Category Archives: News

News

Apostolate For Family Consecration Founder, Jerry Coniker, RIP

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The Apostolate for Family Consecration (AFC) mourns the loss of their beloved founder Jerome Francis Coniker (b. November 2, 1938) who passed into eternal life on July 4, 2018 in Kenosha, Wisconsin.  Jerry and his late wife Gwen (d. 2002 and declared a Servant of God) were the 2008 recipients of the IRL’s Pro Fidelitate et Virtute Award. They knew that “the future of the world and the Church passes through the family” (Familiaris Consortio, no 79) and so founded the AFC “to help families get to Heaven.”

Jerry and Gwen were the parents of 13 children and founded the AFC in 1975.  Desiring to live the message of Our Lady of Fatima, they consecrated themselves to Jesus through Mary according to the motto “Totus Tuus” and dedicated themselves to transforming families, neighborhoods, schools and parishes into evangelizing communities, nourishing them with the timeless, Eucharistic, Marian and family-centered spirituality of St. John Paul II.

The AFC is located in Bloomingdale, Ohio, where at Catholic Familyland, there are opportunities for families to participate in events on the 803-acre property (a former abandoned seminary). There are Family Fests, silent retreats, youth conferences, the Totus Tuus “Consecrate Them in Truth” Family Conference, and much more.

“My father was a man truly driven to make a difference in the world,” said their daughter, Theresa Coniker Schmitz. “The salvation of souls and the protection of families through consecration were his passion. He desired the laity to know and embrace their call to holiness, to be saints, because he was convinced that ordinary fathers, mothers, and children can help to bring about the kingdom of God on earth when they make their daily family life an offering to God.”

Discernment, News, Women's Communities

Bethany House: A New House of Discernment For Women

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Bethany House is a women’s discernment house, sponsored by the Office of Vocations in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. Located in Minneapolis, it opened in September of 2017 and is a home for women ages 20-27 who live in community and discern whether they are called to consecrated life

This is a new initiative of the Office of Vocations in partnership with the Handmaids of the Heart of Jesus, a religious community based in New Ulm, Minnesota. The women may work or go to school, but the objective is the same – to sit at the feet of Jesus like Mary of Bethany, listening. “This is about discerning God’s will, and that’s the goal … wherever God may lead them,” said Father David Blume, vocations director for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

Father Blume was inspired to found Bethany House after a young woman told him: “Our men have a path, but for us women, we don’t have a path — we have 500 paths, and it’s kind of confusing.” The Vocations Office takes care of the house’s administration while the Handmaids oversee the formation and pastoral aspects.

Handmaid Sister Mary Joseph Evans makes it clear that this is not a Handmaid discernment house. “They have total freedom to discern any community. … Because we’re diocesan sisters, part of our role in our service of the diocese is to walk with young women in general, in helping them know and discern and embrace the Lord’s will, just like a diocesan priest would for the men.”

Residents at Bethany House commit to nine months of common living as well as a weekday schedule that includes a 5:45 a.m. Holy Hour with morning prayer in the parish’s Adoration chapel. The women then attend daily Mass before heading to classes or work. They share three evening meals each week, and pray night prayer together each night. Then they observe “grand silence” until after Mass the following day. A 2-month summer program is also an option.

One resident described the experience as a retreat. “And that’s how they really set it up to be,” she said. “We’re retreating to Jesus, and Jesus is really retreating to us more, I feel like, because He wants to be in our hearts.”

For more information, please visit: 10000vocations.org/bethany-house

 

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.

Cloistered life, Consecrated Virgins, Discernment, General interest, News, Pro-life, Reflection, Resources, Saints, Vocations, Women's Communities

New Website Alert: Poor Clare Colettine Nuns of Corpus Christi Monastery in Rockford, IL

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In the Fall of 2017, a seminarian for the Diocese of Rockford, Jack Reichardt began exchanging letters with Poor Clares Mother Abbess, Mother Maria Dominica, PCC, in order to obtain permission and discuss building a new website for the local monastery, home to twenty professed nuns.

Finally meeting at the Monastery in January, Reichardt and Mother Dominica decided that the site should serve two purposes:

  1. To appear to an audience of those women who may be discerning a call to the consecrated life as a Poor Clare nun, and
  2.  To appeal to the faithful who would like to visit with the Poor Clares in prayer.

Having taken a web design course while in high school, Reichardt wanted to put his hobby to use and build something worthy of the Poor Clares that reflected their “beautiful life, that is chaste and pure and prayerful” where people could find out more about their history, life, and vocation.

