Presentation of UISG Bulletin n. 171 – 2020
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The Experience of “Sorority” in a Globalized World
In this issue of the Bulletin, we wanted to deal more closely with a dramatic aspect of the phenomenon of forced migration in our time: the care for unaccompanied foreign minors.
The Church and Consecrated Life are at the forefront in Protecting children and vulnerable adults. The care for unaccompanied foreign minors fits into this broader context and is a very topical phenomenon. We believe it is very important to know and understand this phenomenon, starting with the causes that determine it and seeing the different perspectives from which it could be studied and addressed.
As women, we have the natural instinct to protect children, and being consecrated we are called to live our lives as “the presence of Christ’s charity in the midst of humanity,” to sow hope, and to bring new life in the contexts of poverty and marginalization that our globalized world places before our eyes.
As consecrated women, we, therefore, have much to offer to our suffering humanity, and we do this together, by creating “sorority”, forming networks of communion and collaboration that will give us incisiveness and strength, and keep us from falling prey to the temptation of staying away from the wounds of Christ:
“Sometimes we are tempted to be that kind of Christian who keeps the Lord’s wounds at arm’s length. Yet Jesus wants us to touch human misery, to touch the suffering flesh of others. He hopes that we will stop looking for those personal or communal niches which shelter us from the maelstrom of human misfortune and instead enter into the reality of other people’s lives and know the power of tenderness. Whenever we do so, our lives become wonderfully complicated and we experience intensely what it is to be a people, to be part of a people.” EG 270.
Dr. Angela Rinaldi
The migratory experience and human development of unaccompanied minors
In terms of human development, the migration of unaccompanied minors can be described as a profound educational process. A real awareness of this can lead the people who find themselves dealing with this phenomenon to understand the multifaceted nature of the process of minors’ development. It is a matter of a real “transition from less than human conditions to truly human ones”, as Paul VI affirms. Migration represents this “movement” from less humane to more humane conditions at a physical, psychological, and social level. This concept of development has a strong impact on the person and on all the areas of the social structure, to the extent that the social actors, freed from the “scapegoat” mindset, are able to contribute to their own development and to that of the society in which they live.
Sr. Pat Murray, IBVM
Imagining Leadership in A Global Community
Our communities and congregations are nodal points of a much larger canvas of cultural, historical, and economical dynamics. What happens in one part of the world, or in one congregation or in one part of the congregation, reflects the whole and speaks on behalf of the whole. With that global perspective we begin to realise that the “luxurious diversity” within religious life and our connectivity across the world can make a significant impact. The networks and inter-congregational projects that are emerging today speak prophetically of the oneness of humankind. Many times, in South Sudan the local people – though very grateful for the many ways in which their needs were being met – repeatedly ask the religious living among them “how do you from so many different tribes live together?” This is why it is important to work together and with others in order to learn how to live interculturally, to confronting prejudice and racism and our ethnocentric attitudes and behaviours.
Sr. Anna Sanchez Boira, MHSFN
Sisters in Sororal Communion in and for the World in the 21st Century
Sororal communion in the feminine apostolic religious life is a prophetic sign. The charisms in communion are an expression of the wealth of the Gospel, of the mystery of Christ that each Institute is called to spread by the grace of the Spirit. God evangelizes with us and through us. Now, this is the challenge of apostolic life: to live in the world as sisters and brothers while, in the communion of charisms, announcing the Gospel and making it credible for our time.