All posts by Anne Tschanz

Men's communities

From Diocesan Priest to Carmelite Friar: A Guide on the journey

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Written by Fr. Michael-Joseph of St Thérèse, OCD from the National Shrine of Mary Help of Christians at Holy Hill in Wisconsin

In pursuing a vocation to religious life, often a young man responds to what he perceives as a divine call, enters initial formation and, if there is a vocation to the priesthood, proceeds with studies and priestly formation. If all goes accordingly, he will make solemn profession of vows and be ordained to the diaconate and then to the priesthood. For some religious, however, the path is different. They enter religious life after they have been ordained to the priesthood. While all face obstacles in doing God’s will, I believe a diocesan priest who desires to enter consecrated life will face them intensely. Because of the uniqueness of this journey, priests need encouraging witnesses to show them that they are not alone, and that God will make all things work out if the call is truly from Him.

In my case I found a saintly witness who helped me get past the various road blocks in following this vocation―Bl. Marie-Eugene of the Child Jesus. He is the newest Discalced Carmelite Blessed, having been beatified in November of 2016. His compelling story is a great example for all people facing obstacles, but especially for priests who experience the call to embrace a completely new way of being for the Lord.

Bl. Marie-Eugene encouraged me initially through his writings on Carmelite spirituality. As I learned more about his life however, I discovered that he had greater obstacles to overcome in his resolve to enter Carmel than I could have imagined. I consider him a vocational hero in the face of these difficulties.

Henri Giralou (he took the name Marie-Eugene in Carmel) was born in 1894 in the Aveyron region of France. He discerned a call to the priesthood at a young age and entered the minor seminary, but his studies were interrupted by the outbreak of World War I. After distinguishing himself on the front he reentered the seminary in 1919.

As he was on his retreat to prepare to be ordained a subdeacon, he took along a little book about St. John of the Cross that he had been given by a Carmelite nun. During his reading, he had a eureka moment: “This is exactly it!” he thought. He knew he had found his heart’s deepest desire and received an indisputable “call” from the Lord to become a Discalced Carmelite. Though he had never met a Carmelite friar and did not know if there were any in France, he knew God made him to be a Carmelite.

He first approached his seminary spiritual director, a gentle and holy man, in whom he trusted very much. The priest told Henri “absolutely not” and forbade him to speak any more about this folly of an idea. Henri found himself in a crisis for his interior light was so strong, but it was not being confirmed by God’s representative in his life. He was obedient, said not a word, and was left alone with the haunting thought of entering Carmel. It got to a point though that after he was ordained a subdeacon, he said to the Lord: “The spiritual director must bring this up before Easter of this year or I will know this is not really from you.” Lent comes, Holy Week comes, the Triduum comes, and still no word! Henri was on the edge of his pew on Good Friday wondering what would happen. Suddenly his spiritual director came into the chapel, sat beside him, and said out of the blue: “So what is it with this Carmel thing?” Henri explained his experience, now matured over several months. At the end of the meeting, the priest turned to him and said: “If you were not resolved to go to Carmel, I myself would force you to go!”

As the weeks passed, Henri was ordained a deacon and was set to be ordained a priest. He felt he must speak about this to the bishop. Henri was a gifted man with great strength of personality, intellect and heart. He was an incredible leader who distinguished himself in WWI and quickly became the lieutenant of his regiment. The bishop planned to have Henri lead a missionary band of priests to go throughout the diocese to bring back the many fallen away Catholics. Naturally, at the request of Henri to depart for Carmel, the bishop said, “Absolutely not, you will report to your new assignment after ordination and that is all.” Henri was saddened but confident that God would find a way. Several weeks later, the bishop asked the seminary spiritual director: “How is Henri doing?” To which he answered: “He submits to you.” The bishop then recounted that since his meeting with Henri, he had not gotten a good night’s sleep. He could not get Henri’s request off his mind and was convinced that God would not let him rest until he let him go. The bishop told the rector: “Tell Henri he may go!”

The next obstacle was the greatest and most heart wrenching―his mother, a widow who spent the last ten years working numerous jobs to pay for Henri’s seminary education. They were very close and shared a deep love for each other. Her one dream was to retire from her arduous daily labor and live with her son at his rectory as a housekeeper and companion. When Henri told her about his desire to enter Carmel, she was very upset. She believed that he was going to hide away in a cloister and would never see her again. Henri tried to explain that this was a misunderstanding of Carmelite life, but she would not listen to reason. She cursed his path to Carmel and even threatened to take her own life. Henri was completely broken by these encounters.

