All posts by Anne Tschanz

Men's communities, News, Women's Communities

Contemplatives of St. Joseph Add Women’s Branch

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The Contemplatives of St. Joseph, a monastery for men founded in 2010, now have a women’s branch. Over the years, founder Fr. Vito Perrone had to turn women away seeking to join them in their contemplative yet active life. But now, there are 3 women in formation with more to surely come because they seem to be experiencing a boom of sort in vocations and interest!

The COSJs are a Public Clerical Association of the Christian Faithful as decreed by Most Reverend Salvatore Cordileone, Archbishop of San Francisco. They take Saint Joseph as their model for his silent, contemplative witness. “He keeps his eyes on Jesus and Mary, as we do,” says Father Perrone. “He is steady, loving, is manly and has a huge influence. That is our model of the contemplative life.”

The community of priests, brothers and sisters commits to eight hours of community and individual prayer. They celebrate the Extraordinary Form of the Mass “to enter into the deep and profound spirituality preserved by the Church and handed down from our western fathers to us today.” Their First Friday Healing Mass draws many. Those in attendance are blessed with the oil of St. Joseph that was used by St. Andre Bessette, the humble servant of St. Joseph.

They also offer retreats; spiritual direction for priests, seminarians, and nuns; parish missions; and will be offering The Catholic Spiritual Life Academy to teach families how they can live a modified contemplative life.

On May 1, Archbishop Cordileone was the principal celebrant at a Solemn High Mass on the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker where the Missa Sancti Joseph was premiered, composed by Frank La Rocca. In addition to receiving professions, investitures and bestowing blessings on candidates and postulants, the Archbishop also bestowed a special blessing for the beginning a COSJ Third Order.

“We feel the contemplative life is a very powerful witness within the life of the church,” Father Perrone said. “Basically, you have to die to yourself in order to understand the riches of life with Christ,” He adds: “Religious life, especially with the COSJ, is not for the faint of heart.”  But it is for those with a heart for Jesus and the Church in imitation of the Guardian of the Redeemer―Saint Joseph!

See article in Catholic San Francisco or visit their website: cosjmonastery.com

Men's communities, News

Norbertines Break Ground on New Abbey

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On March 18, 2018, the Norbertines of St. Michael’s Abbey in Silverado, California, broke ground on a new abbey. And why do they need a new abbey?  Because the community, with 51 priests and 36 seminarians, has outgrown their space. Yes, 36 seminarians!

With the completion of a $120 million fundraising campaign St. Micheal’s Abbey can start construction on its new campus in Silverado Canyon. (Courtesy of St. Michael’s Abbey)

The instability of the land at their current site, the lack of space to house all of the priests and the lack of suitable space to expand resulted in the plans to move to the new location.  All they needed to do was raise $120,000,000 dollars. And amazingly enough, they did it.

It all started in 1950 when 7 Norbertine priests fled Communist persecution in Hungary and, at the invitation of James Cardinal McIntyre of Los Angeles, ended up in Orange County California. Today, they run boy’s preparatory school, teach in grade schools, serve as chaplains to the Norbetine canonesses and in hospitals, colleges and prisons, staff a parish and serve in many others. They also have a thriving Lay Order of over 300 members.

The last of the Hungarian Fathers died just before the groundbreaking, so as one generation has passed on the torch, there are many others to reach forward and carry it on into the future.  All this could not be done without strong lay support. Says the St. Michael’s  Foundation board president: “There is such a love for the Norbertines. People give to their mission. They wear a habit, they keep the Hours, they sing…they are embedded in the life of Orange County in a very special way.”

See article in the National Catholic Register.

Eremitic Life

Mother Rosemary Therese of the Trinity RIP

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In late 2017, the Institute of Religious Life lost a very dear friend when  Mother Rosemary Thérèse of the Trinity (Rosemary Therese Quinn) went home to God after a long illness endured with great fortitude. Mother was the foundress of the Hermits of St. Mary of Carmel in the Diocese of Winona.

At her birth in New Jersey 1946, her mother described her as “A Rose for Mary.” Rosemary embarked upon a very successful career being named by the Wall Street Journal as one of the Top 5% of Working Women in America. One day after Mass, a priest said: “If your name is Rosemary, I have a message for you from God!  You haven’t been to confession in 6 years.” The priest said that God wanted an unconditional “yes,” and nothing less, then He would do the rest. It was the Feast of St. Thérèse of Lisieux, Mother’s unseen companion on her vocational journey. That momentous day, Mother experienced “being loved in the depths of her being.”

