As we gathered around our tables at St Joseph’s, Baulkham Hills, for our Assembly, the small labyrinths at the centre of each table gave us a clue to the spirit in which we would explore the way we might organise ourselves in the future.
If we were a commercial company we might have said that we were about to engage in some “blue sky thinking” but, for us, the image of a pilgrimage was more inspirational. The various items that are the traditional signs of a pilgrim on a journey, staff, sandals, backpack etc invited us to think creatively about what would be essential on the way ahead and what we could leave behind to free us to travel lightly. Our reflections led us to consider where authority for different decisions lies at present and to imagine what lines of authority could exist in the future. We had beautifully creative booklets with scripture passages, images and questions to stimulate our thinking and Saint Philippine Duchesne’s daring “voyage of a lifetime” to the New World 200 years ago to encourage us as well as the joy of companionship on our pilgrimage.
Rita Carroll rscJ
A lovely summing up, Rita! I relished being able to do some blue-sky thinking about our future with you on this pilgrim journey