He did not know what to do. He was about to be ordained a priest and his mother said she would not have any part in his ordination or first mass. Henri knew his mother never went back on her word. He asked God for a miracle: if she came to the ordination this would be the last confirmation that this call to Carmel was from God. Ordination day arrived, and she was not in the pew. Then just as the Mass began, Henri spotted her in a corner. The miracle had happened!

Fr Marie-Eugene with Notre Dame de Vie co-foundress Marie Pila

After ordination, Father Henri spent some days in his hometown making visits and celebrating first Masses before leaving for Carmel. In this brief period, some priest friends accused him publicly of running away from his duties and hurting his family. Three weeks after receiving Holy Orders, Father Henri was received into the novitiate of the Discalced Carmelites, taking the name Fr. Marie-Eugene of the Child Jesus. After much prayer and suffering over two years, his mother was reconciled to her son’s vocation, and they resumed their loving relationship. His life as a Carmelite bore abundant fruit as he took on various leadership roles, bringing    Carmelite spirituality to the Church in an unprecedented way and founding a thriving Secular Institute, Notre Dame de Vie (Our Lady of Life). Part of the Carmelite family, its members live ordinary lives, being fully consecrated to God, for the world, in three autonomous branches for laywomen, laymen and priests.

I believe any priest who feels called to religious life should turn to Bl. Marie-Eugene for prayers and guidance. May he obtain for us the light and strength we need to embark on this completely new path, no matter what the obstacles.

Icon written by a Carmelite nun in Harissa, Lebanon

For more information on his life:

I want to see God & volume II I am a Daughter of the Church Thomas More Publishing (November 1, 1998)

Where the Spirit Breathes (Alba House,1998)

Under the Torrent of His Love (Alba House,1995)

15 Days of prayer with Fr Marie-Eugene (Alba House, 2009)

Jesus Contemplation of the Paschal Mystery (Editions du Carmel;1986)

 

Men's communities, News

New Direction for Mercedarian Friars USA – 800th Anniversary Sees Anticipated Growth

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High on a balcony of the lavish Basilica of Our Lady of Mercy in Lima, Peru, a full-size statue of the Blessed Virgin gazes down at pilgrims and tourists.

The Mercedarian friars there have served the parish for centuries, their white habits a familiar sight in the center of town. But although these priests and brothers are well-recognized in many countries of Latin America, including Mexico, they are practically unknown in the United States.

They plan to change all of that – God willing.

“We’ve done a lot of soul-searching over the last few years, and it seems that the Holy Spirit is asking us to reignite our original charism and make some needed changes,” said Fr. Daniel Bowen, OdeM., the vocation director of the Mercedarian friars in the United States.

“It’s taken years, and a lot of discussion and praying, and now we are taking on new responsibilities and doing things in ways different from the past,” Fr. Daniel said. The Order’s growth will certainly be a helpful factor here. They have expanded from five friars in 1970 to 24 today.

A Charism of Redemption

Fr. Daniel said that the Order, known more formally as the Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy, has looked anew at the charism of their order, which is to redeem Christians whose faith is in danger of being lost.

The order was founded in 1218 in Spain by St. Peter Nolasco, who saw the plight of his fellow Christians who were taken captive by Muslims and made into slaves.

“St. Peter Nolasco, our founder, would collect money to redeem Christians held as captives in Muslim countries,” Fr. Daniel said. “Today, we rescue Christians from modern forms of captivity, such as social, political, and psychological forms which place their faith in danger.”

New Ministries of Freedom

The Order looked at one form of captivity – that of families trapped in vicious cycles of failed marriages. So, in 2016 they started a ministry for marriage – the St. Raymond Nonnatus Foundation for Freedom, Family and Faith. The goal of the group is to promote family life according to Catholic moral principles, under the patronage of St. Raymond Nonnatus, another Mercedarian saint.

Also, the U.S. Mercedarians have been given two parishes in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The order has been in the country for at least one hundred years, with friars from a different province serving there. The order has also been to staff two small rural parishes in Jacksonville, FL. This ministry includes acting as chaplains to the nearby prisons. Prison ministry is fully in line with their charism of redemption.

