Human Security Threatened Worldwide, Former President Tells Religious Leaders

Mary Robinson, former president of Ireland and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, warned that “Governments in different regions of the world are failing to provide even the rudiments of human security,” in her keynote address to the leaders of Catholic religious orders in the United States.

The leaders are members of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) and the Conference of Major Superiors of Men (CMSM), who met August 19-22 in Fort Worth, Texas under the theme: “No Longer Bystanders: Creating Peace in Violent Times.”

Focusing on human “security” rather than human “rights,” Dr. Robinson said most of the world – post 9/11 – is preoccupied with insecurity and the war on terrorism. “But the stark reality,” she said, “is that the terrible attacks of 9/11 had no discernable impact on the millions of peoples already at daily risk from violence, disease and abject poverty.” Religions have what Robinson called “spiritual influence” and can have a significant impact on the empowerment of women, she told the group. Especially interfaith activism at the local level could make a difference in women’s lives, she said, in the areas of domestic violence and trafficking of women, a pro-active approach to the pandemic of HIV/AIDS, and the exploitation of women as domestic workers.

A panel of LCWR and CMSM members responded to Dr. Robinson’s talk – Franciscan Father John Doctor, Religious of the Sacred Heart of Jesus Sister Kathleen Hughes, Missionhurst Father William Quigley, and Mercy Sister Kathy Thornton – commented on Dr. Robinson’s address as a call for religious to be “change agents” in the world.

Also during the Assembly, the religious leaders were able to examine the theme of “Creating Peace in Violent Times” through a variety of workshops. Topics included “preemptive peace,” domestic violence, religious as a prophetic voice, leadership for missioners, and a session on reconciliation led by the father of a victim of the Kansas City bombing.

The assembled leaders also dealt with a number of resolutions. Jointly, the leaders adopted a resolution stating:

The Leadership Conference of Women Religious and the Conference of Major Superiors of Men urge our members to be fully informed and active participants in the 2004 election process and encourage others to exercise their rights and responsibilities.

Separately, CMSM members adopted a resolution to “express our solidarity with the people of Darfur, and call on the international community and our religious institutes to take effective action to raise awareness of the situation in Darfur, to protect the human rights of the people of Sudan, and to provide the necessary humanitarian aid.” LCWR members adopted resolutions to “identify and implement at least one new congregational action or program that promotes ecological sustainability;” and a second resolution to “oppose the research, production, testing, life extension upgrades and use of nuclear weapons.”

On the Friday evening of the joint assembly, LCWR sponsored a public witness event against the death penalty and immigration injustice. Hundreds of members and local organizations gathered at the Fort Worth Water Garden to hear from those whose lives had been changed by violence.

The LCWR and CMSM presidents, Sister of Charity of Leavenworth Constance Phelps, and Sulpician Father Ronald D. Witherup, gave a joint, dialogic presidential address in three parts – exploring the meaning and environments of violence and peace, looking at religion and violence, and asking what kind of response women and men religious can and should make. Opening with a Haitian proverb that she said captured the different perspectives on peace and violence, Sister Phelps said, “We see from where we stand.” Father Witherup said, “When we are bystanders to violence, we are complicit in it. Instead, we must stand by those who are experiencing violence.” Father Witherup encouraged the religious leaders to not be paralyzed by violence and to recognize that we all are in need of “conversion to peace.” Sister Phelps said that the world is need of spirituality that is whole, vibrant and meaningful and “people expect it from us.” In a time of escalating conflict, she said, “Let us be the face of escalating love.”

In separate meetings on the final day of the Assembly, LCWR members heard from a panel of leaders who have experience violence and held a ritual of reconciliation and healing. CMSM members continued work on their Instruments of Hope and Healing program in response to the crisis of sexual abuse of children and youth in the church.

Both organizations held elections for officers and Boards. LCWR elected Bea Eichten, OSF as vice president. In LCWR’s tri-partite leadership, she will become part of the presidency. They also elected Catherine Leary, SSJ as secretary of the organization. CMSM elected Dominican Father Dominic Izzo as president-elect, who will take office at the CMSM Assembly in August 2005. They also elected to their Board Passionist Father Michael Higgins as vice president and three at-large Board members: Christian Brother Kevin Cawley; Richard Myhalyk, a priest of the Society of St. Edmund; and Clyde Phillips, a Maryknoll priest.

At its closing banquet, LCWR presented their Outstanding Leadership Award to Mercy Sister Theresa Kane.

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