Read - News from the Centre - May, 2015
Jubilee Sunday is May 17th. We have prepared an ecumenical resource for churches and individuals to assist them with praying for a world made new where those struggling under the weight of poverty because of economic injustice will be able to live in dignity and peace. Read more about Jubilee Sunday on the Columban website.
Jack Evans and Anne Lanyon have been lecturing and running tutorials in teaching peace, ecology and justice using Catholic Social Teaching principles at Australian Catholic University, Strathfield.
We have promoted The Way of Peace ANZAC Edition. http://columban.org.au/resources/way-of-peace-anzac-centenary-edition-1915-2015
Sr Kateia Kaikai smsm visited CMI to say farewell as she leaves on a new ministry in Davao, Philippines. She shared with us the story of the impact of Cyclone Pam on her home country of Kiribati.
Anne Lanyon attended a seminar on the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement at Parliament House, Sydney run by AFTINET, the Australian Fair Trade and Investment Network. www.aftinet.org.au
Fr Noel Connolly and Fr Patrick McInerney participated in a rally to Welcome Refugees and Asylum Seekers and to Close Nauru and Manus Island held at Belmore Park in Sydney.
Charles Rue is working on a paper for ACU's 'Grounding the Sacred through Literature and the Arts' Conference 23-26 July. He suggests that the re-formed post-Vatican II Liturgical Year and Lectionary is a work of art. He also suggests that inserting a September Season of Creation into the Liturgical Year will help Sunday worshippers pastorally to pray to God as Creator with 21st century environmental consciousness.
News from the World
A Break from Domestic and Economic Violence in Chile
When I was a young single lay missionary from the United States, I often found it difficult to relate to the Chilean women I met during my time in Santiago, Chile. I worked at a center called, Casa de la Mujer: La Quimera; a place where women could go and learn skills like baking and sewing in order to gain some economic independence as well as find friendship and refuge from their otherwise difficult lives. For just a few hours a week, women could be free from the domestic violence, economic hardship, and the mental demands of life in poverty.
Image: http://goo.gl/5LKwfR
My primary function was to assist with administrative tasks and keep the tea water boiling. While I didn’t know much, I could tell that the women came not so much for the workshops but for the tea and bread that was served afterwards. They came alive as we broke bread together. I would sit with the women and mostly listen. They would tell me about their families, about their hopes and dreams, about their struggles and fears. They laughed often but tears were never far away.
I will never forget a conversation I had on our way to our annual end-of-the-year field trip. I remember the field trip was always quite a chore to organize and execute and I always felt tired before the day even started. However, my exhaustion was put in perspective on this particular trip. I sat next to a woman probably not that much older than I am now, on our way to the parcela or “camp ground”. She breathed a sigh of relief and spoke about how this was her one day in the year that she had just for herself. She didn’t have to make a meal or wash a dish or help the kids with their homework. She didn’t have to clean the floor or iron clothes or go to the market. She didn’t have to worry that she would be hit for no reason.
Though I was happy for my bus companion and her ability to see her glass as half full, I knew well that while she had a few hours off that day, she probably worked twice as hard the day before and would work twice as hard the day after. I admired her ability to live in the moment and to be grateful for the good in her life, no matter how small it seemed to me at the time.
Today, as a wife and mother, I am able to relate at some level with my Chilean sisters though not entirely as I do not have the burden of domestic or economic violence. Nonetheless, I can appreciate in a new way the strength of the women at La Quimera. Their unwavering hope, patience, kindness, joy, and generosity in the face of darkness speak to their deep sense of faith in the Kingdom. When my days seem long and overwhelming I often times find myself voyaging back in my heart to La Quimera, to my time with Carmen and Orietta, with Monica and Beatriz. They will always be special women who taught me over tea and bread what it means to live in faith, hope and love; what it means to be missionary.
By Amy Woolam Echeverria, USA