All posts by Anne Tschanz

Women's Communities

Happy Feast of St. Teresa of Avila

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Today is one of the great feast days on the Church calendar!

St. Teresa of Avila by Sr. Marie-Celeste, OCD
St. Teresa of Avila by Sr. Marie-Celeste, OCD

God’s blessings to all of the Teresian Carmelites around the world as they remember their foundress St. Teresa of Avila.

In 2015, the Discalced Carmelites around the world will be celebrating the 500th anniversary of the birth of Saint Teresa who was born in 1515 in Avila, Spain. As is wonderfully typical, they are not just awaiting the big day, they are prayerfully preparing for the momentous day well in advance.

In August of 2014, various Carmelites from around the country and the world are coming together to sponsor a three-day seminar in San Jose, California, called: The Creative Spiritual Genius of Saint Teresa of Avila Today. There will be prayer, talks, solemn liturgies, music, a banquet, etc. all to thank God for this magnificent Doctor of the Church (the first woman to be declared so) and for the gifts of her charism active in the world today.

It’s not too soon to sign up! Visit www.stj500westernus.com for more information.

And to order copies of the picture of St. Teresa (pictured right) and other works of art by Sr. Marie-Celeste, OCD,  visit the Carmel of Reno’s website.

 

News, Women's Communities

Illuminating the Night of Suffering

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SdeMmartyrTomorrow, October 13, four Servants of Mary, Ministers to the Sick, will be beatified in Spain. Back in June (see story in the Register), the Vatican declared them to be martyrs of the faith, along with 18 Benedictines, four Discalced Carmelites, one diocesan priest, 66 Marist Brothers, and two laymen.

Each martyr has a unique story of heroism but none more so than the four Servants of Mary whose identity was made known to their killers by something simple and powerful: the rosary. The sisters lived near Madrid in Pozuelo de Alarcón where the convent was home to elderly and convalescent sisters as well as active sisters who cared for the sick and dying.

In August of 1936, as the Spanish Civil War and religious persecution were raging, the sisters, whose convent had been confiscated and who not allowed to wear their habits, were told to evacuate the town. Mother Aurelia, who was an invalid, and Sister Aurora, who was 86 years old, remained behind with two younger sisters, Sister Daría and Sister Agustina. Mother Aurelia was known for saying: “We are in the hands of God… He knows that we are here.” Sister Agustina, the youngest martyr, was Mother’s caregiver. “When she could no longer wear her habit, she said that sometime soon she would be able to wear it again, and if they killed us, we would wear it in heaven for ever.”

On December 1, Sister Agustina was separated from the other sisters and turned into the authorities under suspicion of being a religious because someone, it is believed, saw her praying the rosary. She was taken by soldiers and shot. The other three sisters’ identities became known when a soldier picked up Mother Aurora and felt a rosary under her dress. Sister Daría confirmed this when she said, “Yes, we are Sisters.” They were taken away and shot.

When a Servant of Mary joins the congregation she is given a rosary. As Sister Julia Castillo Ibáñez, General Postulator for the Cause, wrote, “Only by delving deeper with Mary into the mystery of Christ, can she effectively draw near the mystery of suffering humanity; only by keeping and contemplating the mystery of Christ in her heart like Mary will she find the right words and actions to alleviate and illuminate the night of suffering.”

News

Speak Lord!

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The IRL has recently launched an innovative new vocation resource called Project: Speak Lord. The program consists of FREE monthly audio downloads of informative, inspiring and lively talks concerning vocational discernment and the consecrated life.

Collaborating with Lighthouse Catholic Media, the IRL’s goal is to provide young adults with solid offerings on the subject of vocations that will challenge their hearts and minds. Speakers include: Mother Teresa, Archbishop Sheen, Fr. Benedict Groeschel, Fr. Thomas Nelson, O.Praem., and Dr. Scott Hahn.

The audio downloads are sent once a month. Users must register to receive the first talk, then will receive monthly email notices of the next talk. Additional information will be sent to those enrolled in the program.

