Communio Calling
Communio Calling
New Directions
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Catherine McCahill sgs, Sisters of the Good Samaritan Congregational Leader, sits down with host Gabrielle Sinclair to unpack their Statement of Directions for 2023-2029. Discerned at last year’s Chapter, the statement gives shape and direction to the Sisters of the Good Samaritan's lives and ministries.
In conversation, Catherine shares with us her own journey and stories of the audacious women she’s met along the way.
Welcome to Good Samaritan Education's podcast, Caminio Calling. My name is Gabrielle Sinclair and I'll be your host. In today's episode, I have the absolute pleasure of interviewing Catherine McCall, who's the Congregational Leader for the Sisters of the Good Samaritan. She's going to share with us a little about the statement of directions that was discerned and written as part of chapter last year. Catherine's also going to share with us a few stories in this year of holy audacity of some audacious women from the community. So let's jump into this wonderful conversation. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Today we welcome Catherine McCall, the Congregational Leader of the Sisters of the Good Samaritan, elected last year following the chapter meeting. Communio calling is intentionally grounded in story, which honours the fabric of our connections. And so we always start with story. So, Catherine, I'd love you to share a little bit about your story, a little bit about yourself, about perhaps how you came to enter the Sisters of the Good Samaritan and how community has shaped you over these years. So I was born in Townsville.
SPEAKER_01I'm the first child, and both of my parents come from families that had been in North Queensland for three or four generations, different parts of North Queensland. They come from Ireland and England and had lived off the land, some of them, and another part of the family had worked in the railway for three generations. So I think all of that influenced my childhood. I was followed by five brothers and sisters, two sisters immediately after me, and then three brothers. And I think you know, it's sometimes it's by chance. You know, my mother had to choose a school for me to go to when I started school and had to catch the bus from where we lived. If you caught the bus to where the Good Samaritan sisters were, you could stay on the same bus. If you caught the bus to where the Josephite sisters were, you had to change buses. And she thought she didn't want her little girl who was going off by herself changing buses. The simple things make those big decisions. That's right. So God works in interesting ways. And that the year I started school, it got a high school attached. They were run separately, but they were on the same site and it was the same uniform. So ostensibly, then I went to the same school for 12 years with the Good Samaritan sisters. And I think between family and Good Samaritan sisters, it was a very culturally Catholic. My father's family were very staunch, probably traditional Catholic. And I think though I saw in the sisters, you know, who'd come from all different parts of Australia with all different experiences, a commitment to us, a commitment to providing the best they could. We didn't have a lot of resources, but we knew we were getting quality education. And even as a young person, I used to think, you know, naturally these women wouldn't live together. And they must have lived fairly closely, you know, there were 10 or 11 of them living in the one building. And yet they made it work, I think, for our sake. They were all in the school at that stage, you know, either in the primary or the secondary school. There was always a music teacher, of course. So I think that was an influence on me. I think from the time I was a little girl, I wanted to be a teacher because I loved learning and I wanted to help other people learn. So after I left school, I went to university. But this kind of niggling thing about, you know, the more of life, I suppose, you know, that what was really the purpose of my life? How could I live that out as best I could? And for whom? So after a year at uni, and then I worked for a little while, I joined the sisters. So I was still quite young. I probably meant I had to grow up in the convent rather than before I came to the convent, but that was life then. And of course, it was, you know, going a long way. We joined in those days in Canberra and then did our training at Penitills. Right, yeah.
SPEAKER_00So distance from family straight away then.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, immediate, huh? And we didn't go home in that time, you know. I didn't go back to Townsville for three and a half years. Yeah. So I didn't see my extended family, my grandparents, all of whom were very important in my life in my growing up. And again, you know, it was an unusual thing to happen, but I was sent back to live in Townsville in the community and go to James Cook University.
SPEAKER_02Oh, wow.
