Category Archives: News

Men's communities, News

Papal Birra

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birranursiaThe Benedictine Monks of Nursia, who reside at the birthplace of Sts. Benedict and Scholastica in Italy, are celebrating the one year anniversary of their brewery.

Somewhat surprisingly the beer sales have opened evangelical doors. People come to the monastery to sample this high quality beer which is an entree into the life of the monastery. As the monks have experienced, many people who visit have had negative experiences with the Church, with the clergy or perhaps no experience at all with the Faith. Speaking to the monks leads to a discussion about the monk’s life and it goes positively from there.

St. Benedict told his brethren to “work” and provide for themselves. Birra Nursia gives these sons of Saint Benedict a means to support themselves and a way to reach out, especially to younger people.

birra2The monks themselves drink beer on special occasions, such as Sundays and Feast days.  “The project of the monastic brewery was conceived with the hope of sharing with others the joy arising from the labor of our own hands, so that in all things the Lord and Creator of all may be sanctified.”

They were in the news earlier this year when it became known that they supplied the beer for the papal conclave that elected Pope Francis. As someone in the blogosphere commented: The New Pope Will Be Selected When the Conclave Runs Out of Beer!

This video gives you a wonderful look into this work of their hands. Cheers!

News, Women's Communities

Surely the Angels are Delighted!

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aberdeen1The Nashville Dominicans, officially known as the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia, are a community experiencing a wonderful growth in vocations. Because of this, they are able to send sisters into “mission” territories. Their newest home is in Scotland, where four sisters were welcomed into the Diocese of Aberdeen in August. They will be living in a 15th century convent called Greyfriars.

The Bishop of Aberdeen, Hugh Edward Gilbert, OSB, remembering old American western movies, likens the coming of these American sisters to the US Calvary charging across the hill to save the day, only they are armed with rosaries not rifles.

Scotland was once Catholic territory. The Diocese of Aberdeen was established in the 11th century but in the 16th century, an Act of Parliament abolished papal authority and jurisdiction throughout Scotland. Eventually, the people came under Presbyterian governance. The Catholic diocese of Aberdeen was formally re-established in 1878. The Catholic population in 2006 was only 20,000 in a diocese of over 700,000 people, true missionary territory.

aberdeen2It seems that when the bishop was in Rome to attend a class for new bishops last year, he encountered Bishop Edward Rice of St. Louis who astonished him by saying: “‘Do you know, ever since I heard that convent (previously occupied in the Aberdeen diocese by the Sisters of Mercy) was empty I’ve been praying the Nashville Dominicans would fill it.” Bishop Rice added, “If you want to re-evangelize Scotland, they’re the people who’ll do it. I’ll write to the Prioress General, tell her she must accept your invitation, and I’ll pay the fare over for one of the sisters.”

To make a long story short, Bishop Rice kept his word and the sisters arrived ONE YEAR LATER!!

Bishop Gilbert says, “It means that Jacob’s ladder, with its busy angels, after lying on the ground gathering dust, is being set up again. Surely the angels are delighted. Surely the stones are glad. Surely those buried here are pleased!”

Read his inspiring homily in it’s entirety here. May this be a start of a great springtime of vocations for the Scottish people!

News, Reflection

How Deep Are Your Roots?

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The following spiritual meditation was written by a religious sister who is a member of the Institute on Religious Life.

Dealing with the Storms of Life

 This morning before dawn the heavy rains brought down a large tree on the property near a house where a family―with parents, children and grandparents, are living. It blocked the street and took out power to the surrounding homes and to a nearby school, which registered a 2-hour delay as a result.  By mid morning all was well: the tree was chopped up and moved off the road, the power lines were up, the meter box on the house (which had been torn off during the incident) was re-attached, and power was restored, including to the school.

This is what I know:

– I know that the roots must have not been buried deeply enough to give the tree the foundation it needed, so when the rains came they softened the ground and up came the tree, roots and all.

– I know that all the traffic had to be re-routed and the tree that no one had ever noticed before became a barrier to the journey people needed to make.

