Know Your Local Waters

KNOW YOUR LOCAL WATERS

Last Friday afternoon a presentation by Paul Baines, our Blue Communities Program Manager, and Glen Caradus, was held at Mount St. Joseph in Peterborough for Sisters, Associates and Staff. We gathered to participate in an interactive game to learn more about the ‘waters’ surrounding our City of Peterborough and its local area. 

A large map with various symbols decorated the floor of the gathering space –with our waterways as the focus.  The game was created by Glen (Caradus) in collaboration with First Peoples of Curve Lake to explain how the land and water are essential to all of life and that we need to give reverence to it and respect and learn what the water is wanting to teach us. 

Sisters Ann and Kitty | Photos: Sr Ann Karges

Teams were set and dice thrown to determine what square on the map the team would move to.  On the spot where the dice landed various questions were asked - about Ecology, Indigenous life, Nature, and if you drew a Chance card then the Team was asked to sing a song that was sung at a campfire.

The afternoon passed quickly and there was appreciation for the creative way of getting people involved and of course some of our competitive nature came to the fore when it came to winning!

Below we share a video, An Adventure in Understanding, a beautiful reflection and understanding about our local water sources.

Sister Ann MacDonald, csj

Sisters of St. Joseph in Canada Proud to be a Blue Community.

SOD TURNING

Housing is needed….

Sister Joan, pictured centre, in London Ontario with members of local non-profit housing advocates.

The Vision SoHo Alliance is responding to the Mayor’s call to build 3000+ units of affordable housing.

Six not-for-profit housing developers turned the sod on Friday, Oct. 14 in response to the Mayor’s call and to the desperate need for housing for many of our citizens.  The housing crisis in the city is on everyone’s mind as the fall turns cold, and snow will soon follow. 

What is unique about this effort is the collaborative work done by six non-profits to develop a piece of land that has both historical significance in London (former site of the War Memorial Children’s Hospital and the first Medical School) and its central location in London.  When completed it will provide approximately 680 units of mixed housing.  This is London’s biggest affordable housing project that the city has undertaken and has the potential to build a community where so many are needed to make it happen. 

We thank the media for the good overage we received for this ground-breaking ceremony and share the links to their coverage here:

Everything you need to know about SoHo affordable housing mega-plan - London Free Press

SoHo affordable housing project on old Victoria Hospital land to get underway in the spring - CBC News

SoHo development ready to move to the building phase - CTV News

Vision SoHo Alliance breaks ground on London, Ont. housing project - GLOBAL NEWS

We will post photos over time - following this transformation of land into homes.  We invite you to follow us!

Sister Joan Atkinson, Chairperson of the London Affordable Housing Foundation.

A Reflection on Love and Loss

As I recall Claire Oliver’s words:  “I will lovingly accept the ‘bad’ and ‘the good…and try to see everything that happens as a gift of love. (From Maxim 10 1 E).

My youngest sister Cathy died very suddenly at the beginning of May – which sent her immediate family – husband and daughters, as well as her 7 remaining siblings and friends into deep grief and shock.  “This cannot be true, I just played cards with her on Saturday night; I had breakfast with her two days ago on Mother’s Day; I had a long chat with her on the phone not three days ago…”

My dear sister, Cathy.

My acceptance of Cathy’s death took some inner work and acceptance of my own feelings of loss and down-right anger at what happened to her. 

Why?  Why her? She’s too young. The family needs her, she was the connector for the rest of us. 

Going into an 8-day retreat in August was going to be time that I could get some direction around how to really live this new reality with a deeper faith and trust.  So, with my ‘take charge’ attitude I was going to find out some answers to my questions.  As I sat one morning quietly by the window asking God about the day Cathy died my questions were:  What was it like?  Was she afraid?  Were You with her?  Who else was there?  Did she just take Your hand and look back at all of us and wave goodbye?  Is she okay?

“I SAT ASKING GOD, WHY?”

Sitting with these questions and letting them just be in the universe and outside of myself, I closed my eyes and waited.  Suddenly, I had a sense of inner peace and could hear Cathy laughing and clearly saying to me “Gotch ya!”  Her laughter and those words often came when she knew she had one upped me on something- so I knew intuitively that this was a response from her. 

Keeping my eyes closed, I saw my parents, my other sister Mary Jane and her husband Don standing with some of the members of the Community who were significant women in my life and who loved me  – standing with Cathy and they just said “Ann, Cathy is fine, she is with us – with all of us who loved you and she will be okay.”  I was overwhelmed and thought - I’ve lost my mind here!  When I shared this with the Director later that day her words were:  “Ann, you have had a visit from the Communion of Saints…and Cathy is among them now.”

My remaining days of retreat were filled with the gift of looking at death and not being afraid – and I spent time with the following quote from John O’Donohue:

“Death is actually a re-birth.  Where does the soul go?  It goes nowhere (Eckhart).  The eternal world is not some faraway galaxy-but it is HERE.  The dead are here with us, invisible to us, but we can sense their presence.  They are looking out for us.  For the dead, time is a circle.  Eternity is pure presence, pure belonging.  When you are in the eternal, you are outside of nothing.  You are within everything, enjoying the fullest participation. There is no separation.  You are embraced in the purest circle of LOVE.  You are everywhere and you are nowhere.  BUT you are in complete presence – DO NOT BE AFRAID.  (Walking in Wonder)

As I go forward this new year, I choose to live into the deeper meaning of this Maxim as I continue to “see everything that happens as a gift of LOVE.”

-Sister Ann MacDonald, csj