DSIC revisioning process June 19, 2021
Written by: Sr. Sheeba Jem, OP
At the annual YSOP meeting that took place in January this year, Sr. Margaret Mayce, the DSIC coordinator, spoke about an intergenerational revisioning process for DSIC. DSIC is often thought of as something that has to do with prioresses and general prioresses, but the vision is to actively engage sisters at the grassroots. In light of this, Sr. Margaret introduced four questions that the DSIC council would like sisters to reflect on:
1. What is your hope/dream for DSIC over the next 5 years?
2. In order to achieve this, what do we need to do NOW?
3. In order to realize our hopes/dreams, what do we need to let go of?
4. What are the most essential (non-negotiable) elements of our Dominican Apostolic life as we move into the future?
5. How can DSIC be helpful in this process of visioning?
The ideal structure of a revisioning process would follow the model of the visitation – an intergenerational meeting between Elizabeth and Mary. That is, to have a group of younger sisters and a group of older sisters in each continental zone to reflect on these questions, collect the responses and then have representatives from each group meet and discuss in an international and inter-generational context. The first step of this revisioning process in Europe took place in April at the permanent formation meeting for sisters over 50 years of age, where a part of the meeting was dedicated to the reflection of these questions and the responses collected. The second step was the meeting held on June 19 for sisters below 50 years of age, where the same questions were reflected upon, and the responses collected.
There were around 35 participants at the zoom meetings and participants included sisters from the novitiate and Juniorate levels and sisters with perpetual vows. The meeting was held in English and translations were provided in French, German, and Spanish. Although some of the sisters had attended DSE meetings before, for many of them this was their first encounter with DSIC and DSE. The schedule was to have two zoom sessions: in the morning session, Sr. Veronica Rafferty gave an excellent overview of the beginnings of DSIC and the vision of the founders. Her talk was followed by Sr. Margaret Mayce, who gave a detailed picture of the current state of DSIC and the need for an engagement at the grassroots level. In the after session, the participants were divided into groups according to language and stage of formation and were asked to discuss the above questions. This was followed by a discussion in the plenum where each group summarized their reflections.
Here is a feedback of the meeting from one of the participants:
I was very happy to participate in the DSE meeting for those under 50 years old! This zooming meeting allowed me to know more about DSI (and DSIC) of which I had not heard much before, thanks to the interventions of Sr Margaret and Sr Veronica.
The time in a small group allowed me to meet young sisters from other Dominican congregations, and our exchange rekindled our desire to organize a meeting of young Dominican sisters in France, to allow us to forge links of the same generation. Thank you very much to DSE for making this meeting possible!
Sr. Carine Michel
Congrégation Romaine de Saint Dominique
