“Pillow Talk” for a Pandemic
November 13, 2020
Sister Eleanore Furnman, OSF, 1935-2020
November 24, 2020
After a difficult election season, the Sisters of St. Francis of Sylvania, along with the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) recognize it is time for us to take up the twin tasks of reconciliation and healing. In these challenging times it is critically important that we break through that which divides us one from another, repair fractured relationships and reclaim our essential unity.
The people of this pluralistic nation form a diverse community characterized by different beliefs, experiences, and interests. We know that our differences can be our greatest strengths; our disagreements, opportunities to seek the truth. Our challenge is to embrace those differences and together seek the common good lest we rend the bonds that unite us.
Now is the time to make space in our hearts and our communities for the needs and concerns of all God’s people, the undocumented mother, the Midwest farmer, the unemployed steel-worker, the suburban business woman, and the children and elders consigned to live in poverty. It is time to tear down the barriers which divide us by gender, race, class, geography, lifestyle, ideology, political party, and religious belief and to make room in our body politic for all who have been disaffected, disenfranchised, and discarded.
Our task is to make room at the table for every voice and every vision.
We thank those who turned out in record numbers to exercise their right to vote in a peaceful and respectful way. Their clear commitment to this democratic experiment of ours bodes well for the success of the difficult task that lies ahead.
We know that the work will be slow and arduous, and yet with Catholic sisters across this nation we renew our commitment to exercise courage in the face of injustice, fear and division. We will not shrink from the challenge before us to protect the sacredness of all human life, to dismantle white supremacy, welcome the stranger, care for creation, and to stand with those who have been exploited and marginalized by our throwaway culture.
We promise once again to be the healing presence of God. We pledge to hold the needs and concerns of all in the heart of a loving and ever faithful God. We recommit ourselves to the sacred task of building the Beloved Community of which Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke so eloquently and we invite all people of good will to join us.
The Leadership Team
In support of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR)
