Rather than cancelling the this year’s assembly of the US Leadership Conference of Women Religious in Dallas, Texas, a decision has been made to take the August 12 – 14 assembly online, as the coronavirus pandemic discourages large gatherings.
By its very nature, LCWR aims to gather its members, so women religious are eager to see how a common online experience will develop and support the approximately 900 congregational leaders from U.S. congregations attending the assembly.
The focus of the 2020 assembly is to discern together the modern role of women religious in the United States. This is a challenge that religious have been grappling with for many years however, in the context of the aging of community members, the global pandemic, economic downfall, political discord and racial injustice, there are new and urgent calls for a creative transformation of religious life and its ministries.
In the words of St Joseph Sister Carol Zinn, executive director of LCWR: “The work of the assembly is not merely to address society’s massive issues, but to use it as a frame to then ask ourselves, in that context, what do we have to offer as sisters?”
Let’s remember all the participants at the conference during this time.
(Logo for LCWR Assembly 2020)