Affiliate Gestalt

Do you feel the Gestalt?

In a conversation last week with a Maryknoll priest and good friend, he said, “Affiliates really have a lot going on these days.  It’s a kind of Affiliate Gestalt!”  His statement prompted me to search for corroborating evidence. The search didn’t take long.

The list that follows is neither an egoic boast nor a denial of the reality that, like other Maryknoll expressions and the church itself, Affiliates are aging and young people are not knocking down our doors (might not even know we have any doors).  But, the fire has not gone out.   Glistening embers are reaching out across the globe. Many, many Affiliates remain committed to this Maryknoll mission charism. 

 

Here are some recent examples:

 

  • Mini Mac presentation (4/30) – Evolutionary Spirituality for Global Engagement with Wini Wolff, including a guided meditation by her husband, Tony Medwid.

  • At the Knoll (monthly) – the last one featured a panel from the Committee of 12. Los Angeles Chapter

  • Intercultural & Intergenerational Book Group – starting later this month.  Board members Rosa Beatriz de Castañeda Rameriz and Marie Venner to oversee.

  • Assisting Ukrainian Refugees – Jan Alberti & Pam Cibik of the Northeast, OH Chapter will travel to Poland May 2 – 14 to assist in the refugee work there.

  • Interfaith Kenya Hybrid Chapter – members from Kenya, Germany and many U.S. areas. Gerald & Marita Grudzen have committed much of their lives to interfaith work in African & the U.S.

  • International Meetings of Editors of the Affiliate newsletters No Tan Lejos del Horizonte (NTLH - digital) and Not So Far Afield (NSFA – digital and print). Both newsletters are formatted beautifully and give a current look at Affiliate life.

  • Earth Day Movie (4/ll & 5/1) – Chicago Chapter

  • Building Human Solidarity (3/30) – the Voices of Women – a YouTube event moderated by Marita Grudzen of the Kenya Hybrid Chapter. 

  • Virtual Lenten Bilingual Retreat – sponsored by the DC/Baltimore Chapter

In the background, the words of Ilia Delio echo within:

“We are created for love, and that’s what keeps pulling us onward.”

Robert ShortComment