Justice, Peace & Integrity of Creation Commission (JPIC)
Daughters of Wisdom are called in community to seek and contemplate Divine Wisdom present in a world that hungers for meaning, justice, and compassion. We seek to share the message of Jesus Incarnate Wisdom to people experiencing injustice, violence, poverty, and oppression, especially women and children.
In keeping with the values of Wisdom Spirituality, we empower ourselves and others to analyze the critical justice, peace, and integrity of creation issues that impact the lives of individuals and of families, as well as those that affect the local and global community and the Church.
We will facilitate our gospel response to injustice by networking with other organizations, thus strengthening our interconnectedness through animation, formation, communication, and coordination.
Wisdom Conversations 2024
January 2024, Wisdom in Creation, discussion led by Sr. Patricia Torre, DW
February 2024, Hope for our Planet, discussion led by Associate of Wisdom Ellen Francois
March 2024, Sacred Belonging, discussion led by Fr. Terry Moran
April 2024, Contemplating and Rejoicing Our Common Home, discussion led by Associate of Wisdom Ellie Filippone
May 2024, Growing Wisdom, discussion led by Mary Elizabeth Kenel, PhD.
July 2024, A Kindom of Reciprocity, discussion led by Sr. Diane Guerette, DW
August 2024, Our Soulful Companions, discussion led by Catherine McWilliams
September 2024, Native American Spirituality, discussion led by Pat Wolosz, Associate of Wisdom
October 2024, An Earth Day Reflection, discussion led by Associate of Wisdom Ellie Filippone
November 2024, A Thanksgiving Prayer for the Earth, discussion led by Sr. Ann Gray, DW
Wisdom Conversations 2023
Wisdom Conversations 2023
Laudato Si’, Our Common Home
Join us for this year's Wisdom Conversations on Laudato Si', Our Common Home. Discussions are led by Sisters and Associates and take place on the first Saturday of the month at 10 am. To sign up, visit Wisdom House (Programs) at https://www.wisdomhouse.org/wisdom-conversations-837893
January 2023, Introduction to Laudato Si’, Our Common Home by Sr. Ann Gray, DW
February 2023, The Power of Goodness, discussion led by Sr. Evelyn Eckhardt, DW
April 2023, Who Are We Anyway? "Wisdom cannot take root in deceit, nor dwell in one given to exploiting others." Wisdom 1:4-5. Discussion led by Associate of Wisdom Ellie Filippone.
May 2023, We are all one. “Wisdom is the earth's foundation, and understanding the sky's pillar. She is the divine order patterning all creation, from the ancient oceans to this morning's dew.” Proverbs 3:19 - 20. Discussion led by Associate of Wisdom Ellen Francois.
June 2023, This time, it’s personal. Our care for the Earth is the same as our care for one another. Sirach 1:5 “[Wisdom] is God’s word, a fountain of understanding; Her ways are timeless, linking each to all, And all to One.” Discussion led by Sr. Diane Guerette, DW.
July 2023, It’s an Inside Job. Reflecting on "Walking in Praise," Sr. Ann Gray, DW, leads the discussion and examines the statement, "To make an outward change, we must first start inward."
September 2023, Who is my Family? In this session, Sr. Evelyn Eckhardt, DW, asks us to explore who gives us a sense of meaningful connection and caring as she invites us to discuss "Who is my Family.?
OCTOBER 2023, But I’m Only One Person. Sr. Diane Guerette, DW, reflects on Pope Francis’ statement, “If there is one person filled with hope, that can make all the difference.”
NOVEMBER 2023, “Reaching Out,” “Francis stresses that our constant push for more and more control over nature has led to terrible harm to the natural world and to us, as well as the animal kingdom with which we share this planet. However, we have the power to reverse this destruction if only we begin to see ourselves as the interconnected creatures we are, if only we can come to live together as family and learn from each other. So…what can we learn from our animal friends?” This session is presented by Associate of Wisdom Pat Wolosz.
DECEMBER 2023, “What Have We Done”? Reflecting on Pope Francis’ Laudato Si’, Associate of Wisdom Ellie Filippone presents, “What Have We Done,” concluding this year’s Wisdom Conversations on Laudato Si’, Our Common Home. Check back here for the 2024 schedule of Wisdom Conversations.
Ecospirituality
Wisdom House Retreat and Conference Center, a ministry of the Daughters of Wisdom, offers programs in ecology, spirituality, wellness, and the arts. The Center is committed to sustainability and justice and welcomes people of all backgrounds and beliefs.
LAUDATO SI ACTION PLATFORM
PLAN FOR YEAR TWO
July 13, 2023- July 13, 2024
As we continue to engage in a reflective process for Year Two of our enrollment in the Laudato Si Action Platform, we take as our goal a deeper understanding of what Ecological Spirituality means: the interconnectedness of all creation at the intersection of human exploitation and mistreatment of the earth.
Click here to read more about our actions to achieve this goal.
Looking Back on Year One: Goal Six of Laudato Si
HEARING THE VOICE OF CREATION
As this Season of Creation closes, we Daughters of Wisdom look back on Year One as a time of discovering Wisdom present in Creation, a spirit that penetrates all reality: both the cry of creation and the cry of those afflicted by the realities of our world.
LAUDATO SI ACTION PLATFORM COMMITMENT STATEMENT
DW KIC Volunteers Take Part in International Coastal Cleanup
What are you doing to preserve our coastlines and waterways?
