“Who Then Shall We Be?
A Contemplative Prayer for the World”
Friday, Aug. 16th 1 p.m. (CT)
Join us on our Facebook Feed at 1 p.m. (CT) Friday, Aug. 16 for a virtual contemplative experience in solidarity with the CCVI Sisters, including their Leadership Team and 700 participants in the national assembly of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR), gathered in Orlando, Florida from August 13- 16. LCWR is an association of the leaders of congregations of Catholic women religious in the United States. The conference has about 1300 members, who represent approximately 66 percent of the nearly 35,000 women religious in the United States. Founded in 1956, the conference assists its members to collaboratively carry out their service of leadership to further the mission of the Gospel in today's world.
“Who Then Shall We Be? A Contemplative Prayer for the World” will be a segment of the LCWR assembly where participants will engage in a contemplative experience created to be in solidarity with the fragility of the world while reflecting on our call to respond to that fragility as bearers of the gospel message. The prayer experience is based on the belief that lament and grief over the pain of the global community must take place before we can embrace new realities and receive them as gift. Through the use of the arts, brief readings, and reflective questions, we will be invited to engage in a process of lamenting the suffering of the world -- particularly the realities of climate change, racism, migration, and polarization and their intersection. There will be time for silent reflection to ponder the transformation that is being asked of us – individually and collectively – as we consider the state of the world and how our presence to it may be a source of healing and restoration that leads to a response. This contemplative experience will be live-streamed and open to the participation of all who would like to experience it. LCWR hopes that as many people as possible will choose to participate, thus increasing the power of our collective prayer, presence, and response.