Mourning is Not Enough: LCWR Calls for Action to Prevent Gun Violence

February 23, 2018

On February 14 a very troubled 19-year-old took an AR-15 assault rifle to Marjory Stoneman High School and opened fire killing 14 students and three staff members. The shooting was a horrible tragedy that has become all too familiar to students, teachers, and parents across the country.

The heartbreak in Parkland, Florida is far too common. A recent study of World Health Organization data published in the American Journal of Medicine found that, among high-income nations, 91 percent of children younger than 15 who were killed by bullets lived in the United States. Guns are linked to roughly 33,000 deaths in the United States per year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; about two-thirds of them are suicides. 

Where is the outrage? Have we become immune to the horror? Why are elected officials unwilling to confront the epidemic of gun violence that is sweeping the nation? When will the killing stop?

Our hearts and prayers go out to those in Parkland even as we continue to mourn with those in Orlando, Las Vegas, San Bernardino, Charleston, Newtown, Columbine, Sutherland Springs, and in countless other cities and towns across this nation who have lost loved ones to gun violence.  We grieve with mothers and fathers whose children were victims of senseless killing made easy by the proliferation of guns and the pervasive culture of violence.

There is much to mourn, but mourning is not enough. Prayers and condolences are not enough. The killing must stop. It is well past time that we enacted sensible gun violence prevention legislation. This is not about protecting the second amendment. It is about protecting the most precious resource we have, the gift of life.

We call our elected officials to immediately take up legislation that:

•  requires universal background checks and mandatory waiting periods for all gun purchases;
•  bans civilian ownership of high-capacity weapons and magazines; and
•  makes gun trafficking a federal crime.

We commend the young people of Parkland for taking up the important work of gun violence prevention. We will stand with you as you advocate for legislation that will save lives. We will join you in the March 24 “March for Our Lives.” We will walk with you as together we seek to put an end to violence and follow the path of peace.

In this Lenten season as we recall the life Jesus, the Christ, let us pray for the grace to embrace his way of nonviolence and let us never doubt that the deep darkness of these days will be overcome by the radiant light of our lives and actions lived in love.

The Sunday Assembly worshiping community at Holy Wisdom is collecting donations to support March for Our Lives. Children and families will march in Washington DC on March 24, 2018 to demand the end of gun violence and mass shootings in schools. Anyone who wishes to contribute can donate on our website at holywisdommonastery.org/support/donate-today. Please choose Other under How would you like your donation to be used, then type in March for Our Lives.

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Pat Hilts shown here with her most recent liturgical weaving created for and given as a gift to Holy Wisdom Monastery, Easter III

When Pat Hilts responded to a posting on a bulletin board in the Home Economics Building on the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW) campus in 1976, she had no idea that she was about to enhance the lives of many people for years to come. “The posting was from a place called St. Benedict Center and they were looking for someone to do some weavings for the monastery,” says Pat. “I had been spinning wool and weaving since 1968 so I decided to answer the ad.”

Pat met with Sisters Mary David Walgenbach and Joanne Kollasch and Frank Kasmarcik, a consultant in church design and oblate of St John’s Abbey, Collegeville, MN, about the project. She submitted her designs and a 40 year collaboration began. “We have been blessed by Pat’s work for many years,” says Sister Mary David. “Her most recent weaving, Easter III, was a gift to the monastery. Pat’s generosity is truly remarkable considering the many hours she spent on this project.”

Pat and her husband Victor moved to Wisconsin in 1965. She taught mathematics at Marshall High School and Victor was an assistant professor in the History of Science department at the UW. After teaching for five years, her interest in weaving led her to earn a master’s degree in the Related Art Department of the UW School of Human Ecology.

Pat travelled to London in the summer of 1973 to do research at the British Library and discovered early weaving books. “During my translation of a German weaving book published in 1677, I discovered a specialized loom harness and weaving structure. I was able to translate the patterns of Marx Ziegler and generate images of the patterns with the computer. I also modified my loom to accommodate the patterns.”

Pat eventually translated five books and has lectured at conferences about German weaving techniques. “Being involved in the history of weaving has had a major impact on my designs,” she says. “As I discovered new techniques in the books, I incorporated them into the designs for the banners.”

