Category Archives: News

News, Women's Communities

Polish Sister Becomes US Citizen

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The fight to maintain religious liberty in our country is not something a Polish immigrant sister takes for granted. On February 10, 2012, Sr. Joachim Celinska, OP, became a US citizen.  Born in Communist Poland, her parents nonetheless raised their children in the Catholic faith. Not surprisingly, Sister loved Pope John Paul II and prayed his vocation prayer every day not realizing that God was personally calling her to a life dedicated in His service.

She entered the Dominican Sisters of the Immaculate Conception in 1987 and came to America in 2000. Not knowing the language made it difficult for her at first but she found the people friendly and the land beautiful. She and another sister care for the sick, teach religion classes and help families in Mountain Home, Arkansas, which by Sister’s description sounds like a little bit of heaven on earth.

In the Arkansas Catholic newspaper, Sister Joachim said, “This year, I’m going to vote for the first time. America is a beautiful country. God really loves this country because he’s given freedom. We know what it’s like to live under oppression. I wish and pray for all American people to take advantage of that freedom and thank God for freedom of religion, so they can express their faith freely.”

The Order to which she belongs, the Dominican Sisters of the Immaculate Conception,  is an IRL Affiliate founded in by Mother Maria Kolumba in 19th century Poland. They engage in various ministries in three major areas: evangelization, education, and health care. In the last two years, 15 novices made their first profession in their congregation worldwide. Two of them were received here in the U.S., for the American Province. Besides Mountain Home, the sisters have convents in Illinois and Wisconsin.

 

 

News, Women's Communities

A Mission of Mercy and the Misery of Mankind

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The Religious Sisters of Mercy of Alma welcomed Raymond Cardinal Burke to their Motherhouse on March 12, 2012, where he led a ceremony of enthronement and consecration of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The Cardinal had had a long-standing personal invitation to visit the motherhouse in Central Michigan.

The sisters devote themselves primarily to medical care, including hospital-based care and care for the elderly. Continuing the charism of their foundress, Venerable Catherine McAuley, each Sister of Mercy is called by her vows to be a point of convergence between the Mercy of God and the misery of mankind. What a beautiful and vital image for our time.

Men's communities, News

Vietnam Musings – Vocations and a Cardinal

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Vietnam might be the last place where you would expect vocations to be flourishing but that is just what the Conventual Franciscans are experiencing at the Orders’ mission in that country.

May God bless these young men on their journey of faith, especially in light of the sacrifices of the many Catholics who defended their Faith in that country and even gave up their lives rather than renounce the Truth. I am reminded of one of my heroes, Cardinal Francis Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan, who was imprisoned in Vietnam for thirteen years, nine of them in solitary confinement. His books are spiritual classics.

Also, read the story of Joseph Nguyen, a young seminarian who was in a coma and pronounced dead and has the death certificate marked VOID to prove it. While Joseph was in his coma, the Cardinal appeared to him while his parents were praying for the Cardinal’s intercession.  The Diocesan inquiry into the life of Servant of God Francis Xavier Nguyen Cardinal Van Thuan opened in 2010.

 

 

Men's communities, News

Benedictine Video: Quaerere Deum – “To Seek God”

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On April 14, 2012, Fr. Cassian Folsom, O.S.B., will receive the 2012 Pro Fidelitate et Virtute award at the 2012 IRL National Meeting banquet. Fr Folsom founded a new monastery in a small apartment in Rome in 1998 and in 2000 moved the community to Norcia, the birthplace of Sts. Benedict and Scholastica. The Vatican II document Perfectae Caritatis urges religious to rediscover to their roots which Fr. Folsom surely did!

A 40-minute video, “Quaerere Deum,” showing what life is like for the monks has recently been released and is available to all for viewing. The title comes from the first task of all monks, “To Seek God,” as described by the Rule of St Benedict.

In 2009, the monks were given a new apostolate by the Holy See: to make both the ordinary and extraordinary forms of the Roman rite available. “This practice of offering both forms (in utroque usu) allows us the possibility to drink deeply from the riches of the tradition and, at the same time, to open our doors wide to the Church as she is today.”

For registration information for the IRL National Meeting and/or banquet (April 13-25, 2012), please visit our website or give us a call at (847)573-8975. The theme of the meeting is “Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Hosts: The Liturgy as a Foretaste of Heaven.”

News, Women's Communities

If You Re-Build It They Will Come!

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Mr. John Tipperman of The Mary Cross Foundation believed that “if you rebuild it they will come again.” And come again they did as the newly renovated St. Felix Oratory in Huntington, Indiana, becomes a new home for the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist.

On March 3, 2012, Bishop Kevin Rhoades of the Fort Wayne-South Bend Diocese said mass and blessed the newly renovated building where twenty of the sisters, who will soon be teaching in area Catholic schools, will reside.