Formation Program Moves Overseas

Their formation program will be changed from St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Philadelphia to Europe for most of the men’s formation. They will initially live in Philadelphia as postulants learning Spanish, spend their novitiate in Spain, and then study at the University of Salamanca, in Spain. Friars headed for the priesthood will study theology in Rome.

“We are becoming much more international as we should be, and more closely connected to our European and Spanish roots,” Father Daniel said. “We are excited by these new directions. We see a lot of possibilities for fulfilling our charism and helping to bring about the New Evangelization.”

Younger Faces

In recent years, the Order has seen younger faces in their U.S. contingent. “This of course allows us to grow, and we are grateful to God for this blessing,” Fr. Daniel.

Overall, there are signs of hope for men’s religious institutes in the United States, according to the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA). In 1970, there were 116 institutes, and by 2015 the new communities outstripped the folded ones by 15, so that there are 131 men’s religious communities today.

While the number of men in religious life in the U.S. has declined by 58 percent in those forty-five years, the ten smallest religious communities of men increased in number by 84%, according to CARA. The Order of Our Lady of Mercy, one of those ten, experienced the second highest gain – 380%.

“We’re riding the wave of the new growth of vocations in the United States,” Fr. Daniel said. “Although we’ve been around since the early part of the twentieth century in America, serving Italian immigrants in Ohio, we definitely have new expectations.”

A Special Fourth Vow

The Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy is an international community of priests and brothers who live a life of prayer and communal fraternity. In addition to the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, members take a special fourth vow to give up their own selves for others whose faith is in danger. Their motto is “my life for your freedom.”

Today, friars of the Order of Mercy continue to rescue others from modern types of captivity, such as social, political, and psychological forms which place their faith in danger. They work in jails, marginal neighborhoods, among addicts, and in hospitals. In the United States, the Order of Mercy gives special emphasis to preserving the faith of families through education and parish work. They now serve in the dioceses of Cleveland, Buffalo, Philadelphia and St. Petersburg, FL.

“We think that these new ministries are fulfilling the needs of modern life, as well as carrying out our original charism” Fr. Daniel said.

Contact the Mercedarian Friars

Read more about the Order of Mercy’s charism on their website, or visit their Facebook page. See the YouTube video of their history, “Redeeming Medieval Captives.”

Think you might have a Mercedarian vocation? Find out about the friars’ next Come and See Discernment Retreat, by emailing Fr. Daniel at vocations@orderofmercy.org. Click also to sign up for the friars’ Vocations Newsletter.

Women's Communities

Mother Clelia Merloni, Foundress of the Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Pronounced Blessed by the Church

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The Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus joyfully celebrated the Mass of Beatification of their foundress, Blessed Clelia Merloni, on Saturday, November 3, 2018, at the Basilica of St. John Lateran in Rome, Italy. The mass marked an historic event anticipated by the Apostles and by thousands of lay faithful throughout the world. Mother Clelia gives us a tremendous example of one who suffered from false accusations, misunderstandings and even exile from her sisters, yet she responded with forgiveness, humility and charity. Her deep understanding of God’s love for her enabled her to unite herself with her crucified Spouse.

Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu, Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints, and representative of Pope Francis at the Mass of Beatification, said of Mother Clelia in his homily: “She shared the wound in the Heart of Jesus, responding to hostility and contempt with love. She placed all opposition before the Tabernacle. This is what sustained her. Before the Heart of Jesus, she recognized that His will was to be reconciled with everyone.”

In her words of gratitude to Cardinal Becciu, Mother Miriam Cunha Sobrinha, the Superior General of the Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, proclaimed: “This moment confirms the timeliness of Mother Clelia in the Church and opens for us a new era of hope, because Mother’s life, lived in hiddenness and as an offering to God, shows us that suffering, pain, misunderstanding, slander and persecution are not the last word. The last word belongs to the merciful love of God who loves us and forgives us always!”

While 15 sisters from the United States Province of the Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus traveled to Rome to join the thousands of pilgrims gathered for this long-awaited gift, the remainder of the sisters in the United States gathered either in Hamden, Connecticut at the Provincial House or in St. Louis, Missouri. With inexpressible joy, the sisters watched the live coverage on EWTN, complete with the English commentary by their own Junior Professed, Sr. Elizabeth Doyle. Regional celebrations are scheduled in the spring at the cathedral of each diocese where the Apostles now serve in the United States. For information about the dates of these liturgies, please visit www.ascjus.org.