Stages in the weaving process include hand-dying the yarn (inset), designing the pattern (hanging beside the loom), stringing the warp (length-wise fibers) onto the loom, and finally, many hours of actual weaving. (photos by Pat Hilts)

Over the years, Pat has woven eight banners for the monastery and three are currently on display in the monastery building. The most recent, Easter III, is a shining yellow cross on a variegated background which has graced our worship space in the assembly room throughout the Easter season.

Pat submitted more than 10 designs for consideration before the final one was chosen. In addition to writing out a complicated pattern and preparing the loom, Pat dyed 12 skeins of wool with a paintbrush to reflect the rich colors of the prairie. She takes meticulous records and photographs of her work as it progresses. “This latest project representing the prairie coming to life in spring has taken about a year from start to finish.”

The Easter III banner has now been replaced in the assembly room by The Tree of Life, a green weaving for the liturgical season of ordinary time, one of Pat’s earlier creations. Two other banners woven by Pat hang year-round in the gathering area, and we look forward to bringing Easter III out again for the Easter season next year. “It is an honor and a privilege that so many people can enjoy my work in this beautiful space.” Everyone who sees Pat’s work agrees it is an honor for us to have such beautiful weavings in our midst!

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Now I can relax, I thought. The semester had been long and challenging in unexpected ways. It wasn’t the schoolwork so much as navigating new relationships, adjusting to an unfamiliar environment (rural Minnesota) and church culture (Roman Catholic), learning to transition from being a novice to a sister (still figuring that out!). The school year had been full of many quick changes. I was looking forward to being in one place with people I know and love. I needed time for quiet reflection, bending back over the experiences of the year, rooting down and integrating what I have learned along the way.

But it took days before I could let go of the semester’s anxieties and let in the experience of being home for the holidays. As I prepared for the Christmas Eve homily, I struggled to say what was in my heart. I miss Sunday Assembly fiercely. Having spent most of the 2015 Advent season away, I returned to Holy Wisdom full of gratitude for this place which is my home, the formation I have received, the life I have found here. My time apart has helped me value and appreciate the gifts of this community more. The last time I stood at the ambo at Holy Wisdom was to make my first monastic profession. Now I was returning to the very same spot to preach a Christmas message. I had come full-circle. How could I possibly communicate how meaningful, how overwhelming at times, this journey has been?

As I look at the Christmas story this year, I find renewed inspiration in the example of Joseph and Mary. To register for the census, they had left their hometown of Nazareth where they might have had the support of family and friends when it came time for Jesus to be born. Instead, they were in Bethlehem, where they knew no one who would take them in. When Mary went into labor, they were caught between places, dislocated, improvising—taking shelter in a cave, making a nursery out of a barnyard feeding trough. Despite the discomfiting circumstances of Jesus’ birth, like all parents, they quickly adjusted to a new reality. They made themselves “at home” in their openness to God’s plan. Maybe I could take a page from their book.

During the week between Christmas and New Year’s, the retreat and guest house is closed. The monastery is quieter than usual. The hustle and bustle of guests during the week slows down. We gather for prayers in the oratory regularly and the remainder of our day is free for leisure. I had time for reading, journaling, conversation and quiet reflection. It was just what I needed.

Winter break is nearly over. As I prepare to leave this week for another semester of school, I have mixed feelings. Although I will be sad to go, I know how much my theological education and my experience of living in a different community is stretching my mind and heart. I am gradually learning the deep-down meaning of the Benedictine promise of stability: how to be “at home” wherever God has me. It can often be challenging, but I’m grateful to keep coming home.

________________________

Read other blog posts from Sister Rosy in her series, Letters home.

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1. There is such a thing as an Advent calendar, which counts down the days until Christmas.
2. During Advent, Christians look forward to the birth of Jesus.

Until recently, this was pretty much the sum total of my understanding of Advent. Observing the season is not part of my tradition–growing up, I didn’t even go to church for Christmas or Easter. If Advent was observed at my current home church, I must not have been tuning in.

This year signs of Advent are unmistakable. Paz and I helped create the Advent wreath for Sunday Assembly, we set out the Advent prayer books with different antiphons and hymns for the season and we put out Advent candles in the oratory. These physical changes signaled for me a different way of being for this month and I was curious what the changes signified.

