curve, once negotiated, that would set us on a path to see and experience religious life as inter-congregational, intergenerational and inter-cultural. The last several months have found religious women throughout the country living together, serving side by side, learning, growing, developing for the sake of the mission – a shared mission to those most in need."


Click here to access the full article.
Members must be logged in to view this content

Cover of InFormation 2021 Number 2, Summer
Author: 
Lubinski, Mary Jane, OP

InFormation 2021 No. 3 : Wake Up the World : Living Our Prophetic Witness Through the Eyes of the Poor, by Br. Philip Pinto, CFC

InFormation Bulletins - InFormation 2021 No.3 Fall

"Listen again to Jesus’ words and stories, pay attention to his actions. He is constantly mirroring how he sees God present in our world. And the God he reveals in all of this, is not the God we expect: a powerful, omnipresent, omniscient, Being living elsewhere. It is a God revealed as vulnerable, powerless, fully self-giving; a God of selfless loving. A God who looks at humanity without judging"


Click here to access the full article.
Members must be logged in to view this content

Cover of InFormation 2021 Number 3, Fall
Author: 
Pinto, Philip, CFC
Formation Resources: 

InFormation 2021 No. 4 : Yet, We Arise!, by Fr. Richard Hall, OMI

InFormation Bulletins - InFormation 2021 No.4 Winter

"Today the First Reading and the Gospel speak of widows and of generosity: Elijah, seeking a piece of cake, and the widow placing two small coins in the basket. I believe that all of us can give examples of generosity from these last two years of this pandemic, when people arose from their normal behavior and routine to help those in need."


Click here to access the full article.
Members must be logged in to view this content

Cover of InFormation 2021 Number 4, Winter
Author: 
Hall, Richard, OMI

WEBINAR | CONTEMPLATING THE GIFT OF THE VOWED LIFE IN THE 21ST CENTURY

Contemplating the gifts received when called into the vowed life will be the focus of this webinar. Our vows are a gateway into discipleship and communion. The challenge is to see the depth of meaning offered by each vow. According to Ilia Delio (2011) “heaven is not a place of disembodied spirits but an embrace of love that transforms this present earthly life with its frailties and weaknesses into the divine presence of enduring love….Heaven is not another world but this world clearly seen.” Come spend an hour clearly seeing the transformative nature of our vows. 

Mary Lou Mitchell, SSJ serves as Congregational President for the Sisters of St. Joseph of Rochester. She holds a Ph.D. in nursing and completed two years of post-doctoral work in researching the mind-body connection in health and well-being. Prior to serving in leadership she was on faculty at Nazareth College and had a private practice in holistic health. Sr. Mary Lou has spent years personally and professionally growing in the contemplative practice of living in the present moment.

Click here

WEBINAR | SAYING "YES" TO THE CALL OF AGING

Often older religious comment “No one taught me how to do this time of life.” Called in Baptism to share in the mission of Christ, the spiral of call moves through all the different phases of discipleship. This webinar is designed to offer older religious a spiritual model of aging and support them in their desire to

  • Re-vision/ re-vitalize their call into the second half of life
  • Find meaning and purpose on their journey into radical discipleship
  • Become a spiritually transcendent elder

Sr. Ann Billard, OLM, Ph.D. is a Sister of Charity of Our Lady of Mercy with many years of pastoral ministry experience. She is a certified grief recovery specialist and has graduate degrees in pastoral counseling from Loyola University in Maryland. Currently coordinating Transformative Aging programs, she provides spiritual direction, lectures, workshops, and retreats on grief recovery and the spirituality of aging. She has presented at national conferences and to groups of older adults both nationally and internationally.

Click here

WEBINAR | LLAMADOS A SERVIR INTERCULTURALMENTE RETOS Y POSIBILIDADES DE LA TRANSICIÓN AL MINISTERIO EN LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS

La integración de la diversidad de la Iglesia Católica en los Estados Unidos es vital para la transición al ministerio de aquellos/as que están migrando de Latinoamérica y el Caribe. Este “webinar” contrastará las características históricas y culturales que dieron forma a la Iglesia de los Estados Unidos con la Iglesia de América Latina, subrayando las contribuciones que cada tradición trae al ministerio hoy. La meta será explorar las competencias interculturales que el ministerio en los Estados Unidos requiere de todos/as. 

Hna. Teresa Maya, CCVI, Superiora General, Hermanas de la Caridad del Verbo Encarnado, San Antonio TX
Hna. Teresa Maya, CCVI, Superiora General, Hermanas de la Caridad del Verbo Encarnado, San Antonio TX. La Hermana Teresa Maya pertenece a la Congregación de las Hermanas de la Caridad del Verbo Encarnado desde 1994. Su experiencia ministerial es en el área de educación. Ha servido como maestra, profesora de historia y administradora. Tiene una pasión por la formación de agentes para la pastoral hispana en EUA. La Hermana Teresa curso el B.A. en la Universidad de Yale, el M.A. en el Graduate Theological Union en Berkeley y el Doctorado en El Colegio de México, en la Ciudad de México.

