All posts by Anne Tschanz

Men's communities, Resources

Searching for Someone

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Often, educational debt is a stumbling block to a religious vocation. Take the case of Friar Anthony Serviam Maria, a simply professed Franciscan Friar of the Immaculate. In a story in Our Sunday Visitor (4/22/12), Friar Anthony tells how as a layman he went on a retreat with the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal where Fr. Stan Fortuna challenged him to name his passion. What he realized was that what he loved (wilderness survival and primitive skills) did little for God. Feeling called to religious life but needing to pay down his debt, he applied for a grant from the Mater Eccelsiae Fund for Vocations, an organization that helps  to eliminate the obstacle an aspirant’s student loans present to answering his vocation.

Today Mater Eccelsiae is making payments on his remaining debt.  The man who lived a “pagan life” searching for something found Someone.

 

Women's Communities

Bella Vita

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It’s not often that you hear of a diocese asking women to prayerfully consider the call to religious life  so we must thank the Diocese of Des Moines for developing one called Bella Vita (which is Italian for “beautiful life”). And what a beautiful life!

The goal of Bella Vita is to introduce young women to Sisters joyfully living out God’s call in their own lives. The next event is scheduled for April 18, at St. Theresa Parish in Des Moines. The evening starts with 30 minutes of adoration followed by dinner and fellowship with a School Sister of Christ the King (an IRL Affiliate Community), from Lincoln, NE, and two Handmaids of the Heart of Jesus from Minnesota.

What a wonderful idea!

News, Women's Communities

Last Titanic Story

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Sorry, one more Titanic story (written Lord David Alton) because it comes full circle to the first one I noted about Fr. Thomas Browne, SJ, who was on the Titanic but providentially left her before she set sail for New York.

The Titanic was operated by the White Star Line whose chairman was J. Bruce Ismay, one of only 710 survivors of over 1500 passengers (and a pariah for his presumed cowardice). His father’s partner in the business was William Imrie who since he was childless, adopted his niece Amy in 1872 and made her his heir.

After her conversion to Catholicism, Amy embarked on a Grand Tour of Europe. While in Assisi at the basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli, she vowed to give her life to Christ as a Poor Clare. When Imrie died in 1907, a nun of poverty became an extremely wealthy woman.

Amy, known as Mother Mary Clare, used her money to build the stunning church of St Mary of the Angels in Liverpool, England. Mother Mary Clare said that, “Liverpool people will never be able to visit Rome, so I will bring Rome to them.” What a beautiful testimony to the power and purpose of our beautiful cathedrals and churches so often castigated as a waste of money. Her grand nephew said that his great aunt “deliberately located the church in what was, and still is, one of the poorest wards in England. Her dream was to enable those less fortunate than herself to be able to worship in a setting containing architecture and works of art that would stand comparison with the finest in Europe.”

The Church is now closed but is open to the faithful. This year an selection of photos taken of the Titanic by Fr Francis Browne, SJ, who was himself a periodic visitor to Liverpool will be exhibited this weekend.

News

Going Down With the Ship

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Here is another Titanic story on LifeSiteNews emerging from the 100th anniversary (April 15th) of the sinking of the unsinkable ship.

On April 12, 1914, a 42-year-old Catholic convert by the name of Fr. Thomas Byles was on his way to New York via the Titanic to officiate at his brother’s wedding. He had spent the day saying Mass for the second and third class passengers and was reportedly praying the Divine Office when the ship struck the iceberg.

According to eyewitnesses, Father Byles helped women and children get into the lifeboats, then heard confessions, gave absolution, and led passengers in reciting the Rosary. Agnes McCoy said that Father “stood on the deck with Catholics, Protestants and Jews kneeling around him” praying for the repose of the souls about to perish. His friend Fr. Patrick McKenna said, “He twice refused the offer of a place in a boat, saying his duty was to stay on the ship while one soul wanted his ministrations.”

After the shipwreck, a newspaper said of him: “Among those who safely reached the land again no one seems to have been aware of his presence on the ship, but we may hope that many who meet him in a blissful eternity will praise God that Father Thomas Byles was there to administer absolution unto them.”

His body was never identified. May this priest among priests rest in the peace of Christ.

 

News, Women's Communities

Vatican Calls For Reform of the LCWR

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“The Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) has called for reform of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) and named Archbishop Peter Sartain of Seattle as its archbishop delegate for the initiative.” This was the headline on Zenit today. The release highlighted “addresses given at LCWR assemblies (that) contained serious theological and doctrinal errors.”

Most of the IRL women religious belong to communities that are part of the Council of Major Superiors of Women Religious (CMSWR), the LCWR counterpart, that was founded in 1992 to promote religious life in the Unites States. The CMSWR seek to promote unity among Major Superiors, thus testifying to their union with the Church’s Magisterium and their love for the Vicar of Christ on earth. They also staunchly back the Bishops as they fight the assault on our religious liberty.

Let us pray that all faithful women religious may come together as one. The Church teaches that “the bishops have by divine institution taken the place of the apostles as pastors of the Church, in such wise that whoever listens to them is listening to Christ and whoever despises them despises Christ and him who sent Christ.” (CCC 862)

General interest

“They Cast Lots”

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How beautiful our faith is and how visual are its signs in our cathedrals and in the relics that we treasure.

