1 Mercy Connection • August/September 2012

August/September 2012

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Sister Taryn Stark Takes First VowsWhen Sister Taryn Stark professed First Vows as a Sister of Mercy on July 14, she came full circle on her Mercy journey. As a young girl in 1978, she was baptized in the same Mercy Chapel where this month she pronounced her vows of poverty, chastity, obedience, and service to the poor, sick, and uneducated. “The celebration of Taryn’s first vows was a joyful event for the entire Community,” said Sister Judith Frikker, president of the West Midwest Community.

The profession ceremony, with presider Father Richard Menatsi, executive director of IMBISA, Inter-Regional Meeting of the Bishops of Southern Africa, included others important to Taryn’s entrance of religious life: novitiate minister Sister Rayleen Giannotti, long-time family friends Sisters Barbara Cavanaugh and Rose Davis, and witnesses Sister Cindy Kaye and Sister Genemarie Beegan. Her mother, Ruth Stark, was present as were her nephews, Michael and Stephen Stark.

After the ceremony, Taryn glowed with happiness. “The immense joy I feel inside and from the Mercy Community can only be a grace from God,” she said. “I couldn’t stop smiling. You could feel the joy and the energy in the room. I felt so loved. Nothing else can affirm one's calling more than that.”

Taryn’s journey in religious life formally began when she became a candidate in 2008, but her Mercy roots

Meet Luz Eugenia AlvarezThe Sisters of Mercy West Midwest Community came to-gether in celebration and prayer on July 29 as they welcomed the Community’s newest candidate, Luz Eugenia Alvarez of Chicago, IL. The event, attended by over 130 people includ-ing sisters from throughout the WMW Community and Institute, associates, family, friends and several students from Saint Xavier University, was held in the Mercy Chapel at Mercy Convent in Chicago. Luz now begins two years as a candidate in the West Midwest Community, a period of exploration and preparation for liv-

ing life as a sister. However, Luz is quite familiar with religious life. She was a vowed member of Sisters of the Cross of the

Sacred Heart of Jesus, a cloistered community in Mexico, from 1984 until 2005. She left the Sisters of the Cross in search of an apostolic religious community that would allow her to follow her passion to minis-ter directly with people.

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Candidate Luz Alvarez and Sister Kathleen McClelland

2 Mercy Connection • August/September 2012

Sister Taryn, cont.

are much deeper. “The sisters have always been a presence in my life,” says Taryn. As a young mother in graduate school, Ruth visited the campus frequently, bringing her small daughter with her. When Ruth became a Catholic in 1978, Taryn was baptized at the same Mass officiated by Father Timothy Eden at the Mercy Chapel.

The two traveled all over the world, as Ruth worked with the World Health Organization in Fiji and Catholic Relief Services in South Africa. Wherever they went, Ruth sought out the Sisters of Mercy. Taryn spent her high school years in three continents and, after graduating from Whittier College in California, returned to South Africa. She first worked in a bank with “zero satisfaction." She took a position as a finance officer with the South African Catholic Bishops Conference. There she met sisters, priests and lay people she admired.

Feeling that she wanted to give her life more deeply to working with the poor, but convinced she was too old for religious life at 35, she googled the Sisters of Mercy. “I went to a web link that invited me: ‘Come and See for ages 18 to 40!’ It was a huge thing,” she said, “not just a light bulb, but a huge stadium lit up, knowing I can still do this. I went through a discernment process, but I knew at that moment.”

From then on, Taryn felt ready for religious life. She was in residence at the Institute of the Sisters of Mercy Novitiate in Laredo, Texas, beginning in 2010. “The novitiate experience was far beyond my expectations,” she said. “I learned so much about vows, the Church, and history. It affirmed my calling.”

During her apostolic year, her ministry was working at the Sister M. Philippa Health Center Clinic at St. Mary’s Medical Center, and at Mercy High School San Francisco with Campus Minister Dr. Rita Cutarelli.

