A member of Giving Voice, an organization that focuses on listening to younger Catholic sisters, repeatedly urged the sisters to “live on the edge.”

She showed the gathering an image of a man standing in a river at the edge of Victoria Falls in Zambia. “One misstep and he would be swept over to his death, and yet he stands tall, seemingly at peace with himself and with his place in the world,” she said.

“I believe we are called to follow this man’s example,” she continued. “Our thing is to go the edge and risk standing there with our brothers and sisters who call that edge home.”

With exhortations to “live on the edge,” “give hope” and be open to those who feel “spiritually homeless,” the gathering of about 900 representatives of U.S. Catholic sisters considered questions of the future of religious life Thursday.

Gordon, an 11-year member of her community, said in preparing her remarks, she came across notes she had taken at an LCWR regional gathering in 2003 at which St. Joseph Sr. Janet Mock, now LCWR’s executive director, had spoken.

Gordon said Mock had asked then, “Why live this life if we’re not living it at the liminal edge?”

Gordon, who doesn’t hold a leadership post in her congregation, said she understood her leaders “have a unique call within our shared call to live at the edge” and “must interpret these turbulent times” before leading their congregations.

“Don’t play it too safe,” she said to the congregational leaders in front of her. “Nudge us, please, toward that edge. Challenge us to be our very best selves. Remind us who we are and whose we are. Remind us that we know how to swim. We will follow your lead.”