Click here

WORKSHOP | HOPE: THE WE(E) VIRTUE

Even though hope is essential to human and Christian life, very little has been written about it in comparison to faith and love. Faith sees what already is, while hope sees what is yet to come. Charity loves what already is, but hope puts its trust in what is not yet here.

Living in very dark times, hope is a most important, necessary and rare virtue.

For Christians, for vowed Religious, “hope” is linked to the person of Jesus Christ. Consequently we would do well to give greater attention to the precise nature of Christian hope. What exactly is it? This day will offer a clear understanding of the nature of hope to deepen our capacity to give an account of the hope that is within us (1Peter 3: 15), especially in the face of resistance and indifference.

Rooted in an understanding of the kenosis of God in Christ as the reason for our hope, the presentation will be interspersed with poetic reflections that help express the nature of hope.

Michael Downey, PhD

With a Master of Arts in special education as well as in theology, Dr. Michael Downey is the first layperson to receive the Ph.D. in theology from The Catholic University of America. His abiding theological concern for those who are wounded and marginalized has brought him to serve the church most in need through lectures, conferences and retreats in different parts of the world. Editor of the award-winning New Dictionary of Catholic Spirituality, he is founding North American editor of Spirituality, an international journal of the Christian spiritual life.  Author or editor of more than twenty books, as well as journal articles, essays, and book chapters numbering in the dozens, he is the recipient of three honorary doctorates. Two of his better known books are Altogether Gift:  A Trinitarian Spirituality (2000) and The Heart of Hope (2009). A member of the editorial board of Cistercian Studies Quarterly, he works extensively with enclosed contemplative communities, and is active in retreat work. Dr. Downey has a particular interest in Trinitarian theology and a theology of hope, both of which are expressed in his Living the Justice of the Triune God [with the late David N. Power] (2012). On March 31, 2005 Pope John Paul II awarded him the Cross Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice.

Click here

Formation Resources: 

WORKSHOP | REVIVIFYING MISSION: RELIGIOUS LIFE, PROPHETIC DIALOGUE AND THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES

Fifty years after the close of the Second Vatican Council, its key concepts, most notably, aggiornamento, the Italian term for “bringing up to date”, as well as ressourcement, a critical engagement with the current situation in light of the lessons of the past, continue to capture the imagination of the contemporary disciple in Christ's mission.  Our day will be spent in prayerfully exploring Christian world mission in light of the current signs of the times, in an attempt to discern where the Spirit is leading our religious communities.

Particular attention will be paid to the gift of the arts as manifested in the diversity of cultures.  Activities include some presentations, quiet prayer time, and small group discussions (which may take place in various languages).  Each participant is invited to bring a symbol of her or his religious community's charism.

Eduardo Fernández, SJ, PhD: Other than teaching classes in missiology and Latino theology and ministry at the Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University at Berkeley and the Graduate Theological Union, Professor Fernández publishes, gives workshops and retreats, and assists at local parishes.  He has also worked in university campus ministry.  A native of El Paso, Texas, he earned a Masters in Latin American Studies at the University of Texas at Austin and a doctorate in theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. His two latest books are Mexican American Catholics (Paulist Press, 2007), awarded a 2008 Catholic Press Association Book Award in the category of pastoral ministry, and Culture- Sensitive Ministry: Helpful Strategies for Pastoral Ministers (Paulist Press, 2010) with Kenneth McGuire, CSP and Anne Hansen.

Click here

Resource Manual Volume 4, Part 3, Prophetic Way : Chapter 10

Formation Resources - Resource Manuals - Volume IV


III. Formation for a Prophetic Way of Life

  • 3.10. Additional Resources
    • 3.10.1. Print Resources, Film Resources
    • 3.10.2. Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur: Reflection Process
    • 3.10.3. Benedictine Sisters of Erie: Benedicta Riepp Program

Click here to access the full document.
Members must be logged in to view this content

Cover image for Resource Manual Volume 4

Resource Manual Volume 4, Part 3, Prophetic Way : Chapter 09, 2-6

Formation Resources - Resource Manuals - Volume IV


III. Formation for a Prophetic Way of Life

  • 3.9. Prophetic Living and Sustainability:
    • 3.9.2-6. Land Ethics:
      • 3.9.2. Dominican Congregations: A Land Ethic
      • 3.9.3. Dominicans of St. Catherine: Kentucky Land Ethic
      • 3.9.4. Dominicans of Blauvelt: A Spirituality of Sacred Community
      • 3.9.5. Sisters of Mercy of the Americas: Developing a Land Ethic
      • 3.9.6. Sisters of the Humility of Mary: A Proposed Land Ethic

Click here to access the full document.
Members must be logged in to view this content

Cover image for Resource Manual Volume 4

Resource Manual Volume 4, Part 3, Prophetic Way : Chapter 09, 1

Formation Resources - Resource Manuals - Volume IV


III. Formation for a Prophetic Way of Life

  • 3.9. Prophetic Living and Sustainability:
    • 3.9.1. "Religious Congregations on the Land : New Models for the Church", Kathleen Storms, SSND

Click here to access the full document.
Members must be logged in to view this content

Kathleen Storms, SSND

Cover image for Resource Manual Volume 4
Author: 
Storms, Kathleen, SSND

Pages