SPEAKER_01So that was a real gift in many ways because I was there as part of my extended family. I was there when my grandfathers died. James Cook gave a it was a really good education degree. You know, we got a lot of PRAC teaching, and the community of sisters was really fantastic to me, as was the first principal there, was Mike Byrne, first lay principal. He advocated that I could do my PRAC teaching in my fourth year at St. Margaret Mary's. I got the experience of working in a Catholic school, doing RE. Third year I was in a state high school. So I had a variety of experiences, I think, which really were formative in themselves and prepared me. What was your subject area, Catherine? Chemistry was my major, and I had maths as a sub-major. So I had maths and science methods, and I began my teaching at Santa Maria College. Right. Oh, how wonderful. So from James Cook to Santa Maria College. Yeah, a little bit different. Quite a leap, yeah, it was because Queensland didn't have public exams, and I had a matrix class straight off. Wow. And you know, I remember a girl in the class asked me first day. And I was as nervous as anything as you might expect. Have you taught this before? And I said, Well, as you know, I'm new to Victoria. And the differences between the Victorian syllabus and the Queensland syllabus are these. So I didn't answer the question, but they were great. Good politician, Gavin. Right. The girls at Santa were fantastic. It was a great place to learn to teach because they wanted to learn. They were well behaved. And so you could learn to teach without the other things that sometimes come when you've got behavioural issues. It was a great community. I only had two years there, but I enjoyed it very much. And I'm always grateful that I had those two years to really bed down my teaching and to know that I could really enjoy it. I think when you talk about community, it's those communities that have formed me, you know, that school community, those students, those sisters with whom I lived in those years. You know, then I went to South Australia and I had five years there and then three years in Wyala. And again, the richness of the wider community. And there I was much more involved in parish life in a whole variety of ways, you know, RCIA, Antioch, Lifeline in Wyala. So if you know, when you're young, you can do lots of things.
SPEAKER_00Um but also the community in those places are so interlinked across all of those kind of things. That's right.
SPEAKER_01Yes. And it's a great learning opportunity, I think. And then I had a chance to do a theology degree. So I came back to Melbourne and did a theology degree, which was again, you know, fantastic experience to I think by the time I got to do that, maybe I was a bit jaded, maybe a bit, you know, life hadn't all turned out like I expected. I think in Wyala, for the first time I encountered some students that no matter what we did, we couldn't quite reach them. We couldn't quite turn it around for them. And the disappointment of that, you know, the disillusionment that comes with that. I'd always probably thought and hoped that, you know, if you provide education, you give people an opportunity to make other choices. And I was deputy principal in Wyala, so I saw the best and the worst and the struggles and the hopes and aspirations and a community that were, you know, that they wanted to know why you were there. I was thinking about this on the weekend. There was a boy in the class, and again, Matrick class, year 12, and they knew I'd come from Adelaide. I was at a school that was a boarding school, it was a bit prestigious, you know, for country kids to sort of thought Sacred Heart College was, you know, it in a bit. So they were intrigued. Why would you come from that to here? So this boy said, like, did you actually want to come now or did someone make you? And I said, No, I want to come. I want to teach chemistry here. And what a great place to teach chemistry. You know, we had a steel industry right there. Yeah, absolutely. Carotene being taken out of the bacteria in the salt water, you know, like it was a fantastic opportunity again there for learning. But I think there were challenges too in that community and that place.
SPEAKER_00Of course, you you never really know the seeds that you've planted too.
SPEAKER_01That's right, yes, yeah. While I had the theology degree, I had some credits because I already had a degree in a grad dip. I had six months at Sewa living in Sasebo. So it kind of a different community experience, you know, where you're on the outer because you don't have the language, and yet school is school, and you can know school and be involved in it if you like teaching. You know, the girls at at Seiwa were just so great to be around. So I had six months there. And then I went to Mount St. Benedict and I was REC there. So that was a very different experience. My previous teaching had been like more in curriculum and science and maths and administration, and so to move into you know responsibilities for liturgy and retreats. And I kept thinking, you know, God, if you wanted me to do this, you should have given me a bit of better voice, a bit more creative skills. But I think maybe because I knew I didn't know how to do this made me work harder with the teachers, you know, to make it the best we could.
SPEAKER_00Well, Catherine, what was the part of your theology degree that captured your heart that then helped play into doing that role? Like there's often something in those degrees that really kind of give you the grounding to move forward in that space.
