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Current Projects
On November 18, 2007 five SLW stood with 25,000 other people at the gate of Fort Benning, GA. Beyond that gate, besides our own Americans serving in the Armed Forces, there are Latin American military personnel being trained to attack the people of their own countries. We were gathered to remember the people who had died under the orders of SOA graduates. We recalled the victims in El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and other Latin American countries. The highlight of the weekend of remembering occurred Sunday with a funeral procession beginning with several coffins draped in black and adorned with a flower, a cross, or some other appropriate symbol. We followed in the solemn procession, carrying a white cross bearing the name, age and country of someone who had been murdered by soldiers under the command of graduates of the School of the Americas. While we walked slowly a group sang out the name and age of victims of the SOA and all of us at each name held up our cross and called out Present! We were representing those people and answering for them. In their name and for their people we were calling for an end to our country's part in their suffering. As we neared the fence surrounding the Fort, each of us attached the cross we were carrying and then walked silently on our way. Last year the House Bill to stop funding the SOA failed by six votes. Perhaps next time our Representatives will show they are getting the message. The School of the Americas, now known as WHINSEC, will close. To learn more about SOA Watch go to: www.soaw.org -Genevieve Shea, SLW
Click here to view photos from the demonstration.
In June 2005, the Sisters of the Living Word endorsed the Earth Charter. One year later, the Associates of the Sisters of the Living Word also endorsed the Charter. Since then both groups have realized how the Charter impacts their lives. The Living Word Center group related the Charter to the SLW Constitutions. Jean Krieter, SLW invited other SLW to support each other in the application of the Charter principles. At first they shared small sections of the Charter and website information about tending Earth. This led to micro financing as a way to effect change. Now they are bringing this action step to other SLW and friends. At the 2006 Assembly SLW shared the experience of reflecting on the Charter. An outcome is that the SLW and SLW Associates receive information on a regular basis regarding actions for change in individual lives, governmental policy, etc. Various Associate groups are also studying the Charter. Lynda Rink, SLW and Debbie Bergeron, SLW facilitated a day of reflection for the Associates in the New Orleans area. Several groups in the Chicago area have read the document and shared how this motivates action in their lives, like being more conscious of nature, asking grocery stores to watch for earth-friendly packaging. One group has sponsored women in countries with fewer resources through an organization called Women to Women. Another is being introduced to the micro financing idea. The ripple effect keeps touching more lives. - Barbara Mass, SLW
Since a mandate from the 2002 Assembly, the SLW Community focused energy on racism. Crossroads, an interdenominational organization, was engaged to direct the education of the members into the institutional racism that is part of our culture. Introductory sessions were held at the Living Word Center in January, 2004. Many SLW attended 2 and one half day workshops on the history and pervasiveness of racism in the United States in the next year. A task force was formed to gather a team of SLW and members outside the Living Word Community who would guide the Crossroads study. This has not happened, but other events keep the mandate in the workings of the members. At the 2005 Assembly, the Ministry Committee sponsored a session to heighten the awareness of unintentional racism. The internal newsletter carries titles of books and movies that can open the SLW to this issue.
Lisa Polega, SLW attended the 40th Anniversary Recommitment March of MLK's death anniversary on April 4, 2008. To view the photos, please click here.
Families for Peace For the past two years, Georgene Schumacher, SLW joined the Families for Peace group in Arlington Heights, IL.
The SLW continue to silently protest the Iraq War with the Families for Peace group. You can join us every second Saturday of the month from 3 - 4 pm at the corner of Northwest Highway and Arlington Heights Rd. in Arlington Heights.
SLW, Stella Stacken and Barbara Mass, join the 20 others for the silent vigil for the end of the war in Iraq
May Peace Prevail on Earth On September 23, 2007, Sisters and friends joined together to pray for peace. For the past four years, the SLW have held a prayer service in conjunction with the World Peace Prayer Society. This year about 40 people used the prayers from the closing celebration of the 1986 United Nations International Year for World Peace. Twelve different religious traditions were represented, each focusing on some aspect of peace and how the human community can promote peace. There was time to bring petitions to the various national flags seeking peace in the ways that country needs. Some of the participants used time to create pinwheels with their intentions for peace. The conclusion of the prayer was a procession to the Peace Pole at the entrance to the grounds of the Living Word Center. Here the pinwheels were place in witness to the need for peace locally and around the world. Members of the group called Families for Peace were present. The SLW, as members of Families for Peace, participate in the monthly vigil to end the war in Iraq. - Barbara Mass, SLW
Participants for the Peace Prayer make pinwheels with their prayers for the world
In 1996, the member communities of women religious in the Leadership Conference for Women Religious (LCWR) joined together to effect political change for women and children in the state of Illinois. The Director of Project IRENE watches the bills moving through the Illinois House and Senate. When a bill effects women and children, she alerts the members of Illinois LCWR to call their legislators and express their support or opposition to the bill and reasons for this to happen. In the ten years of existence, Project IRENE members helped to pass positive legislation for child support, child health care and many other issues related to women and children. IRENE is an acronym for Illinois Religious Engaged in Non-Violent Endeavors. The name Irene was chosen to honor an early Christian woman who was tortured for her faith and imprisoned in very deplorable conditions. Below is the Mission Statement of the Project. In 2003, an artist was engaged to create an image of what the Project means for the women and children of the state of Illinois. The words that describe the sculpture are included with the picture.
Illinois Religious Engaged in Nonviolent Endeavors
IRENE, as Earth Mother, celebrates an environment where the prairie grasses dance and the crops grow free of toxins. As Life Bearer, she ushers women and children into a world of nonviolence where all life thrives.
We members of LCWR Region 8 pray that women and children will thrive in a healthy, safe and peaceful environment, where the Gospel call for nonviolent living is heard and celebrated throughout the land.
Sculpture: Pat Willems, CSJ Photograph: Patricia Peters, ASLW
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