Mike Wick, our Executive Director said, “Most Catholics do not receive this type of information in religious education  classes, and might not even get it in most Catholic high schools, colleges or parish youth groups. Although there are many audio and video Catholic resources online, none of them specifically focuses on priestly and religious vocations.”

To sign up or receive more information, click here.

 

 

 

 

Men's communities, News, Vocations

St. Benedict Online!

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BenedictinesFor those of you who wish to know more about the spirituality of St. Benedict and for those in particular who may be called to a monastic vocation, here is something exciting!

The Benedictine monks at St. Procopius Abbey in Lisle, Illinois, are offering a FREE, five-part online course in Benedictine Spirituality. Anyone can register on the St. Procopius Facebook page. Five emails, one sent each day, will cover the life of St. Benedict, Benedictine life and vocation stories. There will also be emails asking the students to reflect on each class. You can sign up for two sessions: the first one will run October 14-18, 2013, and the second, October 28 – November 1.

“We feel that St. Benedict’s way of life, which includes living in community, common prayer, work, and private prayer, is just as important today as when St. Benedict was alive,” said Fr. James Flint, OSB, vocation director of the abbey. St. Procopius Abbey was founded in 1885 and has 26 monks today. Prayer and conversion are at the heart of their life. At the same time, they serve in outside apostolates, especially in the schools that they founded: Benet Academy and Benedictine University.

For more information, contact Fr. James Flint, OSB, at 630-969-6410, or vocations@procopius.org.

News

St. Francis and Pope Francis

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Assisi si prepara a visita Papa FrancescoToday, the Church celebrates the Memorial of St. Francis of Assisi.

Pope Francis will be visiting Assisi today on this Feast of St. Francis of Assisi who happens to be Italy’s patron saint and the Holy Father’s namesake. According to news reports, John Paul II visited Assisi six times, and Benedict XVI, twice.

It seems that of all the saints, Saint Francis holds a special place in our Popes’ hearts.

Pope John Paul II said during a visit in 1978: “You, who brought Christ so close to your age, help us to bring Christ close to our age, to our difficult and critical times. Help us! These times are waiting for Christ with great anxiety…”

Pope Benedict said in a 2010 General Audience: “The witness of Francis, who loved poverty as a means to follow Christ with dedication and total freedom, continues to be for us too an invitation to cultivate interior poverty…”

You can watch Pope Francis’ visit LIVE on Vatican TV.

 

 

News

Our English Heritage

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stonyhurstEver since Pope Benedict’s visit to England in 2010, good news has been coming out of the island kingdom. Vocations are on the upswing, religious are moving in, and now we read about a new museum of Catholic artifacts, commemorating the martyrdom of the saints and the endurance of Catholicism, about to be established at Stonyhurst College. It is known as the Stonyhurst Christian Heritage Centre Project.

The project is the brainchild Lord David Alton, a pro-life hero, and Lord Nicholas Windsor, incredibly enough a member of the royal family. Lord Nicholas’ father is the the Queen’s first cousin, the Duke of Kent.  Both Nicholas and his Mother, the Duchess of Kent, are converts to Catholicism.  The Duchess’ grandson will one day become the first Catholic Duke of Kent since the Reformation.

Cardinal McCarrick viewing St. Thomas More cross
Cardinal McCarrick viewing St. Thomas More cross

Many of the items to be put on display were kept for safekeeping at a Jesuit-founded school for English boys in France. The boarding school was founded in 1593 after Catholic schools were outlawed in England. When the school and the Jesuits returned to England, they established a home at Stonyhurst estate, home of Stonyhurst College. The artifacts now under their care include the rope that bound St. Edmund Campion at the time of his execution, a crucifix belonging to St. Thomas More and a Book of Hours believed to have been carried by Mary Queen of Scots as she went to her execution. See the full story in Crisis.

