There is Challenge...

Mother Mary Catherine (Catherine Rumschlag) writes to the sisters in December 1966:

I would like to suggest that we look upon this General Chapter as a new beginning in the life of the Glenmary Sisters. ...Christ is inviting us to "walk on the water."

Religious are called, as Peter was, to believe in the world of Our Lord. He has called us to a task in the Church; if we take the necessary step and trust in Him, the means will not be lacking. We must believe, we must take decisive action, we must keep our eyes on the Lord. If we "look at our feet," concerned with our own weakness and the weakness of our companiions, with the posibility of failure, with all sorts of possible obstacles, we will surely begin to sink.

Our responsibility is increased because we have arrived at this stage of "starting new" sooner than many other communities. ... Now the Church calls for new structures in religious life and in planning for the apostolate. In many ways it seems that Glenmary Sisters are ready, that their whole history has made them ready. I think it is a question of whether we have the faith, humility, the courage, and generosity. It is a question of whether we are willing to "walk on the water."

...and, of course, there's a light side...

from page 94

The Big Stone Gap group had a big party in the fall of 1968. The house was crowded with FOCIS members, Glenmary priests, local friends, colleagues from schools, and VISTA volunteers. Helen Lewis, who was then teaching at East Tennessee State University, remembers it as a "great party": "I especially remember Anne Leibig. I had only met Anne ... as a Sister, and with the uniform, her veil, and her serious discussion of religion, I thought she was a middle-aged woman at least fifty years old. Here I met a young woman in a miniskirt with fishnet stockings who was sitting on top of the refrigerator, giving one of her speeches which she delivered to young people about "Potentiality" and punctuating her remarks by tossing herbs: oregano, thyme, parsley to the rapt audience in the kitchen."