MIC mission news, 1 janvier 2005, Janvier - Mars

TAé VftUàùMty listers ùC t(u JpuimficiAjtfite Cùnceptïùn JANUARY - FEBRUARY - MARCH 2005 « % .Ÿ:f2 WW ,» I mms< ;,v# #¦ %m‘ r .< %, £ k I yf" •4H, Christianity and the Environment 25 years of/M/C Association WYD 2005: It's a go! -, Contents Vol.32, No.i January - February - March 2005 Editorial [3] Planet Earth, a Territory for Mission Missionary Humour [61 Elementary, my Dear! Discovering New Horizons [191 Dawn of a New Life [22] In the Throes of an Ecological Crisis, Does Being Christian Change Anything?[8] Louis Vaillancourt Chief Seattle's 1854 Oration [12] An Oasis in a Concrete Jungle [14] Pauline Yuen, m.i.c.Cultivating Dignity in Haiti [16] Interview with Sylvie Ouellet [COLUMNS] [FOCUS ON] [FEATURES] rt An Innovative Spiritual Connection?[4] Paulette Gagné, m.i.c.You've Got Mail! [7l A Time for Listening, Murielle Dubé, m.i.c The Malagasy Prince, Yolaine Lavoie, m.i.c.WYD 2005 [20] A Breath of Life, Badeea Butrus, c.Ss.R.A Gust of Fresh Air, Kai Knorpp MIC Mission News since 1923 Mission magazine published by the Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Conception OFFICES 120 PLACE JUGE-DESNOYERS LAVAL (QUEBEC) CANADA H7G 1 A4 Phone: (450) 663-6460 Fax: (450) 972-1512 E-mail: micmissionnews@pressemic.org Web Site: www.soeurs-mic.qc.ca DIRECTRESS OF PUBLICATION Paulette Gagné, m.i.c.EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Marie-Eve Homier ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT Carole Guévin TRANSLATION & EDITING Marie-Eve Homier, Regina Farrell PROMOTION Antoinette Castonguay, m.i.c.Mila Gomez, m.i.c.CIRCULATION Alma Couture, m.i.c., Thi Hien Duong ACCOUNTING Thérèse Déziel, m.i.c.LAYOUT & DESIGN Yves Demers Paris FILM STRIPPING Film-0-Progrès Inc.PRINTING Transcontinental Inc.COVER Tea plantation in the province of Thai Nguyen in Vietnam, Gaby Breton EDITORIAL BOARD Monique Bigras.m.i.c., André Gadbois, Josée Martineau, Pauline Williams, m.i.c.TAX RECEIPT Registration Number: NE89346 9585 RR0001 Presse missionnaire MIC LEGAL DEPOSITS Bibliothèque nationale du Québec, National Library of Canada ISSN 0315-9655 SUBSCRIPTIONS For any change of address, please send your old and new addresses.When renewing subscription, include your file number.MAIL-PUBLICATIONS CONVENTION NUMBER: 40064029 REGISTRATION NUMBER: 9645 Missionary intentions Planet Earth, a Territory for Mission For the first time in history, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded in 2004 to an environmentalist! Kenyan "tree planter" Wangari Maathai, whose work is slowing down the African continent's desertification, considers that there are "connections between peace and the environment when the scarcity of resources such as oil, water, minerals or wood are at the heart of disputes." Examples for this are many.For instance the Israeli-Palestinian tensions, the crisis in Us" stands for Carole Guévin, administrative assistant, Paulette Gagné, m.i.c., directress of publication, and Marie-Eve Homier, editor-in-chief.The above are only a few recent examples to show that when caring for our planet's health, we also tackle issues of peace, democracy, and lasting development.Currently, 20% of the Earth's inhabitants live on a grand scale.taking advantage of the other 80%.Is that not a great source of tension, conflict and suffering?Given that the common good is a central value of Christian faith, should we not be asking ourselves in what ways do the environmental problems raise special concerns for us who are baptized?What is our share of responsibility and what hope can we bring to the world?Of course, many before us have spoken words of wisdom from which we can benefit.Others have invented creative solutions in response to the universal crisis.We present here a few examples, so that we may be inspired to be innovative too.Darfour, and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are all related to the scarcity of hotly disputed natural resources.Furthermore, the Coulombe Commission confirmed last December that Quebec's forests are overexploited.Its daring propositions appear as nothing short of a small revolution in modern-day forestry.Concurrently, February 16, 2005 became a landmark day for the world when the Kyoto Agreements finally came into force 7 years after the end of negotiations.Speaking of creation.Surely you have noticed that MIC Mission News is turning over a new leaf.We are replacing the previous team whom we dearly acknowledge for their excellent work.Filled with enthusiasm and guided by the Spirit, we promise to offer you an inspiring magazine that can nourish your faith and kindle your commitments in the world.We even mustered up a bonus section: flip to our new humour column! JANUARY May the Lord continue to call holy and selfless men and women eager to proclaim the Gospel.FEBRUARY May missionaries grow in fervent love, indispensable for proclaiming the Gospel with conviction.MARCH May local Churches realize the nee to form Christians to face the challenges of new evangelization.However, the revitalization of MIC Mission News has only begun.Therefore, please share your comments with us regarding the improvements we hope to bring to your magazine! A few minutes of your time can make a great difference to us.May the Holy Spirit guide our hearts and steps in the great adventure of mission! NB: Please note our new email address: micmissionnews@pressemic.ora Tie ‘VftiiiïtMty Asters tie HtumeitHleite Gtmcept'itn [3] Sophie Caron * i\j) illlUJOT a * * 'J f ¦‘in» Most religious Institutes — the newer ones as well as the older — are launching out into special relationships with Christian groups: associated lay people, Third Orders, evangelical life groups or other forms of membership.This is something unexpected, unforeseen1.A great effort to develop these