Category Archives: Women’s Communities

Cloistered life, Women's Communities

Autobiography of a Hunted Priest

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gerardI recently finished reading The Autobiography of a Hunted Priest by Fr. John Gerard, SJ, (Ignatius Press) and happily came across an article in Crisis Magazine that reinforced my opinion that this is one fine book!

John Gerard was ordained a Jesuit priest during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558-1603). During her governance, 87 Catholic priests were executed for treason for not submitting to the Act of Supremacy which declared her head of the Church of England.

Fr. Gerard spent his early priestly years ministering to the remnant of Catholics who remained faithful to the Church in England, hiding in “priest-holes” which devout Catholics built into their stately homes to safeguard the  priests who administered the sacraments to them. John won many converts but was ultimately betrayed by a traitor in one of the households and was subjected to brutal tortures before he finally escaped and then left England for good.

When Fr. James Schall, SJ, first heard about Fr. Gerard, he thought it an interesting adventure story but surely one that could not happen in this country. Now he is not so certain. Practicing Catholics were pursued relentlessly in Elizabethan England and is it so different today?

One of the interesting sidebars in the book is a brief mention of Mary Lady Lovel, a pious woman who devoted her life to good works, gave money to the Jesuits and in Antwerp founded (as benefactress) the first English Carmelite monastery. Young English women throughout the ensuing decades fled to Belgium to take up religious life. It was only at the end of the 18th century that the Carmelites could return home and establish the first English Carmelite monastery on English soil at Lanherne in Cornwall.

lanherneEleven Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate now occupy the monastery, the Carmelites having left the site in 2001. Here, St. Cuthbert Mayne celebrated the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass (using the altar which is  now in their small choir) and ministered to the faithful. A friend of St. Edmund Campion, St. Cuthbert was  martyred in 1577. For more information on this holy site, please visit Friends of Lanherne. 

Through the intercession of the English martyrs, may God bless England with many holy vocations.

 

Women's Communities

Donning the Veil Again

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Sr-Winifred-LyonsThis is a story of a Sister of Charity who donned the veil again.

She professed her first vows in 1964, donned the habit and tried throughout the years to unite herself to Jesus Christ on the Cross.

Then came the late 60’s and 70’s when so much was questioned: the daily schedules, the authority structures, common prayer and in particular the wearing of the habit. In her own words, this is how the habit was jettisoned.

I would like to say that it was after much prayer that I decided to go into secular clothes. However, I always sensed that my decision was nothing short of caving in to peer pressure and the times….Once I did I responded as any healthy woman would. I loved to dress up and I loved to dress down. I even went so far as to have my ears pierced and my hair dyed. I embraced it all.

While on retreat in the summer of 1995, she was led to a greater understanding of the gift of the Eucharist and a desire to intensify the union of her will with the will of God.  A wise sister wrote to her and said, “Just don’t get in His way.”

Then in the Fall of 1995, Pope John Paul II came to town and sister was never the same again. She was able to shake his hand and felt holiness pass through her body and into her soul. When she left the Cathedral, she told a friend that she was going to return to the wearing of the veil. “The words were not mine. I knew in an instant that this was what God was asking me to do.”

She privately donned the veil on Christmas, her birthday, and officially did so on the feast of her foundress, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, January 4th. As she looked at her veiled image in the mirror, she was shocked. She saw the image of herself as she had looked 23 years earlier.

Being greeted on the street was something I had totally forgotten. Moreover, the witness value has overwhelmed me: I know I cause others to think about God, if only for a few seconds, and I realize afresh the public dimension of the consecrated life and the hunger there is for it in this world.

When she first put on the veil she was frightened, terrified at what God was going to ask of her. Her sister told her that she would never really know God’s plan until she really trusted Him. So once again, she turned her life over to Him.

I am no longer afraid. In fact, I feel fearless….He sent His spirit into this consecrated heart and all I can continue to say is Fiat.

