Benedictine Sisters of FL

Holy Name Monastery
Founded 1889

LCWR

Letter to President Trump

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More Than 660 LCWR Members Call on President Trump to Stop All Divisive and Polarizing Rhetoric

August 14, 2019

The following is a letter sent by the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) during its annual 2019 conference to President Trump on August 14. 

Mr. President,

We live in a world increasingly marked by hatred, brutality, and violent conflict. We see our own country threatened by increasing disparities in economic, political, and social power. We are caught in a political culture paralyzed by ideological extremism and hyper-partisanship. These are times that require exceptional insight and courageous leadership.

In the face of these unprecedented challenges, we are outraged and heart-broken when our political leaders appeal to our basest instincts and stoke the fires of fear that threaten to tear the fabric of our nation apart. We cannot, we will not, let the voices of hatred and fear carry the day.

Mr. President, we beseech you to end all divisive and polarizing rhetoric. We implore you to never use language that disrespects, dehumanizes, or demonizes others. We expect our president, and all who serve this nation as leaders, to be always mindful of the common good and the dignity of each and every person. You hold a position that has the potential to inspire the best of every one of us and we ask you to use this unique status to bring about healing and never seek to create division.

The people of this pluralistic nation form a diverse polity characterized by a wide variety of beliefs, experiences, and interests. Disagreements and differences have the potential to challenge all of us to abandon easy certainty and seek a fuller truth. The problem is not our many differences or passionate disagreements. Those differences are our greatest strength; those disagreements are opportunities for growth. It is how we handle those inevitable conflicts that spells the difference between building the common good and destroying the bonds that bind this nation.

In his address to the US Congress in 2015, Pope Francis invited our political leaders to promote respect for the dignity of every human person and to renew their commitment to a spirit of cooperation.  He also addressed each of us and all who seek to lead this nation when he said, “Each son or daughter of a given country has a mission, a personal and social responsibility . . . You are called to defend and preserve the dignity of your fellow citizens in the tireless and demanding pursuit of the common good, for this is the chief aim of all politics. A political society endures when it seeks, as a vocation, to satisfy common needs by stimulating the growth of all its members, especially those in situations of greater vulnerability or risk . . . Building a future of freedom requires love of the common good and cooperation in a spirit of subsidiarity and solidarity.”

As Catholic sisters, our ministries frequently require us to be in the heart of situations of discord and division, and thus we understand the great complexities and challenges that are inherent in the work of reconciliation. We too have to reach deep within ourselves to bring forth the grace and strength that are needed to not give in to the temptation of labeling or judging those who are different from us. We share with you, Mr. President, that maintaining this fundamental stance in life requires discipline and fortitude and a constant examination of our daily thoughts and deeds in light of our beliefs. We sometimes come up short, but pledge to do better each day because we are aware of the moral authority we, as sisters, bear. We ask you, Mr. President, if you would consider a similar examination of the practice of your own moral authority.

We send this letter to you as 663 Catholic sister leaders gathered in assembly in Arizona. We and approximately 700 other Catholic sisters are members of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious and represent approximately 35,000 sisters who minister throughout this nation. We promise to never cease raising our voices on behalf of the common good and praying for the healing of this country.

Sincerely,

The Members of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious

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Stay Awake and Be Ready

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This week in the U.S. the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) will be convening in Scottsdale, Arizona.  Let us pray for the leaders of women’s communities – and not solely for them – but for all levels of leadership in communities of women religious.  May they be women of faith, alive in hope.  They and all of us must live in hope with the assurance that however things turn out it makes sense in God’s plan.  Our daily stance must be the words of the psalmist: Stay awake and be ready.

Several years ago, Mother Teresa appeared on the Hour of Power television program.  The host, Pastor Robert Schuller, reminded her that the show was being broadcast all over America and in 22 foreign countries, including her native Yugoslavia.  He asked her if there was one message she would like to convey to all those viewers.  Her response was, “Yes, tell them to pray.  And tell them to teach their children to pray.”

Sadly, we live in a generation where there seems to be little hope in our world.  Jesus keeps reminding us to trust God.  He encourages us to let go of our resentments, our doubts and our fears.  He urges us to remember that there is never a storm so tumultuous that He cannot bring us to safety.  There is no night so dark that His light cannot penetrate it.  Nothing is going to happen to us that, with God’s grace, we can’t handle.  When hurricane winds howl, and tornado winds whip around us or flood waters are rising we have to remind ourselves that prayer is our most powerful and most reliable force.

Sometimes it may seem that no one is listening.  Do you recall how four-year-old impish Anna addressed God in Sydney Hopkins book: Mister God, This Is Anna?  She had great conversations with her Mister God.  So introduce yourself to God.  God is listening.  He will answer your prayers in His own time and in His own way.  God said, “I will never leave you or forsake you.”  Be on the lookout for God’s touches in your life.  One day Jesus may ask us: “Who touched me? ….  I know someone touched me, power went out of me.”  Be sure that your touches in people’s lives are God-like.  How we get along with each other says a great deal about how we love God and the kind of people we want to be.

You know of many instances when Jesus healed with a touch.  And how often do you say, or hear people say, “That really touched my heart.”  Our words do touch people – our compliments and affirmations but also the barbs, rudeness or hurtful teasing.  Our words leave their mark – will they be angry red scar marks or soft reminders of happy times?  Remember the little girl who was saying her nightly prayers.  (She said,) “Dear God, if you’re there and you hear my prayer, could you please just touch me?”  Just then she felt a touch and got so excited!  She said, “Thank you, God, for touching me.”  Then she looked up, saw her older sister and got a little suspicious.  “Did you just touch me?”  The sister answered, “Yes, I did.”  “What did you do that for?” she asked.  “God told me to” was the reply.

Our big question is: Do we know how to pray as we ought?  Do we merely ask for things, or do we dare ask to be transformed?  When we do so, do we promise to follow the promptings of the Spirit?  We can’t ask God to guide our footsteps if we are not willing to move our feet.

I will close with a portion of Nelson Mandela’s 1994 Inaugural Speech:

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.  Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.  It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.  We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, successful, talented, fabulous?  Actually, who are you not to be?  You are a child of God.  Your playing small doesn’t serve the world.  There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you.  We were born to make manifest the glory that is within us, it’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone.  And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.  As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

~Reflection by Sister Roberta Bailey, OSB, Prioress

 

 

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