She is delighted that a position as Mercy High School San Francisco registrar is her first ministry as a professed sister. “I really immersed myself in the school,” said Taryn. “It was wonderful to see how the girls know (Mercy founder) Catherine McAuley. You can’t get more Mercy than Mercy High School!”

Luz took two years for careful discernment. She visited the sisters in their houses and ministries, asked questions, and attended the Institute Chapter as a translator last summer where she experienced Mercys’ internationality and diversity. During this time, she learned more about the Mercy critical con-cerns for today’s world, rooted in Catherine McAuley’s commitment to the poor and oppressed. She believes the Sisters of Mercy is a perfect fit. On the invitation of her then fiancé, Luz had attended her first retreat, a retreat that led her to enter religious life. “Since I joined religious life, I wanted to share the fruit of my contemplation with people,” she said. “I am very grateful for what the Sisters of the Cross gave me.” She knows that the woman that she is today has been strongly influenced by her experience in the contemplative community.

Luz, born and raised in Durango City, Durango, Mexico, is the daughter of Jorge (deceased) and Mercedes Alvarez. She is the eighth of nine children. She holds an associate’s degree in science as a chemist food tech-nician. She has ministered in parishes as director of Hispanic ministry, DRE and associate director at the Pastoral Leadership Institute (Instituto de Liderazgo Pastoral) at the Archdiocese of Chicago. Luz is currently studying for a master’s of divinity degree at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago.

Luz, cont.

Ruth Stark (l) and Sister Taryn

Friends Laura and Francisco Rodriguez flank Luz.

Luz's grandnieces Belicia and Guadalupe—future Mercy girls?

3 Mercy Connection • August/September 2012

Do we find time in our schedules to stop, rest, relax, and reflect?

Summer has different meanings for each of us depending on our location, our ministry and our plans for retreat and/or vacation. When I lived in Chile, I would have been quick to remember that August is winter time, and so living in that hemisphere lends a distinct point of view.

For some, summer is time to be outdoors. Sitting on a porch or patio or under a shady tree can be a quiet opportunity for prayer and contemplation. Working in the garden allows one to wonder at the cycle of living things that gives us fruit and flower for our nourishment and delight. Walking along the shore or through forest and field, one can marvel at the beauty and grandeur of God’s creation.

This summer in particular, with its high temperatures and lack of rain in many areas, we are also aware of how much we rely on good weather for a bountiful harvest and healthy lives. The dryness and heat have been a contributing cause to numerous fires in grass lands and forests. Lives and property are in peril. At face value, these events seem beyond our control. Perhaps in the short term this is true. For years though, we have been warned of climate change and its effects on our environment. What will we need as a nation, as habitants of planet Earth, to put into action policies and practices that will reverse this trend?

Our spirits have the same need for nourishment and a good environment. Do we find time in our schedules, which often are so busy, to stop, rest, relax and reflect? Our creation stories tell us that God rested on the seventh day. In the Gospels we hear that Jesus rose early and went to a deserted place where he could pray. His mother Mary pondered all things in her heart. Catherine taught us that contemplation and action are the rhythm of our lives. What are we doing to refresh and renew ourselves, so that we can continue throughout the year in the mission of service to which we are called?

Jesus said to the crowds, “This is how it is with the kingdom of God; it is as if a person were to scatter seed on the land and would sleep and rise night and day and through it all the seed would sprout and grow, she knows not how.” Mark 4: 26-27

In Mercy,

Judith Frikker, RSMfor the WMW Community Leadership Team

4 Mercy Connection • August/September 2012

Mercy Meets Violence on the Road in HaitiBy Sister Mary Waskowiak

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The townspeople were determined to block the road until they got electricity.

West Midwest Sister Mary Waskowiak, along with Mercy Sisters Dale Jarvis, Eileen McDonnell, Betty Scanlon, Karen Schneider and Mercy colleague Andi Healy witnessed first-hand how violence becomes a tool to call attention to broken promises.

