Category Archives: Women’s Communities

News, Women's Communities

The Alma Sisters: A Vision of the Religious Woman

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Excerpt from the Alma Sisters website. Well worth reading the complete article!

We, the physicians and future physicians of the Religious Sisters of Mercy of Alma, Michigan, met on June 2, 2012, to articulate the vision of the call and contribution of religious women in the redemptive healing ministry of the Church. We also addressed statements issued by the Leadership Conference of Woman Religious (LCWR),various news agencies, and other organizations which have created confusion, polarization, and false representations about the beliefs, activities, and priorities of a significant number of women religious in the United States.

As religious women, our whole life is based in faith. Apart from faith, religious life has no meaning. The doctrinal assessment from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) regarding the LCWR is in the language of faith. The responses of opposition are being expressed using the language of politics. There is no basis for authentic dialogue between these two languages. The language of faith is rooted in Jesus Christ, His life and His mission, as well as the magisterial teaching of the Church. In addition, the language of faith does not contradict reason, but elevates it and secures its integrity. The language of politics arises from the social marketplace. The Sisters who use political language in their responses to the magisterial Church reflect the poverty of their education and formation in the faith.

…We praise the generosity and service of religious women who have gone before us. We see great hope for the future of religious life within the Church and for a continuation of its health care mission in the service of all people. This hope lies in remaining within the deposit of faith and the hierarchical structure of the Church. We cannot separate ourselves from sacred Tradition or claim to advance beyond the Church. There will be new expressions of the faith to meet the needs of this present day, but these will be contained within and directed by the Magisterium of the Church. As Saint Augustine exclaims, “O Beauty, ever ancient, ever new!”

Women's Communities

IHM Sisters of Wichita are Growing!

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In the mail today, we received a brief note saying that the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary of Wichita have obtained 80 acres of land on which to build a house of formation for their novitiate and for those discerning a vocation to religious life. The sisters ask that we join them in renewing our consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary and place ourselves, our families, our friends and all our works under her protection. How about doing that today, when we honor the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary? Here is a Solemn Act of Consecration from the EWTN website.

The community, an IRL Affiliate, was founded in 1848 by Fr. Joachim Masmitjá for the purpose of rebuilding society through the education of young women.  In 1979, the community in Wichita became autonomous, a new community with a long history. How wonderful to hear of a community that is growing and planning for the future with the eyes of Faith. Check out their video on YouTube for a glimpse of their life.

Women's Communities

For Greater Glory

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It’s one thing to dispassionately watch a movie. It’s another thing to relive and experience your community’s frightful past while watching it.

On August 1, 1926, Mexico stopped all religious practices. No marriages, no ordinations, no masses. Priests were killed, the most famous being the martyr, Bl. Miguel Pro. Religious freedom gone. The Carmelites of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, an IRL Affiliate Community founded by Ven. Mother Luisita, were forced to conduct their work in secret. Some were put in jail. Many sisters were hidden by families willing to risk their lives for the Faith. Mother Luisita came to California in 1927, kissing the ground of a country that protected religious freedom. May we not take it for granted!

Mother’s work became established in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. In 1929 she returned to Mexico and continued the work she had begun there, as well as guiding, visiting and directing the sisters in California. She spent the remainder of her life in hiding, ill and living in extreme poverty. The specific charism of Mother Luisita blends contemplation and apostolic works in loving service of the Church and lives on today.

At the invitation of Archbishop Jose Gomez of Los Angeles, 75 Carmelite Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart attended the premiere of For Greater Glory which recounts the struggle of the Cristeros, courageous defenders of Jesus Christ,  who fought for religious freedom in Mexico during this time.

The sisters said, “It all became real for us. The Blood. The torture. The injustice of it all. Above all, the faith of the people. What faith!”

Vivo Cristo Rey!

News, Women's Communities

Women Religious

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There is an interesting article in The National Catholic Register regarding the history behind The Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) doctrinal assessment.

A little background: The Vatican established the LCWR in the 1950’s (originally named the Conference of Major Superiors of Women in the United States). In the 1980s those religious communities that did not share the political and religious views of the LCWR petitioned the Holy See to allow them to form their own association. This was finally done when the Council of Major Superiors of Women Religious (CMSWR) was established in 1992.

The IRL Affiliate Communities are part of the CMSWR. Go to our website to see a list of our communities.

According to the article:

The average age of the members of LCWR communities is 73 and increasing, while their numbers fall. Meanwhile, what of the CMSWR? They represent 20% of all the women religious in the U.S., more than 11,000 sisters, but they are young, with an average age of 35 and falling, and they are growing fast. They are happy to state their fidelity to the magisterium of the Church, to pray together as the central focus of their lives, to work together in community apostolates, to wear recognizable religious habits and, above all, to promote and protect their consecration to Christ as the source and goal of the Church’s life.

 

Men's communities, Saints, Women's Communities

Feast of St. Norbert

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June 6th is the Feast Day of St. Norbert. May the Norbertines around the world be blessed by their most saintly founder, St. Norbert.