Stonyhurst alumni include Charles Carroll, the only Catholic to sign the US declaration of independence, and his cousin, Archbishop John Carroll, SJ, the founder of Georgetown University.

The museum was shuttered in the 1970’s but now the two Lords are raising the funds for what is described as the oldest private museum collection in the English speaking world.

“This priceless collection of Christian treasures is especially relevant in our secular age when there is widespread ignorance of our Christian heritage and indifference to the spiritual dimension of our lives.” Baroness Caroline Cox

Also, there is a new video recently released called: Faith of our Fathers – In search of the English Martyrs, which gives us a glimpse into the martyrdom of English Catholics during the Reformation. Produced by two diocesan priests, from the trailer it looks like a fascinating travelogue/pilgrimage to the places sacred to the memory of English Catholics, including visits to houses with secret “priest holes.”

 

News, Women's Communities

The Bavarian Benedictines’ Legacy

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A-8-liturgical-sAll the monasteries in the US have fascinating histories and none more so than the Benedictine Monastery of St. Emma in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. St. Emma’s roots go back to 1931 when on the feast of St. Walburga they arrived in the United States to serve the monks, seminarians and students of St. Vincent Archabbey.

The first Benedictine monastery in the US was this very St. Vincent Archabbey, founded by Archabbot Boniface Wimmer, OSB, who came from St. Michael Abtei in Bavaria, Germany. The sisters founding abbey, Abtei St. Walburg, in Eichstatt, is also in Bavaria and was founded in 1085!! The Latrobe monks asked for the sister’s help and hence they came, by Divine coincidence it seems, on the feast of St. Walburga.

In 2009, St. Emma monastery voted to become an independent priory and they continue to belong to the “Federation of Bavarian Abbeys of Benedictine Nuns.” The nuns pray together six times a day, beginning with Vigils at 5:25 a.m. They welcome single women between the ages of 16 to 38 for monastic immersion weekends. The next one is scheduled for Thanksgiving Weekend: November 29-December 1, 2013.

My mind always goes on tangents and I wondered: who were these great saints, Emma and Walburga? St. Emma, Queen of Bavaria, was a wife and mother who died in 876. Queen Emma raised her children “in great care in faith and virtue and, in particular, in the fear of the Lord.”

st walburgaSt. Walburga was born in 710 in Essex in England but came to Germany to work as a missionary with her kinsman St. Boniface (c.675-754). In 741, Boniface created the diocese of Eichstätt, from whence would come the Benedictines of St. Vincent Archabbey in Latrobe. St. Walburga became the abbess of a monastery and after her death, her remains were eventually interred in a small church to which some canonesses were attached.  In 1035, these Eichstätt canonesses were replaced by the foundation of Abtei St. Walburg, the very same monastery that sent the Benedictine nuns to America.

All this makes me realize that what Mother Teresa said is really true: we are not saved in groups, but individually. In this case, the faith was not passed on by groups, but by each nun, abbot, and saint who left their mark and blood (Boniface was martyred) in Bavaria. Isn’t it amazing that these nuns and monks have as their spiritual forebears in faith Sts. Emma, Boniface and Walburga who lived 1300 years ago!

St. Emma, St. Walburga, St. Boniface and of course St. Benedict, pray for us!

 

News, Vocations

Holy Vocations!

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ordinationThe main headline on AOL today was the news that a Catholic priest announced to his parish that he was leaving the priesthood because he had just become the father of a child. The article included comments from some parishioners who expressed the hope that the Church would once again evaluate the stance against a married priesthood. There is no mention of the fact that this priest was ordained with full knowledge that celibacy was a promise he made and was expected to keep. It is sad that people do not keep their commitments/promises  and hurt others around them. (See US divorce rate)

This is why it is all the more encouraging that Georgetown University’s Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) announced that the number of men enrolled in diocesan seminaries is up 16% since 1995 and 10% since 2005. There are currently 3694 graduate-level seminarians. The factors cited in this increase include the appeal of Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis, the feeling that the worst of the sex abuse crisis is behind us, and encouragement from parishes and bishops.

