SEASONing
“If you want peace, work for justice.”
You might recall this succinct “bottom line” of Pope Paul VI—still as
urgent as when it first captured the church teaching that, “Action on
behalf of justice and participation in the transformation of the world is
a constitutive dimension of the preaching of the Gospel” (Message for
World Day of Peace, 1972, and Justice in the World, 1971).
This issue of Salt unearths how BVMs and associates
continue to listen deeply to the ever-growing global cry
for a new paradigm of living together and thriving on our
increasingly fragile earth.
Keenly aware of interconnectedness of global crises—
the poverty that fuels migration, the chaos of drought
induced by climate change, the spiral of violence in every
corner of our country and planet—we search for how we
can enter a “transforming future,” engaging processes and
practices that nurture rather than destroy.
Rooted in scripture, church tradition, the lived experience of BVM companions from the time of Mary Frances
Clarke, and the BVM Constitutions, we move deeper
into our pledge to “participate in the worldwide struggle
of those who suffer injustice, ignorance and indignity”
(Constitutions, #45), and “to give strong public witness
against oppression brought about by unjust political and
social structures, locally, nationally and internationally”
(Constitutions, #17).
“The world,” Pat Farrell, OSF, told the Leadership
Conference of Women Religious (LCWR), “is outgrowing the dualistic constructs of superior/inferior, win/lose,
good/bad, and domination/submission. Breaking through
in their place are equality, communion collaboration,
synchronicity, expansiveness, abundance, wholeness,
mutuality, intuitive knowing, and love.”
We resonate with that assessment, and the stories
in this issue of Salt illustrate how the interconnectedness and shifting specifics of need call for creative and
dynamic response.
Today, BVMs in the South stand on the shoulders of
their predecessors from the 1930s. We remember with
pride their courage 50 years ago.
The scourge of slavery has morphed into a global crisis of human trafficking, and we network as best we can,
wherever we are, to stem this insidious and deadly dehumanization of the most vulnerable among us.
BVM leadership team members are (l. to r.)
Mira Mosle, Teri Hadro and Kate Hendel.
We continue to unearth the systemic causes that drive
global dysfunction, and together with thousands of others, use diverse strategies to bring about corporate responsibility.
No matter what our age, we try to “reuse, recycle and
restore,” keenly aware of our responsibility to do