______________________________________________________________

This story appeared in the November 1997 issue of Religious Life. It originally appeared in the summer 1996 issue of Come Follow Me: A Newsletter of Spirituality for Sister and Brother Religious. In 2011, Sister celebrated her Golden Jubilee as a Sister of Charity. God bless her for her faithfulness and her pro-life work.

 

 

Women's Communities

Carmel DCJ Sisters Celebrate 100th Anniversary

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DSCJ OCD CardinalOn May 14, 2014, Cardinal Francis George, O.M.I., came to St. Joseph’s Carmelite Home in East Chicago, Indiana, to celebrate the 100+  years since its foundation. Receiving an enthusiastic welcome from the nine Carmelite sisters, he attended a fundraiser that raised over $200,000 for the sisters who annually provide an emergency shelter and home to 200 children and their families.

Blessed Mary Teresa of St. Joseph, foundress of the Carmelite Sisters of the Divine Heart of Jesus, personally founded this particular home in 1913.  The sisters’ mission is to see God in all, serve God in all, love God in all. A Lutheran convert in Germany, Mother was described as going through the world like a “hurling locomotive.” At the time of her death in 1938, Mother had begun 58 homes, formed 1000 sisters and cared for 10,000 children.

dscjOn of those children was Earl Mager, 88, who came to the East Chicago home when he was 5 years old. “My mother died in childbirth,” he said. “I was placed in all kinds of homes and then sent to the orphanage when I was 5 years old. I stayed there until 1939.”

Another girl named Michelle came to the sisters at age 13. The sisters sent her to school and paid for the transportation to get her to and from work. “They are my roots. They are my everything,” Michelle said. “I really wonder where I would be if I didn’t have them.”

The sisters also care for the aged. My grandfather and uncle, both doctors, used to care for the residents in their home in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

This facility is the oldest Carmelite Home in the United States. “Our founding mother stayed close to this mission of love throughout her life,” says Sister Marie Giuseppe, “even requesting soil from the home be used on her grave in the Netherlands. I think she’s here right now.

 

Women's Communities

Missionaries of the Word

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green bayOn May 1, 2014, Bishop David Ricken of Green Bay established a new community of women religious in his diocese called the Missionaries of the Word. Their primary mission is to bring the Gospel to youth and young adults in the spirit of the New Evangelization.

Peggy Duemling, now known as Mother Catherine, received her habit and pronounced final vows, and two other women, Sister Maria Lucia Stella Maris, 23, and Sister Marie Bernadette of the Sacred Heart, 22, became novices. They are living together at St. Joseph Formation Center at Kangaroo Lake in Door County, Wisconsin.

This Public Association of the Faithful has its roots in the Missionaries of Charity where Mother Catherine was a sister for 10 years. She left because of her asthma but felt that God was still calling her to religious life. “I always felt there was something in my heart,” she said. “I needed more.”

Her spiritual director and the archbishop in Milwaukee urged her to go to Green Bay to work with Fr. Quinn Mann and his ministry for youth. And Bishop Ricken put her through various tests along the way. “For example, he said, ‘If three women come before Sept. 8, we’ll move ahead,’” she said. “That happened and they have been with me since 2012.”

She took the name Catherine after St. Catherine of Siena and St. Catherine Laboure. “We work with the youth because we lose them between the ages of 14 and 30. We build relationships with them to bring them to the Lord.” They will serve, however, where they are most needed. “We belong to the church,” Mother Catherine said. “We truly want to support the parishes. We will serve where we are needed or where we are invited.”

Bishop Ricken says that there are a couple of generations of Catholics who haven’t been really engaged in their faith. “Part of that is all the pressure from the culture, but part of it as well is that we haven’t done a very good job of really making disciples, you know real followers of Jesus, of our Catholic people,” the bishop said. “We can see that so many people that fall away from the church eventually wind up falling away from God. Some of them go to other churches, but often times they just quit and they get farther and farther away from God. So a person’s soul can wind up in trouble with all kinds of problems if they’ve excluded God or neglected God.”

May these missionaries of the New Evangelization bring the light of Christ to those they serve. For contact information, please see the press release.

