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THE COLLOQUIUM

**Focus On Documentary Interrupted Lives: Catholic Sisters Under European Communism – Exploring Truths and Lessons for Religious Life today**

Interrupted Lives: Catholic Sisters Under European Communism provides a general overview of the historical period between 1948-1990 in Europe, and through interviews and reenactments, shows the deep and uncompromising faith and commitment which enabled Catholic sisters to endure the atrocities imposed on them. Filmed on site in Ukraine, Lithuania, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia, the film shows the radical and oppressive approaches used by communism to suppress the Catholic church, sisters in particular, and the responses of the sisters to the injustice.

Colloquium participants, in viewing the documentary, are asked to probe the effects of communist oppression on the lives of Roman and Byzantine sisters featured in the documentary, and relate this information to contemporary religious life, through four sequential sessions:

Objective Recall

recalling and naming actual facts, external reality and details observed and heard while viewing the dvd in order to recreate and form a collective memory about the event.

Reflective Consideration

participants share their internal responses, emotions and/or feelings, hidden images and thought associations relative to what they saw and heard during the viewing and their sharing during the recall session.

Interpretive Analysis

participants are guided to draw out meaning, values, significance and the impact of issues presented in the dvd and during the reflective consideration session in order to put these in perspective.

Decisional Intent

participants are asked to internalize their learning in the form of lessons for themselves as women religious and asked to formulate decisions and actions that they resolve to see implemented.

This two day colloquium, facilitated by Margaret Nacke, csj and Mary Savoie, csj, executive producers of the documentary, is available upon request. For additional information: email: csjdev@nckcn.com or call (402) 768-6658

Read excerpts from letters to Sisters in Eastern Europe by going to the Excerpts page.