Discover how Sister Joan Chittister's message on courage and engagement aligns with Michigan Women's 2025 vision and strategic plan.
Ten days ago, The Time is Now: A Call to Uncommon Courage popped up on my YouTube feed, and I was taken aback by what Sister Joan said in the video. I had just finished my first "collaboration meeting" for Michigan Women—the first one of the year—and I was strategizing our plan for 2025. Her message felt like it was speaking directly to the heart of Michigan Women’s vision.
I watched the video twice, carefully pulling out key moments that resonated with me. Her words reinforced the urgency of this moment—how silence can be dangerous, how engagement is essential, and how each of us has a role to play in shaping our communities.
I used these insights to clarify the 2025 Strategic Plan for Michigan Women which I shared with you.
The following content is a curated overview of the transcript snippets I took from Sister Joan's interview with Oprah Winfrey.
At around 18 minutes into the video, Sister Joan emphasizes that we must take time out of our busy lives to understand how our community works and what rules and regulations impact our communities and neighbors. It's up to us to stand together to make sure we know the implications, speak out, and stand up when warranted.
"I do think they should begin to become aware of what's going on around them.
How do you do that? Let's say that there's a bill in Congress—how unusual! On medical care, for example. We'll just guess that someday we might be concerned about medical care, right? When I know that Bill is there and coming, I need to begin to study.
That's the very first thing Isaiah did. The biblical prophet Isaiah was completely rejected by his society during the most militaristic period in Hebrew history, and he couldn't get their attention.
So did he call that a loss? No. He withdrew, gathered groups around him, and began to study and prepare them. We have to study the legislation.
We have to call our family together, call the club together, call the neighbors together—seven of you, five of you—and say,
And then we have to magnify our voices."
Check out our next MI Community Conversation meeting because we will discuss this EXACT topic!
Around 30 minutes into the interview with Sister Joan, she talks about our choices regarding facilitating connection and community, which are essential to humanity. Which choice are you making?
"We have a choice. Every great moral moment gives you three opportunities, and you can see them very clearly in our society.
The first kind of choice is the choice that says,
"Not me. I'm not getting into that. Let them handle it. That's not my problem. I'm out of here. I've got the kids, the horses, the ponies, the racetrack. I don’t get into that political stuff."
That’s the first choice—to ignore it and go your own way as if you are an independent member of society and humanity.
The second possible choice is to roll over, to succumb.
The person who makes the choice to roll over says, "Let them do it. I’m sure it will all come out all right."
That’s what they said in 1939. There was too much silence in 1939—and it wrecked all of Europe.
We are sitting in a cesspool of silence instead of getting into the national conversation. Only a moral national conversation can bring us through to another level of political humanity—as well as spiritual humanity.
Which brings us to the third choice: to deal with it.
Say, This is how I want to do my part in this development.
Get engaged in some way."
"Nobody is discussing anything, and discussing it has become debating it. And debating it has become win or lose.
So here we are. You’re only debating to prove "I’m right." That’s it.
I’m simply saying to people: Would you pick this stuff up? Would you read it seriously? And if you’re not a reader, would you find somebody who is?
Sit down. Bring five people together. Ask:
Get into the public conversation. That is what I’m saying—the time is now.
And if you don’t, this moment is going to pass us by. And the moment is going to get worse.
How many more years do you think we can go on relieving ourselves of the responsibility of checking on our own representatives?
Senators, local commissioners—everybody. They’re there for us.
And all the silence is because people just want to keep their jobs. They are more interested in being popular than they are in actually serving the public. They think that if they speak their own truth, they will no longer have the position."
Check out MI Community Context for a new podcast scheduled for release on February 19th to address these exact questions!