– I know that the lack of roots not only disturbed the flow of traffic and made people late for work but also stopped the flow of power to those who were counting on it to get them through the tasks of daily life today: washing up, brewing coffee, shaving, blow-drying hair, putting in the laundry, making toast, checking emails.

– I know that people who took electricity and roads for granted, didn’t take them for granted this morning.

– And I know that some men must have gone to work today only to discover that their socks didn’t match, because they dressed in the dark.

– I know I am very grateful to God for not letting the tree fall on the house, and for not allowing the downed power lines set the house on fire.

– I know that people worked hard to get things cleared and restored so that other people could continue with their day.

– And I know it made me think seriously about my life.

This is what I don’t know:

– I don’t know how deep my roots are.

– I don’t know what kind of storms can soften my ground and cause my foundation to weaken and fail.

– I don’t always know exactly how firm my foundation is to begin with.

– I don’t know what kinds of things suspend the flow of traffic in my soul and reroute the Grace that God sends me.

– I don’t know what I really need to help me carry out the tasks of daily life: fidelity to the Rule, attention to the people whose lives touch mine, fulfillment of responsibilities to those under my care.

– And I don’t know what sorts of things destroy my attachment to my Source.

– I don’t really know the depth of Divine Providence in my life.

Or the importance of silent prayer.

Or my own need for communion with Jesus to get me safely through the day.

Or that little things that I never notice can make me lose the way.

– I don’t know why I take so much for granted in my spiritual life, or why I don’t  know how much I need to be attuned to those things that take out my power.

– I don’t even know what happens when I try to dress my soul in the dark.

So I wonder what you know about your soul.

And what you might not know.

Perhaps, like me, a little storm now and then might help you draw closer to the things that matter, the One who really matters.

Perhaps a dark hour might bring great light to your soul.

That is my prayer for you: not that you will experience a dark hour, but that the darkness that invariably comes to you, unbidden, unexpected, will be the means of renewing your attachment to Our Lord, deepening your roots, and making you more fully aware of how much you are loved by the One in Whom you are grounded.

May He be your Everything today and tomorrow. And all days.

And may all your storms today be little.

 

News, Reflection, Saints

The Price of Being Loved

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The Head of St. John the Baptist

The price of being loved by the Almighty is high, as also is the price of growing in His love. The more precious the commodity, the higher the price; the most precious possession in the world is the love of God. You don’t get this, I don’t say for nothing or cheaply; you pay, and you pay dearly.

Can we be more specific? What does God expect of us who claim that we love Him as recompense for His prior goodness to us and as the wages, so to speak, to merit an increase of His bounty on our behalf? He finally expects these two things:

  • That we are willing to give up whatever pleasant things He may want us to surrender.
  • That we are willing to take whatever painful things He may want to send us.

Between these two, surrender and suffering, or as I prefer, sacrifice and the cross, lies the whole price range of divine love…. The love of God is paid for as Christ paid for the love of His Father with the hard currency of willing sacrifice and the holy cross.

When I was younger, and I thought, smarter, I didn’t talk quite this way. But experience is a good, though costly, teacher.

—Rev. John A. Hardon, S.J.

Cloistered life, Men's communities, News

Cistercian Centenary

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August 20th is the Feast Day of St. Bernard of Clairvaux and this year the Cistercians are celebrating an extra-special anniversary for 2013 is the 900th centenary of St. Bernard’s entrance into Citeaux, the Motherhouse of the Cistercians.  The date of his entry was either 1112 or 1113 so for the past year the Cistercians have been commemorating this anniversary with a daily prayer for vocations.

Citeaux

Cîteaux Abbey was founded in 1098 by Sts. Robert, Alberic and Stephen Harding, monks from the Benedictine Abbey of Molesme who were seeking to follow the Rule of St. Benedict more closely. St. Bruno also resided in the vicinity of Molesme around the same time (1082) but he left to become the founder of the Carthusians.

