Tales of witness, solidarity at sisters’ meeting

Conference delegates met, served food to Buddhist monks

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Some 115 women religious leaders of Asia and Oceania, working in a Spirit-inspired environment of their own creating (see story), have unanimously issued a statement offering prayers and solidarity to U.S. women religious, few of whom they have ever met, but with whom they share the essentials of faith and lives committed to service.

The decision by Asian sisters to openly declare their support came only after hours of discussion and discernment, given what could be considerable risks for some. What appeared to prevail was the feeling that regardless of their circumstances -- and some are clearly vulnerable to ecclesial politics -- the matter of showing their support was of overriding importance.

They were responding, as they saw it, to the mission of Jesus, a mission of risk and compassion -- offering the very support Jesus repeatedly offered to women.

The action occurred during the 15th gathering of AMOR, a loose network of women religious leaders from Asia and Oceania, which had as its theme: “Jesus Encounters the Syro-Phoenician Woman: Called to Move Beyond.” These women religious felt “called to move beyond” in their response to the investigations of U.S. sisters.

The response was in keeping with the narrative that developed throughout the days of the conference: accounts of often harrowing tales of witness, frequently in hostile environments. The women’s accounts gave fresh meaning to the phrase “living on the margins,” since they often carry out apostolic work in areas where Catholics represent a small sliver of the population. In many Islamic countries, small Catholic populations are often viewed with hostility. The sisters live with both the threat of civil violence and the realities of more subtle ecclesial sanction, the product of centuries of patriarchal structures and prejudices.

Against that backdrop, consider a few implications of this moment. The AMOR women’s statement:

• Opens a new stage of global solidarity and connection among women religious, the result of better educational opportunities, years of mission formation, and a greater access to information sharing, largely through the Internet.
• Represents a move by some of the newest members (though many come from long established congregations) in the global family of women religious to reach out to their “older” sisters who are facing troubled times. Roles and missionary patterns, for the moment, seem to have been reversed, and this is something that might be pondered to the benefit of all. These younger sisters, with limited resources, are simply saying: We are with you. The family is intact. Fear not.
• Affirms an increasingly visible sense of apostolic mission, grounded in service to the needy and rooted in prayer, flowing freely and flexibly to where the need arises.

The emerging Spirit-driven, life-supporting network of women religious globally needs collaborative examination, not imposed investigations. Any examination should be to discover the deeper truth of so many lives of service. For their stories are stories of faith and are living elements of the paschal mystery.