Built in 1928, the monastery was a Capuchin novitiate named after St. Felix of Cantalice, Italy, who lived from 1515 to 1587. It’s most amazing treasure is the room where Ven. Solanus Casey lived from 1946 to 1956. The former friary was sold almost 30 years ago but even though the building left Catholic hands, the former owners kept Solanus’ room padlocked with his brown habit lying across his bed.

There are several interesting stories and a video to watch on this amazing series of coincidences that brought a man with a vision and a sister with a mission together.

News, Saints, Women's Communities

St. Clare Relic Goes On Pilgrimage

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For the first time in 800 years, the relic of St. Clare has gone on pilgrimage from Italy, coinciding with the 800th anniversary of the founding of the Order of St. Clare. The fortunate recipient is the country of the Philippines where the relic, a bone from St. Clare’s cranium, will travel to 29 monasteries and other Catholic locations.

The Clarian year began on April 16, 2011, the vigil of Palm Sunday, and will reach its climax on March 18, 2012 , the 800th anniversary of Saint Clare’s Profession. It will conclude on August 12, 2012.

It was on the night of Palm Sunday, March 20, 1212, that Saint Clare left her home and traded her elegant dress for a simple brown tunic. Saint Francis cut off her hair, preserved to this day in a reliquary in Assisi, as she made a pledge to serve Christ. She died in 1253.

News

World Youth Day Logo – Brazil

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The new logo for World Youth Day, which will be held in Rio de Janiero, July 23-28, 2013, was unveiled earlier this month.

It is so beautiful that it it worth reflecting on the image. Featuring Christ the Redeemer, the statue that overlooks the city’s harbor, it also incorporates the four colors of the Brazilian flag: green, white, blue and yellow.

Before beginning his creation, the winning artist, Gustavo Huguenin, 25, read the chapter of the Gospel of Matthew from where the motto of the WYDRio2013 was taken: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations”(Mt 28:19). From those words he received the inspiration for the image.

“It brings me great happiness to know that my work will be used in the greatest Catholic event in the world, with our Holy Father, and that this image will be associated with the personal encounter the youth of the whole world will have with Jesus Christ during the WYDRio2013”, said Gustavo.

I pray for all the people who will journey to Brazil. May the young people especially, recognize the call that God has placed in their hearts.

 

News, Women's Communities

The Benedictine Nun and Elvis

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If you tune into the February, 26, 2012 Oscars’ telecast, you may see a most unusual, well-clothed sight – a Benedictine nun whose story is part of a short documentary, God is the Bigger Elvis, that is up for an Academy Award.

Mother Dolores Hart of Regina Laudis Abbey was a well-known movie star of the 1950’s/60’s whose co-stars included Elvis Presley, Montgomery Clift and George Hamilton. I recently saw one of her movies and was impressed by the depth and integrity she brought to the role.

A film crew was invited into the cloister to give the outside world a glimpse of her religious life in the abbey. Thirty-eight other nuns call her Mother Prioress. “I know what I have here is the best thing I will ever have,” Mother says.

Mother said that she adored Hollywood but there was another call pulling at her heart, one even stronger than the love she had for her fiance. “I left Hollywood at the urging of a mysterious thing called vocation. It’s a call that comes from another place that we call God because we don’t have any other way to say it. It’s a call of love.”

For the complete story, visit USA Today.

 

News, Papal Address

Pope Benedict XVI: Three Keys to Vocations

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On February 13, 2012, Pope Benedict XVI, in a message for the World Day of Prayer for Vocations, asked all the faithful to be attentive to the men and women who “sense a call to the priesthood or to a special consecration.” It is important, he said, to “provide helpful guidance and direction along the way.”

According to our Holy Father, the three things that nourish vocations are:

1)     Scripture – love of and familiarity with God’s Word

2)     Prayer – attentive and unceasing, personal and in community

3)   Eucharist – “the heart of every vocational journey: it is here that the love of God touches us in Christ’s sacrifice, the perfect expression of love, and it is here that we learn ever anew how to live according to the ‘high standard’ of God’s love.”

For the complete text of this article visit Zenit.

News

Courageous Cardinal Down Under

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We don’t often think about our fellow Catholics in Australia but an Archbishop there deserves our prayers and thanks for building up the kingdom of God, particularly in his native land.

A wonderful article by George Wiegel, who is a personal friend of Cardinal George Pell, describes what the Cardinal had to face as a prelate and what he has accomplished. To put it bluntly, he says that Cardinal Pell is the man who saved Catholicism in Australia.

To wit: “When his seminary faculty threatened to resign en masse because he insisted that the seminarians attend daily Mass, Pell called their bluff, accepted their resignations, filled the seminary with new faculty — and never looked back.”

He reformed religious education, brought in new orders of religious women, began the John Paul II Institute on Marriage and the Family, helped create Vox Clara as a check on English-language liturgical translations and, incredibly, brought World Youth day to Australia.

As Mr. Weigel says: “Australia and the entire world Church owe George Pell a large debt of gratitude.”