Journeying Together
By Ellen Jewett
Artist Statement
The synodal process is an experience of journeying together and learning from one another across backgrounds, identities, and stages in life. I most concretely experienced this while walking the Ignatian Camino with graduate school classmates in the summer of 2019, which inspired the center panel of this quilt.
Some blocks surrounding the center panel draw upon the long tradition of quilting across different cultures, including as part of the Underground Railroad. These blocks represent safety, show the direction to travel (here, upwards, with our eyes towards God), interconnectedness, and faith. Other blocks draw upon common imagery from the Church, popular devotion, and the synodal documents themselves. These myriad images remind us of our interconnectedness through devotion, the often messy process of synodality (“the fruits, the seeds, and the weeds,” DCS §15-24), and, ultimately, that we are called to enlarge the space of our tent (Isaiah 54:2). Blocks that depict “modern-day saints” underline the holiness of all walks of life, no matter gender, sexuality, religion, disability, race, age, or other defining experience or characteristic.
Also interspersed are symbols of the Holy Spirit, who moves through and is seen in the synodal process. The sashing between blocks evokes the Holy Spirit as well, drawing upon Hildegard of Bingen’s image of the Holy Spirit as “greening.” The Holy Spirit is ever present; She is the fabric on which synodality is built. In Let Us Dream, Pope Francis writes, “Where the Spirit is present, there is always a movement versus in unum, toward unity, but never toward uniformity. The Spirit always preserves the legitimate plurality of different groups and points of view, reconciling them in their diversity.” In a truly synodal Church, we journey and discern together, listening to the Holy Spirit’s irresistible call to holiness.
About the Artist
Ellen Jewett is an artist, educator, and ethicist based in San Francisco, California. Though she has created a quilt for this exhibit, she works across a variety of mediums, including many forms of fiber arts, poetry and creative writing, music, painting, and ceramics. Her work is influenced by the reality of being a woman in the Catholic church, her social justice experiences both in the United States and around the world, and her deep love of nature and all of creation. When not teaching or creating art, Ellen runs music for a local inclusive Catholic community, bakes and cooks for loved ones, and writes feminist ethics.