The five ends of the Norbertines are:

1) Laus Dei in choro (the singing of the Divine Office)

2) Zelus animarum (zeal for the salvation of souls)

3) Spiritus jugis pœnitentiæ (the spirit of habitual penance)

4) Cultus Eucharisticus (a special devotion to the Holy Eucharist)

5) Cultus Marianus (a special devotion to the Blessed Virgin)

Check out the Norbertine website of St. Michael’s Abbey (a thriving IRL Affiliate Community) in Silverado, CA, and the Norbertine Canonesses website as well which is a new community of nuns.

News, Women's Communities

Imagine Yourself

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Imagine yourself …… a Sister!

Watch this video of young sisters joyfully living out their vocations as a brides of Christ. Seeking joy in the world and finding it was not enough, these sisters found that doing the Will of God brought them happiness  and was incredibly freeing.

“Imagine Sisters” is a web and campus-based movement that aims to inspire the imaginations of young women to consider the beautiful call to consecrated life as a sister. With the guiding truth that one sister can change the world, Imagine Sisters strives to connect the world with sisters passionately embracing their call to serve the Lord.

The Web site is coming soon but in the meantime, watch this beautiful video!

Women's Communities

Chrissie’s Journey

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On August 15, 2012, Christina Skelley will be entering the Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Hamden CT to begin her time of formation in religious life. Her Q&A is a beautiful testimony to the power of the Holy Spirit working in a young woman’s life and a beautiful review of religious life in general.  Wise spiritual directors often say that when you find the right Order, you will feel at home and KNOW. Christina felt right at home with the Apostles and wrote, “I feel called to the Apostles because I really have a sense of being at home with them and fitting in with them. I feel free to be myself with them. They are deeply prayerful, down to earth, friendly, compassionate, and joyful.”

The Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus are an IRL Affiliate Community. For them, devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is “the first and most beloved of devotions.” It is at the center of their spiritual, ascetical and apostolic life. Their foundress Clelia Merloni urged the Apostle to be before she does, to adore before she witnesses, and to witness with the power of Jesus present within her who makes Himself light, love, conviction, and redemption.

May God grant the Apostles many holy vocations in this month dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

 

Liturgical Year, News, Women's Communities

The Truth May Cost Us “Dearly”

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On May 18, 2012, Pope Benedict XVI expressed to US Bishops during an Ad Limina visit his “deep gratitude for the example of fidelity and self-sacrifice given by many consecrated women in your country, and to join them in praying that this moment of discernment will bear abundant spiritual fruit for the revitalization and strengthening of their communities in fidelity to Christ and the Church, as well as to their founding charisms.”

As the Year of Faith approaches (October), the Holy Father added that he hopes that all people will rediscover and “re-appropriate with joy and gratitude the priceless treasure of our faith.” Furthermore, “With the progressive weakening of traditional Christian values, and the threat of a season in which our fidelity to the Gospel may cost us dearly, the truth of Christ needs not only to be understood, articulated and defended, but to be proposed joyfully and confidently as the key to authentic human fulfillment and to the welfare of society as a whole.”

As we approach Pentecost, may we, through the gifts of the Holy Spirit, have the courage of the Apostles to be bearers of the Good News in a world hostile to Christian values.

News, Women's Communities

EWTN’s Home Monastery is 50!

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On May 20, 2012, the Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration marked the 50th anniversary of the foundation of Mother Angelica’s Our Lady of the Angels Monastery in Alabama. The monastery was dedicated on May 20, 1962.

By the early 70’s the sisters were duplicating Mother’s talks and printing “mini” books to explain the basics of the Faith. And in 1981, Mother launched Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN) in the monastery garage and the rest as they say is history.

I remember visiting EWTN in the late 90’s and attending one of Mother’s Live shows. She wandered around the set before the show began greeting people as if she didn’t have a care in the world and sat down with only seconds to spare. Everything came from a heart prepared by and with prayer. I had a message to give to her from a mutual friend that day and felt somewhat awkward doing it just minutes before she was to go on the air but she gave me her full attention and spent sometime talking with me. I was very impressed.

I thank God for EWTN which gave my housebound relatives a participation in the life of the Church and great consolation in the weeks before their deaths. May EWTN flourish and grow to the ends of the earth in all the languages of the human race.

For the full article in the National Catholic Register and many reflections on the 50 years of history, click here.

News, Women's Communities

Hold Back Nothing of Yourselves

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Our local seminary’s magazine (The Bridge – excellent by the way) has an article this issue about a new community of young women in Chicago called the Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist. Why are they in a seminary magazine? Because part of their charism is to develop a strong relationship with diocesan priests and they are in fact studying there to earn a Masters Degree in Divinity.

Led by Fr. Bob Lombardo, CFR, the sisters take to heart St. Francis’ admonition: Hold back nothing of yourselves for yourselves, that He, who gives Himself totally to you, may receive you totally. They live in a desperate neighborhood of Chicago and they strive to help the local families with food and household goods and the children by keeping them out of gangs and off drugs. One of their goals is to have perpetual Eucharistic adoration in the newly renovated Church. After their theological training, they will teach religion in Catholic schools.

Please pray for them and the violent streets of Chicago that the Lord’s peace may come to dwell in all hearts.