Grey Nuns Leadership Attends LCWR Conference

Written on: October 1, 2024

By Sister Eileen White, GNSH

In the heat of Florida August, our elected leaders Sisters Denise, Barbara, Nancy, and Eileen attended the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) Assembly in Orlando, August 13-16, 2024. Sister Julia Lanigan, who serves as a companion to one or more other leadership teams, also attended.

The theme of the assembly was Our Time Is Holy: Who Then Shall We Be? We joined more than five hundred leaders of religious congregations and over two hundred collaborators from many parts of the world in taking a critical look at our world and religious life as they are evolving today. We listened to thought and action-provoking speaker, Rev. Bryan Massingale, a professor of theological and social ethics at Fordham University. He posed the question, “What does it mean to be a sign of courageous hope in a time that we do not know how to name?” He challenged us, saying that we women religious “must be a solidarity in grief, in loss, in lament as we live in this age of exponential change.”  He also spoke of the need for us to grieve over the brokenness of our world and be inspired to action for greater justice.

In her presidential address, LCWR President Sister Maureen Geary, OP of Grand Rapids, explored the theme of the assembly, breaking down the question of who we shall be into other questions: What shall we do? Where shall we be? To whom shall we go? Whose shall we be? Maureen urged us to be “morsels of encouragement, life, and love for our broken world”.

A presentation by Sister Maricarmen Bracamontes, OSB, came to us in English or Spanish, depending on which channel we switched on and which screen we watched. Her presentation was delivered at the last minute by another Benedictine, Sister Pat Henry, because Maricarmen awoke with laryngitis that morning. Maricarmen invited us to “…live in a way of radical inclusion in the style of Jesus.”

Sister Anne Munley, IHM Scranton, is an LCWR staff member who has been the point person for designing and analyzing surveys of congregational leaders about our life and planning for the future. Sister Anne pointed out that religious congregations have structures in place to ensure opportunities for members to participate in the life and mission of the whole. She stated,

“Engagement of members is a means to meaning-making, participation in governance, strengthening of identity and sense of belonging, relationship and community building, and collective transformation. In times of profound and rapid change, each of these components requires an intentional focus.”

Some in the Grey Nun community may have tuned in on the last afternoon of the assembly to the Contemplative Prayer for the World, designed to help attendees be in solidarity with the fragility of the world while reflecting on our call to respond as bearers of the gospel message. The prayer included dance, music, readings, and prayers for forgiveness and hope, and was live-streamed to invite many others to participate, increasing the power of our collective prayer, presence, and response.

Every year, the LCWR honors an outstanding leader who has had a significant impact on the world. This year, we honored Sister Nancy Schreck, a Sister of St. Francis of Dubuque, Iowa. Nancy founded and currently serves as executive director of Excel, Inc., a community service organization located in Mississippi. Having served in leadership and formation in her own congregation, in the LCWR presidency, and as a delegate to the International Union of Superiors General (UISG), she is also well known for her ability to interpret scripture into life story.

Recordings and texts of the addresses, photos, and other materials are available on the LCWR website at https://www.lcwr.org/calendar/lcwr-assembly-2024-1

(The writer of this article has borrowed text and phrases from a summary of the Assembly written by Sister Ann Marie Sanders, IHM, and published on the LCWR website.) 

This entry was posted in Matters of Faith and tagged: LCWR Assembly, Our TIme is Holy: Who Then Shall We Be?, Sister Barbara Schiavoni, Sister Denise Roche, Sister Eileen White, Sister Julia Lanigan GNSH, Sister Nancy Kaczmarek