Walking, Talking, Working together … discerning paths for hope
Song (music video): Christ, Be our Light
Scripture: Matthew 5: 14-17 You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead, they put it on its stand and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.
To All Members of the Christian Life Community in Canada
Orientations for Spiritual Conversation
As we prepare this week to journey to Nanaimo—either spiritually for those participating from afar or inperson for those attending—we offer you this orientation document. It traces our collective journey over the past five years, reflects on our current context, and recalls the insights we received from our virtual gatherings and “garden bed” reflections, so beautifully captured by the pre-Assembly Writing team and the NIWG. This document serves as a ‘preamble’ for the Assembly.
We hope this contemplation will help us approach the Assembly with open hearts and minds, ready to engage deeply with CLC in Canada's key themes. Inspired by our CLC World President's invitation to "dream about CLC and what we can do for Christ with the tools he gives us," we seek, through spiritual conversation, to discern orientations that will guide CLC in Canada over the next five years.
Our Journey and Context
We look back with gratitude at the transformative journey CLC in Canada has experienced over the past five years.
At the close of our 2019 National Assembly, none of us could have anticipated the upheavals ahead, especially the global pandemic that would reshape how we connect and minister. While it posed significant challenges, the pandemic also sparked an
explosion of communication technology, enabling us to stay connected, collaborate more broadly, and access greater formation opportunities. Through the Spirit’s guidance, we evolved and adapted to this new reality. However, increased reliance on the internet has made it harder for some of our members to connect and stay engaged.
During this period, we also witnessed and participated in historic moments in the Church, including the Synod on Synodality—a profound call to communion, participation, and mission. Our Ignatian practices of deep listening, spiritual conversation, and the three rounds made us natural contributors to synod listening sessions across the country, embodying Pope Francis' vision of a listening and discerning
Church. We understood more deeply that we have gifts that are needed in the church and the world.
Simultaneously, our heightened ecological awareness has fueled a deeper commitment to caring for our common home, inspired by Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si’. Many of our groups have dedicated themselves to environmental responsibility, making conscious efforts to transform their personal lifestyles and community practices in response to this urgent call to protect and nurture creation. This passion led to us re-imagining many aspects of our National Assembly, including reducing our ecological footprint.
Truth and Reconciliation became a significant focus for our nation and our CLC communities during this time. Many local groups engaged in the Listening to Indigenous Voices dialogue series from the Jesuit Forum, listening deeply to Indigenous perspectives and opening ourselves to be transformed. Some members trained to become facilitators of these
listening circles, while others and their communities chose this as a prayer mission. In 2022, Pope Francis made a historic visit to Canada to apologize for the Church’s role in the suffering caused by residential schools. This powerful moment encouraged us as a community to continue engaging in this journey with humility, commitment, and hope.
More broadly, we find ourselves against a backdrop of global unrest, with wars in Ukraine, the Middle East, and many other areas, creating a sense of fragility and urgency. These challenges highlight the need for the hope and guidance that the Ignatian worldview provides. The breakdown of civil discourse has further strained societies, making our Ignatian practices of deep listening and spiritual conversation more important than ever for building understanding and reconciliation. We also live in a time when social media spreads its pervasive force, providing both false information and stories that can inspire and bring us together, emphasizing the need for discernment and truth. Generally, it makes our world a noisier place, requiring greater intentional effort to create space for silence.
Throughout, our local CLC groups remain our heartbeat, our foundation. We hold great love for one another, in our diversity. We treasure the gifts of faith sharing, deep listening, spiritual conversation, Ignatian formation, communal discernment, support, acceptance, trust and accountability. We support one another in our individual and communal missions.
Together, we form a shared identity, journeying through moments of growth, crisis, or the loss of members, always rooted in our communal connection. We know that the Christian journey is to be lived out as a communal one. We know too that Community is a gift we have to offer and is deeply desired in our world today.
We also deeply treasure our close relationship with the Jesuits, who offer us invaluable support, accompaniment, and additional formation. While we recognize that Jesuits have had to step back from certain regions, this shift calls us as laity to renew our mission in spreading Ignatian spirituality with dedication and purpose.
As well, we carry with us to Nanaimo the fruit of the CLC/CVX World Assembly at Amiens. At Amiens, we re-confirmed the world apostolic priorities, those areas where we encounter the suffering Jesus:
• Globalization and poverty
• Ecology
• Family
• Youth
In Amiens, another apostolic priority was identified: Spiritual Ministry, which is notthe same as formation. Rather, as our World CLC President puts it, we have recognized a call to be present with the church and for the church.
From Amiens, the World Assembly calls us to Connect, Cooperate and Collaborate……in Creative Ways.
CLC members received confirmation of our vocation as One Lay, Ignatian, Apostolic Community where the mission of one is truly the mission of all. We remember that our Anchor of Hope, the Trinity, sees and inspires us to respond in companionship with Christ.
2024 National Assembly in Nanaimo
The rich soil: Our Preparatory Work
As noted, over many months and through consultation sessions and discernment, almost every aspect of our assembly process has been evaluated and re-imagined. In broad engagement and discernment with the entire community, the reduction of our carbon footprint, fewer but proportional delegate participation, and decreasing assembly expenses emerged as significant elements of our evolving assembly process.
Through the Garden Prayer Exercise, we reflected on our graced history – our CLC communal journey with God, a journey both joyful and challenging, over the last five years since our last National Assembly.
We prayed individually and then shared these experiences in our communities to discern their meaning. In our Ignatian way of life, remembering our experience is the rich soil in which discernment grows. We saw how God has accompanied and blessed us, and we recognized the various ‘movement of spirits’ in our communal life.
The garden prayer reflections from the communities were collected, collated and their rich content was organized into the three “garden beds” of formation, communication and collaboration, and sustaining
CLC. These were then posted and can be found on our national website under the members only section. The password is amgd1974. Here is the link > https://www.christianlifecommunity.ca/wordpress/
The two National virtual sessions, October 5th & 6th, provided the entire national body with two opportunities to connect and collaborate in advance of the Assembly. The October 5th presentations focused on apostolic initiatives around the world and in North America, while the October 6th session celebrated community and shared the stories of the various leadership teams in CLC in Canada. The gifts, graces and input received during these sessions are also essential to helping us discern a shared vision of our mission as CLC in Canada for the next five years.
The Pre-Assembly Writing Team, who prepared the Writing Team Report for the October 5 and 6th events, captured the essence of the sessions and prophetically named the key “horizontal threads” or orientations which came forth during those gatherings. A few examples of these horizontal threads are Community and Formation; Inclusiveness, Expansiveness & Unity; and the gift of the Spiritual Exercises. This report can also be found on our website in the members only section.
These rich preparation materials are cherished gifts for our national community. Along with our journey and context since 2019, they provide rich soil for discernment. We need to steep ourselves in their content, as we attempt to discover God's desire for us in moving forward. Our Ignatian practices of deep listening and spiritual conversation will support this, while we continue to engage in the communal discernment necessary to identify our CLC in Canada priorities/orientations for the next 5 years.
Peace and Joy,
Walking together,
General Council and the National Implementation Working Group
Sandy Mudge - President
Jane Abernethy - Parker, Past President
Pacifica Virzi - Secretary
Brook Stacey, SJ - National Ecclesiastical Assistant
Leanne Salel - BC/Rockies
Ruth Chipman - Prairies, Elder
Marilou Gonzalez - Central, National Treasurer
Karen Reeves - Atlantic-North American Representative