Mother Clelia, the humble servant who pronounced her “Fiat” with so much love and trust, was born in Italy on March 10, 1861. In 1892, Clelia entered the Congregation of the Daughters of Our Lady of Providence in Como where she became ill with tuberculosis. When she made a sudden recovery at the end of a novena to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, she felt that she was mercifully given another chance at life. She developed a clear and precise vision of what she had to do: to dedicate herself to the good of the poor, orphans and the abandoned, to offer her life of good works for the conversion of her atheist father, and to become a spiritual mother of souls by founding a religious congregation of sisters consecrated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

On May 30, 1894, at the age of 33, she fulfilled her dream. During a ceremony attended by her first two companions and “a great host of the faithful” (as described by witnesses), the first three Apostles were presented to the parish and the Congregation of the Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus was born.

The Institute blossomed without delay. Clelia immediately opened a school, which soon outgrew itself. A nursery school, a home for the elderly, and a sheltered workshop followed. Then, thanks to the generous support of her father, Clelia acquired the Palazzo Montecatini, where she was able to welcome orphans and the elderly. In addition, the Sisters taught catechism to the parish children.

The number of Sisters in the Congregation quickly grew. To add to the heavenly graces that were blessing the new Congregation, Clelia became the sole beneficiary of her father’s substantial patrimony upon his death in 1895, whose conversion on his deathbed was aided by her many prayers and sacrifices. But the resultant expansion of her works ended abruptly after only three years when the dishonesty of the priest who administered her father’s inheritance led to complete bankruptcy. This forced the Apostles to abandon their numerous missions.

Divine Providence was watching over them and so the Congregation did not fail. On the contrary, it received new impetus from the Bishop of Piacenza who accepted the floundering group into his diocese and, in 1900, launched the Apostles in mission to Italian immigrants who had settled in Brazil, and then to the Italians in Boston two years later. By 1903, the Congregation numbered 196 Sisters in 30 houses worldwide.

Mother Clelia, however, became a victim of calumny after the bankruptcy and subsequent law suits. Not wanting to accuse the priest publicly, she took the blame on herself, which led to untold misunderstanding. She was no longer consulted on matters regarding the Congregation’s governance and in 1904, by Vatican decree, Mother Clelia lost her title of Superior General, and the passage of authority went to another sister.

Even though Mother Clelia was reinstated the following year, three Apostolic investigations followed, at the end of which Mother Clelia was once again removed from office with a decree from the Sacred Congregation of Religious in 1911. Numerous requests by Mother Clelia to review her case were left unanswered. Alone and considering herself an obstacle to the peace of the community, Clelia decided to leave the Institute she had founded rather than to see it torn apart by discord.

In 1916, she received a dispensation from her religious vows. Thus, began a most difficult period of exile. Her name became unknown to successive generations of Apostles; it was prohibited to correspond with her or send any means of support, and sisters who had been loyal to her were expelled from the Congregation.

In 1920, Mother Clelia wrote to the Pope, begging to be allowed to reenter the Congregation that she had founded. Many years passed before she was finally allowed to return to the Generalate in Rome in 1928.  Aging and quite weak, and deprived of any association with the other Sisters, Mother Clelia spent the last two years of her life in solitude and prayer before the Blessed Sacrament and in self-offering to the Heart of Jesus. The hallmark of her charity was the unconditional forgiveness she gave to all who had been the cause of her sufferings over the years.

Mother Clelia Merloni died in Rome on November 21, 1930 and was buried in nearby Campo Verano Cemetery, which was heavily bombed during World War II. On May 20, 1945, after a painstaking search, her body was found incorrupt and was transported to the main chapel at the Generalate. On April 23, 2018, the seal on her tomb was opened in the presence of medical authorities from the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. Now her body has been prepared to be viewed in a new glass tomb in the Chapel at the Generalate of the Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Rome.

Her sisters today number over 1,000 members and serve in 15 countries: Italy, Brazil, the United States, Switzerland, Argentina, Chile, Albania Mozambique, Uruguay, Paraguay, Benin, the Philippines, Haiti, Ireland and Portugal. The Congregation’s presence in the United States dates from 1902, when six Apostles journeyed from Italy to Boston to serve the Italian immigrants. The Apostles left Boston and arrived in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1906. The provincialate was transferred to Mount Sacred Heart in Hamden, Connecticut in 1953. The ministries of the Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus include education, healthcare, social work, parish ministry, legal services and prison ministry.