These six women are members of the Institute grassroots initiative called Focus on Haiti (FOH), which seeks to find a Mercy response to/with the people of Haiti after the devastation of the 2010 earthquake. The women were delegated by the FOH group to begin focused conversations with the Religious of Jesus and Mary (RJM) in the northwest Haitian town of Gros Morne about what an RJM-RSM partnership might look like. Their story is in first-person, as the experience is still very alive:

We arrived in Gros Morne on June 9 and met RJM Sisters Jackie Picard and Pat Dillon for a two-day intensive meant to explore mutual issues of concern regarding a potential partnership of the two congregations in Haiti. Sister Marilyn Lacey was also in Haiti and participated in our meeting. Under Marilyn’s leadership, Mercy beyond Borders had begun

its scholarship program for young Haitian women in the Gros Morne area in 2011.

On June 12, we said good-bye to our RJM sisters, Jackie and Pat. We got into the van with our Haitian driver, Barack. Three days earlier he had brought us safely from the airport to our destination in four hours. This time our drive came to a halt after an hour.

We had just passed the small town of Cabaret and knew from our previous experience in January that we were in another roadblock. Many cars were already stopped. Other cars that had seen the blockade and made u-turns were zooming past us in the opposite direction. Walking ahead, Barack tried to see what the problem was. He found out that the local citizens had erected the road block because the president of Haiti had not come through on his promise in April 2012 to bring electricity into their area. The townspeople had built multiple blockades through a stretch of road that was the only access to Port-au-Prince, and they were determined to block the road until they got electricity.

We were parked just outside of a compound with a cinder block wall. Almost miraculously a blue sliding door opened in the wall. Barack quickly, with the help of a few men, turned the van around and headed into the compound. Inside, we met about a dozen American church people who were working with Haitian young adults in what appeared to be a summer Bible camp for children. Everyone was on edge because no one really knew what would happen next. All of us could see the black smoke from burning tires.

Within half an hour, the children and most adults left and found safety away from the roadblock. Shortly after the compound had emptied, six Haitian young men returned with a meal of chicken, rice and beans for each of us. They also brought cokes and ice for our drinks. These men eventually turned out to be our guardian angels and friends.

L-R: Sister Betty Scanlon, Mercy Colleague Andi Healy and Sister Karen Schneider, are on the road with one of the "angels" who led them to safety.

The miracle of the blue door

5 Mercy Connection • August/September 2012

Violence in Haiti, cont.

Karen contacted Jimmy, a Haitian friend in Port-au-Prince, who could meet us in his jeep on the other side of the blockade. Two of our young Haitian guardian angels then met with the leaders of the blockade. They said they would allow us to walk into the town and past the blockade, only if a Haitian young man accompanied each one of us. Little did we know this next portion of our journey would be the most dangerous.

And so we started, the men walking beside us, carrying our luggage, and at times holding our hands. They told us often, "Don’t be afraid,” and gave us support for our hearts as well as our bags.

We walked and walked and walked. We walked around tanker trucks that had been burned and turned over sideways. As we got closer to the town, we could see the many strips of jagged, broken bottles and rocks across the road from one

side to the other.

After we had walked for a long time, hoping we would see the end of the town, our angels believed the violence might escalate. They decided to take us off the city street and bypass part of the town by walking in the mountains. Again our angels led us. They held our hands, carried our luggage and back packs and kept saying, “Don’t be afraid.”

While in the hills, we again heard gunfire and wondered when our journey would end. Finally, after about a three-mile walk, we were on the other side of the blockade. We found Jimmy and his jeep. I missed the last flight from Miami to San Francisco and so spent a night at the airport, while three of us were able to get to Philadelphia and Baltimore. The last two spent two additional nights in Port-au-Prince before they were able to fly to New Jersey and Maine.

We later learned the blockade lasted for three days before negotiations were completed.A trip that would normally take four hours, took us eight. The journey taught us another lesson in the struggle of the Haitian people.