She eventually joined a small Carmelite Hermit community in Amery, Wisconsin, which, seeking a quieter location, moved to Minnesota in 1987.  Mother oversaw the building of the hermitage complex where members follow the Primitive Carmelite Rule. The chapel was built on a hill, and the Blessed Sacrament can be seen in the window by the hermitages down below, a beautiful sight.

On December 16th, 2017, Mother renewed her vows and the sisters prayed the Oblation to Merciful Love of St. Thérèse around her bedside, which is offered at their Solemn Profession. That evening, Mother died peacefully and quietly and entered the ocean of God’s love.

We love you, Mother. May you rest in peace.

 

News, Saints, Women's Communities

Mother Clelia Merloni, Foundress of the Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, To Be Beatified!

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It was with great joy and gratitude that the Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus learned in January that their foundress, Mother Clelia Merloni, will be beatified, after a miracle attributed to her intercession was approved by the Vatican. The date for the beatification has not been set yet but it will take place  at St. John Lateran Basilica in Rome.

Mother Clelia was a woman of deep prayer who put all her hope and trust in the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The Institute she founded is dedicated to sharing the love of the Heart of Jesus with the world, a mission that she herself shared in with her whole heart.

The miracle that led to this wondrous announcement was the complete and sudden healing of a doctor in Brazil who suffered from Guillain-Barre Syndrome, rendering him barely able to swallow or breath and near death. A sister gave the family novena prayers for Mother Clelia’s intercession and placed a tiny relic in a cup of water. The man was barely able to swallow a drop but it was enough. Suddenly, he could swallow and eat, and by morning, even the doctor attending him realized that a miracle had occurred.

Mother Clelia was born in1861 in Italy and founded the congregation of the Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in 1894, caring for the urban poor, the orphaned, the sick and the young. Bitterly difficult years of poverty ensued as they struggled to keep their work going. More suffering at the foot of the Cross awaited Mother when she was the victim of false accusations and stripped of her leadership position. Eventually, she was given permission to leave the congregation she founded and was dispensed from her vows. She chose to live the life of the Blessed Mother with her Fiat and silence. Twelve years later, Mother humbly requested and received permission to rejoin the community. The last two years of her life were devoted to prayer and meditation as she prepared for eternal life. What a model of humility and selflessness.

Throw yourself with complete trust in the Heart of Jesus, hoping for and expecting every advantage, support and victory from Him alone.

Jesus never abandons those who trust in Him.

 

 

 

College Campus News, Men's communities

A New Community Blooms in the Desert: Franciscan Friars of the Holy Spirit

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On July 2, 2016, the Franciscan Friars of the Holy Spirit, seven friars in all,  were established as a Public Association of the Faithful in the Diocese of Phoenix in a ceremony at St. Francis Mission on the Ak-Chin Indiana Reservation. Their primary mission is to serve the Native Americans in the diocese from their base at the Gila River Indian Community at St John the Baptist Mission. But they also provide campus ministry support at Grand Canyon University and other schools in the diocese as well as evangelization initiatives through prayers groups, missions and conferences.

“This truly is a momentous occasion. Just over a year ago a group of men felt called by God to form a new Franciscan charismatic community in the Diocese of Phoenix,” said Fr. David Sanfilippo, vicar for priests. “After prayerful discernment, the Church officially recognizes and affirms their decision as an authentic call from God.”

The friars were given an abandoned convent on the Gila River reservation where in the old mission a remnant of the faithful were praying that the Franciscan fathers would one day return. “Once we began offering the Holy Mass in the Mission Church that autumn,” they said, “the people came in crowds, smiling and applauding because, ‘the padres have returned!’ We were similarly greeted at the other nine mission churches that are entrusted by Bishop Olmsted to our care.”

The friars felt called by the Spirit to leave their prior community to begin a Franciscan missionary initiative in the desert. The priests and brothers follow the Rule and tradition of the Third Order Regular of Saint Francis of Penance. Not surprisingly, they are growing and attracting new members.

“My dear Friar Brothers — and my sons who have become very dear to my heart in the last 14 months — your religious vows today and your fidelity to them each day hereafter draws you into something revolutionary, something that Jesus uses to transform your lives and society.”   

—Bishop Thomas Olmsted

To contact them:

Saint Kateri Tekakwitha Friary

5447 West Pecos Road

Laveen AZ, 85339

franciscanfriarshs@gmail.com

 

Men's communities, Women's Communities

Little Friars and Little Nuns of Jesus and Mary

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“Preach the Gospel as you go for the streets!” ―Poor Friars Motto

There is a new community in the diocese of Houma/Thibodaux in Louisiana whose members can be seen hitchhiking around the highways and byways of the diocese.

