Sister Barbara McCracken speaks at KIPCOR peace lecture
Looking back at words from Sister McCracken at KIPCOR's peace leacture
On Friday, March 27th, KIPCOR held a peace lecture entitled “A Conversation with Sister Barbara McCracken.” Sister McCracken spoke about “living according to the gospel” and how the Bible can be applied to our world today.
Sister McCracken is a member of the Order of St. Benedict, and has been since 1961. She spoke about her work and life at the Mount St. Scholastica Monastery in Atchison, where she has resided since 2014. She has been heavily involved in peace work and has long been a part of anti-war and anti-racism rallies, speaking for peace and justice, and living out a life of non-violence.
Though most of her rallying years are behind her, Sister McCracken said, she continues works of activism through Mt. St. Scholastica.
McCracken spoke thoroughly about the community aspect of faith, stating that “a community calls us out a lot…we have many differences, but there are many more things we have in common with each other.”
A large majority of McCracken’s work focuses on Gospel justice and social justice. This relates to watching what’s going on in our community around us.
McCracken stated that “we need to be islands of sanity.” This can be individual, but “becomes more powerful if you do it with your faith community or a club or organization,” McCracken explained.
McCracken’s community at Mt. St. Scholastica believes in the power of each new day. “We’re always falling down, but we just start over every day.” This idea is closely connected to hope. “If you’ve got hope, you can endure a lot of stuff,” McCracken expressed.
In summary, McCracken told the audience to “refuse to look away.” She emphasized the importance of daily action and bearing witness to what we are seeing occur in our world.
McCracken left her audience with a reminder that even when things are looking grim, “each day is new and grace-filled.”