In 1988, the cause of beatification of Mother Clelia Merloni was opened. On January 27, 2018, Pope Francis signed the approval of the miracle of Mother Clelia Merloni. Blessed Clelia Merloni’s feast day will be celebrated in the Church on November 20, which is the eve of the anniversary of Clelia’s death―November 21, 1930.

Mother Clelia once said: “Throw yourself with complete trust in the Heart of Jesus, hoping for and expecting every advantage, support, and victory from Him alone.”

Blessed Clelia, pray for us!

Contact:  Sr. Colleen Therese Smith, ASC

Email: advancement@ascjus.org

Phone: 203-281-2562

PS> There are Regional celebrations of Bl. Mother Clelia’s life taking place all throughout the spring in the following states: Florida, Pennsylvania, New York, Missouri and Connecticut.  Please see their website for locations and times.

 

News, Women's Communities

First Federation of the Order of the Visitation Launches New Website

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On November 9, 2018 the First Federation of Visitation nuns launched a new website. Designed by Vocation Promotion, the website, VisitationSistersFirstFederation.org, provides links to the six monasteries in the Federation, which include: Mobile, AL; Rockville, VA; Philadelphia, PA; Snellville, GA; Toledo, OH; and Tyringham, MA.

This was one of the steps taken to comply with the requirements of the recent Vatican document Vultum Dei Quaerere and its implementing instruction Cor Orans.  They will also, said Sr. Sharon Gworek, Federation President, be revising the “Constitutions and related documents to bring them in line with those two documents. A committee has been formed to undertake this task and it is being accompanied by the prayer of all the sisters.”

The First Federation is one of two federations of Visitation nuns in the United States. The federations serve as a source of communion and mutual support for the monasteries especially since each monastery is autonomous. The federations help them to strengthen the bond of love that unites them to one another.

The question is often asked: is contemplative life still relevant today?

 The answer can be found in Vultum Dei Quaerere, No. 6:

 “Dear contemplative sisters, without you what would the Church be like, or without all those others living on the fringes of humanity and ministering in the outposts of evangelization?

 The Church greatly esteems your life of complete self-giving. The Church counts on your prayers and on your self-sacrifice to bring today’s men and women to the good news of the Gospel.

 The Church needs you! It is not easy for the world, or at least that large part of it dominated by the mindset of power, wealth and consumerism, to understand your particular vocation and your hidden mission; and yet it needs them immensely.  

The world needs you every bit as much as a sailor on the high seas needs a beacon to guide him to a safe haven. Be beacons to those near to you and, above all, to those far away. 

 Be torches to guide men and women along their journey through the dark night of time. Be sentinels of the morning (cf. Is 21:11-12), heralding the dawn (cf. Lk 1:78).  

By your transfigured life, and with simple words pondered in silence, shows us the One who is the way, and the truth and the life (cf. Jn 14:6)….”

 

News

Hawaii Carmel to be Re-Founded

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Sister Mary Elizabeth de Jesus with fellow Carmelites after her temporary profession in 2013.

In 1973, seven Carmelites from Hong Kong came to Hawaii to found the Carmel of the Holy Trinity. Now only three remain.  But on September 10th, Sr. Mary Bernard, a sister from the Carmelite monastery in Quezon City, Philippines, sent an email to Bishop Larry Silva, Diocese of Honolulu,  with good news: “Peace! Your dream for Hawaii Carmel is slowly coming true by the grace of God.”

The remaining sisters, Sr. Agnella Iu, Sr. Elizabeth de Jesus (temporary vows) and Sr. Veronica Wilson (novice) were faced with closing their monastery and moving to another Carmel. But soon 5 nuns from the Philippines will be joining them so full-fledged Carmelite life can resume in the “re-founded” monastery.

Pioneer Sisters

A delegate of the Carmelite superior general in Rome recommended closing the monastery but said Bishop Silva: “This was not a recommendation the sisters or I wanted to accept, because we know the great value of the Carmel as a quiet source of prayer support to the people of this diocese.”  So, the delegate suggested another option – refounding the monastery with sisters recruited from elsewhere.

Since there are many Filipinos in Hawaii, it was natural to look at their homeland because there are 22 active monasteries there and one monastery had already sent sisters to Wales, the United Kingdom, Palestine, Belgium and Mississippi.

