We are a group of Lay People and Columban Sisters in partnership who wish to give expression to the Gospel in our lives and in the context in which we live. We recognise a common call and commitment to Mission. We work for the transformation of whatever in our world is contrary to Gospel values. We do this through dialogue and sharing wherever we live.

Origin of the Bobbio Group

The 1987 Chapter of the Columban Sisters recognised the need for greater lay participation in Mission and for deeper collaboration with Lay People who feel drawn to share the Columban Missionary Charism.  Subsequent Chapters also spoke of  ‘endorsing a partnership with lay people’, of ‘working together to respond to the needs and possibilities of Mission.’

This has been the background to the coming together of a group of lay people and Columban Sisters in the Bobbio Centre, Magheramore, Wicklow, Ireland initiated on January 19^th, 2002 and which continues today under the name of the Bobbio Group. ‘Bobbio’ is a name with particular resonance in the Columban world, being the burial place of Columban, the great sixth century Irish missionary, and where he built his last foundation at a time when Europe was in need of evangelisation.

Partnership and Mission: What Does This Mean Today?

What does Partnership mean? What does Mission mean? How can it be lived today, in the places where we find ourselves?

These are just some of the questions which we have been exploring for the last two years. We have felt the need to explore together, to listen deeply, to discern how we are called to respond.

Part of the process has been to listen to what is going on in our world and in our culture.  We are aware of the fragmentation we experience, of the pull of consumerism and secularism of which we too are a part. We recognise the absence of peace, the imbalance in global economic structures, the destruction of the environment, the trafficking of women and children which impact on our world. We are aware too that in our Western world the structures and institutions that have given coherence and leadership in society are everywhere under threat and in decline. New forms of networking and community are called for but we do not yet see what shape these may take.

Dialogue – A Way Of Being In Mission Today

In our sharing as a group we have come to realise that dialogue itself is a way of Mission that is in keeping with the culture and context in which we live.  It is a Gospel way, a way of respecting the other, a way of not imposing our own views but of trying to come to a shared understanding.  Our dialogue as a group has helped us to grow to respect differences and to learn from each other.

To dialogue with each other, as lay people and religious has required us to listen deeply, not just to the words but to what is underneath the words. It is to enter into the world of the other.  This means creating space within ourselves for the other. It is to try to resist the prior judgements, the pre-judice, that can prevent us from hearing the other.   We have come to recognise in doing this that the way of dialogue is a spiritual path, a way of life that speaks to us and we believe, speaks to a world where the absence of dialogue is so painfully felt.  We have come to see too that, of ourselves, we cannot walk this way of dialogue. Only God’s Spirit can really teach us how to life in this way.

 So What Do You Do

We are committed to living the Gospel through dialogue and sharing in the places and in the circumstances in which we live. We do not, for now at least, believe that we need to embark on some new project.  Rather we commit ourselves to living this way of dialogue wherever we find ourselves.

We come together about four times a year to reflect on how we are living this way, to support each other, to pray together and to deepen our understanding of what living a spirituality of dialogue means.

We share what has been happening, and our struggles to live the Gospel in this way. We reflect, sometimes asking someone who has explored or reflected on dialogue themselves.  And we pray that God’s healing and transforming love at work in us and in our world, will transform us so that we can live out this vision of dialogue in the context in which each of us lives.