Category Archives: Women’s Communities

News, Women's Communities

“That All of Them May Be One” John 17:21

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Some communities believe that as their numbers dwindle, their job is to empower the laity to do what they used to do. The laity however needs to empower them, through our prayers, to live out their vocation, infused with the charism upon which their community was founded. They need to rediscover anew their historical roots in this upcoming Year of Faith. We also need unity among women religious in this country, an “ecclesiology of communion founded on faith in Jesus Christ and the Church.”

A case in point is the recent document issued by the Holy See about the needed renewal of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR). It cites the following issues:

– Talks at assemblies mentioning things like “moving beyond the Church” or even beyond Jesus, and distorting faith in Jesus, His Father, the Holy Trinity, the divinity of Christ and the inspiration of Sacred Scripture

– Letters from the LCWR taking positions contrary to the Church in matters of women’s ordination and a correct pastoral approach to homosexual men and women.

– Silence on abortion and euthanasia

– Non-promotion of the Church’s teaching on family life and human sexuality

– Public statements disagreeing with positions taken by bishops

Let us pray for the renewal of the LCWR and for all women religious who are called to be a symbol, as spouses of Christ,  of Christ’s union with His Body the Church.

News, Women's Communities

Safeguarding the Consecrated Life

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A very thoughtful response to the Leadership Conference of Women Religious’  doctrinal assessment by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith comes from Mother Mary Assumpta Long, OP. Mother asks:  Why spend three years assessing the state of the LCWR and then subsequently mandate a five-year plan of change going forward?

Answer: It is the Church’s responsibility, assumed in love, to safeguard the beauty and gift of consecrated life at all times. This responsibility is most acute when the integrity of consecrated life begins to diminish, evidenced in this case by clear examples of dissent from the hierarchy and lack of authentic ecclesial communion. The CDF hopes that, through this mandate, members of the LCWR will awaken to once again “think with the Church.”

Read all entire article and the background behind Mother’s assessment at the National Catholic Register website.

Pope John Paul II wrote: Its universal presence and the evangelical nature of its witness are clear evidence — if any were needed — that the consecrated life is not something isolated and marginal, but a reality which affects the whole Church. … In effect, the consecrated life is at the very heart of the Church as a decisive element for her mission (Vita Consecrata, 36).

 

Women's Communities

Bella Vita

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It’s not often that you hear of a diocese asking women to prayerfully consider the call to religious life  so we must thank the Diocese of Des Moines for developing one called Bella Vita (which is Italian for “beautiful life”). And what a beautiful life!

The goal of Bella Vita is to introduce young women to Sisters joyfully living out God’s call in their own lives. The next event is scheduled for April 18, at St. Theresa Parish in Des Moines. The evening starts with 30 minutes of adoration followed by dinner and fellowship with a School Sister of Christ the King (an IRL Affiliate Community), from Lincoln, NE, and two Handmaids of the Heart of Jesus from Minnesota.

What a wonderful idea!

News, Women's Communities

Last Titanic Story

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Sorry, one more Titanic story (written Lord David Alton) because it comes full circle to the first one I noted about Fr. Thomas Browne, SJ, who was on the Titanic but providentially left her before she set sail for New York.

The Titanic was operated by the White Star Line whose chairman was J. Bruce Ismay, one of only 710 survivors of over 1500 passengers (and a pariah for his presumed cowardice). His father’s partner in the business was William Imrie who since he was childless, adopted his niece Amy in 1872 and made her his heir.

After her conversion to Catholicism, Amy embarked on a Grand Tour of Europe. While in Assisi at the basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli, she vowed to give her life to Christ as a Poor Clare. When Imrie died in 1907, a nun of poverty became an extremely wealthy woman.

Amy, known as Mother Mary Clare, used her money to build the stunning church of St Mary of the Angels in Liverpool, England. Mother Mary Clare said that, “Liverpool people will never be able to visit Rome, so I will bring Rome to them.” What a beautiful testimony to the power and purpose of our beautiful cathedrals and churches so often castigated as a waste of money. Her grand nephew said that his great aunt “deliberately located the church in what was, and still is, one of the poorest wards in England. Her dream was to enable those less fortunate than herself to be able to worship in a setting containing architecture and works of art that would stand comparison with the finest in Europe.”

The Church is now closed but is open to the faithful. This year an selection of photos taken of the Titanic by Fr Francis Browne, SJ, who was himself a periodic visitor to Liverpool will be exhibited this weekend.

News, Women's Communities

Vatican Calls For Reform of the LCWR

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“The Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) has called for reform of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) and named Archbishop Peter Sartain of Seattle as its archbishop delegate for the initiative.” This was the headline on Zenit today. The release highlighted “addresses given at LCWR assemblies (that) contained serious theological and doctrinal errors.”

