Don't Be Afraid to Jump In

I was 27 when I first learned how to swim.  The program at the YMCA was called “Scared Silly”… and yes… I was.  But I had a great motivating factor – my two small children.  I wanted to be able to save them if they ever fell in a pool.  I am not a strong swimmer, but I can swim.  What I never did learn, and absolutely refused to do, was to jump into the deep end.  Now, that really scared me. 

Let’s fast track to 2020.  Has there been something this year that I’ve been afraid to jump into?  During a Pandemic, I can name a few things but let me just focus on one – providing a retreat-like experience for associates, through Zoom.  Before the Pandemic, I had never used Zoom, and neither had our other Animators.  We were scared silly, afraid to use this new technology, yet somehow, we mustered up the courage and jumped in. 

“...faith to believe that no matter what life brings, God is there to see us through...”

We had great teachers, our beloved Sisters of St. Joseph, who throughout our lives, have shown us courage to go out into the unknown, adaptability to use new tools available to us, ingenuity to create something new, and faith to believe that no matter what life brings, God is there to see us through… It also helped that they were all using Zoom!

We are not strong Zoomers, but we can Zoom.  We have practiced, encouraged one another, and grown more confident each step of the way.  We, along with Mary Shamley from the Spiritual Ministries Network and Sr. Ann Marshall, our keynote speaker, are putting together what we believe to be an amazing program.  We will have three sessions titled, “My Name is Hope.”  They will focus on Hope and the Pandemic, Faith Sharing and Contemplative Prayer. 

We are so looking forward to this new adventure.  And, if you are ever given the opportunity to join in a virtual program that feeds your spirit, please, don’t be afraid to jump in. 

- Fernanda Estoesta, Animating Circle Member – London Neighbourhood, Associates of the Sisters of St. Joseph in Canada

The Jerusalema Dance

Have you heard of the Jerusalema Dance or seen it or even danced it?  It may well be that you are not familiar with this dance that has taken the world by storm.  I would say this dance is yet another perfect example of how small beginnings can evolve into something as widespread as this dance.  It all began late one night in South Africa in August 2019, when the musician and record producer Kgaogelo Moagi, known professionally as Master KG, composed the music.  His sister Nomcebo Zikode added lyrics in Zulu to the upbeat music and before long the song Jerusalema went viral.

African people never just stand and sing. As soon as music is played or songs are sung, they begin to sway and dance.  So, it comes as no surprise that a special dance, the Jerusalema Dance was born.  Not in South Africa, but in Angola a fun type of line dance was created to the music of the song.  Interestingly, it first spread to Portugal and then went viral. More than that, it has turned into an international dance challenge, which Canadians in Montreal and Ottawa joined.  In South Africa, for instance, the Jerusalema dance challenge has provided moments of joy for many during the Covid-19 pandemic. Last month, “President Cyril Ramaphosa endorsed the dance craze, [and called] on people to participate in the challenge to celebrate the country’s Heritage Day.” https://www.independent.co.uk

Of all the Jerusalema dance videos I have watched on YouTube I was most impressed by the video the young Kenyan sisters of my Congregation created.  I would like to invite you not only to get a taste of this fun dance but also to see how creatively the sisters showcase some of their ministries.

-Sister Magdalena Vogt, Missionary Sister of the Precious Blood 

 JERUSALEMA (English Translation)

Jerusalem is my home
Guide me
Take me with You
Do not leave me here
Jerusalem is my home
Guide me
Take me with you
Do not leave me here
My place is not here
My kingdom is not here
Guide me
Take me with You
My place is not here
My kingdom is not here
Guide me
Take me with You
Guide me
Guide me
Guide me
Do not leave me here

My Octopus Teacher

My Octopus Teacher: A Must-See Movie

Did you know 8 October was World Octopus Day?  I would be surprised if you tell me you knew.  I mean, who knew there is such a day?  This week I discovered why we celebrate Octopus Day.  Apparently, octopuses are among “the most distinctive creatures on the planet today [and they are] worthy of appreciation for a number of reasons. First, they are one of the earth’s great survivors. Indeed, despite their relatively short lifespan, octopus fossils date back more than 300 million years, meaning that they pre-date even dinosaurs. They are also highly intelligent, with around 500 million neurons located in their brains and arms, allowing them to bypass their instincts, learn lessons, and solve problems.” (daysoftheyear.com) If that weren’t awesome enough, how about this, octopuses are also visually stunning, come in various colours and shapes – and they are the chameleons of the sea.  Not only can these clever creatures change colour in the blink of an eye, but they can also modify their skin texture to mimic rocks, sand, coral heads, or other landscape elements by altering the papillae on their skin to blend in with their environment.

You may wonder how I came to know about World Octopus Day.  Last week a friend in South Africa alerted me to the new Netflix documentary My Octopus Teacher which triggered fond memories I have of a fascinating visit Ripley’s Aquarium in Toronto a couple of years ago.  In that gigantic aquarium I was enveloped by 5.7 million litres of marine and freshwater, seemingly sharing the habitat of some of the most exotic critters from across the world. I remember gawking, in awe and wonder, as I meandered through exhibit after exhibit teeming with innumerable exquisite sea and freshwater jewels. I was particularly intrigued by the octopus, the real life relative of Hank, the octopus, in the movie Finding Dory. I learned that day that these startlingly strange boneless creatures have three hearts and a good mind, making them some of the smartest invertebrates.  Though they have no spine, they are far from spineless.

