In the following article Sister Maureen Fiedler, SL, host of the Interfaith Voices radio program tells of the tremendous success the Sisters of Loretto have had in developing co-membership in their vowed community. I was struck by their similarities to the Community of Passionist Partners. It seems we have much in common such as lay members sharing in our unique charisms, individual commitments by each member and common gatherings for prayer, discernment and fun. What we don’t have in common is they have many more co-members than we have Partners. I wonder if we could learn from them? What do you think?
The evolution of the committed life in the 21st century | National Catholic Reporter.
We are a community of laymen and laywomen who, with vowed Passionists, seek to share in the charism of St. Paul of the Cross through prayer, ongoing spiritual formation, and proclamation of the message of Christ Crucified.
So, what is different for us as Passionist Partners. One difference I see is that we are not really connected to the Passionists as are the co-members of the Loretto Community. We are not invited to participate in their meeting, to give our opinions and thoughts. Another difference is that our goal to “keep alive the memory of the Passion”” is a little more nebulous than working for peace and justice. Working for peace and justice is a part of our charism, but it is more. Maybe we make it more complicated. Maybe the message of the cross is that suffering still exists and will always exist, but we can share each other’s burdens, we can help carry the cross of another but there will alwys be a cross. We have to work to bring about peace and justice to eliminate a very heavy cross that affects so many people in our world. Awareness is not enough. So like the co-members of the Loretto community we need to invite others to join us for prayer and for support and for action that will bring about God’s Kingdom.