In 1975 ninety women answered the call of Vatican II (a council of the Roman Catholic Church) to re-examine religious life. Leaving an older international religious congregation, the Sisters of Christian Charity, they began a journey to fashion a new religious community named the Sisters of the Living Word. With the inspiration of Annamarie Cook, their Foundress, they opened themselves to the Spirit in order to find new life for themselves and the people with whom and for whom they work.
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Introduction
In the beginning, the founding members continued to work in education. By 1977, the movement of the Spirit seemed to urge change. The Sisters formulated their Mission Statement. In the light of this process, the SLW sought ministries in tune with their personal gifts and talents. With a new awareness of how to meet the needs of the poor and the oppressed some sisters remained in the field of education while others reached out to the homeless, the abused, the illiterate, the elderly and the homebound. In every area, the SLW began to read the signs of the times, to be for today's world a reflection and an affirmation of the life-giving, freeing Word.
Stewardship: Kinship with all Creation
Being in touch with the poor and the oppressed gave the SLW a growing awareness of our kinship with all of creation. As they grew in reverence for the Living Word, they grew also in appreciation of all creation as an expression of that Word. The Stewardship Statement, adopted unanimously in 1984, is testimony to this stance.
Constitutions/Rule of Life
Both the Mission Statement and the Stewardship Statement grew out of the concurring effort to develop Constitutions for the Sisters of the Living Word. In one of the first meetings, Annamarie Cook presented a "Basic Document" based on papers prepared for General Chapters of the international community. During their first year of foundation, the SLW outlined the major divisions of the proposed Constitutions and formed committees to prepare preliminary suggestions. In 1977, a Constitutions Committee coordinated the efforts of the entire community in writing what would become the expression of their lived experience as Sisters of the Living Word.
Communal Decision Making
From the beginning, decision-making was a communal responsibility. Not only the Leadership, but the entire membership, is involved in major decisions affecting the life of the congregation. Some examples of this commitment were the 1978 decision to open ministry choices beyond traditional Catholic parishes and the 1983 declaration of Annamarie Cook as Foundress. A Corporate Stance, which engages the entire Community in a single position around an issue, also demonstrates this aspect of shared decision-making.
Living Word Center
One of the consequences of the separation in 1975 was a sense of being pilgrims. Traditionally, most congregations have what is known as "motherhouses." There was no way the new Community could establish that kind of headquarters for administration purposes. In the first year of foundation, the Leadership Team and the administrative staff of the SLW moved into a partially used convent at St. Juliana Parish, Chicago. By 1981, a search for a more permanent site began. An intensive investigation led to the 1985 purchase of Ridge School, a closed public school in Arlington Heights, IL. A massive reconstruction project was completed in 1990 and the Leadership Team and administrative staff moved into the Living Word Center in February, 1990.
Formal Approval of the New Community
The Constitution Committee led the congregation through the various stages of writing. Every Sister contributed her insights to shaping the content of the Constitutions. The final text, written by Annamarie Cook, was sent to Rome. On August 6, 1992, Cardinal Joseph Bernardin, Cardinal of the Chicago Archdiocese, presented the Sisters of the Living Word their document of final approval as a religious community in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago. During the Liturgy, each Sister received her copy of the Constitutions and renewed her vows as a member of the newly approved Community. The day was a culmination of seventeen years of sharing vision and values, shaping a new way of reading the signs of the times, a new way of reflecting and affirming the Word.