Indspire Awards 2022

June was named Indigenous History Month in 2009 while June 21st day has been celebrated as National Indigenous Day since 1996. Indigenous Peoples and Canadians across Turtle Island ( North America) use these designated times to claim the history and heritage of Indigenous Peoples. As descendants of settlers, these annual occasions provide us with an opportunity to acknowledge the Indigenous Peoples’ numerous contributions to shaping the fabric of our country.

On Sunday, June 19th, the Indspire Awards are aired on CBC and ATPN. These prestigious awards confer the highest honour the indigenous community bestows on their own people. After 29 years, 396 First Nations, Inuit and Métis individuals who have demonstrated outstanding achievement across a broad spectrum of society have been so honoured. The broadcast on this Sunday at 8 p.m. once again will showcase a variety of their personal and professional stories.

 Having watched the award ceremony in previous years, I highly recommend tuning in on Sunday.

-Sister Nancy Wales

World Radio Day - February 13, 2022

WORLD RADIO DAY FEBRUARY 13, 2022 - Theme:  TRUST 

The theme “trust” is one I would not expect to see adapted by a UNESCO World Radio Day, and yet this is obviously the message they want to highlight and reinforce on the global landscape.  It is encouraging to see a positive value such as “trust”, being promoted by the media, because the phrase “fake news” lingers in the air long after it was first uttered.   Those words send waves of suspicion across all media, communication, and has weakened the rafters of my own mind. 

While that is the view of reality through my lens, a broader more accurate picture of radio offers fresh light.   I have learned that 80 years after the founding of the first radio station, radio continues to thrive currently in this Internet era.  From a global perspective, radio is accessible, affordable, especially in developing countries, and essential in times of climate disasters. An overwhelming majority of people around the world continue to stay tuned.   

One of the goals of World Radio Day is to celebrate humanity in all its diversity.   As example, in 2014 the theme was Gender Equality and Women Empowerment, while in 2019 the theme was Dialogue, Tolerance and Peace, in 2020 it was Radio Diversity, while in 2021 it was Evolution, Innovation and Connection.  I find this impressive. 

I would be remiss not to single out John Fetzer of Kalamazoo Mi who made a fortune in the broadcasting business of radio, television, cable and closed-circuit music transmission. Greater than all that was his quiet curiosity about meditation, prayer, philosophy, other ways of healing and positive thinking that sets him apart long after his death in 1991.  With his wealth he created a huge endowment known as the Fetzer Institute, to support spiritual/wellness pursuits, to provide education/opportunities for others currently and for years to come.   

I believe Fetzer would approve of this year’s theme of “trust” for World Radio Day and in closing, pose a question from the website of the Fetzer Institute: “How can the entrepreneurial spirit and financial resources gained from the American business sector be used in the service of creating a better world”? Fetzer, in his own passionate way, created a model for us to examine and enrich life.   For more information about the Fetzer Institute go to fetzer.org/work and explore the many programs/themes plus free offerings listed under resources. 

 -Sister Patricia St. Louis csj 

Being Presence: Being Mercy

A REFLECTION FOR WORLD DAY OF THE SICK, 2022 

The World Day of the Sick, initiated by Pope St. John Paul 11 thirty years ago and recognized in the Catholic Church each February 11, is a day set aside to pray with and for those who are sick and to be reminded of our human and faith-based call to respond with care, commitment and healing presence. This designated day is not, however, a one-off annual remembrance. Its intent is to sharpen our focus everyday on the needs of those who are sick.   

Given the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic we might want to say that we cannot help but be aware of the overwhelming numbers of those who are sick; many ill with Covid, others whose medical care and treatments have been delayed, numerous others struggling with mental health issues and those at the end of life facing isolation in dying. We are living days of great disease, of suffering and of loss. To what then does this World Day of the Sick call us in the context in which we find ourselves?  

In his message for the 2022 World Day of the Sick, Pope Francis reminds us that we are called to be “merciful like God”. He says, “mercy is to be understood not as an occasional sentimental feeling but as an ever-present and active force. It combines strength and tenderness.” It’s to this that people of faith, as we work with others, are called in these harrowing times. Christians, Francis says, must imitate the healing ministry of Jesus, who as the Gospels remind us, “encountered people suffering from various illnesses” reaching out to heal them.  

While we are rightly grateful for all the advances made in medical science and for courageous, self-giving health care professionals risking all right now, we also each have a role in caring for those who are sick. 

