San Luis Potosí, México
Adriana Vásques Duarte (Puerto Rico)
 |
|
Enid Rodriguez Santos (Puerto Rico) sharing our culture and traditions.
 |
|
Vianca Pacheco (Mexico; UPPER ROW FAR RIGHT) and Sarah Massoud (Canada; SEATED)
 |
|
Claudia Lara (San Luis, México) and Beth (Isabel) Spangenberg (USA)
 |
|
RSCJ TEAM:
from l-r: Imma De Stefanis, RSCJ (USA); Reyna González Villaseñor,
RSCJ (México); Mdeline Ortiz, RSCJ (Puerto Rico); and Mary Finlayson,
RSCJ (Canada)
 |
|
Symbols of each of the countries represented
 |
|
"I came because I wanted to change the world, and the world changed me."
They began arriving in a steady stream on June 19th.
They came to "risk something different and discover the loving face of
Christ", they came "with a small vision of the world, yet knowing a
bigger world was out there", they came "tired of the routine of
life", they came "to help and to serve others?", they came because they
wanted to "change the world!" They are 15 remarkable young women in
their late teens through early thirties hailing from Canada (2), Cuba
(1), Mexico (4), Puerto Rico (6) and the U.S. (Beth Spangenberg -The
Rosary '05 and University of San Diego '09 and Itza Martínez -
Manhattanville College '08).
This project was born of
many informal and a couple of "formal" conversations about how we can
join together as RSCJs across Provinces to reach out to young adults;
providing them with a concrete, lived experience of who we are and of
our charism even in an encapsulated form. Seeking to bring together an
international group of young people committed to social change through
action, Mary Finlayson, RSCJ (Canada), Reyna González, RSCJ (Mexico),
Madeline Ortiz RSCJ (Puerto Rico) and I co-coordinated the first Sacred Heart International Service Project. Through this project we hoped to:
- actively
engage them in service and reflection on the reality of those most in
need in our world and the direction they want their lives to take;
- provide an experience of elbow-to-elbow interculturality;
- create spaces for discussing the problems that specifically affect today's youth and exploring possible solutions;
- facilitate a total immersion experience by living in pairs with families in the neighborhoods where they were working;
- recognize and/or reaffirm the import of their own gifts, experiences and interests.
The
project centered on service, reflection and input. Most mornings a
group of local teens and young adults prepared breakfast and brought it
to the community center where all of our "group time" was spent. Most
days began with prayer to reflect upon and share the gifts and
struggles of living in a different culture, total immersion in Spanish,
working within an international group, and sharing very tight quarters
with families who opened their homes and hearts with unyielding
generosity and care. Following prayer were morning-long workshops on
various topics to help the young women better understand the reality in
which they were immersed and to lead them to deeper reflection upon
their own call and commitment. Topics included: Methodology and
Practice of Popular Education; Theological Dimension of Reality;
Migration and Immigration; Globalization; and Identity and
Interculturality and were presented by lay people, a Jesuit, and RSCJs
including Clara Malo (Mex.), Marigela Orvañanos (Mex.) and myself.
The
first two days were devoted entirely to an intensive workshop on the
methodology and practice of popular education. This workshop provided
the participants with the necessary toolkit to assume leadership of
their respective age groups. The young women were assigned in pairs to
various age groups (ranging from 3 to 12 years) and worked with these
same children each afternoon. Using what they had learned they turned
in session plans which required them to identify themes, activities,
materials, etc and at the end of each week they turned in evaluations
of their sessions. Building on a key principle of popular education
the activities led children to continually reflect on three questions:
What do I see in my neighborhood? What do I think of my neighborhood? and What can I do for my neighborhood? All
the children, right down to the 3- and 4-year-olds, were encouraged to
get to know their neighborhood as a community to which they belong and
can contribute toward its continued improvement.
