Sister Marie is a member of the RENEW staff, a Sister of St. Joseph of Cluny, and the Project Leader for RENEW Africa. Tags: Africa, Burundi, catholic RENEW program, child soldiers, Christ, Christian Burial, faith, genocide, Hatred Won't Have the Last Word, hospital, Maggy Barankitse, Maison Shalom, orphanage, renew catholic program, RENEW International, water supply |
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Mini, Rosie, and Angie were the only remaining members of a once numerous Catholic Women’s League in St. John Parish, part of the Diocese of Port Elizabeth. Their primary activity involved running a food pantry, striving to stave off starvation for families in Bedford with no source of income. Although their treasury was empty, the women did not give up. They continued to run the soup kitchen, and they continued to pray. Their prayers were answered when a woman who had participated in a RENEW Africa workshop asked to join the CWL. That day marked a turnaround for the group—other women began to join the CWL, and the league’s treasury began accepting donations, including help from other CWL groups in the diocese. Mini, Rosie, and Angie began hosting RENEW Africa workshops in October 2007. These women put pitchers of fresh water on each table for every RENEW Africa meeting, and prepared tea and sandwiches for participants. There was no mention of the difficulties involved because of the severe drought that plagued the region for two years. For the closing prayer of the workshop, all gathered in a circle with Rosie, Mini, and Angie in the center and prayed for their needs and for rain for the area. However, their difficulties were not over. Despite the great enthusiasm they expressed for small Christian communities at the workshops, no one joined RENEW Africa. Undaunted, the five women who made up the CWL formed their own small Christian community. As they continued with the process and reflected on how to reach out, they decided to begin home visits. At each house, they introduced themselves and asked if they might visit for a while. During the exchange they became more aware of the various needs of the families and offered to pray with their hosts. As they continued their visitation, word got around that they brought compassion and understanding, and that they were very discreet. One day, a deacon from a Protestant Church approached them. “Please come to my house. I want to talk to you.” When asked why, he replied, “I am having family problems, and I can’t talk about them in my parish. I’ve heard that you are very helpful and that you can keep things in confidence.” Mini, Angie, and Rosie are striking witnesses of women’s strength. In the midst of poverty and deprivation, even in the midst of obstacles to the ministry of evangelization through small Christian communities, they carry on. More importantly, they evangelize by their witness and by their dedication to announcing the Good News in whatever way God leads them. These women show us how to live our baptism in the world today: they stand firm in their commitment to Christ and live it by reaching out to others without judgment, demonstrating God’s unconditional love for all. The women’s dedication is surpassed only by their wisdom, faith, and courage in the face of difficulty. Sister Marie is a member of the RENEW staff, a Sister of St. Joseph of Cluny, and the Project Leader for RENEW Africa. Tags: Afrikaans, Bedford South Africa, catholic RENEW program, Catholic Women's League, Christ, Church, commitment to Christ, community, compassion, courage, deacon, Diocese of Port Elizabeth, evangelization through small christian communities, evangelize by witness, faith, firm in commitment to Christ, God's unconditional love for all, home visitation, Jesus, Jesus Christ, love, ministry of evangelization, poverty, prayer, RENEW Africa, renew catholic program, RENEW International, Scripture, severe drought, Small Christian Communities, soup kitchen, South Africa, St. John Parish, wisdom |
Sister Marie is a member of the RENEW staff, a Sister of St. Joseph of Cluny, and the Project Leader for RENEW Africa. Tags: caring for the sick, Catholic, Catholic Church, Church, daily examen, find god in all things, finding god in all things, Francis Xavier, God in all things, God's will, Holy Land, Ignatius of Loyola, Ignatius' journey, jesuit community, jesuits, life of Christ, lives of saints, Luis Goncalves de Camara, Our Lady of Monserrat, Peter Fabre, podcast, Pope Paul III, recuperation, religious community, RENEW International, Saint Ignatius, society of jesus, Spiritual Exercises, spirituality, St. Ignatius, superior of the Society of Jesus, teaching children about God |
Sister Marie is a member of the RENEW staff, a Sister of St. Joseph of Cluny, and the Project Leader for RENEW Africa. Tags: and heart of Christ, Bishop Kizito Bahujimihigo, Burundi, community, community meetings, faith, faith-sharing, Family, forgiveness, genocide, Good News, Gospel, hands, healing, husband in prison, Hutus, Kigali, love, Mass, pain and suffering, Paul Kigame, power of Christ’s healing and forgiveness, prayer, prayer and sharing, President Cyprian Ntayamira, President Juvenal Habyarimana, reconciliation, RENEW International, Ruhengeri, Rwanda, Scripture, Small Christian Communities, support of the community, Tutsis, voice |
On my first trip to Africa, I experienced first-hand the truth of Jon’s words. I was in Sierra Leone, West Africa. It was December 2003; the truce that ended the ten-year on-and-off war was not yet a year old. In the capital, Freetown, there were still no traffic lights, nor streetlights. In fact, electric power went on and off in a seemingly arbitrary fashion, phones rarely worked, and many public buildings were still in a state of disrepair. Broken sidewalks presented hazards day and night. It had been, and still looked like, a war zone.
