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Religious Life for Women in East and Central Africa: a Sustainable Future

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Religious Life for Women in East and Central Africa: a Sustainable Future Inspiring the extraordinary Institute for Computational Cosmology Religious Life for Women in East and Central Africa: a sustainable future Report of a research project on sisters’ understandings of the essence of religious life for women in East and Central Africa 2017 - 2020 by Dr. Catherine Sexton and Dr. Maria Calderón Muñoz, February 2020 A collaborative research project jointly undertaken by Durham University's Cen- tre for Catholic Studies and the Margaret Beaufort Institute of Theology, gener- ously funded by the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation Contents Acknowledgements 6 Chapter 4 Community life 31 Introduction 31 Executive Summary 7 Overview 31 Sources of models for community life 32 Introduction 10 Community as communion, mutuality and reconciliation 34 What this report is 11 Challenges of community life 36 What this report is not 11 The common timetable 38 Chapter 1 Methodological considerations 12 Community life as a form of witnessing to God’s loving action and the value of Christian life 39 Chapter 2 Methods of data collection and analysis 14 God and prayer at the heart of community life 40 Feasibility Study period (Year 1) 14 Community as a source from which to draw 41 Key outputs of the feasibility study 14 A second dynamic? 43 Research design 14 Community as protection 44 Identifying the sample set 16 Awareness of connection with wider community 45 Data collection and analysis 16 Chapter 5 Mission, evangelisation and apostolates 47 Limitations of this study 18 Mission 47 Ethical considerations 19 Evangelisation 49 Chapter 3 Relationship with God, prayer and the following of Christ 20 Apostolates 50 Introduction 20 Chapter 6 Bearing witness and hope through consecrated being 56 God: the centre and meaning of religious life 21 Introduction 56 Christ the pray-er 22 The vows and consecration: speaking into the world or set apart from it? 57 Prayer 22 Witness 61 The Holy Spirit 23 Being signs of eschatological hope 63 Forms of prayer 24 Ministry of Presence 64 Functions and fruits of Prayer 25 Being other-oriented as the fruit of prayer 26 Chapter 7 Charism 67 A central dynamic 30 Introduction 67 Charismatic maturity through expressed complexity 68 Relating the charism to other aspects of Religious Life 69 Charism as a source of renewal 71 Charism understood as both gift and ecclesial in nature 72 Chapter 8 Sisters and the local Church 73 Chapter 12 Sustainability of the spiritual life and integrity of the congregations 112 Introduction: Sisters as part of the life and energy of the Church 73 Introduction 112 Sisters in and as the mission of the Church 74 Distractions to religious life 112 Are we Church? 76 Main distractions 112 Sisters and clergy: differentiated roles and power dynamics 77 Advice on how to deal with distractions 1 1 7 Power dynamics between clergy and sisters 79 Family bonds and expectations 1 1 8 Conflict over land and institutions 82 Accepting the limitations of being human 120 A role for prophetic voices in the Church: speaking out? 86 Sustainability of the congregations through renewal and ongoing formation 120 Chapter 9 Sisters’ sense of identity 88 The extent and nature of the self-critique and introspection 120 Under the gaze of society 88 Conclusion 124 How sisters see themselves 92 Identities as multi-layered 93 Chapter 13 Summary and conclusions 125 Sustainability of the wineskins: financial sustainability Chapter 10 Sustainability, poverty, empowerment 94 and new membership 126 Introduction 94 Sustainability of the congregations in terms of spiritual, Sustainability of congregations 94 charismatic and apostolic integrity 128 Living vowed poverty 99 The right place of apostolic activity 128 Engaging with poverty in their external environment 101 Shared understanding of charism 130 Poverty and the impact on sisters’ apostolates 103 Sisters and the local Church 1 3 1 Conclusion 132 Chapter 11 Recruitment and initial formation of new members 104 Bibliography 133 Introduction 104 Appendix 1 Reasons to continue to attract new members 104 Research participant consent form’ 135 New members: what is expected of them and what Appendix 2 136 they expect from religious life 106 Participant information sheet 136 Initial formation 108 Appendix 3 138 Formators 110 Invitation letter to and guidance notes for Stage 2 group discussions 139 Summary 111 6 7 Acknowledgements Executive Summary We would first of all like to express our gratitude We express our gratitude for the cooperation and In 2015, towards the end of the initial piece of The study used qualitative research methods to the Catholic Sisters’ Initiative of the Conrad N. support of the leadership conferences of the five research carried out by this team on vitality to address the questions as our concern was to Hilton Foundation; none of our work would have countries in which the project was run, and