During this Lenten season, the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, U.S. East-West Province (SNDdeN EW Province) are collaborating with other congregations to take concrete steps to strengthen our collective capacity for civil dialogue.
“Civil dialogue” refers to communication about controversial or complex topics that is based on listening, empathy, and the exploration of different viewpoints.
The program we’ll be participating in, Practicing Respect Across Difference, is a series of reflections and events for women religious that aligns with the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur’s mission-centric priority to foster justice and peace in an often-contentious world.
This new program builds on the momentum of the SNDdeN EW Province’s successful Series of Hope virtual gatherings hosted by the office of Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation (EW JPIC) in 2025.
For more information about this program:
Also, for your consideration:
Weekly Lenten Reflections
Throughout the season of Lent, in collaboration with other women religious across the country, we are participating in a campaign for Practicing Respect Across Difference. Each week, we will share a reflection on best practices for civil dialogue. What can you learn and put into practice to bring more peace into the world?
First Week of Lent
Respect across difference begins with reverence for each person.
The Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur were founded as an international congregation, beginning with our movement from France to Belgium in 1809. Today, Sisters live and work across five continents. Respect for other cultures, experiences, and ideas is central to our work and service to the most vulnerable. This week, take some time to pray for members of your family or community with whom you disagree, even on the most fundamental issues in our world today. Pray for a deeper understanding of their perspectives, but also a deeper recognition of their creation in God’s image.
“Dialogue is born from an attitude of respect for the other person, from a conviction that the other person has something good to say. It assumes that there is room in the heart for the person’s point of view, opinion, and proposal. To dialogue entails a cordial reception, not a prior condemnation. In order to dialogue, it is necessary to know how to lower the defenses, open the doors of the house, and offer human warmth.”
-Pope Francis, On Heaven and Earth, Sudamericana, 2011
Second Week of Lent
Deep listening is an act of faith.
Polarization has been rising for decades, but it seems worse now than ever before. Polling from Pew Research Center has demonstrated that our country is more divided now than ever before. In 2022, 72% of Republicans and 63% of Democrats said that they viewed the opposing party as more immoral than other Americans. In this time especially, authentic listening is not just a skill; it is an act of faith in the goodwill of one another.
This week, take some time to discern your media diet, or even look at websites or TV programs that you do not normally visit. How do internet algorithms and 24-hour news cycles impede our ability to see outside our own “bubble”? How can we disrupt this cycle?
“We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools. Peace is not merely the absence of tension; it is the presence of justice.”
—Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.