How Do We Connect Conference Looking Backward, Looking Forward essay by Tony Garascia, Laura Luehrmann-Burdick and Isabella Moyer How can Marianists respond to the Magnificat challenges in our world today? From July 22nd to 25th, 2004, twenty-seven Marianists gathered in Covington, KY to reflect on the connections between faith and culture and the implications for our work in Social Justice. CLICK HERE to read this essay which shares some of these reflections and discussions and invites others to add their own insights, struggles, successes and challenges. Conference Description – here’s what we did ·         How Do We Connect Conference July 22 - 25, 2004 A Gathering of Members and Associates of the Marianist Social Justice Collaborative (MSJC) and the Task Force on the Interaction of Faith and Culture               Over twenty five members of the Marianist Family – Lay and Religious – gathered Thursday to Sunday, July 22 to 25 at the Catholic Center in Covington Kentucky to assess how contemporary movements and developments affect and can be used by Marianist religious and lay communities and their ministries.  Evaluations shared at the end and the enthusiasm that built during the course of the four day encounter are testimonial to the fact that the experience was beneficial and may be an important means to help Marianist entities of all sorts to assess the interconnection of faith and culture in their particular contexts.   The Task Force approached the MSJC because they believed the experience and sensitivity their various issue teams have developed in the area of social justice would be a very helpful framework to test ways of surfacing and dealing with issues in American society.  The expectation was that the MSJC would obtain valuable insights into their field of interest and that the F&C Task Force would gain important data as to how to surface these issues with Marianist groups of all sorts.  Both goals were achieved with the added benefit of much enthusiasm for continuing the process and of sharing it in other contexts.             We used two processes to achieve that goal: Social Analysis and Theological Reflection.  The social analysis helped us understand the styles, proclivities, penchants, preferences and values in our society and to assess their impact on our local situation – personal, familial, religious, civic, social and economic.  The theological reflection enabled us to bring to bear the teachings of our faith to those trends and their embodiment in the particulars of our lives.  Our intent is to go back to our bases and work to create ways to bring the gospel to bear in our environs.             The four days consisted of six working sessions, each centered on a major section of a paper written by Victor Forlani titled “How Do We Connect”.  Victor’s text is a description of movements in society, religion, the Catholic Church, religious orders and the Marianist Family.  ”How Do We Connect” also describes ways of addressing those trends and relating across the borders between the various segments of church and society.   The four day gathering was built on four important elements:   1. Ideas:  The thoughts developed by Brother Forlani constituted the intellectual input.   2. Process:  Plans for discussing these thoughts were developed by Victor, Jim Vogt, Executive Director of the MSJC and Robert “Bart” Barthelemy, facilitator of the sessions.  A series of questions was used for each of the five major sections of “How Do We Connect”: §         How do the dynamics described in this section affect us as Christians and Marianists, both positively and negatively? §         What do these trends call us to, specifically and particularly, regarding our cooperation in the building of the Kingdom? §         What would be a Marian and Marianist approach to the various issues described in this section? §         How do we incorporate responses to these trends into our life styles and apostolic work to make our individual and community lives holy and our work more effective?   Each session consisted of: o       A prayer led by a different participant for each session – a marvelous and creative variety of themes and styles resulted. o       A brief overview of the session’s “How Do We Connect” topic by Victor o       Discussions in small groups to consider the topic and questions. o       After about 50 minutes in the small groups, a fifteen minute break o       During the break, participants were asked to jot any thoughts they had about the session on one of six newsprint sheets.  We felt that this more informal style would be better than having recorders making verbal reports.  The subjects for those sheets were:  ü      Methods and Strategies to address issues ü      New ideas and concepts discovered ü      Possible action steps ü      The “Blank Sheet” for any and all random thoughts ü      Social Justice Implications for  MSJC Issues Teams ü      Suggestions for revision of “How Do We Connect” o        We spent the last half hour discussing impressions from our group sessions and from reading the results on the newsprint sheets.   3. Community Formation and Bonding:  we felt it critical that our time together be not only a sharing of ideas, but also an exploration of our values and feelings and beliefs about the issues discussed.  Some of ways that we fostered interaction on those levels were: à    Prayer and reflection together as part of each session à    Eucharist as a culmination on our last day – The Lord’s Day à    A room set aside for and suitable for personal reflection à    Sharing at meals à    Sharing at socials each evening à    Sharing during breaks and free time à    Sharing during our evening out   4. Thoughtful, Committed, Marianist, Catholic Christians: à    A diverse group in terms of Marianist connection, age, race and ethnicity, home bases à    The gifts and insights brought by each participant   Both the Marianist Social Justice Collaborative and the Task Force on Faith and Culture plan to follow up on this gathering.  Initially à    Revise “How Do We Connect” to make it an even better tool for this process as we offer it to communities and ministries in the Marianist world. à    MSJC will consider implementing what was learned in their work, particularly in their Issue Teams à    Suggestions received for the process will be summarized and considered by the Task Force on Faith and Culture for future programs. Participants   Bob “Bart” Barthelemy  Ray McCracken  Ted Cassidy SM  Bill Meyer SM  Floyd Contreras  Isabella Moyer  Bill Farrell SM  Steve O’Neil SM  Dick & Susan Ferguson  Regina Pfeiffer  Victor Forlani SM  Theresa Prather SFO  Tony Garascia  Al Prendergast  Laola Hironaka FMI  Jason Sengheiser  Richard Huerta  Candy Sengheiser  Larry Hufford  Rudy Vela SM  Leanne Jablonski FMI  Jim & Susan Vogt  Laura Luehrmann-Burdick  Eleanor White  Myles McCabe   Click here for a list of Prayer Services Photos:        Click on Photo for larger image