In this issue
- VIDEO: Our Provincial Chapter is Here!
- A Deeper Integration of Charism
- VIDEO: The Passionist Way with Paul Wadell
- What Does it Mean to be Anti-Racist
- A Moment of Synodality
- Join Us for our Final Walk with Us Thursday
- Prayer for the 36th Provincial Chapter
Our Passionist Family: The Call of the Charism
Our Passionist Charism knows no bounds, calls us to remember our interconnectedness and compels us beyond our comfort zones to seek justice with love.
Visit the Chapter Website
A Deeper Integration of Charism
By Phil Paxton, CP
Early in our Chapter preparation process, Fr. Jim Strommer, C.P., shared with us the consideration of our upcoming Chapter as a “formation” Chapter. It would not be a Chapter along the lines of Chapters in the past where decisions were made that were to be implemented by leadership. At the same time, it would not be the same as the last Chapter, where visioning was the driving force and action steps were discussed and considered.
No, this Chapter would hopefully lead us into a deeper integration of our Passionist Charism, our identity as a Passionist Family and our awareness of important issues such as care for our common home, cultural and racial diversity and equity, migration and the plight of millions of migrants and shared leadership, all within the context of Synodality.
Now what I just wrote can seem like a mouthful of buzzwords and trendy jargon. But these terms speak to us about the situations of real people, including ourselves. It is important for me to realize that formation is not divorced from visioning, nor is it isolated from making important decisions. Formation informs how we look at the world and what is going on in our times. It informs our vision and our discernment. Formation informs not only the decisions we may make, but how they are made, and with whom.
If I am honest with myself, I know that I am not perfectly formed. A Chapter meeting, no matter how profound and meaningful it may be, will not complete my formation, but I hope it will help me, and help us, to continue to grow.
I hope to continue to grow in understanding what it means to be Passionist. I hope to continue to be open to learning from my brother and sister Passionists, both vowed and lay. I hope to be open to learning from the people with whom I work, and those whom I am called to serve. And I hope to be open to learn from any source of education and formation that may come my way. I do not believe I am unique in this. My apologies if this all sounds trite and obvious.
May our Chapter help keep us on the path where the Holy Spirit is leading us.
The Passionist Way with Paul Wadell
Paul Wadell give the history and evolution of The Passionist Way.
What Does it Mean to be Anti-Racist
Compiled from an Article by Anna North June 3, 2020, VOX and Ibram X. Kendi TED Talk
Remember Amy Cooper, a white woman, who called the police on Christian Cooper, a black man who was bird watching in New York’s Central Park, because he asked her to put her dog on a leash. He videoed her saying “I’m going to tell them there’s an African American man threatening my life.” The video went viral.
When she made a public apology, she began by saying “I’m not a racist.” Maybe that’s likely what most of us would say, especially if we have just done something racist.
Ibram X. Kendi, Director of the Antiracist Research and Policy Center at American University, wrote a book entitled “How to Be an Anti-racist,” published in 2019. In it he states, “The opposite of ‘racist’ isn’t ‘not racist,’” he writes. “It is ‘antiracist.’”
The term itself has come to be used to describe what it means to actively fight against racism rather than passively claim to be non-racist. Anti-racism involves taking stock of and eradicating policies that are racist, that have racist outcomes and making sure that ultimately, we’re working towards a much more egalitarian, emancipatory society.
A Moment of Synodality
By Bob Choiniere, Chapter Facilitator
In just a few weeks, members of the Passionist Family will meet in Sierra Madre, California for the 36th Provincial Chapter meeting. Those gathered at the Chapter will engage in critical conversations about our charism, the call of the gospel and the signs of our times and the way we are being called to stand with the crucified in our world. But these conversations will not begin at the Chapter meeting. In fact, they have been occurring for many months. The Chapter will be the culminating moment of a much larger conversation that has been unfolding in the province for the past few years. Most recently, each Thursday this Spring, members of the Passionist Family have come together to listen and engage one another around future leaderships, migration, diversity, the environment and our Passionist Way.
Tomorrow, Thursday, June 1 (12:00 p.m. PT, 2:00 p.m. CT, 3:00 p.m. ET), we will take a moment to savor and gather the graces of all of these conversations and together discern what the Holy Spirit might be calling us to as we move ever closer to Chapter.
The meeting on June 1 will be a time to name what continues to resonate with you as you reflect on the Thursday conversations and to name the way that the Holy Spirit might be calling us to respond as a community of faith. In a word, it will be a moment of Synodality. We believe that the Holy Spirit resides in the hearts of every member of the Passionist Family. When we come together to listen and reflect, we participate in a collaborative effort to articulate the Holy Spirit’s call. Every person, every prophetic voice, every listening ear is needed. Therefore, I would like to invite you to attend the culminating meeting on June 1 and be part of the journey to discern what God’s desire is for us as we seek to authentically respond to God’s call.
Join us for Our Final Walk with Us Thursday
Walk with Us Thursdays Zoom Link
June 1 Preparing for Chapter
12:00 p.m. PT
2:00 p.m. CT
3:00 p.m. ET
Recordings of previous Walk with Us Thursdays
are available on the Chapter website.
Dios Amoroso,
We thank you, for You have led us
to grow together in the Passionist Way.
You have called us, not only as individuals,
but together as a Passionist Family,
juntos como hermanos y hermanas,
to recognize more and more the crucified of today.
We hold in our hearts and minds
all of crucified creation: migrants and refugees,
and those beset by poverty and violence, systemic racism,
injustice and oppression, pain and distress.
As we prepare for our upcoming Provincial Chapter,
keep us forever on the path we pray.
Help us to continue to hear the cries of the crucified,
as we work together as the visionaries You have called us to be.
Foster in us the leadership required to meet the needs of our times.
May whatever conclusions we draw, whatever actions we take,
be done en el amor de Cristo Crucificado, and in His name, we pray.
Amen.
Holy Cross Province
2023 Chapter
June 8-13, 2023
Sierra Madre, California
All materials for Chapter can be found
on the Chapter 2023 website at https://passionist.org/chapter2023/