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INFORM-A^CTION

Issue Number 47 - December 2002

2003 - A New and Different SAO

"The best way to predict the future is to invent it." These words of Alan Kay remind me that when the Social Action Office (SAO) begins again in late January 2003, it will be very much a time to invent. The SAO is a vital part of Sophia's transformative dream for all of creation and the future will build on the very solid ministry of the past ten years. The words "new ways of being and doing" come to me as I ponder the new model for the SAO. During 2002, after ten years of social action ministry, the SAO underwent a Review. The Report of this Review provided the Congregational Leaders with several models to choose from in order to carry forward the vision of the SAO. Due to certain understandable restraints, the model that will carry the SAO into the future will mean less staff and a much more focused agenda. The SAO will need to create a new path while walking in the same direction. It will be an opportunity to refocus and reprioritise. It will be a time to maximise our combined efforts in this ministry and I look forward to the ongoing support and commitment of those who make up the wider SAO community.

It is an honour to pick up the baton from Coralie and have the opportunity to continue to implement the SAO's vision. Coralie, along with all the other women and men who have shared in bringing to birth the SAO vision, has prepared a solid ground for future growth. For the many and varied gifts of each of the people I have worked with here in the last three years, I am truly grateful.

I was reading again today part of the homily given at the funeral of two Maryknoll sisters who were murdered in 1980 in El Salvador. In this extract I felt there were some strong reminders for us all as we move forward:

"God, in His/Her loving kindness, has raised up witnesses in our midst. God is calling each of us to a more radical discipleship - one which will not be understood by the powerful of our day. We must be wise as serpents in naming and renouncing the evil which pervades our world. We must be filled with compassion for those for whom suffering from lack of basic necessities has become a way of life. We must be moved to action which will clearly identify us with the poor. Above all, let us not be filled with fear. Let us be filled with courage and hope, for "in the compassion of our God, the dawn shall break upon us, to shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace."

May we all be gifted with great courage, hope and peace.

Annette Arnold (newly appointed SAO Director)

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		INFORM-A^CTION Issue Number 47 - December 2002 2003 - A New and Different SAO "The best way to predict the future is to invent it." These words of Alan Kay remind me that when the Social Action Office (SAO) begins again in late January 2003, it will be very much a time to invent. The SAO is a vital part of Sophia's transformative dream for all of creation and the future will build on the very solid ministry of the past ten years. The words "new ways of being and doing" come to me as I ponder the new model for the SAO. During 2002, after ten years of social action ministry, the SAO underwent a Review. The Report of this Review provided the Congregational Leaders with several models to choose from in order to carry forward the vision of the SAO. Due to certain understandable restraints, the model that will carry the SAO into the future will mean less staff and a much more focused agenda. The SAO will need to create a new path while walking in the same direction. It will be an opportunity to refocus and reprioritise. It will be a time to maximise our combined efforts in this ministry and I look forward to the ongoing support and commitment of those who make up the wider SAO community. It is an honour to pick up the baton from Coralie and have the opportunity to continue to implement the SAO's vision. Coralie, along with all the other women and men who have shared in bringing to birth the SAO vision, has prepared a solid ground for future growth. For the many and varied gifts of each of the people I have worked with here in the last three years, I am truly grateful. I was reading again today part of the homily given at the funeral of two Maryknoll sisters who were murdered in 1980 in El Salvador. In this extract I felt there were some strong reminders for us all as we move forward: "God, in His/Her loving kindness, has raised up witnesses in our midst. God is calling each of us to a more radical discipleship - one which will not be understood by the powerful of our day. We must be wise as serpents in naming and renouncing the evil which pervades our world. We must be filled with compassion for those for whom suffering from lack of basic necessities has become a way of life. We must be moved to action which will clearly identify us with the poor. Above all, let us not be filled with fear. Let us be filled with courage and hope, for "in the compassion of our God, the dawn shall break upon us, to shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace." May we all be gifted with great courage, hope and peace. *Annette Arnold* (newly appointed SAO Director) Next Newsletter Article Newsletter Index