After a careful selection and discernment process, the chosen sisters visited other Carmels to become familiar with how other autonomous monasteries function and attended an orientation seminar run by the Society of the Divine Word Missionaries. The sisters will be accompanied on their journey to Hawaii by Sister Mary Bernard and a Carmelite father to ease the transition.  As with all families, they are seeking to minimize the sisters’ culture shock like any loving mother and father would do.

“Hopefully, the Lord will give them the grace to persevere to the end, giving their lives to God for the church and the diocese,” said Sr. Mary Bernard. “Let us re-introduce Carmel once again in the diocese for prayer and more vocations. A fire has been enkindled once again.”

Excerpted from the Hawaii Catholic Herald -please see article for the complete story.

News, Women's Communities

Sisters of the Holy Cross in Opus Angelorum Elevated to Pontifical Status

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The Sisters of the Holy Cross in Opus Angelorum, an IRL affiliate community since 2004, was elevated this year from an Institute of Diocesan Right to an Institute of Pontifical Right. With the authorization of the Holy Father, Pope Francis, the Congregation for Religious promulgated the decree of pontifical recognition on the Feast of St. Mark, April 25, 2018, which was communicated to the Mother General on June 1, 2018. With this step, the governance of the Sisters no longer stands under the Bishop of Innsbruck, Austria but reports directly to Rome and the Congregation for Religious. It is a confirmation of their way of life and mission in the Church, and more firmly anchors them to the rock of Peter, to whom they pledge their fidelity.

History of the Sisters

The first Sisters were lay women who joined priests and other lay persons in a group gathered around Mother Gabriel already in the 1950’s in order to live a closer bond with the Holy Angels in their role in the economy of salvation, and to spiritually assist priests, both spiritually and materially, in their vocation. This was the beginning of the spiritual movement, Opus Angelorum. The first canonical institution of Opus Angelorum to be erected in the Church was the Confraternity of the Holy Guardian Angels in 1961 in the diocese of Innsbruck, Austria, which also has a branch in the US today. The Sisters received a house in the diocese of Salzburg, which they named the “House of Adoration”. There they held their first novitiate for a newly formed “pious union,” which was erected in 1964. Along with the Opus Angelorum and the brother community of priests, the Canons Regular of the Holy Cross, the community of the Sisters quickly spread to other countries, including Germany, Switzerland, Portugal, Brazil and the Netherlands. Today, they are present and active in 10 countries with 170 perpetually professed Sisters. They were erected in the Diocese of Innsbruck as a Diocesan Institute in 2002.

The Sisters first came to the US in 1998 and lived for over 10 years at an inner-city parish in Detroit. In 2015, they moved to a residential home in Ohio, as they wait for the completion (hopefully this fall!) of their first convent in the United States.

Spirituality of the Sisters

Beginning from their own total surrender to God, seeking the glorification of the Triune God through a life in imitation of Christ and of sharing in His salvific mission, the Sisters devote themselves by prayer, Eucharistic Adoration, sacrifice and service, to the sanctification of the priesthood and religious state. They are particularly devoted to the Passion of Christ, which they commemorate weekly. They live their life in communion with the Holy Angels, consecrating themselves to them and collaborating with them in the spiritual battle for souls. The Sisters are aggregated to the Order of Canons Regular of the Holy Cross, share the same spirituality and assist the priests in the apostolate, Opus Angelorum.

News, Women's Communities

Mother John Marie Stewart (1926-2018), Foundress of the Disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ

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On May 26, 2018, Mother John Marie Stewart, DLJC, the foundress of the Disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, a Franciscan charismatic religious community, passed into eternal life. Her funeral Mass was celebrated by Most Reverend Patrick J. Zurek, Bishop of Amarillo. He was joined by Most Rev. Samuel Jacobs, Bishop Emeritus of Houma, LA, as well as other priests.

Mother John Marie was born in Arkansas in 1926 to a family of Methodist ministers, elders and missionaries. She graduated from Vanderbilt University with a degree in nursing. While working towards a Ph.D. in English Literature at Columbia University, Mother John Marie, a Catholic convert who gradually became a secular humanist, was brought back to the Catholic faith after a long absence by the quiet evangelization of a Catholic sister.

In February 1969, two years after the beginning of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal in the United States, Mother received the Baptism in the Holy Spirit. In the ensuing years she participated in street evangelization and attended many Charismatic Conferences.