ties further has been underway.re-examination of the current forms of alliances between lay people and consecrated people and the ties that bind them.Strengthening Links The symposium's theme was Linking lay and consecrated people: an innovative spiritual connection?For a deeper understanding ofthis overlap, let us take a look at the ways Associates are being defined.Who are they?Whom shave they associated with?Are they mere observers?Imitators of religious life?Consumers following in religious people's wake?Spare wheels?Satellites orbiting around our Institutes?Are they not just people thirsty for Jesus Christ and who are discovering new ways to live their faith together with their consecrated sisters and brothers?Lay people possessing unexpected richness that they alone can contribute?ith a view toward exploring these new challenges, a symposium was organized by the Manresa Spiritual Centre, the Canadian Religious Conference and Laval University's Faculty of Theology and Religious Sciences, on November 27 and 28, 2004 on the Notre-Dame-de-Foy Campus in Cap-Rouge, Québec.This symposium was intended for theological reflection as well as for a A little history Sophie Tremblay, professor at the Dominican Pastoral Institute, illuminated our thinking with a brief historical overview.During the first decades of the history of Christianity, everyone shared the same spirituality founded on baptismal faith and the gifts of the Holy Spirit.As early as the end of the first millennium, the development of a hierarchy of the states in life was beginning.The result was a profound and lasting deval- Paulette Gagné, m.i.c.uation of baptism and the life led by the lay people was relegated to cultural, spiritual and moral inferiority.This legacy still marks the relationships between religious and lay people today.The eleventh century marks the beginning of a spiritual awakening among lay people and a transformation of religious life.The rediscovery, in the Acts of the Apostles, of the life led by the first community in Jerusalem awakened in men and women of that era a great desire to walk into the footsteps of the early Church.This return to the source resulted in new forms of religious life, and also in innovative ways of life that hybridized religious and secular life.Lay people found it possible to live an intense spiritual life, but the positive value of secular state in life was not necessarily recognized yet.From the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries, the Protestant Reformation and the Council of Trent significantly influenced the relationship between religious and secular life.New confraternities emerged in the wake of religious communities or aposto-lates.Similarly, groups whose form resembled that of secular orders appeared.The foundation of the Church in New France is a perfect example of the remarkable growth of the associations experienced during those times.However, the distinction between lay and consecrated people seemed to have been maintained more clearly and firmly.It seems legitimate to wonder how lay [4] T/U Idiîsûcyutry inters ttie ]mtu-At: ulate Qinciÿt'ttn H—ntini n i people could envision their faith life differently than a mere imitation of religious life.The nineteenth and the early twentieth centuries were filled with the preceding centuries' gains.However, in the 1930s the promotion of the laity and a growing acknowledgement of the positive theological and spiritual value of secularity was beginning.The Second Vatican Council marks a shift towards an ecclesiology of communion.The call to sanctity of all baptized persons is affirmed in the concilliar document Lumen Gentium.In other respects, religious life has been going through a period of transformation and reflection for half a century.Moreover, new communities are emerging, among which some tend to further deconstruct the distinctions between religious and secular life.As during the Middle Ages, the recent innovations spring not so much from a superficial submission to the spirit of the times but rather from a will to live the Gospel in the most authentic way possible.Gathering around the charisms of founders Wishing to live the Gospel in depth and in different ways, some lay people have felt the desire to share the charism, mission and spirituality of this or that founder or foundress.Dominican Rick van Lier reminds us that a "charism is a gift from God, linked to the action of the Spirit, and given to a person in view of the edification of the Body of Christ, the Church." Hence, lay people are called out by the Spirit to live the charism of one or another religious family.The variety of these gifts presents a range of choices to those Christians who wish to live communion within the same gift.Since lay people are invited to live only for a common activity, can the charism of the founder, it goes once again find the just rela-without saying that both conse- tionships of communion and a crated and lay people are heirs to renewed experience of evangeli-this same charism.This gift was cal communion and mutual received for the growth of the charismatic esteem resulting in a people of God and hence belongs complementarity which respects to them.This is what the the differences." Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life hold in the docu-mi "T foi has ^cven ks eve rytfàyufo, even Al& ùi-v-n ùn, Aùùv c an tye pay Him 6 at kb tFrcrm, that c ame tAe tAank&^ivin^ spirith.' atity vvkùse struxee ties in an awareness the treeteaiven tùve fit the brother \ thrfiaah Oreaiiün and i&eveCatifin.