Dear Friends and Family,
Greetings fromOmaha. I must say I do love the changing of the seasons. We’ve had a lovely summer but are welcoming the cooler temperatures and changing leaves of autumn.
Chris and I have had a full few months. This summer we had the privilege to travel to Trosly-Breuil, France to interview Jean Vanier for a film project by The Work of the People. Vanier is the founder of the international L’Arche community for adults with disabilities and has been a central teacher for the WMF community. For those of you who know Henri Nouwen, Vanier was one of his mentors and Nouwen lived the later part of his life at the L’Arche community in Canada called “Daybreak.” Vanier’s teaching on Christian community and spirituality is ground-breaking. It was such a privilege to spend time with him. The short films that have been made will soon be available for purchase. Visit http://www.altervideomagazine.com for short, inspiring clips of Vanier as well as some short films of Chris as well as me discussing social justice and contemplative spirituality.
Our vocation also took us to Vancouver, British Colombia to speak at the first annual Creative World Justice Festival. Chris shared on “Friendship at the Margins” and I offered an introduction to “Contemplative Activism.” In addition, we had the privilege to attend a Richard Rohr conference on the sacred masculine and sacred feminine. And with that, I’d like to share with you an article I wrote earlier this year on a similar topic, that of gender mutuality.
In our work among our friends in poverty, we see readily how the inequality of power breeds repression, oppression and violence. Inequality between genders can also be a source of repression and a limitation of men and women living into the fullness of their essence; preventing us from living the abundant life that Jesus’ teaching was marked by.
I encourage you to read through the article and consider your relationship to people of the opposite gender.
As always, Chris and I thank you for partnering with us and WMF as we attempt to be vessels of the glory of God in a broken world.
With much love & gratitude,
he�fl�3 1� itude for all of us at WMF, Thank you for perservering and sacrificing with us. May you and your family reap the rewards that cannot be priced in dollar amounts.
Enjoy the new life of the coming spring!
Be well. Breathe deep.
Phileena