The Little Friars and Little Nuns of Jesus and Mary, also known as the Poor Friars, were founded in Italy and recognized as a Public Association in 2014. They have the Franciscan spirit of poverty and evangelization, and the Carmelite spirit of contemplation and prayer in their cloisters, but have their own unique Rule of Life.

There are many in the world today who do not give serious thought to the Church because of a perceived worldliness in its members and clergy. Where is the poverty of Christ? There are many shining examples among bishops, priests, religious and the laity. But in our day, when people do not notice simple signs of sanctity and heroism, a sometimes more dramatic image must be revealed. This is what the Poor Friars are: a sign of contradiction in our self-absorbed and self-centered culture; the embodiment of true dependence on God for the basic needs in life, as given freely through strangers and neighbors in encounters that change lives forever.

Father Antonio Maria

They personally cannot accept money at all. They also do not own cars so they hitchhike everywhere. “This is where our Apostolate shines,” says Fr. Antonio Maria Speedy, American Provincial, “as while in the vehicle with the people, we invite them to the Sacraments of Confession and Holy Communion.”

Women and men make up the community though they live separately. They minister in four Italian dioceses. In 2010, they were invited by the local ordinary to begin the process of establishing a community in Louisiana. Father Antonio Maria is the chaplain to the Diocesan Office of Evangelization and the Administrator of two parishes.

Here is a description from their website for their reason for being (raison d’être), all the more penetrating because of the charm of the language translated from the Italian!

Today all the world or many, many people in effect have the need to see real poor of the Lord in the Church, because they no longer understand the Benign Mystery of its Glorious Richness; instead of esteeming it they accuse it!, and not only, they also accuse unjustly its Ministers that represent it.. , . instead of becoming nearer they go further ! For this was immediately born the urgency to make ourselves truly poor, so the confused people, in regards to the so called wealth of the Church, no longer having the possibility to point the finger at us, given that they see us extremely poor, they stop, and finally listen to the demonstrated Truth and the simple answer as to why Jesus was poor while now the Church is (rightly ) Rich, and  etc.. etc.. ; and like this in fact many, begin to take up again the esteem for their Mother Church and for her Ministers, returning like this to the Holy Confession and to the Holy Communion, and therefore concretely: be on the way towards  the Blessed Eternal Life. Amen !   

Discernment, Women's Communities

God knows No Boundaries: Finding a Vocation With the Carmelites in California

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Two Sisters from the Carmelite Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart of Los Angeles came from opposite coasts for a recent Come & See weekend in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Sr. Elizabeth Therese, O.C.D., and Sr. Catherine Marie, O.C.D., live in Alhambra, CA, and Miami, FL, respectively, but have their roots in Minnesota. God’s call is not limited to state boundaries and each sister discerned that God was asking them to leave their home and kinfolk to find their fulfillment as spouses of Christ in the Carmelite community in Alhambra, California. (See article)

Sr. Elizabeth Therese is the vocation directress and slowly realized her vocation from interactions with a campus ministry, a third order Carmelite group, Adoration and monthly discernment dinners. She also was engaged to be married. Though, “it’s not until you have a personal relationship with the Lord, whether you’re called to religious life or marriage,” she said. “that you’re going to be able to know what your vocation is.”

Sr. Catherine Marie felt her call through the Eucharist and Adoration. A teacher, she immediate felt that she had come home once she visited the Carmelites in Alhambra. “It was as if Jesus was saying to me, ‘Welcome home, I have been waiting for you.’”, she said, “Inside my heart I felt myself responding, ‘Finally, I am home.’”

A stumbling block for Sr. Catherine Marie was her educational debt. But thanks to The Labouré Society, located in Eagan, MN, she was able to raise the money to pay off the balance. Sister advises: “Do not be afraid to say, ‘yes’ to Christ,” she said. “He takes nothing away and gives you everything your heart could desire.”

If you live in the California area, please consider becoming part of Handmaidens, a faith formation group for single women between the ages of 18 and 35, dedicated to cultivating a deeper relationship with the Lord, as well as a greater understanding and appreciation of the dignity of their vocation as women. Formation and living holiness in the world is supported and nurtured through adoration, prayer and conferences given by the Carmelite Sisters and chosen laity.

The next meeting date is November 18, 2017.