(9/15/23) In the spirit of the Laudato Si Movement’s Season of Creation, Sisters and volunteers took to the Daughters of Wisdom’s KIC (Keep Islip Clean) sponsored site at Maple Street Town Dock for their quarterly cleanup yesterday. Sr. Ann Gray, DW, Sr. Cathleen Murtha, DW, Rosalie Mullane of Mission Advancement, and Volunteer Marie Bevilacqua collected bags of trash amidst the beautiful backdrop of boats, water, and sunshine, evidencing that there is no lack of garbage left behind by those who patronize this area.
Listen to why they spent a beautiful afternoon cleaning up someone else’s trash. #SeasonofCreation2023
What are you doing to preserve our coastlines and waterways?
(9/20/22) Staff members Rosalie Mullane and Lori Singleton, Sr. Ann Gray, DW, and Daughters of Wisdom Auxiliary member Ann Murdock participated in Islip Town’s KIC annual International Coastal Cleanup.
The crew spent about an hour at our designated site at Maple Ave. dock in Islip. Though the area has sufficient garbage pails, debris was still found within feet of them and in the water. Unfortunately, again on the top of the list of collected items were cigarette butts, discarded food wrappers, plastic utensils, bottles, and cans.
Click below to view a short video of the clean-up effort and interview with our KIC Volunteers.
Statement on World Homelessness Day
UNANIMA International is a Coalition of 22 Communities of Women Religious and a new group of ‘Friends’, serving in 89 countries with 25,000 members.¹ For over 19 years our focus has been on Women, Children/Girls, Migrants and Refugees. These groups disproportionately comprise the homeless populations of our world, though they are often hidden statistically and otherwise overlooked. It is our mandate to ensure these groups can achieve a better quality of life through having their voices heard at the international level. This was exemplified most recently at the United Nations (UN) 59th Commission for Social Development where UNANIMA International presented research and advocated for the issue of Family Homelessness to be given the necessary concern and attention by Member States, Civil Society, and all political actors alike.
January 2021: LCWR Region 2 Leadership Statement on Lawlessness at the Capitol
To Members of the NYS Congressional Delegation:
January 6, 2021, a day to certify the results of the electoral college vote for Joseph Biden, was supposed to be a largely ceremonial event, marking the transition of power to a newly elected President, as has happened in our country since its founding. Instead, it is a day of infamy that will forever be remembered in the future story of our nation.
We write to you as members of The Leadership Conference of Women Religious. This national organization is made up of approximately 1350 members across the United States representing 80% of religious congregations. LCWR Region 2 represents 42 Congregations of Women Religious in New York State.
Among our number are mature women who spent many years teaching in elementary schools, high schools, colleges, and universities about the principles of democracy. We believed and taught that the United States was the seat and shining example of democracy, a model we wished to export to the world! Some of you may have even been taught by one of us!
We join in thanking you who certified the election, knowing that it had been fairly won and certified by the states in question. We are deeply concerned for the future of our nation as others, even in the NYS delegation, continue to question results without evidence. Their actions serve only to deepen the divisions that we have painfully witnessed.
In our increasingly divided nation, we ask you to renew your commitment to the common good and pledge to take up the challenge to use your energy to repair our democracy and contribute to the work of building a more perfect union. We invite all people of good will to join us and we call on our elected leaders to point the way.
Daughters of Wisdom, US Province, Dominican Sisters of Amityville, Sisters of St. Dominic of Blauvelt, Dominican Sisters of Peace, Dominican Sisters of Sparkill, Franciscan Sisters of Peace, Franciscan Sisters of St. Joseph, Sisters of Mercy of the Americas, New Windsor Presentation Sisters, Sisters of St. Francis of the Neumann Communities, Sisters of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd, Sisters of Charity of New York, Sisters of St. Joseph, Brentwood. Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, Albany Province, Sisters of St. Joseph of Rochester.
JPIC Activities
March for Life
Sr. Ann Gray, DW recounts her experience as one of many who attended the March for Life at New York’s Farmingdale University Campus demonstration on March 24, 2018.
March 24, Audrey Schroeder, AW and myself together with many women religious from Long Island attended this memorable event held in the Gymnasium of Farmingdale University Campus. Over 500 people poured into the Gym, conscious that they were one group out of 800 other gatherings taking place across the United States.
As I looked out at the gathering crowd, I was struck by the diversity of age: the elderly, young mothers pushing baby strollers, students- middle school-age, some younger; some older, teachers, rabbis, couples of every denomination filling the bleachers up as high as the eye could see.
But the real focus was the panel of high school seniors situated at the center of the gym. Among them was a young woman who was a survivor of the Parkland, Florida shooting. She recalled the moment the shooting began. Not sure what her fate would be she called her mother to say she loved her but didn’t know if she would ever see her again. “No one should ever have to make a call like that,” the young woman said. The people rang out with cries of “Enough is Enough!”
Before our eyes, we saw one young person after the other pledge their determination to realize the changes they want to happen; to petition, and in the next election to vote for change in Gun laws in this country.
One of the invited panelists was not a high school senior, but Kevin McCarthy, another survivor who was critically wounded on a Long Island, NY train. His Father was shot dead beside him. The year was 1993, and gun deaths have gone on until the present. Yes, “Enough is Enough!” Let this generation of young make the difference that must happen, let them show us how democracy works and Let This Be the Time!
-Sr. Ann Gray, DW
In other Marches on the Island and in New York City...
Daughters of Wisdom from Port Jefferson, NY, Sisters Irene Arsenault, Maureen Hurley, and Barbara O'Dea gathered with people of their local community to stand in solidarity with thousands of others in Washington, D.C. and across the nation to support the March for Our Lives rally- a youth steered movement to enact stronger gun control legislation and prevent shootings and gun violence in schools. Provincial leader, Sr. Catherine Sheehan, DW participated in the NYC rally for March for Our Lives. She said, "I was very impressed by the inspiring young people and all those who want to be about a positive change."