On January 22, 1972, while on retreat at a Poor Clare Monastery, the Lord gave her the community’s Founding Document which along with the Franciscan Third Order Regular Rule and Constitutions are the framework of their way of life. The Disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ were erected as an Institute of Diocesan Rite on April 7, 1991 in the Diocese of Amarillo, Texas

By her untiring love for souls, Mother John Marie taught her spiritual daughters to “go after the lost sheep” and then help them receive the fullness of the Holy Spirit through the Charismatic Renewal. She traveled the world where she was never afraid to openly declare that “Jesus is Lord” and to remind people that Jesus loved them.

Mother John Marie leaves behind thirty-eight spiritual daughters―thirty sisters in Perpetual Profession; three in Temporarily Profession; and one Novice and three Postulants. Their Motherhouse is in Prayer Town, Texas and they also have local houses in Texas, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Mexico.

For more information, please visit: www.dljc.org

 

News

Apostolate For Family Consecration Founder, Jerry Coniker, RIP

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The Apostolate for Family Consecration (AFC) mourns the loss of their beloved founder Jerome Francis Coniker (b. November 2, 1938) who passed into eternal life on July 4, 2018 in Kenosha, Wisconsin.  Jerry and his late wife Gwen (d. 2002 and declared a Servant of God) were the 2008 recipients of the IRL’s Pro Fidelitate et Virtute Award. They knew that “the future of the world and the Church passes through the family” (Familiaris Consortio, no 79) and so founded the AFC “to help families get to Heaven.”

Jerry and Gwen were the parents of 13 children and founded the AFC in 1975.  Desiring to live the message of Our Lady of Fatima, they consecrated themselves to Jesus through Mary according to the motto “Totus Tuus” and dedicated themselves to transforming families, neighborhoods, schools and parishes into evangelizing communities, nourishing them with the timeless, Eucharistic, Marian and family-centered spirituality of St. John Paul II.

The AFC is located in Bloomingdale, Ohio, where at Catholic Familyland, there are opportunities for families to participate in events on the 803-acre property (a former abandoned seminary). There are Family Fests, silent retreats, youth conferences, the Totus Tuus “Consecrate Them in Truth” Family Conference, and much more.

“My father was a man truly driven to make a difference in the world,” said their daughter, Theresa Coniker Schmitz. “The salvation of souls and the protection of families through consecration were his passion. He desired the laity to know and embrace their call to holiness, to be saints, because he was convinced that ordinary fathers, mothers, and children can help to bring about the kingdom of God on earth when they make their daily family life an offering to God.”

Discernment, News, Women's Communities

Bethany House: A New House of Discernment For Women

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Bethany House is a women’s discernment house, sponsored by the Office of Vocations in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. Located in Minneapolis, it opened in September of 2017 and is a home for women ages 20-27 who live in community and discern whether they are called to consecrated life

This is a new initiative of the Office of Vocations in partnership with the Handmaids of the Heart of Jesus, a religious community based in New Ulm, Minnesota. The women may work or go to school, but the objective is the same – to sit at the feet of Jesus like Mary of Bethany, listening. “This is about discerning God’s will, and that’s the goal … wherever God may lead them,” said Father David Blume, vocations director for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

Father Blume was inspired to found Bethany House after a young woman told him: “Our men have a path, but for us women, we don’t have a path — we have 500 paths, and it’s kind of confusing.” The Vocations Office takes care of the house’s administration while the Handmaids oversee the formation and pastoral aspects.

Handmaid Sister Mary Joseph Evans makes it clear that this is not a Handmaid discernment house. “They have total freedom to discern any community. … Because we’re diocesan sisters, part of our role in our service of the diocese is to walk with young women in general, in helping them know and discern and embrace the Lord’s will, just like a diocesan priest would for the men.”

Residents at Bethany House commit to nine months of common living as well as a weekday schedule that includes a 5:45 a.m. Holy Hour with morning prayer in the parish’s Adoration chapel. The women then attend daily Mass before heading to classes or work. They share three evening meals each week, and pray night prayer together each night. Then they observe “grand silence” until after Mass the following day. A 2-month summer program is also an option.

One resident described the experience as a retreat. “And that’s how they really set it up to be,” she said. “We’re retreating to Jesus, and Jesus is really retreating to us more, I feel like, because He wants to be in our hearts.”