Click here: Poor Clare Colettine Nuns of Rockford, Illinois | JMJ+FCC

In gratitude for his hard work, one of the sisters offered the following remarks:

“[Jack’s] deliberation and prayerfulness impressed us very much, and his competence to create a site that is simple but beautiful and which effectively reflects our way of life has been crowned with success. We are grateful to him and to all those who contributed!”

 

News

The Holy Father’s May Intention

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That the lay faithful may fulfill their specific mission, by responding with creativity to the challenges that face the world today.

 

An excerpt from a reflection by Fr. Jacob Boddicker, S.J.:

St. Paul writes in his First Letter to the Corinthians, “Now you are Christ’s body, and individually parts of it. Some people God has designated in the church to be, first, apostles; second, prophets; third, teachers; then, mighty deeds; then, gifts of healing, assistance, administration, and varieties of tongues.” (vv. 27-28)

Every member of the Body—from the newly baptized infant to the shut-in who can only pray and watch Mass on television—has a part to play in Christ’s work to redeem the world. Much of this work is the day-to-day, unseen, little tasks done with great love and fidelity: the raising of children, the honest day’s labor, showing kindness to a stranger, making a hidden sacrifice for the sake of another, and so on.

We are the living stones (1 Peter 2:5) which build up the Church, not only in the sense of bricks in the wall, but also as laborers adding on to it. As a little salt flavors a great deal of food, as a little light dispels a room full of darkness, as a city on a hill is seen from miles around, so each of us is to follow and serve Christ in the way only we can, living our Catholic faith in the world as an ambassador for Our Lord.

 

Cloistered life, General interest, News, Reflection, Vocations, Women's Communities

New Affiliate: The Dominican Nuns of Our Lady of Mt. Thabor Monastery in Ortonville, Michigan

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The IRL is very delighted to welcome a new affiliate: The Dominicans Nuns of Our Lady of Mount Thabor Monastery in Ortonville, Michigan (Archdiocese of Detroit).  The contemplative community lives the joy-filled monastic life of prayer, work, silence, and study… all for the sanctification of souls!

The foundation of the Monastery began in 1969 when two nuns, Sister Mary Martin, O.P. and Sister Anne Mary, O.P. received permission to leave the Dominican Sisters of the Perpetual Rosary Monastery (Blue Chapel) in Union City, NJ, to establish a new contemplative mode of life within the monastic setting.  Remaining faithful to the essentials of monasticism, they eventually found a home in Detroit at the invitation of John Francis Cardinal Dearden. In August of 1973, they moved into their current location in Ortonville, in rural Oakland County.  Their foundation day is August 6, 1973, the feast of the Transfiguration of Jesus Christ on Mt. Thabor. The community received its letter of aggregation into the Dominican Order in 1999.

Their daily schedule focuses on the Divine Office (Liturgy of the Hours), which they sing or chant together in chapel. The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is celebrated daily and is the center of their contemplative life.  Profound silence is observed from after Compline until after Morning Prayer. Their habit is a simple white tunic, black veil, leather belt with rosary attached, and scapular.

The community is self-supporting and does remunerative work for its self- sufficiency.  Sewing services are offered by the Sisters including the making and alteration of Dominican habits as well as the sale of Dominican Third Order Scapulars.  They also maintain Transfiguration Retreat House where faithful may come for a private retreat.  The intellectual life is nourished through reading, research, and study.  This strong charism of the Dominican Order is never neglected.

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.

 

 

 

General interest, News, Papal Address

The Holy Father’s March 2018 Intentions

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Formation in Spiritual Discernment

That the Church may appreciate the urgency of formation in spiritual discernment, both on the personal and communitarian levels.

From a reflection by Rev. William Blazek, S.J.,  the director of The Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network::

Do I pause to reflect, meditate and ask the Lord to guide me in the major and minor decisions of my day? In what ways has the Holy Spirit helped me to see or hear God’s will in these first months of 2018? Has the bad spirit, the enemy, the tempter, been whispering deceits to me in secret?

…

And this is my prayer: that your love may increase ever more and more in knowledge and every kind of perception, to discern what is of value, so that you may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ… (Phil 1:9-11)

General interest, News, Papal Address

The Holy Father’s February 2018 Intentions

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Say “No” to Corruption

That those who have material, political or spiritual power may resist any lure of corruption.

From an excerpt by Rev.  William Blazek, SJ,  the director of The Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network:

[T]he founder of the Jesuits (Saint Ignatius of Loyola) knew that riches, power and pride were all closely interrelated. The enemy of our human nature leads us to think our gifts and abilities are our own or that having some power might bring us material, social or spiritual wealth.

…

“[P]ut away the old self of your former way of life, corrupted through deceitful desires, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind and put on the new self, created in God’s way in righteousness and holiness of truth.” (Eph 4:22-24)