Sister José Hobday “Simple Living as a Power for Peace” March 7th, 2003

On Friday, March 7, 2003 about 100 people listened to Sister Mary José Hobday (or Sr. José as she is more commonly known) speak for a little over 2 hours at Pax Christi Catholic Community in Eden Prairie.

The fact that we were there on a “work” night and a cold night was a miracle, said Sr. José!

Sr. José’s theme was “Simple Living as a Power for Peace”. She opened with two stories about Black Elk and Geronimo. Two Native American’s who converted to Catholicism but still retained their native traditions and saw them as complimentary, not contradictory, to their “new” faith. Sr. José’s life is similar to Black Elk’s and Geronimo’s in that she is a Roman Catholic and a Franciscan nun of Seneca, Iroquois and Seminole descent. Sr. José has devoted much of her life to teaching that native spirituality is not a threat to “established” religion.

It is difficult to write this story and do Sr. José’s talk justice. It is hard to write the visual web she wove with her words. She touched on a lot of subjects that may seem diverse but somehow she managed to string them all together.

For the first hour, she spoke about Brokenness by reiterating the words: Fragile and Broken Promises. She also spoke of the Sacred Hoop that binds all life together: Cosmos, Planets, Earth, County, State, City, Family, Community, and Hearts. The Hoop is continually being broken. We need to think like the native cultures of the impact of our actions on 7 generations before us and 7 generations after us in the Hoop. We need to get in touch with our brokenness, our fragility.

The United States is largely an ignorant nation. We are mostly ignorant, as a people, of world affairs. Do we know anything, in the U.S. about Iraq? Really? We impose our U.S. culture on everyone. The U.S. is too pampered. We must let ourselves be simple to better relate to others.

The good thing about the U.S. is our strong work ethic but Sr. José believes the U.S. is in decline if we don’t act to change any of the following four signs a culture is in decline. These are from a book entitled Twilight of American Culture.

1. High level of illiteracy
2. Vulgarity of common language
3. Consumption-Materialism
4. Inability of different cultures to get along

Don’t let the seemingly insurmountable changes that need to be made overwhelm you so much that you do nothing. Pick one thing and devout yourself to it. Know and accept that you can’t do it all. It’s God’s world and it’s in God’s hands but that does not mean we can’t help!

The closing portion of her talk was where she described how she lives the simple life and why all of us should simplify our lives.

Being Simple is not easy. It takes focus. and commitment. Ask yourself: What do you need? What are your needs? Only take what you need. Notice the absence of the word: want. Do we really need that? Or do we really only want it?

Do I need 10 kinds of cereal in my cupboard? The U.S. home has more kinds of cereal in it then anywhere else in the world! Do I need 4 coats? 10 pairs of jeans? 4 closets full of clothes? If it’s suffocating you, get rid of it! Sr. José always gives the “best” item away as a gift.

Sr. José allows herself 4 skirts and 5 blouses. She has the hardest time adhering to her self-imposed limit of books. She limits herself to keeping no more then 36 books at her home and taking 6 books with her when she travels. Books are her greatest weakness.

An audience member asked what her 6 travel books were. Sr. José’s travel collection is:

1. An RSV Catholic bible
2. A Concordance
3. A book of scripture selections
4. A complete Shakespeare
5. A complete book of poetry
6. A collection of poems by Rilke

Simplicity, said Sr. José, is so freeing! Simplicity gives her more time for prayer, visiting, meeting, and reading. Simplicity can give you more time for mysticism and contemplation.

Janice LaDuke was baptized at St. Joan of Arc but her parents left St. Joan's in the early 70's and went to a "less radical" Catholic church instead. She's very glad to have found her way back to St. Joan's in 1994!! Janice is a librarian by profession and has been working in the library of a healthcare consulting firm since 1997. In her spare time, she enjoys listening to all kinds of music and working on her home near Como Lake in St. Paul. Janice is also Echo Thoren's assistant every Sunday at the 11:00 a.m. service.

The only person who can be available and do it all 24/7 is God.

Sr. José Hobday is the author of several books including: Stories of Awe and Abundance, and Simple Living: The Path to Joy and Freedom. She also has some audiotape collections: Morning has Broken, and The Spiritual Power of Storytelling. Sr. José also teaches at the University of Creation Spirituality.

Robert Walz is a parishioner of St. Gregory the Great in North Branch, Minnesota. The photos were taken during a visit to St. Gregory's by Sr. José in February 2001. Thank you Robert and St. Gregory for sharing them with our readers.