I noticed that in the days leading up to Advent we had several readings from the Books of Daniel and Revelation. Then, on November 29, the first day of Advent, we heard from Luke:

Jesus said, “There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on the earth distress among the nations…Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”  (Luke 21:25-36)

Why were we hearing so much about the end times all of a sudden? I wondered how it related to Advent. What, I wondered, does this have to do with the birth of Jesus, which we are supposed to be looking forward to?

About the time that I should have been starting on my blog for this month, I decided it could wait, that I didn’t really need to get an early start. I didn’t really want to get involved in writing something personal. I procrastinated. I dreaded. And I didn’t know why.

Finally, close to the last minute before my deadline, I opened one of the books on Advent that I borrowed from Lynn Lemberger, director of worship and music here at the monastery.  There were many writings from a variety of perspectives. This bit particularly resonated with me:

Advent is the time for rousing. We are shaken to the very depths, so that we may wake up to the truth of ourselves. The primary condition for a fruitful and rewarding Advent is renunciation, surrender. We must let go of all our mistaken dreams, our conceited poses and arrogant gestures, all the pretenses with which we hope to deceive ourselves and others. If we fail to do this, stark reality may take hold of us and rouse us forcibly in a way that will entail both anxiety and suffering. —Alfred Delp*

It dawned on me what was at the heart of my procrastination. All of this unknowing around Advent had tapped into a fear that periodically rears its head in my faith journey. I worry that I don’t believe the things that Christians are supposed to believe, and that at some point I’m going to cross a line where I’ll no longer be able to call myself a Christian. I thought I had put that particular anxiety to rest, but here it was again.  I didn’t want to take too close a look at what Advent meant out of fear that I wouldn’t be able to connect with it in an authentic way. I realized, finally, that Advent had tapped into a deep part of me that asks, “Do I belong?” I began to see that at times I try to deceive myself and pretend to believe what I think I’m supposed to believe so that I feel I deserve to belong to the Christian community.

Rather than moving into the unknown, finding out what this month before Christmas is all about, I was trying to avoid the whole thing, pretend that some of the scripture verses weren’t challenging. This pretense, based in fear, had led me to a place of exile. I felt outside the boundary of God’s love. The message or purpose of Advent for me was becoming clearer. Watch!  Be alert to the ways that you deceive yourself, instead of putting your trust in God.

When darkness induces modesty, humility, faith and trust, it leads to a communion with God as God really is; it frees us from the self-deception of worshiping gods of our own making.  Only the real God saves; not the illusion.  The true Israelite is the wise person who makes a home “in the shadow of the Shaddai.” (Psalm 91:1) —John Navone*

I’m sure this won’t be the last time I lead myself down a darkened path. When that time comes, I hope to remember the wisdom of this season.

*Writings come from: An Advent Sourcebook, edited by Thomas J. O’Gorman.

_______________________

Read other posts from Denise in her series, Far from home.

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Dejar el laboratorio, mi familia y mis amigos para venir a vivir aquí en la pradera no fue una decisión fácil. Pero ahora estoy aquí esperando a disfrutar el invierno ártico por primera vez en mi vida. Estaba y sigo estando emocionada y asustada al mismo tiempo. Nací y viví en la Ciudad de México, la mayor parte de mi vida. Hace seis años, me mudé a Estados Unidos, y estuve viviendo en Houston, Texas. Así que no sé qué esperar del invierno en Wisconsin. Sin embargo, el invierno no es la única cosa que me asusta.

Trabajaba en el Centro Medico de Houston, Texas, en Baylor College of Medicine, haciendo investigación básica. Sin embargo, no era feliz; poco a poco mi trabajo dejó de tener significado. Toda la emoción que la investigación me había brindado los últimos veinte años de mi vida me abandonó, dejando me vacía, seca, en un país extraño, sin mi familia y sin mis viejos amigos. Después de algunos años de soledad me hice de un puñado de nuevos y muy queridos amigos.

