Sisters discuss ways to flourish, preserve sacred stories

By Peter Finney Jr.
Clarion Herald

The Loyola Institute for Ministry (LIM) has received a $545,000 grant for a three-year collaboration that will offer religious women in the Archdiocese of New Orleans and across the Gulf South not only theological and spiritual formation but also a platform to preserve and share their stories of faith and religious life.

Through its Catholic Sisters Initiative, the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation has earmarked four grants for LIM since 2014. The first three grants were used to provide theological education, spiritual formation and leadership development for and with Catholic sisters in the U.S., Asia and Africa.

The latest program, “Flourishing Sisterhood: Nourishing Communities in the Gulf South,” will allow 60 sisters to study in learning communities with LIM and earn a certificate in spirituality, with a focus on spirituality and aging.

Looking to preserve stories

Beyond that, the grant will encourage sisters – especially older members of various congregations – to share their stories of faith and religious life that otherwise might have been lost.

The plan, said Sarah DeMarais, grant manager for LIM’s Hilton-funded projects, is to share those stories in print and on social media, and also have sisters share their personal vocation stories through a podcasting platform that can be accessed anywhere in the world.

DeMarais said the four-course certificate curriculum in practical theology, spirituality and aging, will include a “storytelling” component. It will be offered in small learning groups and could start as early as the fall of 2023.

“We’ve had so many beautiful and fruitful conversations with local sisters, and over and over, we heard the concern expressed about not just surviving, but thriving and flourishing,” DeMarais said. “What would it mean for sisters to really flourish here in New Orleans and throughout the Gulf South?

“Something I heard from several sisters was, ‘We give and we give, and sometimes we forget to receive or we forget to take care of ourselves. We forget about our own flourishing because we’re focused outward in service.’”

DeMarais said she heard “so many rich stories” about sisters’ vocations, lives and ministries that they need to be told.

“Hilton affirmed this in funding this project,” DeMarais said. “They said stories from this area are nationally important. Stories are evidence of heroism and mission in action, and part of flourishing is telling these stories and sharing them with one another.”

The 60 sisters who participate in the LIM certificate program will complete final projects that will include telling their stories, DeMarais said.

“We also want to capture and amplify sisters’ stories in their own voices, so we’re going to develop a podcast,” she said. “Our hope is to identify some beautiful and inspiring stories and record sisters sharing those stories. Their communities will have a vault of stories.”

Chart a course for office

Dr. Tom Ryan, interim vice president of mission and ministry at Loyola, said another focus of the grant will be to help the archdiocesan Office of Religious with a survey of women religious to discern their hopes and desires and also set a future plan for her office. That process started last month when Mount Carmel Sister Beth Fitzpatrick, executive director of the office, gathered a dozen sisters to talk about how they view the concept of “flourishing.”

One sister said her definition of “flourishing” was “a joyful energy expressing itself in new impulses for growth, rooted in our legacy.” One sister said that even elderly religious, despite their physical limitations, have the capacity to serve others through prayer or by reading books to another sister who may have lost her vision or to a child who is learning to read.

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