Sinsinawa
Spectrum
A Congregation News Magazine
So, How Are We Doing with Enactment 22?
by Erica Jordan, OP
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| Sr. Erica Jordan, OP |
SinsinOP has been buzzing lately with ideas about topics to consider at the Chapter of 2011. While we realize that there will be a formal process for eliciting ideas as the Agenda Committee continues its work, one responsibility we have for sure is to review the Enactments passed at the last Chapter to evaluate progress toward their completion as well as to determine what should continue to challenge us into the future.
Each of the past three Chapters gave us an Enactment about working against racism. These Enactments called us beyond personal conversion to address the ways racism is endemic to our Congregation as an institution.
Here is what we said at the Chapter of 2006 in Enactment 22:
We recommend that the Prioress and Council continue to support the work of the Anti-Racist Training Team and the commitment of the congregation members to examine and redefine all aspects of our life and mission so that we may embody our identity as an anti-racist, multicultural institution.
It is clear that we are already multicultural. But as we have learned from Crossroads, multiculturalism can be racist or antiracist. What would antiracist multiculturalism look like? Here is a summary of what the Antiracism Transformational Team (ARTT) has learned from Crossroads. In becoming antiracist, we are trying some new ways of being in the world―to live by values that are often in conflict with the traditional values of the white institutions in which we were raised.
Valuing “both/and” thinking
Having people among us who think differently than we do is a wonderful gift. Think of the cultural and ethnic diversity we have among our Sisters, Associates, and coworkers, as well as our sponsored institutions. We need to allow our differences to enrich and guide us. We need to learn to disagree and engage with each other and not allow ourselves or others to be alienated. “Both/and” thinking honors inclusivity.
Embracing an abundant worldview
We need to move beyond any proprietary thinking that limits our ability to be generous. Our resources―cultural, intellectual, monetary―are gifts that were given to us to be shared. There is no true scarcity of resources among us. The movement toward empowering and uniting the human family is worth the gift of all we can give in order to enrich the whole.
Practicing transparent communication
U.S. culture often values secrecy and false confidentiality as a way of maintaining control. Antiracist institutions value transparency in how we live both our public and private lives. Transparent communication informs how we make decisions, how leadership functions, and how we continue to transform ourselves into being antiracist.
Cooperating and collaborating
Often the competition and drive for individual achievement overpower our ability to work with each other for the common good. The antiracism movement continues to draw people from many places, institutions, and cultures. Our commitment to it promotes development that reinforces healthy relationships and our consciousness of the larger whole.
Almost 10 years ago, in 2000, the ARTT articulated the following vision for the Sinsinawa Dominican Congregation. It is what helped create Enactment 22.
Vision for the Year 2020
We embrace the vision of becoming antiracist and multicultural by intentionally dismantling our racist structures, practices, and procedures. We commit ourselves to use the lens of antiracism to examine and redefine all aspects of our life, mission, and ministry so that we can create a new identity that is antiracist. We want to collaborate with others who challenge racism in the world and work to transform it into a holy and just society for all.
So, how do you think we are doing?