LCWR Call
for 2004-2009

The Spirit of God is upon us.
God has anointed us
To bring good news to the poor
To proclaim release to the captives
To bring recovery of sight to the blind
To let the oppressed go free
To proclaim this, our age,
As a time of God's favor.
-- Based on Luke 4: 18-19

Prologue

We, the members of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, believe that God's call is written in the signs of our time. Our foremothers and founders stepped into the chaos and the unknown of their day, trusting in God's good guidance and great providence. In our time, we are called to do the same. Inspired by the radical call of the Gospel, led by God's Spirit and companioned by one another, we embrace our time as holy, our leadership as gift, and our challenges as blessings.

In this time of God's favor, we live in a world where

•  Major social and global changes create fear, anxiety, confusion, and polarization
•  Technology, communication, and information shrink time and distances among peoples
•  Inaccessibility to basic resources breeds suffering, oppression and violence
•  Increasingly, violence, military force and terrorist activity are used to settle disputes
•  Multinational corporations exert control over legitimate governments
•  Religion is used to justify political and personal aggression
•  Environmental degradation threatens all of God's creation

And where people

•  Long for justice, peace and communion
•  Work to achieve the common good
•  Hunger for spirituality and meaning
•  Claim personal and communal power for change
•  Awaken to the wonder of the universe, and the place of humans within it

In this time of God's favor, we belong to a church

Whose members
•  Struggle to love the Church as both graced and sinful
•  Strive to balance traditional teachings with changing realities
•  Seek to be a more inclusive, welcoming community
•  Hunger for spirituality and the full expression of their baptismal call

And whose leaders
•  Experience the pressing impact of a rapidly evolving world and universe
•  Struggle with growing diversity in members' views, cultures, and religious practices
•  Are confronted with their own humanity and sinfulness
•  Bear the call to create structures that free the Church for the ways of God's Spirit
•  Carry the responsibility of being welcoming, accountable, and inclusive pastors to all God's People

In this time of God's favor, we lead congregations experiencing

•  An evolving Church, world and universe
•  Major shifts in identity, resources, members, and traditional ministries
•  Diversity of cultures, worldviews, and theologies
•  Restructuring within and among congregational units
•  A growing desire for contemplation, balance, and simplicity
•  Need and hope for dialog with Church's leaders and inclusion in its processes
•  Emerging forms of religious commitment
•  Growing collaboration with the laity
•  Deepened appreciation of and commitment to the created world as holy

In this time of God's favor, we, the members of LCWR, hear God's call and we commit ourselves for the next five years to

•  Ground all our actions in contemplation
•  Live and lead rooted in right relationship with all of creation
•  Practice honest, respectful dialog towards peacemaking and reconciliation
•  Risk being agents of change within our congregations, our church and our society
•  Stand with those made poor, particularly women and children
•  Welcome new members, new ideas, and new ways of living into the future of religious life
•  Mentor leaders for the future
•  Collaborate with others to create a future filled with hope

Affirmed by the National Assembly on August 22, 2004 in Fort Worth , Texas

View the LCWR Call as a PDF document