Sister Clare Pratt (left) and Dot Schmerbauch, longtime secretary at the U.S. Provincial House in St. Louis, talk about Sister Pratt's work in Rome. The August visit to the Provincial House was Sister Pratt's first in eight years.

Sr. Clare Pratt, Superior General of the Society of the Sacred Heart, visited the U.S. Provincial House while attending the national meeting in St. Louis of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious.

Her observation after the meeting: Women religious need to be involved with other Catholic laity in efforts to bring about structural change in the Catholic Church.

Problems in the church, though they are different in different countries, are not limited to the United States, she said. She noted that speakers at the national meeting had stressed the need for women religious to take responsibility for helping the church to change and grow.

In 2000, Sister Pratt became the first American woman to lead the Society in its 200-year history. She is the 15th woman to be elected superior-general and resides in Rome. She had previously served the Society as Secretary General and as the Provincial for the United States.

At the LCWR meeting in St. Louis, Sister Pratt was particularly impressed by a talk by poet David Whyte. He drew on insights of poetry and personal stories in his presentation, “Crossing the Unknown Sea: Leadership as a Pilgrimage of Identity.”

Sr. Carmen Margarita Fagot

We stand on holy ground every moment of our existence, he said. The world, God and creation are constantly coming to our door reminding us that we belong to something greater than ourselves. We must cultivate a relationship with the unknown.

Sister Pratt has been a part of the LCWR “in stretches” since 1978. “I would say I’ve seen a steady deepening of the contemplative dimension” of the organization’s thought, she said, “a realization that any action for justice has to come from that dimension.”

Other RSCJ attending the meeting included the U.S. Provincial Team – Sisters Kathleen Hughes (Provincial), Ellen Collesano, Joan Gannon, Sheila Hammond and Paula Toner – and Sister Carmen Margarita Fagot, immediate past provincial of the Society’s Puerto Rico province, and president of the Confederation of Latin American Religious, based on Bogata, Columbia.

Sister Fagot said her organization, which is similar in goals to the Leadership Conference in the United States, has been engaged in theological reflection and discussion on the significance of religious life today. Although social needs are growing in an era of global capitalism – “for example, in Brazil there are 70 million people with hunger,” increasing crime and violence, “breakdown all over,” she said – the appeal of religious life is diminishing.

“We are involved in a two-year project inviting religious to reflect on the signs of the times, to ask ourselves what is significant now for religious life; what does it mean to follow Christ?”