Particular Experience, Universal Vision

Spirituality infuses and informs all of life. It is the energy, vision and values we bring to all our relationships and all our activities. It gives shape to our particular style and presence in the world. Spirituality flows from our belief systems and enables us to give meaning to the many events and experiences of our lives. It empowers us in the work we do to transform the world to greater justice and peace.

Spirituality does not come in a "one size fits all" model. One's spirituality is shaped and affected by one's background, context, experiences and world view. At the same time, spirituality holds something of a universal vision. It has frequently been described as a hunger or a sense of being drawn towards ultimate meaning or ultimate truth named as God. It calls for a personal response and communal action which help to shape a more just and compassionate world.

Conversion and transformation are at the heart of any spirituality. Religion and spirituality are vital in the majority of women's lives despite the reality that all the major religions of the world discriminate against women. As in so many dimensions of their lives, women live their faith traditions with double vision: recognizing the core religious values that are so essential to a full human life and critiquing the dimensions of their tradition that are not faithful to those core values, particularly as they discriminate against women. A great deal of transformative work still lies ahead in order to bring the vision and value of equality and unity to bear upon the practical dimensions of each of the major faith traditions.

The Global Women's project recognizes the importance and power of religion and spirituality in women's lives and in our own as we work toward a transformed world and faith tradition.

The following resources highlight how spirituality informs GWP's analysis and advocacy.

• Living Sisterhood/Brotherhood: Reflection on a Spirituality of Solidarity (Maria Riley, OP - June 2006)

Outline of a talk given by Maria Riley, OP at the Solidarity Retreat, Center of Concern, Washington, DC - June, 2006.

• Interfaith Statement on Trade and Investment (IWG - May 2001)

This statement draws on the moral and spiritual principles of our religious traditions to provide practical guidance to address the profound and complicated ethical issues raised by current directions of trade and investment.

• Solidarity: A Spirituality for Our Time: A Feminist Theological Reflection (Maria Riley, OP - November 1994)

Although the word solidarity is relatively new in social justice rhetoric, it has a long rich history in Catholic Social Theology. A feminist reflection on solidarity would be shaped by several key feminist moral insights: the centrality of relationship, the wholism of the human experience and mutuality.