Encounters With Mercy: A Forum in Response to Pope Francis

How does a moment become a movement? How does an encounter with a person create change in us that’s lasting? A visit of Pope Francis stirred immense energy in our Philadelphia Community. Cranaleith’s mission committee was determined to find a way that this energy wouldn’t dissipate but instead would seep into a deeper place where we could imagine and create a different, more merciful world for our brothers and sisters.

On October 24th, a diverse community gathered to dip back into the experience of Francis’ presence, and pour that energy into the wounds of our time. We began replicating the compelling devotion to “Mary, Undoer of Knots.” In communion with the 100,000 ribbons fashioned in Meg Seligman’s inspired work of art outside of the cathedral, we wrote the knots that tangled and bound us on strips of fabric, and adorned our “family tree.” We drank in the images of Francis, uniquely touching persons converging in the sanctuaries and historic sites, the parkway and the prison. We contemplated the faces transfigured by his presence and recognized who we can be for one another. We told our own “stories around the family table” of the memories that seared us.

In the afternoon, we focused on the vision awakened in us for the critical concerns of the Mercy community…racism, violence, immigration, earth, and the oppression of women. A closing ritual called us once again to our family tree. We were asked to untie someone else’s ribbon, and replace it with yellow ribbons that held our commitment to the newness invited in our hearts and in our world. One person gave voice to his imagination: “to create spaces where persons from diverse life-experiences can encounter one another and enter into one another’s struggles and dreams.” As we prepare for the upcoming jubilee year of mercy, what hope for a more merciful world!