If you watched the movie Finding Dory you may remember Hank, though not your typical octopus since he only has seven arms. Hank, the shapeshifting, curmudgeonly, camouflaging octopus with his strange antics.  Well, let me tell you something, as much fun as Hank may have been, you haven’t seen anything yet until you see the incredible octopus in My Octopus Teacher.  I know I might be biased about this documentary since it was filmed by the South African diver and filmmaker Craig Foster who lives west of Cape Town, at the most southern tip of Africa, where I lived for many years.  

In a nutshell, Wikipedia has this to say about My Octopus Teacher, released last month. “… Foster began in 2010 to free-dive in a cold underwater kelp-forest at the tip of South Africa. He started to film his experiences, and, in time, a curious young octopus captured his attention. By visiting her den and tracking her movements every day for months, he won the animal’s trust. In the film, Foster describes the impact on his life of his relationship with the octopus.” This is the mere bare bone description of this incredibly moving documentary I watched earlier this week.  It has been said, My Octopus Teacher is easily one of the most beautiful films on Netflix right now.” (decider.com) Be that as it may, I found it to be a most beautiful, deeply moving story about the unlikely relationship and bond between a human and a creature from the wild.  One of the comments I came across online says this about Foster’s amazing relationship with the octopus , “No nature documentary you've ever seen will quite prepare you for My Octopus Teacher, a heart-gripping tale of a friendship (one might even call it a romance) between a human and a mollusk.”

““Praise the LORD from the earth,
you great sea creatures and all ocean depths...”
Psalm 148:7
”

I cannot recommend this documentary highly enough. Watching it will leave a deep impression on your mind and heart, will leave you in awe about the incredible interconnectedness between humans and all creatures. 

-Sister Magdalena Vogt, cps

The Community Hub - Bringing People Together in London, Ontario

Sisters of St. Joseph in Canada &
London Cares Homeless Response Services

The Community Hub

More and more in our local community, we are seeing people struggling with mental health and addictions with nowhere to go and the system in place to support them often feeling intimidatingly difficult to navigate.

Both the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph in Canada (CSJ) and London Cares Homeless Response Services (London Cares) serve these individuals in need in their own ways. The Sisters of St. Joseph operate St. Joseph’s Hospitality Centre – a place individuals can visit to get a hot meal and find fellowship. London Cares is a housing-first organization that prioritizes getting individuals into homes and providing wraparound supports after. While organizations like these have been getting better and better at serving the needs of their clients over the years, the underlying issues have been getting worse.

“When I first started, we’d serve maybe 150 individuals a day,” says Bill Payne, Coordinator of the St. Joseph’s Hospitality Centre. “Over the last 26 years we’ve seen more and more people come in with increasingly severe substance abuse and mental health issues. We serve about 400 meals a day now.”

Thanks to a Community Vitality Grant, the CSJ and London Cares will collaborate on The Community Hub, a new location that will house many of the support services our most vulnerable citizens need, all under one roof. With additional partners in Regional HIV/AIDS Connection and London InterCommunity Health Centre potentially offering services out of the new location, the Community Hub will make navigating our city’s support systems easier for everyone.

With the COVID-19 pandemic complicating so many lives throughout the city, the need for simplicity has never been more apparent.

While closures and restrictions have certainly impacted service delivery, the sense of closeness and community that accompanied shared spaces like the soup kitchen is an equal loss.

“I think the thing that’s struck me the most is that at the soup kitchen, while it's obvious we do food, it has always been about community, and because of the physical distancing guidelines designed to keep everyone safe, we’ve lost some of that,” says Bill. “Our folks are so resilient and I'm so proud of how they face their situations with a smile, and how they’re able to pass that smile along to me.”

“it has always been about community”

The Community Hub aims to be a model for the future of service delivery, centered around collaboration between partner agencies to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to seek and receive the help they need to thrive. Taking a trauma-informed approach and providing specialty training to staff will ensure that service comes from a place of compassion and understanding.

Ultimately, the Community Hub is about bringing people together, both agencies and people in need of support, building community, encouraging a greater understanding of the issues our city is facing, and collaborating on solutions to help our most vulnerable populations.

“I don't think we're under any illusion that we're getting rid of poverty or we're going to solve everything,” says Bill. “My hope is that with the Community Hub, we’ll have made a hospitable, welcoming place that makes life just a little easier for our clients.”

“There is no doubt there is a crisis in supportive housing, mental health and addiction in our community. At the heart of the collaboration to create a hub with these amazing organizations is community. Community is the most radical idea to create substantial change. We have collaborated for two years from a base of shared values. We will offer services in shared space and hope to create a welcoming environment where people can more easily get the supports they need.
-Sister Margo Ritchie, Congregational Leader for the Sisters of St. Joseph”