NRVC / RFC Regional Meeting ....by Sr. Paz

Three exciting days at St. Placid Priory: From April 30 to May 2, fifteen sisters’ vocation and formation directors from the Pacific Northwest area came together to pray, celebrate, learn and collaborate together. Sr. Mary Pat Garvin, RSM and Sr. Diane Tomkinson, OSF joined us for a presentation via Zoom. We were honored with the presence of Sr. Debbie Borneman, SS.C.M. (Sisters of Saints Cyril and Methodius), Director of Mission Integration from National Religious Vocation Conference (NRVC) and Ryan Hoffman, executive director of Religious Formation Conference (RFC). 

2024 NRVC / RFC group at St. Placid Priory

I was delighted to hear a lot of compliments about our chapel and liturgy, the art on our walls, the library, the food and the grounds. It is not that I don’t appreciate what we have, but it’s affirming when other people compliment your living space.

With only a few months as Member Area Coordinators, Sr. Chero Chuma and I, with the guidance of Sr. Charlene Herinckx, SSMO and Sr. Teresa Shields, SNJM, organized this meeting. It was very exciting and very stressful at the same time. St. Placid Priory was the meeting place, so I felt a little more pressure to make it work well.

I am so grateful for all the support I received from my community and our oblate community. One sister helped us with the name tags, another with flowers at the entrance and table flowers, with pictures, and arranging everything for the banquet and the chapel. The oblates brought us delicious snacks. It was a community effort; I love to see how the whole thing came together organically. Of course, not everything was rosy—there were a few slips, but it all worked out.

The main topic of our meeting was “Well-Being: Gift to Self and Others!” It was amazing to realize how important is to be aware of myself and to take care of myself. This is not a selfish attitude, because if I don’t take care of myself, I cannot care for others. If I am not a gift to myself, I cannot be a gift to others. As vocation and formation directors, we are responsible for early contact and formation of potential new religious women in our communities or congregations. We are responsible forcaring for them and being sure that they know how to take care of themselves.

Sisters Paz, Debbie, Theresa, Chero and Angela

Religious life is not an easy life, so it is essential to know about my own culture, not just religious culture or community culture, the charism of my community, and how to use my creativity, life experience, and connections with others in diverse ways. All these are tools for me to use when I engage and connect with others. I also need to be aware that we all have our unique tools to engage others as a mentor or as a friend. Every person sees the world with unique eyes. This knowledge is a great opportunity to see the world with the eyes of others. When interacting with another, I will be more curious to learn  how this person sees the world. This awareness opens to me a wide window of possibilities each time that I interact with someone. I certainly had the opportunity to practice this new awareness these past few days. I invite you to try to use the "4C"s: Culture, Charism, Creativity and Connections. You may have some exciting experiences, too, practicing awareness of your unique "4C"s.