SPEAKER_01I I don't think I was doing the theology degree to be a better teacher. I think it was about me. Oh yeah. And I loved scripture. I had a scripture major in the theology degree. So I did my Greek and I got my scripture. But I think it also turned my life around in terms of my own thinking about God and myself and what does it mean to be saved. I used to say to a couple of my lectures, I won't write what I don't believe. And so that'll be a problem, Catherine, you know. It's a real struggle then, you know, the tension between really appropriating this, uh-huh.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And it was a very ecumenical idea at United Faculty of Theologies in some of the theology subjects. We were taught in the same unit by a United Church person, an Anglican, and a Jesuit. And if you did a scripture major, you had to do Romans, a unit for a whole semester. That was because of the Protestant or the Reformed Church influence, but it was taught by a Jesuit. So you got the best of both worlds. And I think that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. I think I learned that Roman Catholics grow up with a much stronger sense of we don't talk about the fall. We know that human nature is in itself good. We talk a lot about sin and we're always working, trying hard to be saved. But Protestants know they're saved.
SPEAKER_00It's such a different viewpoint.
SPEAKER_01And it's so, yeah, it's a different starting point. It was really rich tutorials and discussions around all of that and learning from each other. And I think how blessed I was to have a really truly ecumenical theological education. It wasn't just dipping in, it was really the Anglican and the United Church candidates for ordination were all there, as well as were the Jesuits for ordination. So a wonderful environment to do that in. Rich dialogue. Yeah. Yeah. And probably changed how I thought about God, everything. It was kind of all up for grabs, and I had the time because it was full time, I could let that happen. You can let the building blocks of your own faith be pulled away because it's time to find them again in different ways. And in that space, I think to ask the really hard questions. If we're saved, how come people still suffer so much? All of that. Where's God at this moment? And God's there with us. Oh, maybe that was the only answer I could find. Maybe God's sitting in the corner crying sometimes, and that's all God can do.
SPEAKER_00And as you say, it's such a privilege to have that time. And sometimes even in the not necessarily the full-time student, but sometimes we don't allow ourselves, give ourselves the privilege of that time in our everyday. We've got to get better at doing that. Yes.
SPEAKER_01You know, I did a subject educating for justice. We really explored the process of educating for justice. I did a CPE unit and for my uh practical work, I spent 10 hours a week minimum, probably more most weeks, probably about 15 hours a week, many weeks, at a large institution in Melbourne that was being downsized. It was for intellectually disabled people. Many of them had been put there as babies because in those days people were told, oh, it's better. And they hadn't had a school at that site till 1974. These were men and women who would be in regular schools these days, many of them. Not all of them, but many of them. And to kind of come to terms with that. And what did it mean now to be going and living in the community? So I my job was to kind of connect with them and try and connect them into local parishes. And again, of whatever tradition. So I worshipped very broadly, depending on what parents had put down as their tradition. And that was a rich experience in so many ways. So then I went to Mount St. Benedict and four years there, and then I got to do this postgraduate study really, and I moved into teaching scripture and RE. Started off with teachers doing their uh the graduate certificate to teach RE. So I did my own PhD more into scripture. Then I had a role as the academic dean at one of the colleges of what was then the Melbourne College of Divinity, which is now the University of Divinity, and gave that rich community of scholars, of people, and I suppose studying with a purpose, huh? You know, like it's people don't go to um do a theology study because they've left school and they they don't know what to do. Not usually. And and you know, and in a class you'd have everybody from experienced teachers to semi-retired older people and seminarians, all in there together. Great mix, yeah. And then like towards the end of 2011, I got elected to the leadership team of the congregation, and that that's where I've been since. That's the story of my life, Gabriel.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, you you've been very busy in that that space. Thank you, Catherine. That was wonderful to hear some of the different meanderings that you bring you to here, and obviously with purpose as well and the influence of community on you as well.
SPEAKER_01And I think the other thing maybe that's relevant here is over that time, since 1993, I was involved in school boards and members of of companies from Good Samaritan Colleges. So again, a rich experience across different involvements and different colleges. Yeah, I'm not now, but I for many years.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. You've been an absolute asset to many of our schools. Um, well, the conversation we're going to move into now, and one of the reasons for having this conversation with you today is really to look at and explore what was discerned at chapter last year for the community sisters looking forward. Obviously, yourself and the new leadership team were selected as part of that chapter that's held every six years. But I guess before we come to the outcomes and what what the discernment was, do you want to tell us a little bit about the chapter process?