Durante este periodo de infelicidad o de vida sin sentido, conocí a Martha. Ella me habló de “Ordinary Life”, una clase dirigida por un ministro metodista retirado, el Dr. Bill Kerley. Él enseña “alfabetización religiosa y espiritual”, según sus propias palabras. Un domingo nos habló acerca de la Regla de San Benito y las hermanas benedictinas ecuménicos en Wisconsin. Busqué en Google y ¡voilá! Holy Wisdom Monastery fue la primera opción que apareció ante mí. Leí con avidez la página web y después de algunos correos electrónicos y otras tantas llamadas telefónicas, Ann Moyer me concertó una cita para un fin de semana en retiro espiritual.

La primera vez que vi a Ann en la parada de autobús en Madison, me recibió con un gran abrazo de bienvenida. Holy Wisdom Monastery es un edificio precioso y la gente aquí es muy agradable. Cuando vi por primera vez a la hermana Joanne; ella me tomó del brazo y me pidió que la acompañara a rezar. Su tacto y la forma en que me habló me recordaron a mi abuelita, parecía que ella misma era la que me hablaba. Me volví y la miré cara a cara un par de veces hasta estar segura de que ella no era mi querida abuelita, quien dejó este mundo hace casi veinte años. Este encuentro con la hermana Joanne fue un regalo y un recordatorio de que la vida continúa. Cuando conocí a las hermanas Lynne y Mary David sentí la misma bienvenida —sin cuestionamientos, sólo bienvenida. Entonces escuché a Rosy, quien en ese entonces era todavía novicia, cantando en la oración de la tarde y ella también me dio la bienvenida.

Además de mí, había cuatro mujeres más experimentando esta encantadora bienvenida, mis “beatas hermanas” como yo las llamo. Nos reunimos durante tres días con la hermana Lynne y Ann. Fue una gran experiencia; hablamos con el corazón en la mano. Eran cinco experiencias de vida diferentes pero una misma gran necesidad. Estábamos buscando a Jesús, su mensaje de amor. Pero en los caminos que anduvimos previamente no encontramos a Jesús. Tal vez no lo vimos o estaba allí, pero no estábamos listas para experimentar su amor. Tres días pasaron como un sueño, muy rápido y pronto fue hora de irse. Tres días no fue suficiente para mí, pero tendrían que esperar hasta la próxima oportunidad para volver.

Después de dos meses, tres de nosotras regresamos para un retiro de dos semanas. Cuando llegamos, nuevamente fuimos recibidas con una cariñosa bienvenida. Experimente un nuevo balance entre trabajo y oración. En el monasterio oramos tres veces al día, trabajamos en la huerta, en la cocina y en la casa Bingen. Me encanta la comida que la chef Bárbara prepara, también me gustan los horarios. La comida y la cena se sirve siempre a la misma hora. Toda esta experiencia fue una probadita en preparación de lo que es vivir como Sojourner Benedictina.

Cuanto más aprendía, más quería saber y experimentar en Holy Wisdom Monastery. Ahora estoy aquí planeando quedar me por seis meses. A pesar de que nunca había trabajado duro, me gusta trabajar en la huerta un par de horas al día. (En la foto, estoy trabajando con Denise en la huerta del monasterio.)

El invierno llegará pronto! —me dijeron unas personas la semana pasada y pensé, pero para mí esto es el invierno! No quiero ser sorprendida por el invierno sin estar preparada, por lo que acabo de adquirir un nuevo abrigo, guantes, sombrero y botas para la nieve que me mantendrá caliente incluso si la temperatura llega a 22 ° F bajo cero. Pero el invierno no es la única cosa que me asusta.

Me mudé a Holy Wisdom Monastery porque quiero cambiar. Aquí la naturaleza me muestra una gran cantidad de cambios todos los días, como el hermoso árbol rojo frente al monasterio que hoy se encuentra, sin una sola hoja. Casi no lo puede reconocer esta mañana y me pregunté si algo así me podría pasar a mí también en estos seis meses en la pradera de Wisconsin? Entonces recordé la primavera siempre sigue al invierno, y esta vida es un proceso siempre en cambio después de todo.

________________

Leer más de Paz en su serie del blog, Pequeñas notas de un viaje a la pradera.

