- January 31, 2019 Congregation
KAKEHASHI GATHERING BRIDGES NEWER COHORT TO THE FUTURE ALREADY PRESENT
by Sister Mary Flick
“The power for creating a better future is contained in the present moment.”
These words of Eckhart Tolle opened the Jan. 12-14 Kakehashi gathering at Carondelet Center in Los Angeles. Thirty-four sisters in the Under-65 cohort gathered, intent on creating that “better future” together. It was the fourth gathering of the group, formerly known as “Seeding the Future” and the first under the name Kakehashi, the Japanese word meaning “bridge.” One quickly realized that the “bridging” is not only between generations in the congregation, but between the Here and the Not Yet.
Participants, translators and two congregational leaders gathered for connection, reflection and fun. The international gathering included seven sisters from Peru, one from Hawaii and one from Japan. Sister Mary Rowell, CSJ (Canada) served as facilitator, leading those gathered in imagining the future.
The gathering also had its own St. Louis flavor. S. Mary Flick served as co-chair of the planning committee, S. Clare Bass and S. Amy Hereford each planned a morning prayer that began the day together.
Along the way, participants reflected on “the adjacent possible” (the scientific principle that everything alive already contains its enfolding future) and their “dual citizenship” (while belonging to their home provinces, newer members also belong to each other across the congregation and congregations).
Through small group discussion and with the help of art activities, the sisters gave words and images to problems and possibilities as a group. Among the “big-picture” possibilities offered were a Kakehashi service trip to the border and a future meeting in Japan. Other possibilities closer to home included a one-week congregational chapter and a chapter of the whole in 2025, and honest, open communication about healthy community living. Members also noted how they valued the voices from Peru, Japan and Hawaii and the growing trust in the goodness that each brings to the table.
The sisters reaffirmed the centrality of relationship in all they are about, and their experience of God in the present through relationship with one another and the Dear Neighbor.
As part of the final day’s closing, several sisters offered reflections on their time together. “Our work together is the building of relationships,” one noted. “The blessing is being with each other. I leave feeling like a millionaire. Your gift of being in the present will nurture and help me become more authentically myself and a CSJ.”
Another shared, “Trusting in one another, we bear one another’s burdens and celebrate one another’s goodness. I am grateful for the diversity of gifts among us.”
Still another in attendance spoke of the future just six years away. “I’m really looking forward to 2025,” she said. “We may not be doing chapter the same way we are this year. Whether we want to or not, this group will be very responsible for shaping that chapter. So, look out, Congregation – here we come!”