Sr. Maria Louise Edwards shares her daily reflections from HOPE 2025, a powerful international gathering of Catholic sisters under 65 held June 3–7 at the Fraterna Domus retreat center near Rome, Italy. Coordinated by the The Leadership Collaborative, HOPE 2025 brought together nearly 200 sisters from six continents—and over 100 more online—to explore the future of religious life and women’s leadership in the Church.
Sr. Maria Louise attended alongside Sr. Grace Marie Del Priore as sisters from around the world connected across cultures and languages (English, Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese) to listen, connect, rejoice, lament, and lead into the future for religious life and the Church.
Day 3: Connection
The theme of Day Three at HOPE 2025 was Connection.
Sisters under 65 reflected on the depth and demands of authentic connection—how it calls us to listen in order to understand, to be present to one another without losing ourselves.
One sister shared from the heart: “I didn’t leave home to make others miserable. Why are there so many fights in community?” Her vulnerability opened space for others to name what is often carried in silence.
Some sisters are no longer hiding their unhappiness. Others are simply going through the motions. A few have quietly given up.
We carry the weight of:
- Burnout, exhaustion, and mental health struggles
- Diminishment and lack of resources
- Conflict with ecclesial structures
- Drifting from our founding charisms
- Bitterness, grief, and deep weariness
We heard that, “Pain that is not transformed is transferred.”
When what I carry—and what I wrestle with—spills onto others, it becomes my responsibility to seek healing. We have made a commitment to live this life communally. Our hearts must lean toward harmony and peace.
In the afternoon, we were asked to dream: What might be unleashed if we truly connected as a global sisterhood?
We imagined a collective compassion strong enough to respond to the wounds of our world. We envisioned a renewal rising not from nostalgia, but from courage—an intercongregational body rooted in our shared call.
And as we become, we lean into what has always sustained us: our First Love, our shared vocation, and our deep connection to one another.
God is still calling us.
Religious life is not dying—it is becoming.
And we are still responding.
Day 4: From Lamentation to Celebration
Day 4 at HOPE 2025 invited us to move from lamentation to celebration—two movements of the same heart.
There is plenty of space in community for complaining, but lamentation is something deeper. Lamenting is sacred. It carries a desire for healing and growth. It names our wounds—not to dwell on them, but to open the way for transformation.
We were reminded that pain not transformed is transferred. For that reason, we cannot wait for change to happen to us. We must participate in it, and give ourselves permission to feel, to pray, to lament.
Younger sisters shared a longing for spaces where grief can be spoken aloud. This conference is becoming that space. As old wounds surfaced, sisters cried together—and healing began. Each one felt seen, heard, and held by someone who cared.
In the afternoon, the theme turned toward celebration—because it can’t be all gloom and woe. There is always something to rejoice in. Sisters were invited to name what they are celebrating. One by one, as each voice rose, the assembly waved ribbon wands in joyful solidarity. We witnessed joy as deeply as we had witnessed sorrow. Lamentation and celebration are not opposites. They are companions on the journey of healing and hope.
Day 4 concluded with an outing. Sr. Grace went to Subiaco, and I went through the Jubilee door at St. Peter’s—twenty-five years after first passing through in the year 2000. I carried our community and all your prayers.
Later, I stood in the piazza and listened to the first audience of Pope Leo’s pontificate. Though the audience was inside—his words were broadcasted to the piazza. His blessing at the end was extended to all our family and friends which includes our Felician community.
Day 5: Leadership
The day began with a challenge, “What if the greatest contribution of religious life to the world has not happened yet?”
Sisters shared their dreams for communal life. What if there was a new kind of religious life—a global sisterhood rooted in deep connection, emotional intelligence, and co-responsibility.
Community is not only what we receive, but the sum of what we’re willing to give—first to God, then to one another. We are not strong alone.
We are all carrying wounds. But when we give ourselves permission to lament, we open space for healing—and hope. Fr. Timothy Radcliffe, OP, said: “The bravest thing we can do is be truthful about our doubts.” The bravest thing we can do is listen to each other to understand.
The world needs sisters. We are still being called—called to be more deeply present to one another for the salvation of all.
It’s a gentle shift—to widen the tent of my life in a new way, so that our Felician Community fits inside. This conference is challenging me to reflect: What am I willing to give? Do I have a dream for our life together? What would I do differently if I believed that dream was possible?
