DOING FAMOUS THINGS

Thank you for being impressed, and for all your congratulations. Let me set the record straight...I did NOT make a speech in front of the General Assembly! But I did get to do something rather cool. The Commission on the Status of Women consists of 45 member states; they invite outsiders with various kinds of expertise to speak on panels before the commission. NO, I was not even a panelist! After the panel, member states and a few NGOs are able to respond and/or ask questions. I had been told to keep my remarks to five minutes, so I very carefully practiced and slashed and condensed and edited until it was right under five minutes. Then when I arrived at the UN, our "shepherd" (who pushes us around and makes sure we get a spot on the agenda and then makes sure we are not in the bathroom when it's time to speak) our shepherd says, casually, "Now, you know you must keep it to two minutes or under since there are so many to speak." I spent the next half hour cutting the little I had left, but--by gum--the chair didn't have to call time on me!

Since the topic of the panel was how to increase the number of women who go into science and technology, my remarks had to do with keeping children interested in science beyond the primary grades by -- duh! -- good science training for middle school and junior high teachers. All the other comments and the UN documents had emphasized training high school teachers. But in my humble (but irreversable) opinion most girls learn to fear science before they get to high school. That's it! two minutes of "duh," but maybe there was one person who had not figured it out. As in the rest of life, we never know what makes a difference...

Perhaps even more impressive is that I got to sing in Carnegie Hall (here all the real musicians in our community do a double take). We went there last weekend--on more free tickets--for a wonderful afternoon of choral and symphonic music. First on the bill was a high school chorus from British Columbia who did a variety of musical styles. Looking over the program before it started, I saw Loch Lomond, and of course had to sing all the verses I could remember, on the spot. It didn't matter since everyone else in the audience was talking--but I poked Jan and said, "Hey, I just sang in Carnegie Hall!" However, nobody rushed up afterwards to sign me on for a future engagement...I was also disappointed that they did not ask me to stand up when they played Missa Azteca in honor of my hometown. Well, we take our two minutes of fame where we can get it, right? Thanks for your prayers!

In our practice of discernment it is vital that we keep in mind the quality of God's dealings with us. The impulse behind discernment is the desire to respond in love and trust to God's love. But God's wisdom somethimes looks like folly, and true discernment means being ready to be led beyond ordinary prudence and common sense into the unexpected, the unconventional, God's foolish wisdom.
-- Listening to the Music of the Spirit by David Lonsdale, S.J.

I am still reading on discernment and the reality that God is leading me is both a comfort and fearful. It seems that God has a way of always being ahead of me, turning my ordinary ideas, intentions and plans upside-down. This is who God is a God of surprises. The story of God in my life, and in all people, is a God of surprises. God invites me to open my mind and heart more to revise my plans and my ideas about how things should be to risk that comforting feeling of being secure and let go. God consistenlty takes me beyond where I feel safe and secure and moves me to something new, different and greater.

Today I pray for the ability to trust your foolish wisdom O God. The unexpected is where you are revealed and delight. Remove my hesitancy and deepen my willingness to risk. Lead me on.

WOMEN INTERNATIONAL!

Well, I have never encountered so many X chromosomes gathered in one spot as we have here these two weeks, for the UN Commission on the Status of Women. Their owners come wearing the costumes of all lands, and speaking many languages. It's especially thrilling to see so many young women, all fired up and idealistic and passionate and ready to change the world.

There are so many people here that we exceed the capacity of the meeting spaces in the UN temporary meeting building, so you can get into the actual UN meetings only with a secondary pass--since each NGO gets only one, we are taking turns going to those. The main theme is Access and participation of women and girls to education, training, science, and technology, including ... women's access to full employment and decent work.: But there are literally hundreds of "side events" sponsored by NGOs...I counted 30 in an average day; running from 8:00 in the morning until 8:00 at night. They are held in nearby buildings, or--not so nearby. Too many choices! I'll tell you about some of those in a later blog.

The thing that most of us "older" types are excited about is the creation of a new UN entity, UN WOMEN. In July 2010, the UN General Assembly created this as its official entity for gender equality and the empowerment of women. I told you that Michele Bachelet of Chile is its first Executive Director, with the rank of Under Secretary General, so she'll have the power she needs to work with all the UN entities on issues involving women. She's charged with helping member states implement UN standards, and working with NGOs to accomplish the goals...and she "is to hold the UN system accountalbe to its own committments on gender equality, including regular monitoring..." Let's keep her in prayer as she faces this enormous job!