For more information, please visit: 10000vocations.org/bethany-house

 

Eremitic Life

Ever Ancient, Ever New: The Vocation to the Eremitical Life

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The Vocation to the Eremitical Life      

By Sister Janet of Beit Mery Hermitage

Soon after the conversion of the Emperor Constantine and his legalization of Christianity in the Edict of Milan in the year 314 CE., Some Christians began to feel that the spiritual fervor that was present during the Age of Martyrdom was being lost because of the ease of life after the Edict of Milan.

Men and women began to go into the deserts of Egypt and Palestine to enter into solitude and silence, fasting and prayer under the direction of an Abba or Amma who had lived the life longer that the neophyte and could help them live a life sacrificed to Jesus Christ. Many in the Church at the time considered this to be a type of “white” martyrdom, meaning that although these hermits were not physically martyred that they were in a certain way “dead” to the world.

The Hermit Life is the oldest form of consecrated life in the Church. In our Christian literature one of the first biographies of a hermit is by St. Athanasius in his Life of Antony, there is also the codex of the writings the Desert Fathers and Mothers, and the life of St. Mary of the Hermit.

In the Eastern Church, Hermits have been present throughout Christian history, principally on Mount Athos but all over the Eastern Church. In the West there has been a flourishing and then an almost extinguishing of the eremitical life over the history of the Church. The flourishing in the 4th century almost died out in the 7th century and then by the 11th century two great orders of hermits arose that are still present in our Modern Church, the Camaldolese Benedictines and the Carthusians. There were others, like the Premonstratensians who were hermits at the beginning but changed rapidly into canons regular. Today they are known as Norbertines.

In the 20th century, because of the writings of Thomas Merton, there has been renewed interest in the eremitical life both within and without of religious communities. In 1983 with the promulgation of the New Code of Canon Law in the Roman Church there was a new code within the codes on Consecrated life.

Canon 603 provided for individuals who are called by God to the eremitical life to make public vows under the local bishop as Diocesan Hermits.

I was call to Contemplative life on the Feast of Saint Clare (August 11) at 6:03 am in 1972. I never, ever wanted to be a nun. I had grown up in the Middle East and seen too many missionaries promote Western values under the guise of Christianity without honoring the values and history of the people who lived there. I wanted to get a degree in Middle Eastern Studies and go back there to live.

So, at 6:03 that morning in the chapel of the Holy Spirit Adoration Sisters in Austin, TX I heard God say to me, “This is the life I want for you, a contemplative life.” I was stunned. God had never spoken to me so directly. I have never been able to deny the experience. My response could only be “yes”.

By November of 1972 it was clear through another revelation, that God wad calling me also to the eremitic life.

It took thirteen years of disappointments, challenges, struggles, and continual discernment to confirm the call. In the meantime, I got a BSN in Nursing, so I could make a living. I was able to get a Master’s Degree in Christian Spirituality because over the years I had met people who wanted to be hermit or who claim to be hermits because they did not want any accountability.

I always felt that my vocation came out of the praying community and for the community and because of that, there needed to be accountability both on my part and on the community’s part. The only way that could happen was if I became a Diocesan Hermit with Public Vows of Obedience, Chastity and Simplicity of Life according the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

So, at the end of much discernment and confirmation, I wrote to Bishop John Cummins of the Diocese of Oakland for permission to make perpetual vows as a Diocesan Hermit. He said yes and I made my profession in 1985.

I lived as a hermit for 14 years in the Oakland Diocese as an urban hermit. In 1996 I began to seek a quieter place for my hermitage on the West Coast. I ended up in the Yakima Diocese since I knew the bishop there. I celebrated my transfer of vows on March 25, 1998 at St. Joseph Church in Yakima, Washington.

The hermit life has been a great grace for me. That being said, it is not a life for those who are not called to it. For those who are not called to it, it can be a descent into hell, a descent to madness—both spiritually and psychologically. At its best it is a life of sacrifice for others.

My mission is to pray for all those who message their peace by their distance from violence. It matters not to me whether that violence is interior (those things people tell themselves that demean themselves) or exterior violence such as the violence in the Middle East or anywhere else—trafficking or gangs. If we don’t heal the inner violence it will erupt in exterior violence at some point. If we are to have PEACE IN THE WORLD WE MUST BE PEACE FOR OTHERS.

To this day we do not know how many diocesan hermits there are in the US much less in the world because the bishops have never taken a count of Diocesan Hermits in this country or the world. In the state of Washington, I know there are at least 4 hermits but there may be more.

Know that I pray for all the readers of Religious Life magazine. Please pray for me to God that I may persevere in the gift of my vocation to the end.