When St. Bernard arrived at Citeaux, which hadn’t had a vocation in some time, there were thirty men with him, including his uncle and four of his brothers! When he was only in his twenties, he established a new Cistercian abbey in the Valley of Light or Clairvaux. At the time of his death, 700 men resided at Clairvaux and 68 new abbeys had been founded by him. What a difference one Cistercian made in the life of the Church!

 

So let us join the Cistercians today and pray their prayer for vocations:

Most gracious Father,

in setting up the New Monastery our fathers followed the poor Christ into the desert.

Thus they lived the Gospel by rediscovering the Rule of Saint Benedict in its purity.

You gave Bernard of Fontaine the ability

to make this new life attractive and appealing to others,

in the joy of the Holy Spirit.

Grant that we today, after their example,

may live our charism deeply in a spirit of peace, unity, humility,

and above all, in the charity which surpasses all other gifts.

May men and women of our time be newly called to follow the Gospel in monastic life,

in the service of the Church’s mission, and in a world forgetful of You.

Remember Lord, Cîteaux, where Bernard arrived with his companions.

May the brothers there continue to live in the enthusiastic and generative spirit of the founders.

Remember all who live the Cistercian charism.

Remember all Cistercian communities, those which are aging and those newly-born,

in all parts of the world, north and south, east and west.

Let them not lose courage in times of trial,

but turn to her whom Bernard called the Star of the Sea.

 Holy Father, from whom we have already received so much,

grant us again your blessing that our communities may grow in numbers,

but above all in grace and in wisdom, to your glory,

who are blessed for ever and ever.

Amen.

News

Vocations and Commitment

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Sr. Jeanette Marie, the Vocation Directress for the Mercedarian Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, was heartened as she said to hear the Holy Father, Pope Francis, describe one of the things that prevents young people from entering religious life. The issue is Commitment!

As everyone knows, the popularity of marriage is in a steep decline. People live together and then move on. It used to be said that “I am living with him/her to see if marriage is in the cards” which it usually wasn’t. Now it is: “I am living with him/her until the next him/her comes along.”

This problem casts its long shadow on religious life and vocational discernment. A religious vocation is to eternity. Sr Jeanette wrote that we live in a culture that fails to see the good of making a lifetime commitment; a culture that says, “I will choose this vocation provided that everything goes OK.”

In his talk, Pope Francis said, “To become priests [or] Religious – is not primarily our choice. I don’t trust the seminarian, the novice who says: ‘I have chosen this path.’ I don’t like this. It’s not right! But it is the response to a call and to a call of love. I hear something within me, which makes me restless, and I answer yes. The Lord makes us feel this love in prayer, but also through so many signs that we can read in our life, so many persons that He puts on our path.”

Sr. Jeanette  believes that there are three things you can do to come to a decision about religious life:

  • learn about religious life and celibacy
  • pray about your vocation, seeking the guidance of your parents and spiritual advisors
  • plan to arrive at a firm commitment towards your calling – before it’s too late!

The Mercedarian sisters will have a discernment retreat for young women October 11-13, 2013, in Baton Rouge, LA. Now is the time to test your commitment to follow the Lord in faith!

 

 

 

 

News

The Mother of Mercy Calls Us!

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This month’s issue of Religious Life magazine is devoted in good part to the only approved Marian apparition site in the United States – the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help in Champion, Wisconsin. Our Lady appeared to Adele Brise in 1859 and told her to teach the children their catechism and about the sacramental life of the Church. “Gather the children in this wild country and teach them what they should know for salvation.”

in 2009, Bishop David Ricken of Green Bay opened a two-year inquiry into the apparitions. He found that they exhibited a supernatural character and were worthy of belief. The other important act was the entrusting of the Fathers of Mercy as guardians of the shrine. They have seen the number of pilgrims increase from 25,000 a year in 2010 to about 200,000 a year in 2011!