Mary captured a photo of the blue gate that allowed the sisters and colleague entrance into the compound and a safety zone.

Sister Mary Waskowiak was quick to make friends with a child in the Bible camp compound.

The angels said, "Don't be afraid."

6 Mercy Connection • August/September 2012

A Band of Sisters Debuts

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The timing in 2012 is serendipitous. Mercy Associate Mary Fishman of Chicago could hardly have known that the debut of her documentary, Band of Sisters, would be during the year the general public was intensely curious about sisters. She began work on the film eight years ago because, “I was angry about stereotypes of nuns, all the untrue impressions of nuns.”

But why does a person begin to follow an idea, respond to a call, rather than just thinking about it at 4 a.m.? Taught by Springfield Dominican Sisters at St. Walter School and the Sisters of Mercy at Mother McAuley Liberal Arts High School, Mary was familiar with women religious. She graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a degree in architecture.

In 2003, Mary had been an architect for 20 years while also getting her graduate degree in urban planning from UCLA’s School of Architecture and Urban Planning. She had worked in Santa Barbara, a city of sunlit adobe and red tile. “I did a lot of work for rich people,” she said. “I felt frustrated because I wasn’t doing anything for the greater good of humanity.”

She took a course on filmmaking and realized, “The instant I touched a piece of film, looked at images, I knew I was meant to do that,” she said. “I loved it.” She read Aging with Grace, the study of nuns and their mental fitness as they age. She began to read the history of nuns and research their institutions and ministries. She began her own spiritual journey on a path that began with a need for social justice.

To begin, Mary called together a focus group of sisters to help her clarify her ideas. Nancy Sylvester, IHM; Carol Coston, OP; Margaret Galiardi, OP; and Mary Daniel Turner, SND, discussed what they felt were important themes for sisters since Vatican II. Mary knew she wanted more than themes. She needed human stories to run through the film as the lives of the sisters opened out to the world.

“I wanted it to be fun,” she said. “I wanted to teach people without their realizing they are being taught.” The efforts toward immigration reform of Sisters Pat M. Murphy and JoAnn Persch, the interfaith rosaries at dawn at the immigrant detention center, their work in the halls of the Illinois legislature, all became part of the narrative threads woven into the larger themes.

She filmed theologian Sister Margaret Brennan, IHM, who traces changes in religious community brought about by Vatican II. As she brings out the emergence of the sisters into a world that needs them, Margaret calls Vatican II’s Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, “a beautiful document with no anathemas in it.” Mary interviewed Sister Lillian Murphy at Englewood Apartments talking about Mercy Housing’s mission and reflecting on the LCWR notification from the Vatican.

Making Band of Sisters has meant devoting herself full-time to the project: 100 hours of filming, raising $100,000 for expenses, and petitioning Broadview officials to let her film

Mary and her camera (Photo by Sister Christian Molidor)

A turning point for Mary

Filming the emergence of sisters into the world

7 Mercy Connection • August/September 2012

JoAnn and Pat going into the detention center. She had left her job, so that meant trying to live on as little as possible. Funding came from, among others, a West Midwest Mercy Ministry Grant, the Sisters of Mercy Agatha O'Brien Ministry Fund, the Illinois Humanities Council and the National Endowment for the Humanities, and 500 individual donors. She collected 50 hours of archival film featuring lines of novices in black and white, newsreels of sisters in street clothes marching in the 1960s, and Sister Theresa Kane confronting Pope John Paul II in 1979.

She found New York-based film editor Bernadine Colish, whose work on a PBS documentary on budget art collectors, Herb and Dorothy, caught her eye. Bernadine led her to composer Miriam Cutler of Los Angeles. With the help of many other professionals, they finished the film in May this year. The next step is to submit "Sisters" to film festivals this fall. One of Mary's goals is to have it shown on PBS. Another goal is to make a version for classrooms.

