This blog is about my spiritual journey as a Dominican Sister of Mission San Jose serving the young, the poor and the vulnerable through the ministry of chaplaincy and working for social justice by promoting the sustainability goals of the United Nations.
O Mary, Mother of the Church, you welcomed the Word with contemplative silence and bore Him into the world with courageous love. As you nurtured the early Church in faith, so now guide your daughters in the Order of Preachers to walk in the light of truth. Mother of holy wisdom, teach us to ponder the mysteries of Christ in prayer and study, that our lives may become a living preaching of the…
Peoples’ needs are changing in response to a quickly evolving context. People want more responsive action to address these key challenges. Today, we need to envision a different kind of world. A disconnected and fragmented approach to social, economic and environmental policies has not produced the desired results toward poverty eradication and reducing inequality. We need leadership to establish…
At the session on Family and Childhood: Between Poverty and Sexual Violence a panel of presenters from Mexico spoke about the vulnerability that comes with living in poverty that makes children easier prey for perpetrators of physical and emotional violence. They explored various aspects of poverty and inadequacies in state measurements that rely only on income as an indicator. Having a supportive…
At the UN session on The Role of Youth in Digital Transformation: Towards Inclusive Growth and Social Justice, members of the permanent mission of the Republic of Korea to the UN and the Blue Tree Foundation gave examples of youth in Korea and other parts of the world using technology for the social good, solving problems like cyber-bullying and sextortion using AI generated apps to get users to…
How do we bridge the growing gap between generations and communities?” Rapidly growing economic disenfranchisement of the two youngest generations (particularly young women) is occurring as the two oldest generations (partially males in those generations) increase their accumulation of global wealth. Deloitte’s 2023 survey of Millennials and Gen Z in 44 nations found the top three concerns of…
Women and children are the most impacted by homelessness but there is currently inadequate documentation of women’s land rights and ownership of land worldwide. We know access to land rights, tenure rights, loans and financing are severely limited or non existent in many parts of the globe. Social norms, legal barriers, inability to travel, inability to obtain education and materials needed to…
With the acceptance of a ‘growth at all costs’ mindset, the fulfillment of basic human needs has been made contingent on individuals’ contributions to a profoundly unfair economy. Similarly, the planet has been recast as an economic entity that is only valuable insofar as it generates profit, disregarding its inherent value as the source of all life. As such, true eradication of both homelessness…
Challenges to the free flow of information internationally are not presented by the state, but by quasi state platforms. Responsible flow of information is driven by the ability to scrape, check and share accurate information. Some people are drawn to misinformation, but even for those intentionally seeking to share accurate information, it is not that easy to obtain. On the supply side instead of…
United Nations Representatives gave updates on their country’ progress on meeting the social development goals by mainstreaming social considerations across development frameworks. The Austrian minister spoke about poverty and implantation of labor relations policies. The Brazilian minister asked, “Why are we not achieving our goals? Lack of equality due to socially constructed barriers contrary…
At the Opening Session of the 62nd Commission on Social Development (CSocD62) at the UN Headquarters in New York an international panel gave an overview of how we are doing to meet the UN’s social development goals. Their presentations focused on the need to prioritize projects and fund innovative practices and solutions that will yield the best results. The declaration of the Civil Society Forum…
Through an atmospheric river and 42 mph winds I arrived safely on JetBlue in New York City for the 6 2nd Session of the Commission for Social Development (CSocD62) where we are discussing the importance of social justice, social policy reform, and digital transformation to the overall aim of eradicating poverty and hunger and achieving the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) . The…
Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE Look back, look ahead, and act now. Understand where you came from and how you got here, choose where you wish to go, and proceed. Learn from what has already happened to you and to others. Let your thoughts of the past give you inspiration, appreciation, caution, wisdom, and insight. Then consider your intentions, your dreams, hopes, and goals for…
Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE “Unless religion leads us on a path to both depth and honesty, much religion is actually quite dangerous to the soul and to society.” --Richard Rohr Below the tip of the iceberg and the cascading impact of demographic changes, beneath the crises and the collision of paradigms, lies a troubled soul. The metric for measuring a community’s soul and the…
“The future enters into us in order to transform itself in us long before it happens.” -- Rainer Maria Rilke Transformative visioning is the dynamic element to create, articulate and activate a prophetic vision for the future. What gives it its transformative potential however is not some grand vision we might create at the end of it all. Rather, it is what happens to us while we are creating it…
“To let ourselves be seen, deeply seen, vulnerably seen…to love with our whole hearts, even though there’s no guarantee…to practice gratitude and joy in those moments of terror…is to believe that we’re enough.” --Bren é Brown Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE Everyone has the hard wiring for creativity and growth. We simply need to reclaim it as important and provide the necessary…
Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE “How can we determine when the night ends and the day begins?” “When you can look into the face of another human being, and you have enough light in you to recognize your brother or sister. Until then it is night, and darkness is still with us.” --Hasidic tale We need to accept that are all are made in God’s image, including ourselves. We each have an…
“ There is no future without forgiveness.” --Desmond Tutu We all have betrayed others and have been betrayed. We all have abandoned others and have been abandoned. We all have been silently complicit when our friends have been maligned, even though we know what it is like to have been slandered and abused. We all have withheld a kind gesture, a word of encouragement, a tender embrace, our…
Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE “Violence is what happens when we don’t know what else to do with our suffering.” -- Parker Palmer Wise confrontation is a deliberative process, not a reactive one. We may need to take time to thoughtfully assess a situation where reconciliation is needed in order to be ready to approach it rationally and openly. We need to remember take time to…
Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE “The essence of struggle is neither endurance nor denial. It is the opportunity to grow either smaller or larger in the process. There is then, a gift hidden in the travails of a graced crossroads, a gift of beginning again—a conversion.” -- Joan Chittister The object of reconciliation is not to try to put things back the way they were before, but to…
“ We can’t change the human experience, but we can turn toward, not away from, those struggling.” --Margaret Wheatley Along the way members have been judged, dismissed, put down or betrayed by other members. As a result they learn to avoid the risk of putting their honest truth into conversations at community gatherings. Trust tending is an ordinary and ongoing maintenance chore in any…
Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE “ The reason two antelopes walk together is so that one can blow the dust out of the other one’s eyes." -- African Proverb While there is no one methodology for communal discernment, most efforts draw upon the Ignatian method of seeking interior freedom and detachment from the outcome. To be interiorly free means to overcome or hold lightly the fears,…
Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE “History is a museum where one can go to see the repository of the past and the charm of the olden days. It does not help to forecast the future.” --Nicholas Taleb We remember the facts of the past that fit and confirm our existing narrative, while neglecting others. We do not remember the truth, but our reconstructed truth. In this way we are all…
“The fact is that religious life was never meant to be a labor force in the church; it was meant to be a searing presence, a paradigm of search, a mark of human soul and a catalyst to conscience in the society in which it emerged.” --Joan Chittister The paradigm shift in religious life the 21 st century is an effort to “reclaim a deep, ancient wisdom inscribed in both monastic and apostolic forms…
Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE “What the caterpillar calls the end, the rest of the world calls a butterfly -- Lao Tzu These the four guiding principles of transformation: maturation is a lifelong opportunity growth and transformation move in spirals; there is a plateau for a time and then transformation; breakdown precedes breakthrough; pain brings us to the crossroads, but love…
Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE "We know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but we cannot interpret the signs of the times." --Matthew 16:3 We can do four things to embrace the full richness of our diversity: bridge the tragic gap between life as it is and life we wish it were, and reach across difference (not superficial difference but differences in cherished beliefs);…