Forum to focus on justice

VILLA MARIA, Pa. — Sisters of the Humility of Mary will sponsor a Forum for Sisters from June 21-July 2 at Villa Maria Community Center.

The convocation, “Forming the Heart of Justice and Peace,” will focus on Pope Benedict XVI’s encyclical “Deus Caritas Est” and the Gospel of St. John to better understand peace and justice from the Scriptural point of view.

The Forum for Sisters, an international dialogue of women religious from the United States and Central and Eastern Europe, supports spirituality, learning and peacemaking. The organization is headed by Sister Veronica Ternovacz, executive director of the Forum for Sisters.

In the early 1990s, in response to the U.S. Bishops’ requests for volunteers, more than 200 sisters from the United States journeyed to Central/Eastern Europe to help the nuns emerging from Communism. They established pastoral centers, updated libraries, taught English as a second language and helped form leadership workshops. Though the program had served its purpose, the nuns wanted to maintain communication with the European nun. As a result, the international Forum for Sisters group was formed.

In 2002, the forum brought sisters from Hungary, Romania, Slovakia and Ukraine to the U.S. for dialogue and spiritual retreats. In 2005, the forum sponsored a gathering of Eastern European and U.S. participants at Pazmany Peter University near Budapest for mutual exchange and culture.