The images of connectedness that speak to my heart are the bonds of friendship. They are like the links of a golden chain upon which hang an image of the Crucified Lord. My fears in connectedness are that the few of us who have only been in religious life for 5, 10, 15 years might never have enough experiences together to develop the kind of trust and familiarity with one another that we can think of each other as friends. We seldom live or work together long enough to form a close bond because we are so spread out and each of us experiences being the one or two people under 65. How can we create a cadre of welcome for the next generation of religious women when the weight and needs of the large group of religious over 65 always takes precedence. My fear is that in our vocations work it looks like just a bunch of old folks to the young people who are called and they will decide not enter, or they will leave once they’ve been with us a short while because of a failure to make any abiding friendships. I see a long list of good young people who have left already. I want to find more ways to connect with my own peers while still honoring my elders and providing for their needs.
The bridges I need to build are with younger adults thinking about God and religious life, and with men and women who share my experience of being a Post Vatican II Catholic. The sisters in the 60 - 70 year old range consider me one of them, and the ones under 50 think I am one of them too. At 55 I am between the two. Should I burn the bridges with older people because they keep me from being able to forge bonds with the young women who will be with me the next 20, 30, 40 years? I don't think so. I think I need both bridges even though this stretches me too far sometimes. I am committed to doing the work I have been doing supporting our older sisters and helping them find ways to stay connected with each other and the rest of the world. But, I want to make time to get to San Francisco and Oakland, to Newark, Moraga, San Rafael, Santa Clara, Los Gatos and Berkeley to build frienships with young people too. I have a recurring dream of periodically making the rounds taking photos and videos of young people doing God's work in various ministries with our sisters for the website. I think this will be good for me as well as the congregation.
Father Joe told us a story of “Old 97”, the bus they used in the novitiate. One time Old 97 got stuck in the mud. "All the provincial’s horses and all the provincial’s men couldn’t get it back on the road again," Father Joe remarked. They pushed and they shoved. They got angry and frustrated. Someone reminded them that what is needed when you are stuck is to stop what you are doing, stop pushing, stay calm and start rocking back and forth. If everyone rocks back and forth, the grit will eventually give way and you will be out of the mud before you know it. This is also true of boats. John Paul I said we are all in this boat together and the seas are rough around us, but if we focus on what unites us rather than what divides us we will pull through together. This could be said of the Church today too.
We need to test the limits, but stay in the boat. The image of sailing and hiking out on the edge to make the most of the wind comes to my mind. Who is brave enough to sit out on the edge of this boat we call Church and let the wind move us faster in the direction we want to go? Are the waters really rough? They seem calm enough to me, but there is a whole lot of wind! No one has the guts to push it to the limits. Afraid of being tossed overboard or sent below, we huddle too close to the mizzen and let the boat flop around like a cork in a tub instead of pressing on like the great majestic four-master it could be. We’ll never get to the place where we can let the nets down deep this way! Kurt Vonnegut said he wanted to be as close to the edge as he could be without falling overboard because on the edge you see things you can’t see from the center. I like that idea and the courage and wisdom it implies.