As she finished her work, the film brought Mary to realize that social justice actions are not enough. The sisters want to change more than laws. They want to change people. “A lot of sisters feel that we have to transform our consciousness if we want to transform the world," she said. "I didn’t anticipate that. It was a revelation to me. Congregations are embracing the idea that we have to change our style of living, thinking we are all one, that Earth is sacred.”

"My interviews with Sisters Miriam Therese MacGillis and Margaret Galiardi have changed my thinking forever.” She sees Miriam’s work on ecology, sustainability and agriculture at Genesis Farm and Margaret’s focus on Earth-based ecospirituality as the way forward.

Her audience is both those who admire sisters and those who know little about the struggle and changes of religious congregations. Making Sisters has been her own journey. “I’m hoping the ideas in film will inspire and transform peoples’ views," she said, perhaps reflecting that they have transformed hers.

Premiere AnnouncedTo the excitement of Mary, her producers and co-workers, Band of Sisters will premiere on Friday, Sept. 14 at 8 p.m., at the Gene Siskel Film Center of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. It will screen five evenings at the Center to Sept. 20. For tickets and more information about the film: http://www.bandofsistersmovie.com.

Commitment, love and consistent communication epitomized the writings and life of Jeffrey Zaslow—journalist and New York Times best-selling author. These values remain constant in his biography: Gabby, A Story of Love and Courage. It is no surprise that he was chosen to author this book, which is more than a retelling of the horrendous 2011 shooting of Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. It is a story of unwavering love and fidelity between Gabby and her

astronaut husband, Mark Kelly. Zaslow recounts the abiding friendship and love of family, friends and people around the globe for Gabby as she struggled for life, recovery, and then doggedly worked toward total rehabilitation.

As indicated, this is not a superficial biography. Zaslow probes the suffering and the inscrutable mysteries of the shooting. Approximately a third of the book relates the lives and careers of Gabby and Mark prior to Jan. 8, 2011., providing insight and understanding for the future events. It is a book that ignites joy, compassion and hope. I guarantee that upon completing this biography, you will seek someone else to read and share the book with you.

"Sisters" Debut, cont.

What I'm reading! Gabby by Jeffrey Zaslow Reviewed by Sister Mary Clare Yates

Changing an attitude toward Earth

8 Mercy Connection • August/September 2012

Tech Tip for the Computer Weary

WMW Access

Do you know where the

WMW prayer list is? Are you looking for a list of jubilarians?

A vacation home reservation?

Or a WMW newsletter?All are available on the

WMW intranet:http://inside.westmidwest.

org

Do you know where to find Institute 2011

Chapter information?

www.sistersofmercy.org/ members

Latest Institute news?www.sistersofmercy.org/

members

What is the WMW saying to the public?

www.mercywestmidwest.org

Have you seen the Justice news and alerts?

www.mercywestmidwest.org

Do you have news to share?wmwcommunications

@mercywmw.org

It’s no surprise that computers take up a significant amount of our time these days. Between checking your e-mail, keeping up with Community news and following the latest political and justice articles, it’s easy to lose track of time in front of a computer screen. Everything’s fine until you realize your eyes are tearing up and distant images are becoming blurry. This could be a sign of Computer Vision Syndrome (CVS).

Spend enough time in front of a computer, and odds are you’ll experience at least one of the following: ◆Dry eyes ◆Tight neck and shoulder muscles ◆Blurred or doubled vision ◆Back pain ◆Trouble focusing

Thankfully, there are a couple of simple ways to avoid these popular pitfalls.

Sit up straightLet’s get back to the basics: how you sit in front of your computer makes a big difference. It’s tempting to get comfy while you surf, e-mail, play games and read, but your body can take a real beating from all that slumping and twisting, if you’re not careful.

The center of your computer screen should be a little lower than your line of vision when looking straight ahead. You shouldn’t have to tilt your head back to see the screen. Your wrists should be straight as they rest near your keyboard, your shoulders shouldn’t be slumped, and your forearms and thighs should be parallel to the floor.