Most of the IRL women religious belong to communities that are part of the Council of Major Superiors of Women Religious (CMSWR), the LCWR counterpart, that was founded in 1992 to promote religious life in the Unites States. The CMSWR seek to promote unity among Major Superiors, thus testifying to their union with the Church’s Magisterium and their love for the Vicar of Christ on earth. They also staunchly back the Bishops as they fight the assault on our religious liberty.

Let us pray that all faithful women religious may come together as one. The Church teaches that “the bishops have by divine institution taken the place of the apostles as pastors of the Church, in such wise that whoever listens to them is listening to Christ and whoever despises them despises Christ and him who sent Christ.” (CCC 862)

News, Women's Communities

Honk If You Love Nuns!

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During spring break this year instead of heading for Daytona Beach, 12 young women decided to participate in a “Nun Run,” a beautiful journey of faith which allowed them to see different communities and their apostolates up close and personal. All twelve students were from Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas, whose 2 traveling minivans were decorated with the words: “BC Nun Run” and “Honk if you love nuns!”

Their journey took them to 5 IRL Affiliate Communities: the School Sisters of Christ the King; Marian Sisters; The Benedictine Sisters, Mary Queen of the Apostles; the Little Sisters of the Poor (see their write up on the 4 days spent there); and the Sisters of Saint Francis of the Holy Eucharist. The “run” ended at the IRL Midwest Meeting in Independence, MO, where Fr. Thomas Nelson, O.Praem., offered advice on the practical steps for vocational discernment in general and discerning a religious community in particular.

One young women said, “The breathtaking truth that is found in religious life was clearly felt and experienced. And it has helped me so much to grow as a person, to love others, to live and share my life with others. It has been great!”

 

News, Women's Communities

The Growing Norbertine Family

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The Sisters of the Canonry of the Bethlehem Priory of St. Joseph in Tehachapi, California, otherwise known as the Norbertine Canonesses are expanding! On March 30, 2012, a groundbreaking ceremony was held marking a new chapter in the life of this new community which was founded in 1997. The canonesses have grown from five members to 25 members,  ten of whom who are in final vows.

The old modular trailers are a “health hazard” and a new building will accommodate not only the nuns but also their artisan cheese, biscotti and jam production. The nuns also make priestly vestments and sell Christmas wreaths. Over 1000 were shipped last year!! Plan a retreat with them and stay at their guest house for a time of spiritual renewal.

The Norbertines were founded by St. Norbert on Christmas Day in 1121 in France. The canonesses in the spirit of St. Norbert sing the divine office seven times a day in community in both Latin and English. They are the first women Norbertines in the US.

Click here for the full story in the Tehachapi News. Zenit also had a wonderful story after their solemn possession in 2011.

Women's Communities

A Beautiful and Real Vocation Story

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Annie Stuhlsatz, now Sr. Mary Lucia, unexpectedly heard the first stirrings of a vocation call when she attended a retreat one summer while in high school and the priest asked those who were interested in religious life or the priesthood to come forward.  She was shocked and “terrified” that she felt strongly motivated to come forward. However, she didn’t know any sisters or what religious life was like so, “I didn’t move.” But when she stayed at convents and monasteries on a journey east, she discovered that “Sisters are real, and they’re kind of fun.”

When she visited a  convent in Wichita, right close to home, she thought, “Why not here?” Now she is a novice with the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, an IRL Affiliate Community, along with two other novices. Before religious life she was searching and lost but now she says she has joy and contentment and peace. Her mother says, “She’s so happy, so beaming, so much at peace….We’re very proud of her.”

Read the full story in the Wichita Eagle.

Women's Communities

Vocations Up North

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It is encouraging to see that the faith is alive and well in Canada from whence you hear so many stories about the decline of the Church.

On the Feast of the Annunciation, March 26th this year, 4 women professed vows  and 5 women were established as members of a new community in Ottawa called the Queenship of Mary.  The ceremony was held at the beautiful Notre Dame Cathedral Basilica where they received their habits and new religious names.

 

Cloistered life, Women's Communities

You Shall Run and Not Grow Weary

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On March 10, 2012, the Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration in Tonopah, Arizona, an IRL Affiliate Community, held their 3rd Annual Nun Run to raise funds to continue the building Our Lady of Solitude Monastery. Previous runs allowed them to complete for the most part their chapel. Current funds will be used for the monastery enclosure walls.

The run attracted 1,135 runners and walkers and “shadow” participants from around the world, including Rome and Zambia. Runners wore shirts with this year’s motto from Isaiah 40:31: “You Shall Run and Not Grow Weary.”

The nuns, the first contemplative order in the Phoenix diocese, arrived in 2005. Eucharistic Adoration is their apostolate, for as their Foundress, Mother Marie of St. Claire, once said: “We are adorers of the Most Blessed Sacrament and the purpose of our adoration is thanksgiving.”  Essentially, they begin to do on earth what every blessed soul will do for all eternity:  praise, adore, and offer thanksgiving to our God.

For the complete article, visit the National Catholic Register website.