Evenings
were spent with the youth group, which proved to be a bit of a
challenge at first. The RSCJs there had met with some difficulty in
attracting and holding onto the local teens, a wide-spread problem it
seems. We teasingly threw down the gauntlet to our young women: "The
goal is to increase youth group participation from its current 8 to
100." They managed to "attract" upwards of 40 to 50! The fast
friendships that developed with the children and teens came not only
from planned activities, but from hours of soccer on a dusty open
field; early morning jogs with a steadily increasing number of
interested teens; the field trip of 75 to see "Madagascar" a first-time
visit to a movie theater for many; and hanging out in the evenings and
during every little bit of free time otherwise provided for resting,
washing clothes, etc.. The relationships grew from utter and complete
presence, living with and among the children, teens and their families,
all day everyday.
The RSCJ community
of San Luis was the backbone of the project and Reyna Gonzalez, in
particular, with her many hours of planning and organizing in
collaboration with a team from the women?s group. Many of the RSCJs
work in this community and are a relatively new presence here. This
project represented a risk for both the RSCJs and the families as it
was the first time they were receiving a "missionary group," and an
international one no less!
All of the participants had
some affiliation with RSCJs: The Canadians just graduated from the
Sacred Heart School of Halifax; three Mexicans live in the neighborhood
and one was from Ayutla where we have a strong presence; and those from
Puerto Rico work and/or participate in various RSCJ-sponsored
programs. Knowing the Society a bit better was easy; it was part of
daily life. Moreover, the RSCJs in San Luis live among the people whom
they serve and the young women were in and out and with the community
daily.
Perhaps the "showcase" moment of sharing who we
are with these young women came in León. At the end of the first week
we arrived at the station at 12:20 for our 12:30 bus and after a 4-
hour ride we arrived at the Noviceship. We were just a few of the many
visitors who were gathering to celebrate the Ceremony of First Vows of
Myriam Lazo of Nicaragua. Present were most from the neighborhood and
RSCJs from Brazil, Cuba, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico, and Canada and the US,
of course. All provinces integrated so beautifully and
graciously into the celebration. Mary Finlayson and I along with RSCJs
from three other provinces were invited to read different portions of a
social justice creed. This same space went from Mass to festivity with
tamales and drinks for all present. From there we went to the
community for continued celebration with a mariachi band and plenty of
dancing. We were about 60 RSCJs, 42 of whom were sleeping at the
Noviceship, utilizing every inch of available space!!
While
the experience may not "typify" our life, it was significant for at
least 3 reasons: First, it was the opportunity to witness, first-hand,
the public commitment of a young person dedicating her life to God
through service, prayer and community in the Society of the Sacred
Heart. Each young woman commented on this saying that "the nuns they
know have always been nuns." Secondly, it was a rare but palpable
moment of the international Society. Finally, the experience opened
the door for many questions and confessions from roughly half the
participants, stating with much emotion and a bit of apprehension a
strong interest in religious life. The conversations continued for the
remainder of our time together in Mexico and led to the suggestion that
we provide them with reflectors or spiritual accompaniment the next
time.
We closed the project with a prayer service that
included the coordinating team from the women's group and the RSCJ
community. This was a very moving ritual of sending which included
giving each one a black wooden ring as a symbol of her solidarity with
the poor and her commitment to work for justice. As we drew our time
to a close all counted it a great success marked by new friendships;
love of the people and cultures they had come to know; clarification
and confirmation of "life goals;" and a strong desire to stay longer. Life, however, was calling them back to work and school, but they were
returning to those places not as they had left them. They came to
serve and to experience something different. In their own words, they
left filled with the simplicity and generosity of the people; a desire
to continue to live and work with the poor; the knowledge that across
borders and despite differing cultures they are unified in their
struggle for justice; a strengthened determination to make a difference
in the world, and the renewed knowledge and confidence that they can.
Indeed they can, they did and they will!
(published in RSCJ Update, USA )
Imma DeStefanis rscj
Province of the United States
|
