The Maryknoll Family in the time of COVID-19*
We are living in the midst of a great epochal shift and we need a new religious awareness to help us realize that You (God) are the power of this great shift; absolute Love can never remain incomplete or partial.
(Ilia Delio, Dear God Letter)
In a recent press conference NY Governor Andrew Cuomo said that the coronavirus will transform us. Political, economic and social structures will look different when we finally emerge from it all. Listening to the Governor throughout this week, I have to believe that he was also referencing a personal, and collective spiritual transformation. The level of suffering and the uncertainty about when it will all end have a way of shaking us (some of us) out of our sleepwalking, awakening us to a new, more expansive way of seeing.
So many words, spoken way too early, have already been recorded about what Covid-19 will ultimately mean for our world. This is just a modest attempt to focus on one possible outcome within Maryknoll.
Even before this time of coronavirus, Pope Francis wrote that we are experiencing a change of eras, not just an era of change. By all accounts, the aftermath of Covid-19 will blow it up even further. Many of the underlying equations and assumptions are changing. Old arguments need to be reframed. We are seeing things differently, more deeply and not allowing old biases or seemingly ontological givens to determine our perspective. Maybe we’re finally learning that we are not in control after all. Richard Rohr said that realization “situates us correctly in the universe.”
All this has made me think of the “Maryknoll Family”. I realize that the degree of investment in those two words within Maryknoll over the years has ranged from very favorable to fervent rejection. As an aspiration, this notion of the Maryknoll family has surfaced many times but it hasn’t moved beyond the aspirational. I think these times encourage another look.
Specifically, two happenings have brought me to take another look at the Maryknoll family. (1) The first came from observing the spectacle of the present U.S. Administration during the pandemic - relinquishing responsibility to the individual states, each to go it alone rather than the Administration stepping up to pursue a unified national strategy. An approach that is an ineffective and wasteful use of resources, exasperating most of the Governors. This first mentioned happening does not directly correlate with anything within Maryknoll save for the use of resources and a centralized unity. (2) The second reason is stronger and more personal. On hearing over the last few days that (at this writing) two Sisters have died and several others tested positive for coronavirus; that five or more Society members have also tested positive; that MKLM leadership is taking extraordinary measures to protect their lay missioners; and, knowing that many Affiliates across this country and overseas could soon get infected… all this surfaced emotions of deep sadness but also solidarity and love. I cannot see separation and silos, but only one collective Maryknoll family suffering and working together to bring hope to each other and our world.
I understand that seeing Maryknoll as one vital family, raises questions about vocational identity, Church canons and legions of other challenges. Still, for me, not enough legions to not pursue something that could, besides being more strategically economical, very conceivably bring a new vitality, a new start, and a new model to engage and attract others; a new, transformed way of looking at who we are. For sure, we’ll have nothing of this if we are too busy trying to protect ourselves in our isolated existences. Do we agree with Delio (at least intuitively) that, “We are living in the midst of a great epochal shift and we need a new religious awareness to help us realize that You (God) are the power of this great shift…”.
This brief post is neither meant nor able to confront the obstacles or lay out the strategies for moving forward towards a more essential, integral Maryknoll Family. When we are on the other side of this virus, I think a representative gathering from all expressions, perhaps in the context of a working retreat, could begin that conversation…i.e., if it’s seen to have any merit. This post is only meant to surface a perspective and a possible new vision during this time of epochal shift. In the end, we do not transform ourselves or our institutions. We are transformed by deeper forces that allow us to see and respond in a new way.
* Apologies to Gabriel García Márques - Love in the Time of Cholera (El amor en los tiempos del cólera) for appropriating his title.