This year, at the invitation of the General Council, the Congrégation de Notre-Dame’s Mother House sisters and staff assembled to celebrate Mission Day on the theme of “The Common Home.” This day, April 17, highlights the birthday of Saint Marguerite Bourgeoys, the Congregation’s foundress. What better way to wish her a happy birthday than to deepen our understanding of her mission?
Love, Simon is entertaining, funny in spots and reflective at times. It’s a story about a young man – a rather privileged affluent teen, with a good home, a stable family, and a secret he hasn’t shared. He’s gay, and he lives with the not uncommon fear that he may not be accepted in society. The characters resemble people we teachers (and one-time students?) can recognize – the class-mates, the principal, the drama teacher, the kid sister – and we walk with Simon through his days of seeking to be his real self, even while he experiences a loneliness and a fear of revelation of that real self. Teachers, and parents of teens and tweens, would do well to see this film. The world is becoming more tolerant of differences and this movie is gentle, leading to a happy ending and an at-peace Simon, comfortable and confident in counting the days to graduation and whatever will come after that.
Sister Maureen Baldwin and three team members met at St. Joseph Retreat Center in Cobourg, Ontario, to facilitate a weekend retreat, April 6-8. The retreat is an initiative of the Ignatian Spirituality Project, which seeks to introduce the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius to people with experience of homelessness. Twelve women, who have such experience in their lives, participated in the retreat. Everyone was happy with the event.