SPEAKER_01So we would always declare about 12 months before that we are in the process. Good Samaritan Sisters, we follow this Benedictine thing that we're always in chapter. You know, that the leader calls together the community, and that's chapter. But then every six years we have a like a crystallizing moment of that where we stop and say, where have we been? Where are we now? And where do we want to go? What's our vision for life and mission for the next six years? So we usually take about 12 months to discern that right across the congregation. So all of the sisters are involved, and we invite other people into that conversation, like the women and men who are on the companies, our staff, Goods Mountain Education, there's a variety of people. Oblates obviously are an important part of that in more recent years. So asking all of them and then listening, where's the commonality? And of course, we're in four countries, so we're influenced by those realities. In Kiribati, the realities are different to the Philippines or Japan or Australia. That process goes on, and out of that I think emerges what we want to say about our statement of directions, but who do we want to call to lead us in that space? Because it's only when you do a bit of reality check and also a bit of visioning that you can say, well, now who will lead that? So it's always important for us that we articulate that before we actually elect our leadership for the next six years.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Because different skills are needed at different times. So it's really important.
SPEAKER_01That's right. And also the women who might be discerning whether they're going to be available for leadership will be influenced by that. Because it has to be consistent with your own sense of what's appropriate at this point in time. So all sisters who are able come to the chapter gathering. So we had about 80 sisters were able to come this time because sometimes people can't, because of illness or age, takes a bit of stamina, you know. We're there for nearly two weeks.
SPEAKER_00Just for our listeners, so they know how many sisters are there currently or at the time of chapter, just numbers wise.
SPEAKER_01Yes, we're we're 157 at the moment, and I think we've had six deaths since then. So about half were present, yes. And we had about another about another 25 people who joined us for the first couple of days while we were discerning the directions. We already had a draft of the directions while those people were there. Same group that I was talking about part of the discernment.
SPEAKER_00Well, let's move on to the directions there. A simple statement of directions that is looking at this next phase, so from 2023 through to 2029. So, Catherine, can I invite you to read that statement? Yes, certainly.
SPEAKER_01Gifted by our good Samaritan Benedictine charism, we are committed to living our relationship with God, labour, and the universe through ecological conversion, which impels, interculturality, which transforms, compassion, which leads to justice, hope, which empowers mission.
SPEAKER_00Such simply but beautifully written, I'm always struck by the dynamic verbs in the statement. It's about action, it's being called to action. But I'm definitely struck by the reading of the signs of the times, and that's the Vatican II, and that we're always looking in all of our spaces when we're on missions, what are the realities around us? Can I invite you to talk a little bit about each of those four different elements and where are the implications for the community at the moment and their different, as you say, across four countries, different demographics? How did these four particular things land at this time? The stem's really important though, Gabriel, as well.
SPEAKER_01So I think fundamental to Good Samaritan Benedictine charism is there's two pillars, you know, it's seeking God and being neighbor. So when you say the active verbs, because to be neighbor is to be active, doesn't mean necessarily that I have to go out and do lots of things, but I have to be actively engaged with others to be neighbor wherever I am, whether I'm 100 and in an aged care facility, or whether I'm 30 and I'm running a kinder school, it requires an active engagement with our neighbour wherever we are. So I the four strands then that came out of that, I think they emerged very clearly over that period of time that we were discerning, you know, and it I think we couldn't ignore the signs of climate change. Yeah. Where we are, I think we've all been influenced over recent years by our commitment in this area, by Lodato C, and then by our understanding of the impacts of climate change in Curiz. Particularly one of the keynote speakers at the chapter was Anote Tong, former president of Curibus, and he's passionate about the moral imperative for the world to do something so that the low-lying Pacific nations are not lost under the sea. And we know that, but it's not just about changing a carbon footprint, it's about, I think, a deep conversion that's necessary for each of us. But to love God's creation, I think what you love, you look after. Yeah, I couldn't agree more. Yes. So I think the first part is really deep knowing and loving of all of God's creation, that we might care for it. And of course, we all care for it in different ways. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. I think I'm learning more and more about the Benedictine spirituality of incarnation, of that of all things, more and more, and coming to understand that and embody that in all that we do is certainly where I see that ecological conversion is part of that journey as well.
