Communities of Hope

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Today just when I was needing some hope, God sent Theo (not his real name) into my life.

We shared stories of hope with another.  At age 18 I was led to Sinsinawa where I learned of God's love through liturgy, scripture, nature and sisterhood.  At age 18 Theo went to prison after searching for belonging through crime. God intervened in his life and Theo eventually became aware of God's love. We saw clearly God had been in both of our lives.

This week Theo and I will give a presentation to the St Vincent de Paul Society of my parish on the 11 x 15 campaign.  The campaign is led in Madison by a community called MOSES (Madison Organizing in Strength, Equality and Solidarity).  We find hope in God bringing people together to work on systemic change, in this case reducing the prison population in the state of Wisconsin by half by 2015.  This is just one systemic change that is needed so that the children of this generation will know that they are loved and that they belong to the family of God. Working together in the MOSES community brings us hope.

What are your communities of hope?

Joan Duerst, OP
Monona, WI

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