Sion Charism Stories

Celia's Story – Sion's Charism and Me

My experience of Sion's charism is linked almost inextricably with my vocation to religious life and my identity as a person from a mixed family, Jewish and Catholic.

I was drawn to religious life as a small child. I went to a parish school and, I think, the initial impulse came from the desire to be "like" Mother Theodore, the wonderful Ursuline nun who introduced a crowd of four- and five-year-olds to school. The desire to be a sister, however, didn't disappear when I went to first grade! Gradually, I began to understand that being a sister was about the absoluteness of God, of being loved by God and loving God in return. I continued to want to live this in religious life.

School brought other awarenesses, though. When I was in first grade I heard that the Jews killed Jesus and that the unbaptized would not go to heaven ( this, of course is incorrect). I didn't know that my father was Jewish, though I was aware that he was not Catholic and went to church with us only for special events or holidays. One day as Daddy was weeding the flower bed at the foot of the front porch of our home, I asked him where he was baptized and was startled to hear, "I wasn't baptized. I'm a Jew and Jews don't baptize their children." It was easily sorted out. I didn't say any more to my father, but I sat there on the front step as he pulled weeds and thought, "Hmmm. My teacher says that if you're not baptized, you don't go to heaven, but my daddy's different."

These were the ruminations of a small child, but growing up was marked by reflection on what it meant to be Jewish. It was the 1950's and '60's, and we were the only mixed family in our community. There were no models, and the Jewish community, in which my father became quite active, was very small. Anti-Semitic remarks were common, whether in the classroom, the playground, or on a date. My mother told us to be proud of who we were; she also told us to "blend in," "don't be different." Eventually my desire to make sense of it all led me to ... the LIBRARY! The local public library had a small collection, a few shelves of books and, in the course of my high school, I read them all.

I continued to be drawn to religious life. We were taught meditation in religion class. One of the sisters in whom I had confided, loaned me books for spiritual reading. I'd learned about the Sisters of Sion by reading an article about Theodore and Alphonse, and Patrice encouraged me to contact the sisters in Kansas City. So ... in grade 12, I went to St. Louis, where I met the sisters studying there. I entered at the end of that year.

I entered Sion, rather than the Ursulines who had educated me, because of the congregation's charism. I understood that to be about being with the Jewish people, about living with - inhabiting – the Word of God. Eventually I came to understand how that also includes the concern for people of all religious traditions, and for social justice. I understood and continue to understand our charism as profoundly contemplative, grounded in solitary and communal prayer, seeking the company of Jesus who calls me and studying His Word.

Entering Sion because of the charism meant that, from the beginning of my religious life, I felt responsible to and for that charism, the gift of God that shapes who we are, who I am. At the end of my novitiate Marie-Noelle de Baillehache and Mary Kelly, two remarkable women who were pioneers in the development of Jewish-Christian relations, came to give us courses on Bible and Jewish studies. I felt as though God were calling me to think about scholarly work as a way to respond to Sion's charism.

That particular awareness of call to scholarly work became clearer in my university years, in the process of my studies and in discernment with the community. I realized that what I could do would be to specialize in the study of early Judaism and early Christianity, exploring the intricate, murky and sometimes painful story of their origins and inter-relations.

In my ministry, scholarly work joins with grass-roots inter-religious involvement, both in parish and neighborhood. The latter includes conversation with Muslims, who form a large proportion of this neighborhood. It also reaches across the socio-economic span from middle class to poor. Half of the neighborhood, and thus the parish, are undocumented immigrants.

My experience of charism has been profoundly shaped these past five years by the experience of 9/11 and the ways in which that tragedy has been exploited, by our government and others. Here in New York, people live with new levels of anxiety, and the challenge to learn to be with those different from ourselves is all the more urgent. This becomes increasingly complicated in the context of the current national debate around the issue of immigration. I find myself simply called to be with folks - the undocumented, the newly arrived South Asian Muslim immigrants, those more established. In a neighborhood where most of the Muslim women do not yet speak English, all of us - as one of my Muslim friends says - can smile and say "Hello." The levels of violence that affect my country, the war and the justification of so much injustice under the name of the "war on terror" are often overwhelming. In terms of Sion's charism, I feel called to be with those most affected in this society – immigrants and Muslims – and to join those building bridges between the Jewish community and the immigrant and Muslim communities, especially in this neighborhood.

All of this is about response to and responsibility for charism in the context of ministry. It implies - always - collaboration with others, whether with students and colleagues in the academic world, or fellow-parishioners and other folks from the neighborhood community.

Last year, however, I began to feel called to invite women to consider religious life as an option, including religious life at Sion. Quite simply, I love this vocation to consecrated life at Sion with a passion and want to share it with others. So, I invite women in personal conversations. This is all still very new, but people seem glad to have been invited. We'll see where it goes!

I also have felt called to share our charism by once again holding regular retreat evenings - a few hours of biblical reflection in silence and reflective conversation, of sharing food and talk. There are usually five or so women who come, and Phyllis joins us. It has been very rich for all of us. So far I haven't felt called to address the issue of associate membership with them or with others I know, but I'm looking for the moment!

My students, colleagues and neighbors teach me to listen to the Word in ever new ways. The religiously diverse context in which I live has led me to understand and appreciate more profoundly what it means for me to be a Roman Catholic Christian. The immediacy of the faith of so many who surround me calls me beyond familiar boundaries into the mystery of God's own self. And people's struggles to be faithful to their families challenge me to live more deeply my own vocation to consecrated celibacy at Sion.

I'm richly blessed in this gift we call "charism," and I'm deeply grateful for the chance to reflect on this.