Image: Unsplash/Kelly Sikkema

Sometimes, when faced with illness, we can feel fearful or inadequate and yet we are, nonetheless, called. We can never forget the dignity and vulnerabilities of each person. Someone who is sick is always more than his or her disease. Dr. Lissa Rankin, a physician specializing in mind-body medicine remarks, “Sometimes we forget when people are sick that what they most need is to feel connected, to be loved, to be touched.” Each of us, given the diversity of our gifts, can attend to this even in these days of restriction. 

Image: Unsplash/chris liu

Perhaps, above all, we are called to be a merciful presence; to be with, to walk with those who are sick and with their carers for whom we may be able to offer practical help or a time of respite. Even if I have personal physical limitations I can pray daily with and for those who are sick. I may be able to call someone to support them, send a card or letter expressing love, comfort and concern reminding a person of the gift they have been in my life or recounting special memories of times past spent together. Perhaps a visit is possible, even a socially-distanced visit! Above all, I can find ways to listen respectfully, tenderly. I can simply be with another. I don’t need a multitude of words, I don’t need to worry what to say I just need to “be there”.

Silence is sometimes the gentle gift. An appropriate tenderness of touch can speak more than a million words. Especially in the context of illness at the end of life, presence is one of the greatest gifts I can offer. This is expressed eloquently in the question posed by Sister Mary Catherine Hilkert, O.P., “Can I say to my neighbour ‘I have no solution, I don’t know the answer but I will walk with you, search with you, be with you?” This, perhaps above all, is the invitation of the World Day of the Sick each year. 

-Sister Mary Rowell, csj

An Invitation

Synodality Young People and Church

You’re invited to join an online presentation and conversation on Friday, January 14, 2022 from 11 a.m. - 1 p.m. EST with Sister Nathalie Becquart, XMCJ, Undersecretary for the Vatican Office of the Synod of Bishops.

All are welcome to this free online event. RSVP via email to: navfdco@gmail.com. Sister Nathalie will be answering questions after her talk.

Sister Nathalie Becquart, XMCJ is a member of the Xavière Missionaries of Christ Jesus, and a specialist in youth ministry and synodality in the Church.

Celebrating Our Grandparents and Elders

Celebrating Our Grandparents and Elders

In 1969, a 9-year-old boy wrote to President Richard Nixon asking the President to consider naming one day a year to celebrate grandparents.  The idea from this youngster took another 8 years before the US Senate signed legislation into law proclaiming that the First Sunday after Labor Day would be known as National Grandparents Day.

In January 2021, Pope Francis established a World Wide Day to honor and recognize grandparents and the elderly. This day will take place yearly on the 4th Sunday in July close to the Feast Day of St Anne and St. Joachim, the grandparents of Jesus.   Pope Francis, in establishing this day, wanted to remind all of us of the role that our grandparents and elders have played in helping each of us develop into mature adults.

“hearing the words “I love you” seemingly for no reason at all”

Having a chance recently to ask some friends and family members who are grandparents “what is the best thing about being a “Nana or Papa” – “a Nona or Nonno”  - “a grandma or granddad?”  All of them said, “it was the best time in their lives and sometimes it was one of the most difficult.”  The best times included sleepovers;  cheering on the grandkids at baseball and hockey games; cooking their favorite foods which included lots of ice cream and pizza;  playing laser tag (and letting them win); as well as receiving spontaneous hugs and hearing the words “I love you” seemingly for no reason at all but just for being present.

Some of the difficult times came when hurts were expressed from not being included in a game at school;  being bullied in the schoolyard or on the ice rink – and as the grandparent, we needed to offer words of encouragement and show examples of treating those who hurt them with kindness.  Other times came when they were confronted by an unexpected family breakdown and as a grandparent being called to listen to the feelings of confusion as they were expressed; being there when sudden death came of a pet or a sibling or another grown up.  “We just did not want our grandkids to suffer hurts or sadness so, as their Nana and Papa, we wanted to take the hurt away as best as we could.”

“Angels cannot be everywhere and that is why God created grandparents”

I noticed a small plaque on the side table at the home of a friend.  It reads: “Angels cannot be everywhere and that is why God created grandparents.”  In listening to her grandchildren – actually teenagers now - who have come through the days of childhood - talking about their jobs, their girlfriends/boyfriends, and their new interests brought a smile to the face of the “esteemed grandparent who could proudly claim ‘I had something to do with this person – and WOW did I do a great job!”

The flower named to honor our grandparents and elders is the Forget-me-Not.   A rather appropriate flower to recall and remember times with our grandparents and the elders in our families as we celebrate their day on September 12, 2021. 

-Sister Ann MacDonald, CSJ