their in apostolic religious life for women in the UK draw on the lived experience of Catholic sisters been possible without their belief in our research past and present leadership: the Association of and Ireland, funded by the Conrad N. Hilton and to hear their reflections on the emerging and our approach and their commitment to women Sisterhoods of Kenya (AOSK); the Association Foundation’s Catholic Sisters’ Initiative (CSI), theology of religious life across the region. Data religious throughout the world. of Women in Religious Institutes of Malawi we were approached by the CSI staff to explore collection was carried out in two stages. In Stage (AWRIM); the Tanzania Catholic Association of whether we would be interested in applying our 1, we asked sisters to tell us the five key points in This report has been written by the ‘inner’ core Sisters (TCAS); the Association of Religious of existing experience and extending our approach their understanding of the essence of religious research team of Dr. Catherine Sexton and Dr. Uganda (ARU) and the Zambian Association of of working with Catholic to include sisters in life for women as lived in their own context. In María Calderón Muñoz. However, we acknowledge Sisterhoods (ZAS). We would also like to thank a number of countries across East and Central Stage 2, these responses were explored in guided the invaluable and significant role and contribution the following individuals who helped us in our Africa. This research, carried out between 2016 discussion groups. of the members of our wider ‘core’ team of Project original and ongoing thinking: Sr. Eneless Chimbali and 2019, was the result of an invitation from the Support Assistants, without whom this work truly SBVM, former Secretary General of ACWECA, Catholic Sisters’ Initiative of the Conrad N. Hilton In Stage 1, we received responses from 621 sisters would not have been possible: Sr Pat Murray IBVM, Executive secretary of the Foundation to undertake a further piece of work. from 79 congregations in five countries across ‘International Union of Superiors General’ (UISG), Sr. Margaret Akoth Sewe IBVM (Kenya) East and Central Africa, a 76% response rate. 50 Sr. Jane Wakahiu LSOSF, then Executive Director The aim of this project was to combine the shared of these congregations went forward into Stage 2 Sr. Scholastica Mwale SCO (Malawi) of the African Sisters Education Collaborative expertise of sister researchers from the region and and held 56 discussions groups. We analysed the Sr. Deusdedita Lutego CST (Tanzania) (ASEC), as well as all those sisters who attended the global perspective of the UK-based Religious data using thematic content analysis. In Stage 3, the original ‘Kasisi consultation’ meeting in Zambia, Life Vitality team to enrich local reflection on we brought together a group of sisters from the Sr. Christine Keneema DM (Uganda) September 2019. women’s religious life and to contribute to the five project countries who acted as theological Sr. Helen Kasaka LSMI (Zambia) growing global discourse on the same. commentators and helped us identify the theology We would also like to thank all the members of the of religious life emerging from the data. We then We thank them for the time they have given to wider team and support staff of our institutions Our methodology was two- fold, consisting of an shared these initial insights with participants in this work, for the loving care and attention with who helped us in so many ways over the last three aim to hear, amplify and privilege the theological workshops in each of the five countries, giving which they coordinated the data collection in years, in particular Professor Paul Murray, Principal voices of Catholic sisters, and second, a belief them the opportunity to respond and thus enabling each country, and for the conversations and ideas Investigator of the Project and Yvonne Williams, that their theological voices are to be heard in the project to be dialogical in method. which led to this final analysis and report. We Project Co-ordinator of the Centre for Catholic conversation with each other. We therefore wanted would also like to offer our warmest gratitude Studies at Durham University, and, at the Margaret to encourage a participatory approach and to this Based on our analysis and discussions with sisters, and appreciation to the Provincial and General Beaufort Institute of Theology, Sr. Dr. Gemma end, the research questions were drawn up through we decided that it would not be appropriate for us Superiors of these five congregations who so Simmonds CJ, Director of our sister project a consultation exercise. This comprised listening to make recommendations, but instead we would kindly loaned the sisters to the project over this ‘Religious Life in the UK: discerning the future’, to individual sisters in key positions and to a range make a series of observations and offer some period. We also acknowledge the contribution and Dr. Amy Daughton, now at the University of of network and umbrella organisations, such as questions for further reflection.
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