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Statements of Corporate Action

One of the outcomes of the Providence Events is a statement of corporate action to address the abiding issues of our time. This page contains the text of the statements issued by the 2005 and 2008 gatherings.

A STATEMENT OF CORPORATE ACTION
developed by participants in the Providence Event 2008

Preamble

The Women of Providence in Collaboration and our Associates gathered at St. Mary of the Woods, Indiana in June of 2008. At this Providence Event, we recognized that we are on the threshold of a new moment in our Providence history, an opportunity for collective corporate action flowing from our deeper understanding of Providence eco-spirituality. As the theme of the Conference stressed, we believe that we are intimately involved in the unfolding mystery of the Cosmos calling us to "tread lightly on Earth."

As we continued to explore our commitment to ecological economics, we reached clarity on the meaning of sustainability and eco-justice. Sustainability implies that we live and act in such a way that our actions do not compromise the ability of future generations of all species to meet their own needs for survival. Eco-Justice demands of us that we bring our passion for justice to protect and nurture all life, acting on behalf of all those who cannot speak for themselves and allowing the "lure of Providence" to move us more deeply into this profound and awesome mystery.

Presentations, dialogue, and contemplation brought us to new insights about our role as Women of Providence facing our responsibility for the future unfolding of the planet as a single, sacred community of life. This prompted the following calls to action:

Education

  • Utilize our individual and collective member resources to educate our Sisters, Associates and all with whom we work and collaborate about our commitment to eco-justice and our understanding of ecological economics.
  • Create a DVD as a teaching tool that captures the richness of Providence eco-spirituality as well as our current endeavors and future initiatives to create a sustainable home for all of creation.
  • Facilitate the development of resource teams to offer educational presentations, materials, and hands-on experiences for our community members, associates, and all interested in eco-spirituality.

Networking

  • Deepen and expand our collaboration by collectively investing our resources to build, via the web, networks of persons willing to move toward a transformation of consciousness that enables us to live as one global family on a vital and sustainable planet.
  • Work with women religious federations, conferences and other organizations to achieve greater synergy and to combine our eco-justice efforts into a national/global movement of peoples across the globe.

White Violet Center

  • Support the White Violet Center, as able, financially and with personnel, as needed, as a center of Providence eco-spirituality that will enable it to share its resources among our religious congregations and beyond.

Communication

  • Create an Advocacy and Public Policy Sub-committee to address issues of sustainability and to communicate its work, findings, and research to our religious congregations and with the wider public.

Proposals for Communal Action
from PROVIDENCE EVENT 2005

#1. In order to assist us in the repentance that change requires, we will adopt these two sentences as mantras to incorporate into our personal practices of prayer and contemplation:

I AM A SPECIES
EARTH, I AM NOT SEPARATE FROM YOU.

#2. That WPC/Governing Board further the conversations around Sallie McFague's "ecological economic" so that WPC can, in believing "six impossible things before breakfast", stand against the empire. To assist the Board, we will offer names of persons willing to help develop a process to accomplish this.

WPC Statement

We, members of religious congregations and associates, who belong to the association of Women of Providence in Collaboration, gathered in seminar on 24-26 June 2005 at St. Mary-of-the-Woods, Indiana, express our belief in a Provident God who cares for all of creation, which impels us to work for the elimination of trafficking of human persons, especially women and children.

This is based on our belief that:

  • All life is sacred,
  • Every human being is equal,
  • All people are sisters and brothers of one another,
  • All people are children of God, and
  • That trafficking in women and children is a breach of their fundamental human rights.

Preferential Option for the Poor

We are called to witness a preferential option for the poor in responding to the needs of our global society. We add our support and solidarity to the statement of the Union of International General Superiors (UIGS), and the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) of the United States and the Canadian Religious Conference (CRC) on the issue of trafficking of women and children.