By Sr. Jude Ellen Golumbieski, USA (Province of Mid-North America)

Thank you, Sister Mary Johnson, Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, for sharing your insight on some principles of Catholic Social Thinking*.   How valuable it would be for us to include this topic in the initial and continuing formation for our Good Shepherd contemplative sisters! It can present us with an opportunity to view our vow of Zeal through a new lens. This vow, which calls us – to live and pray for the salvation of persons, especially those served by our Congregation – has a definite link with the principles of Catholic Social Thinking: promoting the common good, honoring the inherent dignity of each person, and holding the tension between solidarity and subsidiarity in our lives coincides with the desire we have for each person’s growth and wellbeing.

We vow to live and pray for the salvation of persons, especially those served by our Congregation.

What can this salvation mean for us in the reality of this day and age?

Jesus, the Good Shepherd, provides us with an insight into this.  In John 10:10, we hear him say, “I have come so that they may have life and have it to the full.”  Isn’t this a critical part of Catholic Social Teaching?  Isn’t this what our vow is calling us to do?

When we defined the Essential Elements of Good Shepherd contemplative life, we placed justice, peace, and integrity of creation in the heart and the Primacy of God at the head. Our Constitutions challenge us to ‘give ourselves up to ardent intercession that the beauty of God’s image be revealed in each person’ (Const. 6) and that each person has what is necessary to become fully alive.

We speak of going to the margins, but Brother Philip Pinto poses this question: “Who drew the margins?”. Through our lives of contemplation and advocacy, we Good Shepherd contemplative sisters strive to become an eraser that helps the borders to disappear. We accept the invitation to welcome all into the center so that each of us can take our just and rightful place at God’s table.  We are impelled to be with all of God’s people, sharing in their sufferings, joys, achievements, and failures. We hold creation with tenderness.

Catholic Social Teaching-Thought-Tradition helps us to be centered in the reality of today and to respond with clarity and compassion to the call for life that is so urgent.

Watch the recording of Sister Mary Johnson’s Zoominar on some principles of Catholic Social Thinking here.