A Zoom gathering of Religious men and women in temporary vows has been hailed as an important opportunity for collaboration and support both for the temporary professed and their formators.
Thirty-seven Temporary Professed Religious women and men attended the online gathering last month and have called for more such gatherings to be held in the future.
The participants were from Australia, New Zealand, Vietnam, the Philippines, Kiribati, South Africa, the Solomon Islands and Samoa.
A screenshot showing some of the participants in the recent Zoom gathering for Temporary Professed Religious.
CRA Committees and Projects Coordinator, Carmel Warnock, who coordinated the gathering, says it came about following a meeting held between a group of about 20 Religious women and men earlier this year which considered what could be held to support Temporary Professed Religious.
The work of CRA comes from various sources such as the Secretariat, the Council, or members themselves. This initiative came to CRA from Mel Dwyer FDCC, one of our energetic, younger leaders who saw an opportunity for collaboration on this type of formation and an opportunity for networking.
A working party was formed, which included Sr Mel Dwyer FDCC, Sr Edna MacDonald FMA, Sr Marella Rebgetz SGS, Sr Maria Bongiorno IBVM, and Sr Helen O’Connell CSN.
“A survey identified that there were more than 23 orders and more than 150 temporary professed in Australia or attached to Australia, seeking more collaboration for those in this stage of their vocational journey,” says Carmel.
“Feedback from the 37 who took part and were placed into eight break-out groups, showed that there was an overwhelming need for more inter-congregational collaboration offering opportunities for groups to bond with each other, learn through information sessions, and share their experiences with one another.
“There was also a call for Zoom, online groups, and in-person get togethers, not just for those who are temporary professed, but for their formators as well.”
Josephite Sister Jane Maisey, who made her first profession in January 2018, says she found the online gathering a great opportunity to foster friendship and support among the temporary professed.
“Connecting with our wider community gifted me a sense of unity,” she says. “Seeing faces that I know and ones that are new. Hope grows together. Possibilities are emerging.”
Jane, whose main ministry is pastoral care and visual design and communications for Mount St Joseph College in Milperra says she gained encouragement from the virtual meeting.
“Our calling is certainly unique and it’s important that we support each other – ‘the workers are few’, so to speak,” she says.
“In many ways our calling may be ‘weird’ to some outside of religious life, but to us, we are united in our wonderful weirdness!”
Sr Taabeia Ibouri SGS, who comes from Kiribati and made her first profession as a Sister of the Good Samaritan in September this year, says the gathering was a great opportunity for Temporary Professed Religious from different congregations to come together, get to know each other and discuss how they can support each other.
“It gave me new ideas and helped me to understand more of what Religious life is all about, as I have just begun my journey as a Sister,” she said.
“I found it was a good opportunity to connect with other Temporary Professed from different countries. It was a good way for us to start to get to know each other and share something of our journey with each other. We all come from various countries with our different cultures. As we continue to meet, it will also be a good opportunity for us to learn from each other’s culture.”
And Br Duy Tran OFM Cap said he enjoyed the gathering and was looking forward to future events.
“I found the Zoom gathering was positive and was pleasantly surprised, in that it was my first attendance and that there are programs/organisations such as the CRA to help us Temporarily Professed Religious to network and feel supported,” he said..