 

Cloistered life, Resources, Women's Communities

Transformed to Christ by Love

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Sr Mary Paul 2-1In 2010, the Institute of Carmelite Studies (ICS) published a book by Sr. Mary Paul Cutri, OCD, called Sounding Solitude. In this 176-page book, Sister Mary Paul draws on the rich heritage of the great Discalced Carmelite founders, St. Teresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross, as well as her own experience in contemplative prayer, to show us how to be transformed to Christ by love.

Sister is a member of the Carmel of the Assumption in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, that was founded in 1961 as a foundation from the Carmel in Loretto, PA. The land for the monastery was purchased because of its proximity to the Benedictine Archabbey of St. Vincent. The monks have served as their chaplains, confessors and spiritual directors from the very beginning.

Sister entered religious life in 1955 as a graduate of Mercyhurst College with a BA degree in Biology and a Medical Technologist’s certificate. She was one of the original sisters who came to Latrobe in 1961. Of her long life as a spouse of Christ, Sister says, “God who called me to Carmel continues to fill my days with love, peace and appreciation for this precious contemplative vocation in the Church.”

p_SSThe twelve chapters of her book describe experiences along the way of solitude’s intimacy, solitude’s savorings, solitude’s sufferings, love as its meaning and the power of transformation that takes place through Christ in us.  She says, “To spend time with the Lord in long periods of solitude and prayer is to begin to learn the ways of God and how we are to respond in the likeness of Christ to the work God is doing in us. In our desire for union with God, ‘God will capture the hearts of people, leaving them so touched by love that they have no desire other than to belong to God by consent, as they belong to God by creation and grace.  We are destined to be transformed in Christ by love.’”

To order the book, click here to reach the ICS website..

“I have received comments, especially from our Secular Carmelites who have read the book, saying that it has helped them in their life of prayer,” said Sister Mary Paul. “All praise to God who both inspires and motivates us in sharing the gifts of grace God gives us.  It is all God’s work of love.”

 

 

Women's Communities

Is Our Lady of Mercy Calling You?

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odemThe Mercedarian Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament have released a new video about their life. As teachers in Catholic schools, their ministry includes teaching the faith to the children, and sharing the love of Jesus in the Eucharist.

The two pillars of their charism are Mary and the Eucharist. The Sisters have a strong devotion to Jesus present in the Eucharist. However, this work cannot be done without the help of Mary. She is the one who leads her children to Jesus, and she was the first tabernacle of the Lord.

If you feel compelled to learn more, the Mercedarian Sisters offer days where young women can come to visit and “shadow the Sisters” in their everyday life. You don’t have to don a habit to be welcomed into their home!

See the video, “Shadow the Sisters.” Visit their website. Be sure to follow them on Facebook for more news!

They also have a free newsletter focusing on vocational discernment. Many roadblocks present themselves to women discerning religious life. Often, a woman may recognize a religious calling, but feel stifled because of the lack of support – and understanding – from her family and friends. However, there is great joy and peace in recognizing and following God’s calling. As St.
Catherine of Siena rightly said, “Be who God meant you to be and you
will set the world on fire!”

 

News, Women's Communities

LCWR Update/Cardinal Müller

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muellerCardinal Gerhard Müller, head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, recently (April 30th) addressed the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) about their implementation of the mandate for reform following the Doctrinal Assessment of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious.

Here are a few of his remarks:

One of the  more contentious aspects of the Mandate—though one that has not yet been put into force—is the provision that speakers and presenters at major  programs will be subject to approval by the Delegate. (This year the LCWR is giving its “Outstanding Leadership Award” to Elizabeth A. Johnson whose 2011 book was criticized by the US Bishops for its “misrepresentations, ambiguities, and errors that bear upon the faith of the Catholic Church as found in Sacred Scripture, and as it is authentically taught by the Church’s universal magisterium…”)

“…the last thing in the world the Congregation  would want to do is call into question the eloquent, even prophetic  witness of so many faithful religious women. And yet, the issues raised  in the Assessment are so central and so foundational, there is no other  way of discussing them except as constituting a movement away from the  ecclesial center of faith in Christ Jesus the Lord.

