Follow up to WATERmeditation
with Jeanne Christensen
“Decisions, Decisions, Decisions”
Monday, October 7, 2024 at 7:30pm EST
WATER thanks Jeanne Christensen, RSM for leading the meditation on decisions. It was helpful in so many ways for participants to process our own decision-making processes, criteria, and outcomes.
The video of the session can be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvcMnCrnJeY .
When Jeanne led us in July, I said that I met her through the Sisters of Mercy when I was privileged to be part of their Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Committee. She lives in Omaha, Nebraska, after working for many years in Kansas City, Missouri. She recently lost her best friend, so I begin with sincere condolences and even deeper appreciation for Jeanne stepping forward tonight after a significant loss.
According to Jeanne’s bio, “Since 2011 she has served as the Justice Advocate against Human Trafficking for the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas. She is a founding and board member of the Alliance to End Human Trafficking: Founded and Supported by U.S. Catholic Sisters. She serves on their advocacy working group and development planning committee. She is a member of the Board of Directors of the College of St. Mary in Omaha, Nebraska and is a member of the Academic and Student Affairs and Strategic Planning Committees.”
Jeanne and her Mercy colleagues are keenly interested, as many of us are, in the upcoming election. We at WATER cannot express partisan views in our work as a non-profit. We can and do invite people to vote their values. So Jeanne can share on “Decisions, Decisions, Decisions.”
Following are her remarks, shared kindly with us.
Decisions…Decisions…Decisions…
Jeanne Christensen, RSM — October 7, 2024
It’s October 2024. Those of us in the United States are faced with upcoming elections at local, state and federal levels. How do we decide who is the best candidate to vote for? Mulling this over, I thought two things: first, not everyone participating in this meditation live in the U.S. and are not faced with a contentious election; and second, voting decisions are not so different from other value-based important or major decisions, especially in my life within my Sisters of Mercy Community.
Our beloved Theresa Kane is a wonderful example of one of my rooted-in-Mercy values – to speak the truth in love. I was personally called to do this in 2006 when the newly installed bishop of our diocese failed to respond appropriately to a current clergy sexual abuse case. Having served as the Victims’ Advocate for four years under our previous bishop, I had to “speak the truth in love” and call for him to be held accountable. My Mercy Community supported me, and I was able to speak out on local television, in the local paper and the National Catholic Reporter. It was a challenge to speak charitably when my personal opinion was anything but charitable!
What examples do you have of making decisions that called you to speak the truth in love?
Another important value for me is acting out of my own, personal integrity. Three examples come to mind.
- The first is, unfortunately, also caused by the 2006 newly installed bishop in our diocese. I had been director of the diocesan peace and justice office for six years when he decided he knew better than my staff and I what could be offered in classes, committees, meetings, or in our column in the diocesan paper. He reduced staff by cutting budget, censoring articles, refusing to approve speakers and recommending very conservative speakers who did not understand social justice. He reassigned our priest staff member and the associate director was forced to resign. I could not continue to direct the office and resigned to avoid violating my own integrity. Yes, we three regretted leaving because it left many who appreciated and depended on our ministry without this resource.
- The second decision was discernment for Mercy community leadership. Twice I felt called to remain in discernment and was elected once and not elected the second time. The third time, I chose to withdraw because my integrity challenged me to choose between leadership and fulfilling my love and responsibility for my longtime friend living with Alzheimer’s.
- The third example was my own coming out to family, friends and my Mercy community. Many of you know this call to speaking and acting out of your personal integrity. The freedom and fullness of life gained from doing so are gifts to be lived fully.
I regret none of my decisions rooted in my integrity or speaking the truth in love.
What are the values that most inform your decision making?
Other values that are essential to my decision making include:
- protecting the life, dignity and rights of the human person,
- protecting the poor and vulnerable,
- advancing the common good,
- ensuring equality for all persons.
These other values directly inform my ministry as a Sister of Mercy and are a way of living our fourth vow of service to the poor, sick and ignorant. For example, they inform my decisions as a member of the boards of directors at our university in Omaha and the Alliance to End Human Trafficking and as a member of the various committees on which I serve. They definitely will influence my decision in the upcoming U.S. Congressional and Presidential elections.
Understanding that every candidate is a politician who may or may not keep his or her promises, I need these values to examine each political candidate. They are essential to my decision on which candidate I will support.
As people of faith, our decisions must be as inclusive as possible. We are called to remember that in a global culture driven by excessive individualism, the person is not only sacred but also social. How society is organized, in economics, politics, law and policy, directly affects human dignity and the capacity of individuals to grow in community. We recognize the role of government and other institutions is to protect human life and dignity, promote the common good and recognize the equality of persons.
To protect human dignity and achieve healthy communities, human rights must be protected and responsibilities met. This means every person has a fundamental right to life and a right to those things required for human decency. Corresponding to these rights are duties and responsibilities to one another, to families and to the larger society at every level within one’s country and beyond its borders.
People of faith know that a basic moral test of how society is functioning is how its most vulnerable members are faring. In a society marred by deepening divisions, whether economic, racial, religious, ideological or any other, it is imperative to support the common good, put the needs of the poor and vulnerable first and recognize the equality of persons.
All people have a right to participate in the economic, political and cultural life of society. It is wrong for a person or a group to be excluded unfairly or to be unable to participate. It is unjust for a person or group to be treated as if they are non-members of the human race — as if they do not count as human beings.
We must promote the close relationship between peace and justice. It involves mutual respect and confidence between peoples and nations and is dependent on right order among human beings. It depends on our commitment to the common good and equality of all persons.
Partial source: Office for Social Justice, a division of Catholic Charities, St. Paul, MN
Grateful participants shared some of their reflections on Jeanne’s ideas. A sample include:
- Appreciation for the reminder of criteria we all use for decisions
- Observation that not making a decision, not taking a stance is actually to decide, to take an implicit stance
- Special mention of the impact of the Sisters of Mercy on the lives of those with whom they teach and minister
- Query about the price of decision-making and who can afford their integrity when push comes to shove
- Mention of the fear that can accompany making decisions
Conversation continued as the impact of Jeanne’s helpful reflection percolated.
