Pax Christi Michigan has published a new issue of it’s PeaceMaking News Briefs newsletter. In this issue, state coordinator Joan Tirak wrote the following article about LCWR as recipients of the 2013 Purple Ribbon for Peace.
by Joan Tirak, Pax Christi Michigan State Coordinator
“The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on the women of our Church whose lives bear witness to the mandate outlined in Isaiah and read by Jesus in the Temple as He announced His liberating ministry.” So proclaimed PCM State Council member Kim Redigan in the 2012 Fall/Winter Peace Connections announcing the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) as our 2013 Purple Ribbon for Peace recipient.
Upon hearing this, LCWR Executive Director Janet Mock, CSJ replied: “We are profoundly grateful for this honor. Our members highly value and respect all the work Pax Christi does. It is a high praise to be so honored – we are humbled to be named to receive this award.” She regrets, however, that she cannot be with us to receive the award. She and other LCWR leaders will be in Rome to continue their dialog with the Vatican.
Pax Christi International in a letter of support for LCWR wrote: “Women religious in the United States have been deeply committed to promoting the peace of Christ. They are at the heart of our movement, proclaiming with clarity and love the possibility of a world without war, a future beyond dehumanizing violence.” Pax Christi USA and Pax Christi Michigan signed the letter as well. Read the full text at http://paxchristimi.org/Summer2012_PCM_news.pdf
Accepting the award on behalf of the LCWR will be former LCWR Presidents Margaret Brennan, IHM (1972) and Carol Quigley, IHM (1987). Both are members of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary community, Monroe. Brennan is a theologian, author and scripture scholar, having written on topics of spirituality, sustainability and theology. She has taught at seminaries and universities across the United States and Canada. And Quigley in describing herself wrote: “My experience in the third world (Brazil), leadership roles in religious life, both in the congregation and nationally in LCWR – as well as my ministry as novice director, have enriched and shaped me.”
In her article Redigan paid tribute to the LCWR saying: “Whether it’s traveling the country by bus to shine the Gospel light on our federal budget or running a literacy center in a Detroit neighborhood or standing with those living in war zones or ministering to those on death row and their victims, the women in our Church know what it means to keep vigil at the foot of the cross while others flee in terror. The women in this Church have been graced with the courage and wisdom to wait outside the tomb knowing that resurrection is inevitable.”
Pax Christi Michigan is privileged to celebrate the witness of women through our 2013 conference presentations by Barbara Reid, OP and Elizabeth Walters, IHM, the numerous women-led workshops, and in giving the Purple Ribbon for Peace Award to the Leadership Conference of Women Religions.
Joan, we have been blessed with all our sisters. I admire my sisters’ patience and humility with my fellow brothers in Christ. No other organization could be more worthy than our women religious of this award. thank you.