Take a time-outMake the “20-20-20 rule” your go-to move while at your computer. Every 20 minutes, give your eyes a 20-second break. Look at something at least 20 feet away.

Avoid Computer-related back, neck, and shoulder achesCultivate the habit of sitting straight in your chair (as opposed to slouching) and relaxing your shoulders. Sitting up will help to relieve tension in your lower and upper back and neck. In fact, it is always a good idea to take a five-minute break every half hour that you are sitting. Stand up, stretch your fingers up to the ceiling, put your hands on your hips and bend sideways, both sides. Stretching will move the oxygen around your muscles and help with your circulation, as well as calming and loosening those “knots”.

Annual check-upsIf these tips just aren’t cutting it, make sure you have your annual or bi-annual eye exams. Even a minor vision problem can lead to major discomfort over time.

by the WMW Technology Team

9 Mercy Connection • August/September 2012

Mercy Heritage Center: Our History On the Move

If you haven’t seen your local archivist much lately, it is because she has been diligently preparing her collection to move to the Institute Mercy Heritage Center in Belmont, N.C., one year from now. This means that every box, file, and photo in the archives must be carefully inventoried before the moving truck arrives.

The Mercy Heritage Center was created to serve as the central repository for the archival and heritage material of Sisters of Mercy of the Americas. The Mercy Heritage Center, with its state-of-the-art facilities and professionally trained staff was

conceived as the best way to preserve, protect and pass on the story and heritage of the Sisters of Mercy. The Mercy Heritage Center collects materials that contribute to the knowledge of and understanding of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas. Materials collected include, but are not limited to, administrative records, correspondence, books, photographs, furniture, art, films, and sound recordings.

The collection at the Mercy Heritage Center comes from the foundations throughout the Institute including every former regional community of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas. The collections from the former regional communities in the West Midwest are not scheduled to go to the Mercy Heritage Center until late in 2013, but many collections have already found a home in Belmont. Those from Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Rochester, St. Louis, Buffalo, Baltimore, and all collections from the Northeast Community have already arrived. The Mid-Atlantic collections are scheduled to arrive in October of this year.

Almost everything in the local archival collections will be going to the Mercy Heritage Center. Just as important, however, is what will not be going to Belmont. None of the collection from the West Midwest Community Archives will be going. This includes materials generated after July 1, 2008, but also includes all of the living sisters' files. While some of the older deceased sisters' files will be going, none of the current files will leave the administrative offices in Omaha. Materials found in heritage displays will also remain in place for the use and enjoyment of the local communities.

Access to the materials at the Mercy Heritage Center and the West Midwest Community Archives is carefully controlled by the archival staff. Some records are closed to outside research and are only accessible by the Community president and those with a legitimate interest in those particular items. For instance, living sisters' files held in the West Midwest Community Archives are very confidential and are carefully supervised. Other records of a more historical nature will be available to a wider audience. While some outside requests are expected, requests from Sisters of Mercy, Associates, Companions in Mercy, Mercy Volunteer Corps, and Sisters of Mercy Staff have priority.

by Monte Kniffen, WMW Senior Archivist

Heritage center shelves waiting to be filled.

10 Mercy Connection • August/September 2012

Sister Suzanne Soppe

Associate Pam Butts

Although her current ministry is health and wellness education, Sister Suzanne Marie Soppe taught high school for 15 years. “The skills and experience I gained in that ministry prepared me for my current one,” she said. She has ministered at St. John’s Hospitals in Oxnard and Camarillo, CA, since 1986, when she joined the Mission Integration Team and Community Health Education Department as a health education specialist.

“Our teams attend to the physical, emotional and spiritual well-being of hospital patients and staff,” she said, “as well as to a variety of ethnic and socio-economic groups in our Ventura County community.” She specializes in coordinating free Senior Wellness Programs, helping people control factors such as diabetes, weight, and blood pressure. “I love the people who come to the wellness programs,” she said. “They are eager to learn and eager to get well and/or stay well.”