There would be little to put “under the tree” at Christmas. Having a job did not necessarily mean that employees received a paycheck: teachers and other government workers had not been paid for over two months. Many men, women, and children had lost hands, arms, and legs during the war and could no longer work. Elderly people, accompanied by school-age children, spent their days begging from slowing cars at intersections. Street merchants as young as eight years old loudly hawked their items, which ranged from water to dishtowels. A steady stream of folks came to our convent door looking for some type of assistance. All my life I’d wanted to come to Africa, and having finally arrived, I felt powerless to help make Christmas special for anyone. It was heartbreaking … at first.
Then, in the Advent days leading up to the feast, I accompanied the sisters in my community on their rounds through the city and outlying villages. The experience became heartwarming. In Makeni, Cluny Sisters staff and oversee a variety of ministries including a girls’ high school, a school for the hearing impaired, an agricultural technical school, and a clinic. The students at the school for the hearing impaired invited me to their Christmas pageant, held out in the courtyard. All the teachers were dressed with the same cloth and pattern demonstrating their solidarity, their sense of belonging to the same “family” with their co-workers.
Busy with the camera catching the last bows, I was surprised when one of the teachers invited me to the front where the principal presented me with a basket of cassava and potatoes grown by the agricultural students for our Christmas dinner.
Later that day, I went to a nearby village to visit with the director of one of the schools, Sister Mary. Throughout the year she meets with parents to encourage them to send their children to school. One of the families offered us a chicken. In yet another village, the gift was spontaneous singing of local songs. Another family brought a tiny goat to the convent. (In Sierra Leone, as in many African countries, goat is the preferred meat for a Christmas roast.)
In the evenings, carolers came to entertain us. Often they were people with disabilities who sang to raise funds so they could provide food, clothing, and shelter for other less fortunate disabled people. They gave their gift of time and presence. In turn, they received the gift of presence from each home, as well as a donation.
It is the custom to wear something new at Christmas. At midnight Mass in the cathedral, family after family arrived similarly dressed. Fathers and sons wore shirts made from the same cloth and pattern as mothers’ and daughters’ dresses. This custom struck me as a beautiful way to express the unity we have in Christ, who came to gather us all in to the Father.
Back at the convent after Mass we gathered for the traditional Christmas soup and sharing of gifts and presence. The sisters shared many stories and news from family and friends; before we parted we gathered in a circle to pray for continued peace in the land.
Christmas dinner was fufu, a West African favorite. Fufu consists of dough, usually made of cassava flour, served in a mound on a side plate along with a soup or a meat stew. I learned how to pull off a ball of dough, make an indentation with my thumb, and use it as a spoon to scoop up some stew and enjoy! Despite the desperate economic and social issues weighing on everyone in the country, our table was full of joy. One sister after another shared experiences, humorous anecdotes, and traditional stories and parables. We were at table for hours, but the time flew. It was a celebration of relationships—God’s family gathered around the table to celebrate his Word become flesh for the salvation of the world.
In many ways Sierra Leoneans showed me how much they value presence, whether it was gratitude for time spent visiting in the village, enjoying a pageant, sharing the good news that their children could go to school, or providing health care at the clinic. My Christmas gift was indeed the gift of their presence and their appreciation of the gift of mine. They showed me that it is possible to carry heavy burdens without being crushed by them, and to find joy in the midst of pain and struggle. They revealed again and again how to live the Paschal Mystery – living, dying, rising with Christ – day by day.