Rev. Mark Latcovich, president and rector of St. Mary Seminary in Wickliffe, Ohio, said that they have the largest class in decades (72). He says that current seminarians and priests are “our best recruiters. If they are happy and witnessing their faith and opening their hearts, that enthusiasm and joy is contagious.” (See the complete story in the Washington Post.)

In my own parish, we have had three vocations to the priesthood in the past 10 or so years. The seminary next door, Saint Mary of the Lake, has seen a large increase in enrollment.

For those discerning a vocation, Father Basil Cole, OP, lists the 9 signs that you have a vocation (summarized briefly) : God-centered, joy in serving others, holy hatred for sin, holy dissatisfaction with oneself, humility, fidelity to prayer, loving truth, undivided heart, love of the Church.

May the Church around the world be blessed with holy and persevering vocations!

 

 

 

Men's communities, Vocations

“The Fewer Men, the Greater Share of Honour”

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Sr. Laurence Olivier as Henry V
Sr. Laurence Olivier as Henry V

Among the tidbits of advice given by spiritual directors to those discerning a vocation, I bet not too many are told to read a passage from Shakespeare’s Henry V! But that is just the advice that was given to seminarian Daniel Heenan, FSSP, when he was “looking to run away from” his vocation.

In the St. Crispin’s Day speech given by King Henry V of England (see actor Kenneth Branagh’s stirring rendition on YouTube)  to his outnumbered soldiers prior to the great battle of Agincourt in 1415, Henry says in this excerpt:

He which hath no stomach to this fight,
Let him depart; his passport shall be made,
And crowns for convoy put into his purse;
We would not die in that man’s company
That fears his fellowship to die with us.
This day is call’d the feast of Crispian.
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam’d,
And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
He that shall live this day, and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say “To-morrow is Saint Crispian.”
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars,
And say “These wounds I had on Crispian’s day.”
Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot,
But he’ll remember, with advantages,
What feats he did that day.

Later, these famous lines are uttered by the king: We few, we happy few, we band of brothers.

Daniel said, “At first, I thought this was strange advice, but at the conclusion when he chides those who may be fearful to join the battle with the regret that they would later feel for not having acted courageously, the application to vocational discernment became clear. We sacrifice a little, and we inherit a kingdom.”

Daniel will be ordained to the holy priesthood in 2014, God willing, and thanks the to the assistance of the Mater Ecclesiae Fund for Vocations, an organization that enables priests and religious who have outstanding student debt to respond generously to the Lord’s call.

We celebrate the feast day of St. Crispin and his twin brother, Crispinian, on October 25, according to the old calendar.

News

Running for the Mission!

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molastephanieOne of the joys in working at the Institute on Religious Life is the opportunity to see emerging communities blossom and grow. One of those communities is the Franciscans of the Eucharist of Chicago, founded by Rev. Bob Lombardo, CFR.

On Saturday, September 21, Sr. Stephanie Baliga pronounced her first vows in the beautiful church of Our Lady of the Angels, exchanging her white veil for a brown one. She joins Sr. Alicia and Sr. Kate who professed first vows in 2012. In October, Matt and Jaime will be invested as novices. And Jessica officially joined them as a postulant on September 8th.

molaSr. Stephanie is a graduate of the University of Illinois (Champaign) where she was on the track and cross country team. On October 13, she and two other former Illini runners will be running in the Chicago Marathon, raising money for the Mission of Our Lady of the Angels. Their goal is to raise $40,000. The mission is located in one of the poorest neighborhoods of Chicago where the Franciscans are bringing the light of Christ to the neighbors and the community through their prayers, outreaches and presence. Click here to find out how you can be a prayer warrior to support their efforts on Marathon Sunday!

And if you want to solve the vocations crisis, check out the activities at the Newman Center at the University of Illinois. Sister Stephanie and Jessica are just two examples of those men and women who have chosen to enter religious life or the seminary. Go Illini!