The Cardinal then touched on “Conscious Evolution” which he said had been incorported into some religious institutes:

The  fundamental theses of Conscious Evolution are opposed to Christian  Revelation and, when taken unreflectively, lead almost necessarily to  fundamental errors regarding the omnipotence of God, the Incarnation of  Christ, the reality of Original Sin, the necessity of salvation and the  definitive nature of the salvific action of Christ in the Paschal  Mystery.

I am worried that the uncritical acceptance of things such as Conscious Evolution seemingly without any awareness that it offers a vision of God, the cosmos, and the human person divergent from or opposed to Revelation evidences that a de facto movement beyond the Church and sound Christian faith has already occurred.

Conscious Evolution does not offer  anything which will nourish religious life as a privileged and prophetic witness rooted in Christ revealing divine love to a wounded world. It  does not present the treasure beyond price for which new generations of  young women will leave all to follow Christ. The Gospel does! Selfless  service to the poor and marginalized in the name of Jesus Christ does!

Lord, we pray that all may be one in You. Founders and foundresses, please intercede for your religious communitites, that as vines they may always be part of the true Branch, who is Jesus Christ.

(Click here to go to The Catholic World Report website for Carl E. Olson’s analysis of His Emminence’s direct and pointed remarks. And to The National Catholic Register‘s article by Ann Carey, author of Sisters in Crisis: The Tragic Unraveling of Women’s Religious Institutes and  Sisters  in Crisis Revisited: From Unraveling to Reform and Renewal.

 

Cloistered life, News, Women's Communities

Bismarck Diocese Blessed With Two New Religious Communitites

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Sr. Mary Baptist
Sr. Mary Baptist

The Diocese of Bismarck in North Dakota has recently been blessed with the arrival of two very different religious congregations. As you can imagine, currently the diocese does not have many religious. However, Bishop David Kagan and his predecssor were eager for religious to come to minster to and pray for the people. Both will do the work of the New Evangelization in very differnt ways.

I posted months ago that the Carmelites in Alexandria, South Dakota, had decided to send four sisters to the diocese where they will live in a renovated farmhouse (“in the middle of nowhere”) in Emmons County. The four cloistered nuns arrived on March 19 and will have an open house from April 23-25 before they are permanently enclosed in the Carmel of the Holy Face. On April 26, Bishop Kagan will celebrate Mass at 11:00am then the nuns will be enclosed in their new home.

"In the middle of nowhere"
“In the middle of nowhere”

“Prayer is really the foundation for all missionary activity,” said Sister Mary Baptist, the Prioress. “You can talk to somebody and try to convince them, but if they don’t have grace, which is won by prayer, then it won’t be effective. So we really need prayer as the basis.”

The other group of four sisters coming to the diocese is from India. The Congregation of Teresian Carmelites is establishing their first mission in the Western Hemisphere in this most unlikely of places. They will minister to the people of the Standing Rock Indian Reservation, assisting the priests and parishes and teaching at a mission school.

One of the Teresian Carmelites
One of the Teresian Carmelites

“It’s important to have the presence of holy people who can model what a life of faith should look like,” said a diocesan spokesman. “They’re also very obviously knowledgeable in the Catholic faith, and so they can evangelize to the people on the reservation and set a good example: that what is valuable to them … [is] a life that is for Christ and has meaning and purpose because it is lived for God.”

Visit the Diocese of Bismarck website or the National Catholic Register for more information.

News, Women's Communities

“Lean Into the Wind” with the Alhambra Carmelites!

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OCD Alhambra

 

 

 

The Carmelite Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus in Alhambra, California, are one of the fastest growing religious orders in the United States and fortunate for them, many of those entering in the past few years have had musical talent! Thus, they were pleased to recently announce the release of their seventh CD: “Lean Into the Wind.”