Sister Marie is a member of the RENEW staff, a Sister of St. Joseph of Cluny, and the Project Leader for RENEW Africa. Tags: Advent, Africa, African Christmas, African villages, Christmas, Cluny Sisters, Family, finding joy in pain and struggle, Freetown, fufu, full of joy, God's family, joy, Makeni, ministries, pray for peace, prayer, RENEW International, Scripture, solidarity, special feeling of Christmas, struggle, traditional Christmas soup, under the tree, war zone |
Two of my stops during my time in Johannesburg included Regina Mundi Church and the Hector Pieterson Museum in Orlando, a section of the city of Soweto (Area 57.9 sq. mi., pop. 1,000,000+). The anti-apartheid movement began in different places around different issues. One issue was the use of Afrikaans as the medium of education in the townships. Being deprived of instruction in English meant that graduates of township schools would be severely limited in pursing their education beyond secondary school. At the end of their school term in June of 1976, students refused to write exams in Afrikaans and a march to protest the imposition of Afrikaans in the schools was planned for June 16 in Soweto (South West Township). On that fateful day, as school children began gathering and marching in protest, they were confronted by police, and violence broke out. One of the youth killed was Hector Pieterson, age 13. A photo of another youth, Mbuyisa Makhubo, carrying the dead boy’s body in the street with Hector’s sister, Antoinette Sithole, running beside him, became an icon of not only the incident, but also of the struggle for freedom and justice. Following this event, youth in other townships across the country demonstrated in sympathy. Today the Hector Pieterson Museum tells the story of the uprising and preserves and interprets the memory, legacy, and history of the national uprisings. It is a most touching experience to spend time reflecting on these events while going from the outdoor fountain that commemorates all who gave their lives in the cause of freedom, through the many short videos, the newspaper documentation, and first-hand testimonials along the hallways of the museum. June 16th is now Youth Day and is a national holiday. Also connected with the struggle is nearby Regina Mundi, the largest church in South Africa. It is called the “church of the people” and the “people’s cathedral” and can hold 5,000 to 7,000 people. The church has played an important role in the lives of the people before, during, and after the struggle against apartheid. When government forces began shooting the school children who demonstrated on June 16, 1976, the children ran to Regina Mundi for safety. During that time, churches were about the only places people could safely gather. The police fired live ammunition at them. No one was killed there, but many were wounded and there was damage to the church, altar, and statues. Some of the damage to windows can still be seen. In what was once the choir loft, there is now a gallery displaying striking photos taken during the protest and throughout resistance movement. On the walls are touching graffiti written by thousands of visitors, commemorating those who led the resistance, expressing solidarity with the people, and celebrating the end of apartheid. Visiting these two historic places brought me a little closer to the experience of those whose present is still influenced in many ways by the oppression and forced segregation of the apartheid years. The role of Regina Mundi stands in testimony to the faith of the people and to our Church’s ministry to and support of those seeking human rights during those difficult years. The Catholic community is alive in Soweto with 15 parishes. The lay deanery who gathered to learn about RENEW Africa filled the meeting room beyond capacity, and all who attended were eager to involve their parishioners in the process. Sister Marie is a member of the RENEW staff, a Sister of St. Joseph of Cluny, and the Project Leader for RENEW Africa. Tags: Afrikaans, anti-apartheid, apartheid years, Catholic Church, Catholic community in Soweto, church of the people, Church's ministry, community, damage, damaged church, education, end of apartheid, faith-sharing, forced segregation, freedom, give your life for freedom, Hector Pieterson, human rights, justice, linguistic diversity, live ammunition, Mbuyisa Makhubo, Nama, national uprisings, oppression, protest march, Rainbow Nation, reflecting, Regina Mundi Church, RENEW Africa, RENEW International, solidarity with the people, South Africa, Soweto, struggle, testimony to the faith of the people |
On the 18th of July, we celebrated Nelson Mandela’s 93rd birthday. Although it is not a national holiday (yet), there were festivities all around the country. School children celebrated with pageants, birthday parties, and opportunities to appear on TV news singing their greetings to Tata Mandela as they affectionately call him. Here in the Diocese of Port Elizabeth, we are preparing for the first Season of Why Catholic? Journey through the Catechism with Christian Prayer: Deepening My Experience of God. I thought I’d share with you some of the reflections folks offered after the introduction workshop in response to the question, “What was the most important thing you learned?” – How to communicate with God in different ways. I always thought that you have to use words. The beauty of meditation helped me to connect with God without speaking. I’m on now to Cape Town and then Johannesburg. Watch this spot for more news from South Africa, the “Rainbow Nation”! Sister Marie is a member of the RENEW staff, a Sister of St. Joseph of Cluny, and the Project Leader for RENEW Africa. Tags: Catholic, Catholic Church, Christian Prayer, connecting to God, Deepening My Experience of God, faith-sharing, Journey Through the Catechism, Port Elizabeth, Rainbow Nation, RENEW Africa, RENEW International, Small Christian Communities, South Africa, Why Catholic?, Word of God, Workshop |
Campus RENEW / Theology on Tap / RENEW Worldwide |