SPEAKER_01Like we pray the Psalms twice a day, and the Psalms sing of the glory of God in so many ways. I love the expression of Abraham Heschel, you know, that we actually. Cantors of the universe when we pray the Psalms. And I think that's that's what we are. We we give voice for the whole of creation. And that's our first work, what we do as we start the day and as we end the day. Yeah. Then I think the interculturality is for a congregation that starts in Australia, predominantly European heritage, to move into Asia and the Pacific in the last 70 years has changed us and continues to change us. It's made us aware, I think, deeply, not just in our ministry but in our very living, to live together interculturally. And that's not just about that we acknowledge that we're in different cultures, but to understand the capacity of those different cultures to transform us, to create something new and different. So intercultural reality does transform us because as we truly encounter each other and the depth of each other's cultures, and it's not just ethnic and it's not just nationality, it's all of the aspects of life. It's age and gender and education. And we think about it, if you come from North Queensland, culturally there are differences to growing up in Sydney or Melbourne. Absolutely. Yeah. So that's just a deepening appreciation of that. We're on a journey there and we're all in different places there. I think in Australia we know how little we know about our indigenous cultures, and that's a challenge.
SPEAKER_00I think it also acknowledges the sacredness of place and how it shapes so that no matter where we are and where we come from, that influences everything and how we engage with or around us.
SPEAKER_01And even to know what's influencing me is the first step. Well, absolutely.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, our own personal awareness.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely. And compassion, I think, is you know at the heart of being good Samaritan, you know, to be moved with compassion wherever we are, in whatever circumstance. But we can't just be moved. We're impelled to action.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, move to what?
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Yes. To act on behalf of, to act with others, not to do things to them, but to stand with them, to advocate, to help improve life. And then hope. If we believe in the resurrection, we are called to be women of hope. Just by our very presence, sometimes we speak of hope. And that's out of that place, mission comes.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's amazing. The dynamic nature of those words to me speaks to the dynamic nature of all I know of the good Sam's and presence and continuing mission. So it's it's lovely to see it kind of very beautifully written and neatly in words, but they can't just be words, right? So I imagine there's been a lot of work already planning and dreaming how to animate these words and putting them into part of the everyday of building what is next. So, what is next for this statement?
SPEAKER_01Well, we've worked right again with sisters, with staff, with other groups we're involved with to say what does this mean? What are the priorities here? And we've developed genic intentions in a whole variety of areas to try and help us unpack that, to respond where we can. And life goes on, of course, at the same time. We're all involved in life and mission in some way or other, but this gives us a focus and keep coming back to these underpinning pillars. Yeah, they're wonderful.
SPEAKER_00Well, I might invite slight change in our conversation. And as you're aware, Good Samaritan Education is in the midst of a formation year with our theme for holy audacity. And I've been talking to a number of sisters along the way, and I'll often ask them if they have in their lifetimes experienced women and other Good Sam's that would embody this idea of holy audacity or or perhaps the good zeal that Benedict speaks of. And I wonder if there's some women that you've come across or or know of from the Good Sam's that you'd like to share about.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, look, I think sometimes when we pick one, we leave out others. So I'm always a little bit hesitant to do that.
SPEAKER_00I know, I know. I firmly believe that that good zeal is in each and every good sound that I've met. So there's always stories.
SPEAKER_01And it's sometimes it's in the little things that people do. An example that really influenced my own probably adolescence. I had a sister teaching me English, year 11 English, and she used that opportunity to do social justice. You know, sometimes you think social justice belongs in the RE part of the school, but not with her. We did indigenous poetry stories. And she brought into the class a woman called Evelyn Scott, who later became an elder in Far North Queensland. And Evelyn was married to a Scotchman. So whilst she was herself indigenous, people didn't always know that if they met her husband first. The thing that I remember most is her talking about the struggle to rent a house in Townsville. Because when she would turn up, she was dark-skinned. I was shocked. I hadn't experienced that kind of prejudice. You know, in Townsville, you encounter indigenous, you know, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island people in our suburb. I had an uncle who was station master just outside of Townsville. And his neighbours and the house next door, also a railway house, was a Torres Strait Islander family there. We mixed amongst, you know, but it to think that in my own hometown, this woman couldn't rent a property once she turned up. If her husband went, it was okay. And then they'd see her. So that made me really stop and think about prejudice about the way we participate in it, I think. I think that sister was audacious to do