The shrine offers daily mass, confession, spiritual direction, anointing of the sick, meeting rooms for groups, a new cafe (it is pretty remote), and other devotions. It is unlike other apparition shrines in that the countryside looks much as it did 150 years ago. There are no shops, restaurants or secular establishments to speak of anywhere nearby with the exception of a few farms. Hence, it is a beautiful place for quiet reflection.

Fr. Peter Stryker, C.P.M., the Rector of the Shrine, in commenting on the value of their Fathers’ work at the shrine quoted from a 1955 book on the shrine’s history in which it said:

There must be a grave reason and great need for Mary to come so often in our generation. There are great dangers threatening us…these are hurling humanity down the precipice of ruin and destruction….Mary would remind us of the value of suffering, the necessity of sacrifice, and the mercy of our Savior.

Fr. Stryker says that we all have the responsibility to open the door of faith to our family, friends and neighbors. This Year of Faith and the Holy Father’s words at World Youth Day have the same message: Go out to all the world and tell the Good News.

And as someone who has been to the shrine, I am happy to be reminded of what a pilgrimage is all about.  Regardless of what we may experience there, a pilgrimage is still, in the words of Father Stryker, “an outward sign of our desire to be on a safe path regarding our ultimate pilgrimage: our journey toward heaven as our true and eternal home!”

 

 

 

 

News, Papal Address

Go and Make Disciples

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Jesus did not say: “if you would like to, if you have the time,” but: “Go and make disciples of all nations.” Sharing the experience of faith, bearing witness to the faith, proclaiming the Gospel: this is a command that the Lord entrusts to the whole Church, and that includes you; but it is a command that is born not from a desire for domination or power but from the force of love, from the fact that Jesus first came into our midst and gave us, not a part of Himself, but the whole of Himself, He gave His life in order to save us and to show us the love and mercy of God.

 Krakow 2016

 

 

News

A Century Plus of Zoe

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In 2011, we published an article in Religious Life called “A Century of Zoe” which was the vocation story of Mother Teresa Margaret, foundress of the Carmelite Monastery in Traverse City, Michigan. Baptized with the name Zoe, she said that she never liked the name, thinking it not Catholic enough, until she read that Father John Hardon said that Zoe means sanctifying grace in Greek.

Well, on May 26, 2013, Zoe went to meet, face to face, her heavenly spouse. She had been a cloistered nun for 83 years! She died at the age 101 and had entered the Grand Rapids Carmel when she was 18 years old.

Zoe Julia Armstrong was born in Ohio in 1911. When she first wrote to her first Carmel and received the answer back that they were full and to try elsewhere, she wrote back and said, is anybody going to die soon? She was full of spunk. When she entered the Grand Rapids Carmel, she was so excited that she grasped “old Mother Bernadita” in her arms and spun her around! Zoe had a rough go at first but said, “No I’m not going to go. I’m going to become what they want me to be, to prove my love to Him!”

In all challenges, Mother said we have to remember, “God wouldn’t ask this of me if He didn’t intend to help me with it.”

According to her sisters, Mother transitioned from vigorous activity to old age with remarkable gracefulness.  Until her brief final illness, she participated in all the activities of her religious community.

Requiesce in pace.

 

 

News

Like Father, Like Son

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When Father Patrick Allen was ordained by Most Rev. Robert Guglielmone of Charleston on July 7th, his young son Henry wanted to share that moment with his father. What a beautiful picture!

Fr. Allen attended a Presbyterian Seminary but then became attracted to Anglo-Catholicism. He was ordained a priest in the Episcopal Church in 2001. His pilgrimage of faith ultimately led him and 19 other “pilgrims” into the Catholic Church. They are part of the Corpus Christi Catholic Community, part of the “Anglican Ordinariate,” which meets in St. Mary of the Annunciation in downtown Charleston, SC.

For a complete list of communities, parishes and religious communities belonging to the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter, as it is officially called, please visit their website.

“All things that are good and pure and true in the Anglican church have a home in the Catholic Church,” Allen says. Welcome home, fellow pilgrims.

For the complete story, see the article in The Post and Courier.