Here is one that I knew nothing about: the “Heiliger Rock,” now on display in the Cathedral of Trier, Germany, from April 13 – May 13, 2012.

According to tradition, the Heiliger Rock is the robe worn by Jesus for which the Roman soldiers cast lots (Jn 19:24). Found by St. Helena c.327 it is rarely on display.

Pope Benedict XVI, in a message to the Bishop of Trier, said that the robe (or tunic) made with a single piece of cloth, that is, with no seams, is a sign of “the unity of the Church, founded as one indivisible community by the love of Christ.” His love, the Holy Father says, “brings together that which has been divided.” The jubilee pilgrimage (it was first viewed in 1512) in keeping with this theme, has the motto: “Lead to unity that which is divided.”

“We ask the Lord,” says the Holy Father, “to guide us on the shared path of faith, to make it live again for us….growing together as Christians in faith, prayer and witness.”

 

 

News

100th Anniversary of the Sinking of the Titanic

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This is the season for shipwrecks. A short while ago I wrote about our local bishop who was on the Andrea Doria. Now as we approach April 15th (remember to send in your taxes), the world is commemorating  the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. On her maiden (and only) voyage was a Jesuit novice by the name of Frank Browne. He set sail from Southhampton, England, and journeyed with the ship to France and Ireland. A benefactor was willing to pay the Jesuit’s way to America but his superior nixed the plan with the stern telegraph message: “Get off that ship.” He kept that telegram in his wallet for the rest of his life.

What makes this young man’s experience most interesting is the fact that he was a photographer. His photos of the life aboard the ship are classics. He took the last photo of the captain. He captured images of everyday life of the ship from first class down to steerage. James Cameron recreated his  image of a 6 year old boy spinning a top in his blockbuster movie.

Frank Browne’s life could be a movie in itself. He was a highly decorated chaplain in World War I and was a classmate of James Joyce who featured him in his novel, “Finnegan’s Wake.”

If you are interested in seeing his photos, a book  of his pictures has been recently issued called, “Father Browne’s Titanic Album.”

Men's communities, Saints

Agent 007 OFM Conv.

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In the James Bond movies, good always triumphed over evil. The Conventual Franciscans have their own version of agent 007, the English-born Friar Matthew Bond who seeks to conquer the forces of darkness by spreading the truth, beauty and goodness of our faith by the “writing” of icons. An iconographer and novice at St. Francis of Assisi Novitiate in Mishawaka, Indiana, Friar Matthew has done many icons and has given workshops on the “writing” and spirituality of icons.

Two of his most recent icons are of two soon-to-be canonized American Saints: Mother Marianne Cope and Kateri Tekawitha. Both Blesseds lived in New York State and have close connections with the Conventual Franciscans (that’s another interesting story).

Friar Matthew’s icon of Mother Marianne depicts her bandaging the wounds of a leper. Her medical supplies are at her feet. A hibiscus, the state flower of Hawaii, is depicted in the foreground. The Franciscan Church of the Assumption is to the left of the saint, and the Motherhouse that she left to go to Hawaii in 1883, is to the right in the picture.

To see more of Friar Matthew’s icons, visit the Conventual Franciscan website.

News, Papal Address, Resources

Pope Benedict, Vocations and the Apostleship of Prayer

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The Holy Father’s prayer intention for the month of April as announced by the Apostleship of Prayer is:

“that many young people may hear the call of Christ and follow him in the priesthood and religious life.”

Amen to that! And the Pontiff’s mission intention is “that the risen Christ may be a sign of certain hope for the men and women of the African continent.”

The Apostleship of Prayer promotes among other things the offering of each person’s daily prayers, works, joys and sufferings to the Lord. Begun in France in 1844 by a group of Jesuit seminarians, the Apostleship of Prayer is truly the Pope’s own “prayer group.” It is, as Pope John Paul II wrote in 1985, “a precious treasure from the Pope’s heart and the Heart of Christ.”

The US National Director is Fr. James Kubicki, S.J., an IRL Board Member. Visit their website for morning offering prayers, the monthly intentions, reflections and much more.

 

News, Women's Communities

Honk If You Love Nuns!

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During spring break this year instead of heading for Daytona Beach, 12 young women decided to participate in a “Nun Run,” a beautiful journey of faith which allowed them to see different communities and their apostolates up close and personal. All twelve students were from Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas, whose 2 traveling minivans were decorated with the words: “BC Nun Run” and “Honk if you love nuns!”

Their journey took them to 5 IRL Affiliate Communities: the School Sisters of Christ the King; Marian Sisters; The Benedictine Sisters, Mary Queen of the Apostles; the Little Sisters of the Poor (see their write up on the 4 days spent there); and the Sisters of Saint Francis of the Holy Eucharist. The “run” ended at the IRL Midwest Meeting in Independence, MO, where Fr. Thomas Nelson, O.Praem., offered advice on the practical steps for vocational discernment in general and discerning a religious community in particular.

One young women said, “The breathtaking truth that is found in religious life was clearly felt and experienced. And it has helped me so much to grow as a person, to love others, to live and share my life with others. It has been great!”