Meet Elaine Gibson, Pembroke Associate
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Elaine Gibson
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I came into the world on St. Luke's Feast Day, October 18th, in the beautiful Gatineau Hills, in Venosta, Quebec. My parents were gentle and loving, with a great capacity to allow each of their seven children to unfold individually. This is a legacy that I deeply treasure.
My paternal grandmother taught me in Grade One. Then our parish was blessed with the arrival of the Sisters of Charity from Nova Scotia, who helped to guide me through elementary school.
The first St. Joseph Sisters that I met were at St. Mary's Teachers College, in Chapeau, Quebec, where I lived in residence. This was a rich experience, although I barely survived a mid-winter bout of loneliness. I later taught school in Quebec, Alberta, and Ontario.
In 1961 I moved to Arnprior, Ontario. I was married to Ted for 27 years, until his early death in 1989 (to cancer) when he was 49 years old. We had three daughters, all of whom are now married. My life has now expanded to include their husbands and my five grandchildren. I came to realize that through the pain, a new "re-grouping" emerged, and life unfolds as it should. I discovered the uselessness of resisting what is.
In the mid-eighties, our parish priest invited me to take the Lay Ministry Programme in Pembroke. It was then that I met the director of the programme, Sr. Marjorie FitzPatrick. Her style of leadership excited me. Her vision for the reign of God was so inclusive, energizing, and comprehensive. It meant that everyone’s gift needed to be recognized, uncovered, then utilized to the fullest, in joy!
Following completion of the programme, I was hired in my parish as a pastoral associate, where I was involved as adult education and ministry coordinator for three days a week for ten years.
In 1998, with the "gentle persuasion" of Sr. Marjorie, I asked the Holy Spirit to bring some names to my mind in order to start an associate group in Arnprior. I invited the five people whose names came to me to attend a meeting at my condo to consider what being an associate would be like. To my surprise, all came and all were enthused! For the next year we met at my place, then in the second year we rotated from house to house with a different person facilitating each meeting. Sr. Marjorie and Anita McGean attended for the first year, teaching us the history and charism of the St. Joseph Sisters. We were finally able to name ourselves in the third year, "Seekers of Oneness." Although the name was slow in emerging, it clicked and remains very meaningful to each of us.
It is always enriching to be with the group. Truly the sum of the parts is greater than the individual parts. I love the honest, open sharing of lives as well as the yearning for The Way of the early followers of Jesus to be embraced today.
Of course, our larger gatherings and retreat days in Pembroke are important to me, as well. The Motherhouse is such a place of hospitality and peace.
Following an eight-day silent retreat at the Upper Room Home of Prayer in Ottawa, I discerned a new call in my life. So nine months later, I left parish work to contemplate contemplation!
Later I completed the two-year Spiritual Direction Course and have been happily involved as a spiritual director at The Upper Room Home of Prayer in Ottawa since 1998. I have some directees at my home plus more recently at Stillpoint House of Prayer. The focus of the charism, "that all may be one," has been vital to my ministry of direction.
I am enthusiastically committed to the work and practice of nonviolence!
This October I felt the nudge to make my commitment as an associate formal.
We move forward in the flame of The Holy Spirit!
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