Kinship & Accompaniment
How can we strengthen our bonds of interconnection with each other, beginning with those cut off from society? Fr. Dan and Richard Leider discuss the importance of kinship and accompaniment. As Fr. Greg Boyle describes it, “Kinship—not serving the other, but being one with the other. Jesus was not ‘a man for others’; he was one with them. There is a world of difference in that…”
We hope that you can take the opportunity to reflect on a time when you were accompanied well, and on how you can accompany others in the future.
Resources
“Just creating a space to listen to another person’s story and to honor that story, I think, is a way to honor that kinship on a daily basis. But it doesn’t necessarily happen over a meal, although it is a privileged place to have a meal: recognizing the janitor, the person who empties the trash, the person who’s cutting the lawn… At its core, it is really recognizing the dignity of each one of us. Regardless of what people’s social status is, how much money they have, or even if they’re in a prison or somewhere else, that every human being wants to be honored for who they are. And that’s indestructible. Everyone wants that.”
— Fr. Dan Groody