Abstract
Conversion is not a one-time event, but an ongoing process in multiple arenas in the life of the missionary. Ongoing conversion happens through accompaniment and can lead to transformative mission.
I first met Sr. Madge Karecki when she was elected to the ASM board of directors in June 2018. By June of 2019 she had identified the theme for the conference when she would be ASM president as the idea of ongoing conversion. Speaking to the board, she expressed concern that the USA felt divided and the primary values she saw were not gospel- and kingdom-oriented. She expressed disquiet at the incivility she saw, and considered the theme of ongoing conversion in the life of a Christian, and a missionary, to be a type of critical conversation highly relevant in the current context. She spoke of Pope Francis’s teachings on accompaniment as crucial to Christian ministry and wondered if those ideas could be instructive for our conference. Of course all those musings happened before the COVID-19 pandemic swept the globe, creating further divisions and distrust across much of US society. Not only did the pandemic exacerbate the tensions that worried Sr. Madge, they also led to the postponement of the ASM conferences (her presidential year was initially anticipated for 2021). The ultimate outcome was that Sr. Madge would fall seriously ill before her own conference, not be able to attend, and would pass away just a few short weeks after its conclusion. Nevertheless, the conference went forward and her chosen theme became the subject of multiple papers and addresses.
Sr. Madge’s thoughts led to this call for papers for the 2022 conference:
We know that conversion is central to the Gospels. Ongoing conversion is the lifelong process that takes place in the lives of those who live in a dynamic relationship with Christ and can affect the way the missionaries see themselves in carrying forward the coming of the kingdom of God. It is this relationship with the Lord that brings the kind of wisdom that has the potential to inspire transformative mission praxis.
In her call we see her clear desire that by paying close attention to the ongoing conversion of missionaries themselves, the result would be transformative mission practice. The following paragraphs are Sr. Madge’s developing musings, lightly edited, that she wrote in preparation for her anticipated plenary address to the Society in June 2022. Although unfinished, they show where her thoughts and prayers for the Society were going. They also show her dedication to the work of mission in the world and the hope and healing that can only come through the gospel.
Sr. Madge’s Musings
Usually when I am preparing to write an article or talk, I try to think of a metaphor and that was the case with the theme for our conference. I remembered the biblical text from Ecclesiastes 3:1–8:
For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:
2 a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; 3 a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; 4 a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; 5 a time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; 6 a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to throw away; 7 a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; 8 a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace. (NRSVCE)
Pete Seeger based his song “Turn! Turn! Turn!” on this text, although he changed some words to fit with the music:
To everything (turn, turn, turn) There is a season (turn turn, turn) And a time to every purpose under heaven.
Sing it with me! The turning that Seeger had in mind finds its origin in the Hebrew word teshuva, which means turning back, seeing from a radically new perspective. We might say that it is to see ourselves, others, and the world from God’s eyes, from God’s perspective. We used to think of conversion as a one-off event; now we know it is a process that goes on throughout our lives. It is ongoing as we turn to the Lord to see ourselves more clearly with the light of his presence. Here we are not just talking about a religious conversion.
Four Aspects of Ongoing Conversion
The Jesuit Donald L. Gelpi (1998: 43–54) wrote that ongoing conversion has four other dimensions that we need to keep in mind.
Affective conversion calls us to examine our conscious behavior and the feelings that motivate our behavior: how we greet others, the looks we give them, or how we speak to them. This kind of conversion cultivates a warmth and greater sensitivity to God’s presence in other people.
Intellectual conversion helps us to order the other forms of conversion. It invites us to challenge our perceptions of reality and the consequences of our beliefs. It also helps us to develop our critical decision-making skills, so that we have sound criteria for the principles that sustain our Christian life.
Personal moral conversion makes us aware of the barriers to our turning to the Lord. It does not allow us to just go along with the crowd. Rather it gives us the courage to stand on our convictions. It strengthens our desire to draw closer to Christ. It makes us more sensitive to how we might comprise the very gospel values that we seek to integrate in our lives. Personal moral conversion is crucial because we want to give a clear witness to Christ at work in our lives and our fidelity to the way of life he clearly articulated in the Beatitudes.
Sociopolitical conversion brings out the public dimension of ongoing conversion. It radicalizes our faith and sustains a prophetic character of Christian life. It is a necessary aspect of making sure we give witness to the way, the truth, and the life that Jesus has revealed to us in the Gospels. Do I turn my eyes away from people who are homeless when they call out? Are we willing to formulate ways we can respond in our specific context? We have to always be rooted in reality so that we can respond to challenges by looking at them with God’s vision of the kingdom.
Ongoing conversion presupposes that we continue to cultivate a vibrant and deep relationship with Christ. Are we faithful to daily meditative prayer? What is being revealed to us about each of the forms of conversion in our journey? Are we always ready to turn back to the Lord? Finally, humility is also needed for us to look intently to see if the quality of our witness rises to our behavior.
Ongoing Conversion and Transformative Mission
Those of us engaging in mission need to develop consistent ways of being on mission that are respectful and thoughtful. We must help the people who see and hear us see someone who lives a simple lifestyle with joy, being satisfied by what they need, not driven by what they want, ready to share with others. This simplicity is necessary so that we continue to hear the Lord calling us to conversion. It is important as we work with the local community among whom we live that as they voice what they see, it will help them meet real needs that have emerged from their communal analysis. How their community life reflects gospel values remains a priority and should inform shared reflection and communal decisions about life together.
True ongoing conversion is what leads to transformative mission. Thank you and may the blessings of God call you to be on mission with wisdom and zeal for the kingdom of God.
Footnotes
Funding
The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
