Time for Reflection after
My Second Trip to Luwinga Last June

by Mother Miriam

In the last Messenger we shared the exciting events and growing pains of our Sisters in Malawi. Being settled now in the new convent has given me time to reflect on our progress in fellowship with our Malawian Sisters. In September I also had the opportunity to participate with committed Albany missioners at their annual Missions Conference at the Christ the King Spiritual Life Center. We spent a day sharing progress in various diocesan missions in the Dominican Republic, Argentina, and Sudan, as well as the CSM’s daughter foundation in Malawi. The constant refrain was how to help our fellow Christians throughout the world in ways that were truly helpful and sustainable at the same time as they share with us their deep faith. We all agreed that mission work is neither an opportunity for tourism nor the means of cheap grace, but a long-term commitment to respectful fellowship with Christians in very different circumstances and cultures.

The farm at Luwinga with the convent at distant upper left, animal enclosure in the lower left, and corn, banana trees and stacked bricks to the right.

 

The second part of my visitation to Luwinga last May involved listening to the Sisters’ dreams about future development there. They had many good ideas: The farm will stay the same for the coming year. There are still five Sisters to run it, and they have two farm workers helping. We will not build at this location for a while, with the possible exception of a pig house, if we can find funding. It rained one night while I was at the convent so we were able to do some rudimentary soil testing with the kit I brought from America. The heavy red clay is very alkaline, and totally stripped of nitrogen and potash, with just a trace of phosphorous left. It will to take years to restore fertility to their nine acres. I suspect that this is a common problem across the region because of repeated corn plantings without fertilizer. In July the Sisters bought a used double-cab pick-up truck to help with deliveries to and from the farm.

We began the incorporation process for the Sisters, a sign of permanency for them in Malawi. The legal name agreed upon is "Community of St. Mary, Inc." The Chichewa phrase, Chipani cha Maria Woyera, sounds like a political party, the Sisters say. The process will probably take two to three years.

All these activities are marks of a young monastic community working on growth. Liturgical prayer five times a day is the center of their life; outreach activities, while important, are secondary to the Sisters’ primary vocation of prayer. At present they spend about 20% of their time on outreach as compared with activities to sustain themselves by means of the farm. Assistance from America continues to be directed at reaching for self-sufficiency, as well as supporting outreach activities.

Vocations seem to be arising apace in Malawi. We have learned from the experience with the Junior Sisters leaving the convent last May that motivations behind the desire to become a Sister are not always single-minded. With the complications of poverty, disease and family stresses, celibate life in a community with American connections looks very attractive indeed. The Luwinga Sisters have become wise in their discernment process so that part of the aspirancy period is now spent at Luwinga before the Sisters send young women to us for formation at the Motherhouse. Sister Martha will be coming to Greenwich towards the beginning of 2006 with an aspirant who has been living with the Sisters this past season. She will work with me as Novice Mistress-in-training for at least a year. Soon it will be time to train Sisters for Malawi in Malawi. The Malawians agree that the standard-of-living disparity between Malawi and America is just too distracting for novices.

In terms of long-range dreams for outreach, the Sisters feel a definite attraction to supporting education for young women. For now, that simply means teaching by doing and showing, but we are beginning to think and pray about how to develop that desire. The Sisters live and work in a male-dominated society. It is important to them that they maintain their independence and self-identity while also not alienating the authorities within their society and culture. Outreach activities need to reflect this balance. Much of their focus initially has been church-related — the making of vestments, rosaries, and the desire to make altar bread, but the challenge is that the parishes are too poor to buy the Sisters’ work.

I continue to muse over the possibility of organizing some sort of consortium of churches and individuals supporting CSM Malawi. Here is an opportunity to build a stable institution in a country with crumbling social infrastructure. There is no social safety net, but there are committed Christian hands praying and working for the benefit of the poorest of the poor, if only they had the educational and material tools to work with. The Diocese of Ft. Worth and other ecclesial contacts of the Diocese of Northern Malawi are working at the diocesan This is our opportunity to complement the work of the Diocese in Malawi, just as we are partnering with the Diocese of Albany for the spiritual benefit of all here in Greenwich.

Lastly, I would like to express my gratitude for their continued interest in our work in Luwinga to St. Paul’s Parish, K St., Washington, DC; St. Stephen’s Parish, Providence, RI; Christ Church, Woodbury, NJ; and St. Thomas’ Parish, Camden, ME. Associates in all three parishes have been invaluable in making the link in fellowship and outreach with us.