By Jessica Able, Record Staff Writer
Ursuline sisters, lay associates and men and women inspired by the order’s foundress — St. Angela Merici — gathered in downtown Louisville last week for dialogue and reflection.
About 180 people attended the 2016 North American Ursuline Convocation held at the Galt House Hotel July 7 to 10.
The theme of the convocation was “A Radical Response in the Evolving World: Re-imagining Angela’s Charism.”
The tri-annual convocation is a place where “followers of Angela” can gather together, listen to one another and exchange ideas, said Ursuline Sister of Louisville Paula Kleine-Kracht, who served as co-chair of the convocation’s planning committee, along with Ursuline Sister of Louisville Jean Anne Zappa.
“We are looking at the original charism (of Angela Merici) and how that has continued to motivate people throughout the centuries and what that means today,” she said.
Immaculate Heart of Mary Sister Sandra M. Schneiders delivered a keynote address July 8 centered on the “ongoing demands of religious life in a continually evolving
world.”
Sister Schneiders holds a doctorate degree in sacred theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. She has authored more than 100 scholarly and pastoral articles in the areas of biblical studies, religious life, spirituality and feminism.
Sister Schneiders said religious life is being lived “intensely and generously” in the face of great challenges.
The biblical scholar also noted the model of “hierarchically-governed, ecclesiastical apostolates carrying on large institutions — such as schools, hospitals, social service centers — by the members of a single congregation” is no longer the norm today.
“Relatively few religious today are engaged in such ministries, but our identity as apostolic religious was so defined by this model that, I suspect, we are still trying to understand what we are actually doing as some kind of variation on this model.
“I suspect that this model, for all practical purposes, is defunct. The question is what is emerging,” she said.
Sister Schneiders said this now “defunct” model has led to the “re-conceptualization or re-imagination of ministry itself.”
She noted that many congregations have conceded that even if they had the necessary resources to once-again staff all their former schools and hospitals, “these ministries may not be where most religious are needed today.”
“Consequently, they have allowed and even encouraged their members to move into so-called ‘new ministries,’ many of which are actually as old as the Gospels — not as groups but as individuals,” she said.
Some women religious may become lawyers or theology professors. Others may establish an inner-city ministry for drug addicts or a retreat center.
In many cases, she said, people used to ask “what is the ministry of your congregation?” Now, they tend to say “what ministry are you involved in?”
Sister Schneiders concluded that going forward women religious likely will not look as they have in the past “but we will be what we have been — disciples called by Christ.”
At the conclusion of the conference, the North American Ursuline Sisters, associates and collaborators issued a joint statement expressing their shock and sorrow at the continued gun violence in the U.S.
“We call for respect for each individual person. Our differences are not a cause for violence among us, but an opportunity for dialogue and finding solutions in this challenging era,” the statement said.
The Ursuline community also pledged to live the call of non-violence and compassion through “our prayer, our thoughts, words and deeds, and to participate in dialogue and actions in our local areas which will contribute to reconciliation and understanding.”