ÏÔétia Tétreautt ?en born of the Spirit for the >od of all, must once again be aced at the centre of the been born of the Spirit for the good of all, must once again be placed at the centre of the Church, open to the communion and participation by all the People of God, is being increasingly dis- Spirituality and mission covered." For a number of consecrated peo- Furthermore, this communion has made them choose it.To this implies from both sides a lasting day, lay people feel attracted to commitment, attachment to the charitable works, missionary founder or foundress, welcoming works or other kinds of works.The of the Spirit who forever creates deeper their knowledge of the new things, and great love of the Institute, the greater is the awak-Church.The above-mentioned ening of their desire to share not document emphasizes this, only the Institute's mission, but its "Communion and mutuality in spirituality as well, the Church are never one way streets.In this new climate of innovative connections ecclesial communion, priests, reli- In spite of a desire for commu-gious and laity, far from ignoring nion, progress is mixed with hesi-each other or coming together tation.Minds are slow to change.people could envision their faith life differently than a mere imitation of religious life.The nineteenth and the early twentieth centuries were filled with the preceding centuries' gains.However, in the 1930s the promotion of the laity and a growing acknowledgement of the positive theological and spiritual value of secularity was beginning.The Second Vatican Council marks a shift towards an ecclesiology of communion.The call to sanctity of all baptized persons is affirmed in the concilliar document Lumen Gentium.In other respects, religious life has been going through a period of transformation and reflection for half a century.Moreover, new communities are emerging, among which some tend to further deconstruct the distinctions between religious and secular life.As during the Middle Ages, the recent innovations spring not so much from a superficial submission to the spirit of the times but rather from a will to live the Gospel in the most authentic way possible.Gathering around the charisms of founders Wishing to live the Gospel in depth and in different ways, some lay people have felt the desire to share the charism, mission and spirituality of this or that founder or foundress.Dominican Rick van Lier reminds us that a "charism is a gift from God, linked to the action of the Spirit, and given to a person in view of the edification of the Body of Christ, the Church." Hence, lay people are called out by the Spirit to live the charism of one or another religious family.The variety of these gifts presents a range of choices to those Christians who wish to live communion within the same gift.The yiXi&i'itrnmy A'ntiti tki L/twint:uidtc 3bnccft'ltn [5] It is a constant challenge, requiring flexibility and humility, for consecrated people to avoid distinguishing themselves from lay people and to give them full credibility and a place of their own.We must welcome together the Holy Spirit's surprises and establish bonds that are fruitful for all, in a changing and questioning Church.The various religious Institutes have given themselves diverse and particular structures; they will now have to create new means to allow everyone to have a voice.Little by little, the face of the Church is transforming from with- in.A great many Christians are unaware of these trends toward association.Nonetheless, new organisms spring forth here and there, filled with hope, inspired by the same Spirit who has touched the founders and foundresses.Our Institute's Associates The symposium's invitation letter had several questions that attracted our attention: What is your Institute's history of association with lay people?What is the originality of your group's association with regards to your Institute's spirituality?In our MIC Mission News magazine No.4, 2003, an article outlined our Institute's Associates, also known as ASMIC throughout the world.In Canada, they will be celebrating their 25 anniversary this year.It is a timely moment to look back at the road travelled together and to further reflect with the Sisters upon the richness and opportunity of sharing a common charism in order that we achieve the best possible connection.May this 25th anniversary see us all begin anew with the liveliness of Mary of the Visitation!^ NB:The Acts of the Symposium will appear in the "Cahiers de spiritualité ignatienne", June 2005, No.113.Eie^eirfary, iwy ruiTy A'ntcfi ct^ the HMm-Aculnte 3t>neefjt'icrn [17] 4 that the spoken word has an immense creative power?God said, "Let there be light" and there was light.(Genesis, 1:3) If my word is the only thing that belongs to me so completely that no one could ever take it away from me, than that is who I am.I am my word.When I ask them "Who are you?" and they answer: / am a peasant.lama human being.I own the most important thing: my word.I do have potential in the end.lam worthy of this.they declare things so powerful that they are transformed by them.Self-respect, that is, a respect for one's own word, emerges.Logically, respect for another person's word ensues, as well as respect for one's possessions, work, properties, environment, health, etc." In response to the floods, Sylvie thought up these "living barriers" to deflect the rainwater's course.Fruit trees were planted on them so that their roots would hold back the soil and their fruits would feed the population.This philosophy of the word honoured as oneself stifles violence effectively.For example, during the political unrest in the spring of 2004, Sylvie's teachings somewhat tempered the surge of looting and bloody attacks in her area."What Haiti lacks most is trust in other people, in one's own neigh- bour.As long as that problem is not solved, we won't be going anywhere.The solution starts by education and renewing respect for giving one's word.We must come back to the source, quit telling lies and speaking carelessly, and honour our word."^ k