This latest CD, a combination of traditional chant and contemporary praise music, flows from their spirituality. “We come together three times a day and chant the Liturgy of the Hours,” says Sr. Timothy Marie “We spend four hours of prayer each day, but the Lord has called us to take our form of spirituality and take it into the world. We work in education, health care and retreats. We’re a blend — in the world, but not of the world.”

Almost 150 sisters serve the Lord in the community, in addition to 11 novices and postulants. The Carmelites were founded by Mother Maria Luisa Josefa of the Most Blessed Sacrament who arrived in the U.S. in 1927 after religious persecution drove her from Mexico. Their Motherhouse is in Alhambra, California, but they also serve God’s people in Florida, Colorado and Arizona.

leanwind“Lean Into the Wind” is their seventh recording.  Sr. Timothy Marie says, “There’s a parable in the Bible in which God talks about people not using their talents, so we wanted to use our gift to the service of the people, making a spiritual difference.“  (For excerpts from the beautiful recordings, click here!)

Sr. Gianna Heinemann, a native of South Dakota,  explains the “Lean Into the Wind” title:  “It’s facing your fear, but it’s more than that. It’s like grabbing the Lord’s hand and just running into the wind. It’s that sense of going deep with the Lord and allowing him to lead you and to trust.” She first felt called to religious life at World Youth Day in Germany, “For the first time, I saw young religious sisters who were wearing the full habit,” she said, and was struck by their joy and love for the Lord. A visit with the sisters convinced her that this was home.

Sr. Gianna is a South Dakotan native, one of two South Dakotans whose voices  you can hear on the CD. The other is Sr. Marie Estelle Klein who professed final vows in 2012 and hopes the CD will be a source of hope for people. “And we do pray for everyone. We see our charism as prayer. Each and every person in the world has a home in the hearts of Carmelite sisters.”

See the stories in the Pasadena Weekly and the Argus Leader. Click here to the order the CD!

General interest, Men's communities, News, Resources, Vocations, Women's Communities

Institute on Religious Life Launches New Website

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Revised screenThe Institute on Religious Life today launched a completely redesigned www.ReligiousLife.com. The new site is more dynamic and user friendly, houses a great resource of information, and provides expanded audio and video features.

“All of the changes are intended to convey a better sense of our mission and who we are as an organization,” said Michael D. Wick, executive director of the IRL. “We are so happy to launch our new website during the IRL’s 40th anniversary and as the Church prepares to celebrate the Year of Consecrated Life which Pope Francis declared to begin this October.”

The new site was made possible by a grant from Our Sunday Visitor Institute. It was designed by Solutio Software of Cheney, Kansas.

“The site will be a great help to young Catholics who wish to know more or are considering the priestly or religious life, something very much needed in our times. And it will connect them to faithful institutes of consecrated life. The VocationSearch database is terrific for learning about the IRL’s 160-plus affiliate communities,” said M. Kathleen O’Brien, IRL director of operations. “We believe it is the premier Catholic vocations information portal—a ‘one-stop shopping’ experience for those who are sincerely discerning their vocation or seeking resources to promote and pray for vocations. From its 8-day ‘virtual’ discernment retreats, to the new Religious Life e-magazine, to vocation prayer leaflets for distribution among family, friends or parishioners, the new site offers all kinds of resources for building up the consecrated life.”

The site has in-depth reflections on the consecrated life, print and audio, including meditations by the IRL’s founder, Servant of God Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J., and talks given by IRL national director Fr. Thomas Nelson, O.Praem. The home page photo rotation features IRL affiliates, as well as real-time entries from the IRL’s “Vocation Blog” and a listing of scheduled events.

Young people who are serious about discernment can sign up for the free “Speak Lord” audio download of the month club or find out about upcoming “Come & See” vocation retreats. “Young people need catechesis and direction to be able to discern the Lord’s calling for their lives and the IRL wishes to provide helpful resources that will allow them to discern God’s will,” notes Father Nelson.

The Institute on Religious Life was founded in 1974 by Servant of God Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J. Early supporters included Bl. Mother of Calcutta and Ven. Fulton J. Sheen. Its mission is to promote and support the consecrated life as a gift to the Church and an evangelical witness to the world.