Josephite Associates Gathering 2005
Report
A Josephite Associates Gathering was held at Mary MacKillop Place, North Sydney, on the weekend of 8th – 10th April 2005.
This gathering, which included both Sisters and Associates from various
Provinces, was organized and hosted by the Congregational Leadership Team (CLT).
It was facilitated by Br Michael Dyer cfc and Sr Monica Cavanagh rsj. This gathering was very energising!
The theme of the weekend was Behold the New…A Story in the Making (Isaiah 43:19).
Painting and Mantra
To help us focus on our theme, we had a marvellous painting and mantra. The painting was The Planting, by Sandra Bierman
The mantra was written by Mary Southwood (Queensland), and the music was composed by Sr Christina Neunzerling ( NZ) for our gathering:
How precious the smallest life
the most fragile flower,
the tiniest star,
the tender hope for peace,
the treasure in our hearts
Who Attended
There were representatives from New South Wales, New Zealand, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria and Western Australia.
Scotland was also represented, by two Sisters who will be establishing a house there in May.
It was a great opportunity to meet each other and find out what is happening elsewhere. Various representatives gave presentations, highlighting some of the initiatives of their Provinces.
Questions to Ponder
During the weekend, we pondered the following questions:
What does it mean to be a member of a religious congregation that is involved in an Associate relationship?
What does it mean to be an Associate in relation to a religious congregation?
From the experience of your relationship what are the areas of mutuality, complementarity, difference, tension and conflict?
• What do you feel are appropriate boundaries?
Keynote Speakers
There were keynote presentations by Sisters Katrina Brill (Congregational Leader), Sr Maria Casey and Sr Mary Cresp.
Sr Katrina Brill posed some key questions for us all at the beginning of the weekend, and refocused us on these questions throughout the weekend:
• Who are we?
• What do we say about ourselves?
• What are we on about?
• Who do we stand with?
• Who is with us? Who are we with?
• How do we organize ourselves for today and the future?
Katrina also drew our attention to some of the words of Pope John Paul II about ecclesial movements, where “both Religious and lay need to rethink and re-experience the charism at the radical level of baptized believers.” This leads to refoundation, which “requires that all those who experience a particular way of falling in love with Christ and becoming passionately engaged in mission need to rethink it simultaneously and from different point of view.” As the Sisters and Associates simultaneously explore our calling, both together and separately, we can move forward, working separately and together, to:
• Clarify our separate expressions as Religious and laity of our common baptismal call.
• Identify our shared mission as Josephites.
• Explore what formation we can share around our Josephite charism and spirituality.
 Sr Maria Casey spoke to us about the canonical basis of being Associates, covering the following areas:
• The basis in Canon Law
• John Paul II in Vita consecrata
• Charism—an expression of the incarnational principle
• Incarnating the charism
• Ways of participating in the life of the Congregation
• Association of the Faithful
o Public Association
o Private Association
• Implications for Josephite Associates
Maria’s talk provided a good grounding in the canonical and juridical aspects that both the Congregation and Associates need to consider as we develop into new ways of living our call within the charism of Blessed Mary MacKillop. Something that really brought all of this to life for me was Maria’s definition of consecration as a dance of the Spirit, involving call, response and acceptance.
 Sr Mary Cresp spoke on the theme of “Behold the New”, looking at the connections between those who share in the spirit which drives the Sisters of St Joseph. Mary looked at charism, which is:
• a gift of the Spirit
• given to persons
• and taken up by a group
• to carry out the mission of Jesus
• having characteristics in the way of being and serving
• which mirror a particular experience of God in our world.
The Josephite charism that we share as Sisters and Associates is present in other groups throughout the world, such as:
• Le Puy Sisters of St Joseph, founded in France in 1650 and spread to other countries
• Sisters of St Joseph of Rochester, and their Agregés
• Sisters of St Joseph of Buffalo, and their Associates
• Sisters of St Joseph of Baden, and their Associates
• Perthville Sisters of St Joseph, and their Associates
• Josephite Community Aid
The Josephite charism is incarnational: ordinary, roll-your-sleeves-up approach, hospitality, practicality, being with the other, simplicity, humility, serving God in the neighbour. These characteristics are not exclusive to Josephites, but they are ours! In what practical, creative ways can we foster the Josephite charism so that this movement enables the Church community to be alive with the fullness of the Spirit?
Group Dynamics
There was a lot of enlivening energy produced in our sessions. This was so strong that the staff of Anderledy Lodge commented on the energy flowing forth from our gathering place, the Tenison Room. As well as gathering in one big group, we also gathered at various times in smaller groups:
Groups with a representative from each Province for cross-fertilisation of ideas
 Single-Province groups looked at ways forward in the living of our Josephite charism
Sunday Eucharist
On Saturday evening we celebrated our Sunday Eucharist in the Mary MacKillop Chapel, with Fr Lex Keys CP as our celebrant. We gathered first around Mary’s tomb.
We then followed the book of the Gospel into the main chapel in procession, pausing at intervals to sing our Gospel refrain:
We come to share our story
We come to break the bread,
We come to know our rising from the dead.
(David Haas)
This was indeed what we were doing on this weekend. Most appropriately, given our weekend theme, the Gospel for that Sunday was the Emmaus story.
Josephite Panel
After our Mass on Saturday evening, we met a panel of people involved in living some other aspects of the Josephite charism:
• East Timor Mission
• Josephite Community Aid
• The Symposium
• Mount St Joseph’s College
• St Anthony’s Home
In their sharing and the folowing discussion we came to a new appreciation of the charism we have in common and express in so many different ways.
The Museum Experience
On Sunday morning, Sr Monica Cavanagh led us on a pilgrimage through the Museum, giving us the opportunity to link our stories, both individually and communally, into Mary MacKillop’s story. This was a powerful experience, and it was the first visit to the Museum for some of us.
Towards the end of our Museum pilgrimage, while we were gathered outside before going into Alma Cottage, we could hear the Celtic Alleluia sounding forth from the congregation at Mass in the Mary MacKillop Chapel. For me, this was a perfect note of joy as we continued our journey: both the journey of this energizing weekend and the ongoing journey of our lives. It also wove the Celtic strand of Mary’s heritage and ours into various strands of the journey.
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