PUFF PUFF

Things happen so fast here, I can't keep up! We're in the first day of a two-week meeting of the UN Commission on the Status of Women...but before we get into that, I'll just summarize the event of the past two weeks, the Commission on Social Development (CSocD). As I think I told you, the overarching theme was the Eradication of Poverty, which is the very first of the Millenium Development Goals. Because, as someone said, "Poverty means the absence of human rights, the rights so basic to all the other Millenium Goals." Poverty has many faces and underlying causes, but this year the focus point was poverty as it affects the family, youth, and aged and disabled persons. Since everything is connected, the topics discussed also included trafficking, immigration, education, climate change, finances, food, water...to name a few!

Each of the UN commissions operate on two-year work cycles: the first year is the study/ review year, and the second year is when policy is actually set. This year was the study year for the CSocD, so the member states listened, studied position papers, had visiting experts and special "rapporteurs" in to speak. The Commission ended with recommendations on each of the target areas, which will be sent to the Secretary General for action by the executive group. Eventually the material that is approved will end up as part of the Secretary General's report, and items will be voted on in the policy year. Whew! layers on layers of bureaucracy, like a torte.

And even though we were finishing the CSocD and getting ready for the CSW, last week we had a briefing (and they are NOT "brief!") on the Commission on Sustainable Development, to be held in May. But I think you've had enough for now! And I have some fun things I haven't even told you about, yet...(you don't think we are working all WEEKEND, do you?)

Put me in your prayers for Wednesday; I am going to speak for UNANIMA in response to a panel during the CSW...

Follow the lead of the Spirit

I started this blog as a way of extending an invitation to you and others to walk with me seeking the path that would lead us to discover God and God's plan in our lives. I find myself engaged in making choices both in the circmstances of every day and at the crucial turning points of life. My choices give shape and direction to my life. The value of seeking God's direction, what I call discernment, is that it offers me a way of making loving choices, of following the lead of the Spirit of God in all the decisions I make. I have come to see discernment as a necessary gift, because if there are choices to be made, I need a process that helps me to make them well, under the guidance of the Spirit of God.

Today I invite the Spirit of God to speak clearly and even shout through my deafness to catch my attention and keep me on the path with St. Angela and her "cherished daughers", my Ursuline family, discovering what choices in my day will give life.

filling my life to the brim

I came upon an article entitled,"A Renewed Commitment to Consecrated Life in the Third Millennium". It explores the challenges facing those seeking to live as consecrated religious today and possibilities for such a life of witness. It gave me much to ponder. I spent some reflective time discovering how much I truly believe in the value of consecrated life in the Church today.

The article affirms conscrated life today and states, "The impression that some have of a decline of appreciation of consecrated life in some sectors of the Church can be seen as an invitation to a liberating purification. Consecrated life does not seek praise and human appreciation, it is repaid by the joy of continuing to work untiringly for the Kingdom of God, to be a seed of life that grows in secret, without expecting any reward other than that which the Lord will give in the end. It finds its identity in the call of the Lord, in following him, in unconditional love and service, which are capable of filling a life to the brim and giving it fullness of meaning."

My call as a consecrated woman, as an Ursuline Sister, is a "invitation to liberating purification". I truly commit myself to God's mysterious call which ask that I entrust my life, relying only on the grace of surrender which has lead me to know a joy that fills my life to the brim. It is a liberating purification! I am fulfilled beyond all expectation in striving to serve the People of God. I am blessed in sharing life with my Sisters who have also surrendered and know a joy that brims over and will be complete only in the end, thy Kingdom come, thy will be done.

YATTA YATTA YATTA

If each word spoken or written at the UN could earn a penny, we could eradicate poverty and send everyone on a pleasure trip to the moon. Watching a UN commission at work has been a real education in international politics and strategy. My first impression was that everyone was just going "yatta yatta yatta," mouthing platitudes and buzz words taken from preparatory documents, and perhaps talking just to hear themselves speak or to brag about their country. But that's an unfair assessment, generally speaking.

In our work in the NGOs we are trained to listen to the public statements to see what the various countries think is important. One day I acted as observer at a session, with a checklist for key words refering to our special areas of interest...to identify potenital allies that we can enlist to influence the direction of the debate, or to note small countries who might benefit from some of our research. For example, Chile spoke at great length on the empowerment of women; Bangladesh spoke strongly on climate change. Check, and note.


Here, words really MATTER, and are chosen very, very carefully. One of the ways NGOs can be effective behind the scenes is by suggesting language for a statement, or working with a small member state to craft a document of mutual interest. In particular the delegates struggle over verbs, which will imply levels of their country's commitment to a cause or resolution. Weak support is indicated by words like "endorse," "invite," or "acknowledge." Or the members can completely gut a resolution by adding at the end a little parenthetical phrase like "as appropriate," or "if possible." The process of diplomacy is very subtle; as one of our golden-tongued, experienced Irish colleagues says, "It's a game, a dance, a football match!"

But mostly we NGOs act as the official gadflies, in which capacity we are sometimes (says an Australian colleague), "as welcome as a blowfly at a barbeque!"