Suzanne also works closely with the St. John’s Health Ministries team who provide free food, clothes, rental assistance, medication assistance and referrals to other resources in the community for the poor. She is helping to plan a free health assessment program for 600 low-income persons at a health fair in October. She is one of the facilitators and presenters for the “Sacred Work in a Healing Hospital” workshop that all staff attend once a year.

In the few moments when she is not extending a healing ministry to the community, she enjoys reading, gardening, swimming laps, spending time with friends and family, taking pictures and making greeting cards with the pictures, and watching movies. In the spirit of the Olympics, Suzanne says, "The Queen was one of my favorite movies -- if there were a sequel made, they’d probably have The Queen parachuting out of a helicopter. Movies are magical!"

One of many outstanding associates who helped begin the Mercy Associates group in the former Auburn Regional Community is long-time Associate Pam Butts. Through the years, Pam has taken on the responsibility of leader (known as director in the 1990s), helping to form the Auburn associates. More recently, in leadership once again, Pam was on the frontline with the associates’ transition to West Midwest.

Of the many high water marks in Pam’s journey this year, and one closest to her heart, is that of the 20th anniversary of her First Covenant. Her Spirit of Mercy shows in her generous, consistent and faithful service to fellow associates and sisters through a welcoming hospitality, prayerfulness and dynamic leadership from within.

In August, Pam celebrated her retirement as a long-time nurse for Sutter Health and her concluding month as busy co-leader of the Auburn Area Associates. "We thank Pam," said Associate Marsha Cornelius, "for her marvelous representation as an associate of Mercy for all she has done and continues to do as the face of Mercy in the California capitol city. Truly, Pam’s fidelity to her covenant is a witness for all of us who are associates with the Sisters of Mercy. Prayer, ministry and community is her mantra!"

11 Mercy Connection • August/September 2012

Associate Avis Clendenen

Note: Faces of Mercy from Cedar Rapids, Detroit and Omaha will be featured in the next Mercy Connection

MercyConnection

June/July 2012

Sisters of Mercy West Midwest

Community

Mercy Connection is published by the Sisters of Mercy West Midwest Community Communications Office, 7262 Mercy Road • Omaha, NE 68124 • (402) 393-8225 • www.mercywestmidwest.org

Director of CommunicationsSandy Goetzinger-ComerEditorElizabeth Dossa

Contributing Writers: Associate Avis Clendenen, Patti Kantor, Sister Mary Clare Yates, Sister Mary Waskowiak

Graphic DesignElizabeth Dossa

Copyright 2012 Sisters of Mercy West Midwest Community • Mercy Connection articles may be reproduced with written permission from the Sisters of Mercy West Midwest Communications Office. Direct reprint requests to: wmwcommunications@mercywmw.org

In discussing her path in Mercy, Chicago Mercy Associate Avis Clendenen mentioned she just finished reading Composing a Further Life: The Age of Active Wisdom by Mary Catherine Bateson (2010). In this book, Bateson talks about grace and challenge of thinking about the entire process of composing a life and the way in which early experience connects to later. It involves looking with new eyes at what has been lived so far and making choices that continue to promote life’s completion and fulfillment.

Now in her early 60’s, Avis was a member of the Mercy Community for 13 years from 1969-1983. As a young sister, Avis designed and facilitated monthly Saturday mornings of reflection for the elderly Sisters of Mercy. After leaving the Community, others advanced and developed the program. Avis has remained active in her field of ministry—theological education. She reconnected to the Sisters of Mercy, becoming an associate in the mid-1990’s.

Five years ago, Avis was asked to assume that long ago responsibility and return to developing Saturday mornings of reflection for sisters and associates. She said yes and named the program Growing in Wisdom, Age and Grace. According to Avis, that new "yes" posed an unexpected graced opportunity to compose a further step on the path of Mercy. This is the path of choice for Avis; one inspired by the charism of Catherine, whose life is a timeless legacy.