that, huh? To bring her in. And I was thinking about this on the weekend, and I suppose because I began my teaching at Santa Maria College, and I know a little bit about the story of that colleague. And I often think about this in terms of our sisters moving. So when Santa Maria College opened in 1904, let's listen to where the sisters came from. Santa Maria College, for those who don't know, is in Melbourne, kind of inner city Melbourne now. So the sisters came from one from Port Peary in South Australia, where there was a smelter for the Broken Hill Mines. Another came from Gawler on the edge of the wineries north of Adelaide. And three came from North Queensland, two from Charters Towers. Charters Towers was bigger than Townshall. It's not now, but it was bigger. At the turn of the century, 1900, there were 90 pubs in Charters Towers. It was a thriving city with all that went with 90 pubs. Didn't they call it the world or something? That's right, the world, yes. And another came from Hewendon. Those women brought to that school all of that experience. It would have taken days to get there. It didn't fly. And I think the audacity of a mother general, Berkman's McLaughlin, was the Mother General at the time. There was only 184 sisters, and she had sisters all the way from Innesvale to Port Peary, and so many places in between. And in her time, so many places opened because the need for education was great. But I think it's that mixing up. Pack up your bags and go from one place to another, and different school curriculum in each state, and you had to adjust because you got inspected. Different culturally church-wise, you know, and form a community and make it work. To me, that's real audacity. That's in our history. And we can read it in a couple of lines in a book, but we can actually think what it's it like for those women. Yes. And you know, the only communication between each other would be letters. They didn't use the telephone. They didn't go home for Christmas holidays. That deep commitment. That's audacity. I think of the first sisters that went to Japan, six Australian women, left here in 1948, so soon after the war. Some of them had had relatives in the war, and they go to Nagasaki. They learnt some language on the boat. They were told, don't expect ever to come home. That takes great audacity. And of course, for some it works and it blossoms, and some not so successful. So it sometimes takes as much audacity to come home and not be successful. I think sometimes there's real audacity in a sister who goes to aged care a bit younger than the average, because she's got some significant age-related usually illnesses, and to be able to reach out to others, to witness the kindness to the other residents. That's a different kind of audacity, but I think it's audacity.
SPEAKER_00I truly believe that audacity does not have to be bold necessarily, because sometimes it is in the form of a quiet grace.
SPEAKER_01Yes, yes. I think I was just in Cirubas for the profession of a sister. That takes audacity. There we were, you know, there's eight Curibus sisters to make a life commitment in that context to be good news for her own people in the prisons with people with disability, people who have got mental health issues, children to give them a first start at education. It's quite a real response. It's simple, but it's profound. And to put your lot in with each other to do it for the rest of your life.
SPEAKER_00Yep. It's not just me, it's community. It's uh yeah. That's right, yes, yeah. Oh, thank you, fishing. It's so wonderful to hear you speak about the sisters that um part of your experience in life and ministry that you've encountered and continuing to shape the community as it is today. As we wrap up, I will often ask our guests on this podcast if they have a favorite quote from the rule of Benedict and what it might be. And it might be just the first one that comes to your mind today, it might be something that you sit with often. Is there a favorite or a word from the rule of Benedict comes to you today that you'd like to share?
SPEAKER_01Look, I think there's a fundamental thing about seeking peace and pursuing it. It's such a challenge, and it's at every level, you know, it's in our personal level and our global community. We know the, I suppose, the tragedy where there's no peace, either of heart or in society. But I think in my role right now, it's listen and attend with the ear of your heart. And I often find myself praying, God, enable my heart to be big enough to hear what's happening, to hear this other sister, to hear this situation, because I keep finding my heart being stretched. So that's my own prayer. May my heart be big enough to really listen.
SPEAKER_00Listening sometimes to what's not being said too, which is equally as hard. I pray your heart continues to be open. Thank you so much for joining us today and sharing a part of your story, sharing sisters' stories, but also telling us a bit more about the statement of directions for the next couple of years for the community.
SPEAKER_01Thank you, Gabriel. I've enjoyed this. Thank you.
SPEAKER_00I hope you enjoyed this conversation with Catherine to hear about the sisters' statement of directions. While the sisters' statement of directions is not the statement of directions for Good Samaritan education, it's a really informative and formative thing for us to reflect on as we draw inspiration and uh courage from the way that the sisters continue to read the Science of the Times and see what is needed in their places and spaces now in their ministries as they continue forward and remain dynamic and true to all that God is calling them to do, to be in relationship, committed living relationship with God, neighbor, and the universe. And so I hope that as you continue through your day, that the transforming table of hospitality is wide, inspiring you with mercy and compassion to go and do likewise.