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Texts: Sirach 51:12-20
Acts 4: 32-37
Mark 9:30-37

Stories can move people to live differently. Stories do this because our own experiences easily resonate with them. Our reflections on Scripture stories are an investment of time and energy in coming to know who we are, where we are going and who we are going with. This is part of the discovery process that Thomas Merton speaks of: finding yourself within God’s conception of yourself.

Rosy chose today’s readings as an expression of her coming to know God in an intimate and compelling way. My reflections on these readings are interspersed with Rosy’s reflections about her year as a Sojourner. They were written as sojourner blogs for Benedictine Bridge.

The first reading from Sirach describes the author’s search for and discovery of wisdom and his effort at living by wisdom. I quote, “When I was young and innocent, I sought Wisdom. Outside the sanctuary I would pray for her and to the last I will continue to seek her. From her blossoming to the ripening of her grape, my heart has taken its delight in her.”

From Rosy’s blog, September, 2013:

“When I packed up my things and left my cherished work as pastor of contemplative arts at New Life Fellowship Church in New York City, I did not know what God was calling me toward. I only knew that I heard the Voice of my Beloved clearly, and that I wanted to follow–even if it meant going out into the unknown prairies of Wisconsin, living closely in a community of women that I did not yet know, doing work that I could not fully fathom, while praying and singing words I only dimly grasp.”

In our second reading St. Luke holds before us the value of community. Luke describes the believers as of one mind and one heart. Perseverance in the spiritual life is sustained by a community of common faith—with one heart and one mind. This sharing involves not only the universal Church but also a more localized communion, our parish, congregation or assembly.

For St. Benedict too, community becomes the very language and texture of growth into Christ, as the call to monastic life is tested and refocused in the myriad interactions, formal and informal, that create monastic community. He says in Chapter 72 of the Rule of Benedict, “This, then, is the good zeal which members must foster with fervent love: They should each try to be the first to show respect to the other, (Rom. 12:10), supporting with the greatest patience one another’s weaknesses of body or behavior, and earnestly competing in obedience to one another.”

Bernard of Clairvaux, Abbot of Cluny, in his reflection on Eccl 4:10, says, “Community corrects individual defects; what one lacks another supplies, what one breaks another repairs, when we fall there is someone to lift us up.”

From Rosy’s blog, May, 2014

“As I reflect on the end of my Sojourner year and all I’ve experienced, it is hard to say what has impacted me most. What could have prepared me for this year of living in community with women I did not know, of praying the Liturgy of the Hours, of eating regularly with strangers and finding camaraderie and common ground at the table, of learning to pay attention to the gifts in the present moment, of kindling a recognition of God in everything and everyone? It has been a year of changes and interior surprises, but simultaneously, perhaps paradoxically, of deep stability and predictability.”

Today’s gospel finds the disciples arguing who was the greatest among them. They were unable to hear Jesus’ prediction of his suffering and death. Instead they were entertaining moments of glory and status in their political tradition of a victorious warrior who would defeat the Romans and re-establish the glorious Davidic kingdom. Jesus realizes how far the disciples still are from understanding his upcoming passion, death and resurrection. His response reverses all socially acceptable thinking about greatness. To emphasize his point he picks up a child and tells them that the least or most insignificant persons in society are the greatest. In the society and culture of Jesus’s time, the child had no standing or status. For Jesus, the child was a model of radical humility.

Humility is a matter of truth, of recognizing the truth about oneself, of growing in awareness of one’s true self where God has already planted in our souls all the direction we need to find our vocation in life.
Let us hear again the words from Sirach, “My soul has struggled to become one with her, I have been scrupulous in keeping the law; I have stretched out my hands to heaven and bewailed my ignorance of her; I have directed my soul toward her, and in purity found her; having my heart fixed on her from the outset, I will never be deserted; my very core having yearned to discover her, I now have a love fulfilled.”

We all rejoice with Rosy, her parents, Mary and Matthew, her brother, Mathew and his wife Amy Jo and their son Sam, friends; Angel, Helen, Christine and Patrick, and our community of communities: Oblates, Sunday Assembly, coworkers and of course the sisters. It takes a village to raise a vocation to monastic life at Holy Wisdom. We are grateful, Rosy, for your open and loving heart, and the sisters promise our love and support in return.

September 20, 2015
Mary David Walgenbach, OSB

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