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.

 

 

News

And the Winner Is…A Sister?

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sr christinaUrsuline Sister Cristina Scuccia was the landslide winner on the Italian show The Voice which features singers ala American Idol I guess!! Click here to hear some of the songs which sent her to the winner’s circle.

After winning the top prize, Sister Cristina led the startled crowd in prayer, a crowd that included her atheist voice coach, rapper J-Ax who warned her that he and the other “bad-boy” coach on stage “will burst into flames.”

Sister Cristina’s version of the Alicia Keys’ song: “No One,” had 51 million views! Pretty amazing for a woman in a habit!

 

Eremitic Life

A Modern Pillar-Hermit

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Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words.

pillar monk

This is a photo of a stylite’s hermitage atop a great stone pillar. A stylite is a person who lives atop a pillar, enduring the solitude and natural elements for love of God. The most famous of them was St. Simeon Stylites who lived in what is now Syria in the 5th C. He lived atop a pillar for over 35 years!

st simeon

This is an image of the pillar-hermit St. Simeon Stylite from a 10th C manuscript. Apparently, his pillar reached the height of 50 feet. He died in 459.

pillar

St. Simeon’s pillar became encased in the center of an octagonal courtyard and complex of buildings. St. Simeon’s pillar can still be seen in the center of the courtyard, although it is now less than 7 feet high. St. Simeon’s relics were mainly taken to Antioch. Pray that the current civil war does not destroy this ancient memorial.

 

maxime climbers

The hermitage in the above photos, located in the country of Georgia, is a 30-foot rock outcrop called Katskhi that was used by Christians until the 15th century. In the 1940’s climbers discovered the bones of the last  inhabitant and and the remains of a chapel.

maxime

Looking at the pillar too was Maxime Qavtaradze, a “bad boy” who sold drugs and ended up in jail. “I used to drink with friends in the hills around here and look up at this place, where land met sky. We knew the monks had lived up there before and I felt great respect for them.” In 1993 Maxime professed monastic vows and began his new life atop the pillar. A little community has formed around him, including priests and troubled people seeking guidance.

maxime base camp

You can order the documentary, Upon this Rock, about Maxim’s life and hermitage.  Proceeds will support the restoration. The Huffington Post also has a great story on Maxime and stunning photos.

News

Honor the Priest

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m angeline

Honor the priest who received your soul as it entered on its spiritual life at Baptism. The priest who nourished it and gave it strength on its pilgrimage. The priest always the priest. Who shall prepare it to go before God, the priest!

And, if my soul should die by sin, who will call it back to life and give it rest and peace? Again, the priest. Can you remember a single gift from God without seeing by its side a priest? Of what use would be a house of gold, if you had no one to open the door for you? The priest has the key to the treasures of God.

If you went to Confession to the Blessed Virgin, or to an Angel, they could not absolve you. They could not give you the Body and Blood of Jesus. The Blessed Virgin could not call her Divine Son down into the Host, and were a thousand angels to exert their power, they could not absolve you from one venial sin.

But a priest, no matter how humble he be, can do all these. He can say, “Go in peace, your sins are forgiven you.” Therefore, honor the priest; pray for the priest.

—Ven. M. Angeline Teresa, O.Carm., Foundress of the Carmelites for the Aged and Infirm

News, Vocations

Here I Am Lord Conference Registration

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Revised HereIAmLordbannerFor those of you not familiar with the annual “Here I Am Lord” Conference held at St. Patrick’s Church in Saint Charles, Illinois, it is an incredible phenomenon. A total of 3000 young people and 55 religious communities attended the annual four-day event which is meant to sow the seeds of vocational awareness.

The weekend features music, speakers, student skits, specialized programs for specific ages and family events. Religious communities staff booths, provide vocational brochures and share information about their ministry and the consecrated life. Sr. Joachima Celinska, OP, from the Dominican Sisters in Justice, Illinois, said, “This is a great event not only for youth but for the family.” She added that the youths waiting in line for confession were a great witness to one another.

The conference was founded in 2003 to promote vocation awareness. The vocations of marriage, single life, religious life and the priesthood are all vocations in the eyes of God and the Church.  HERE I AM LORD provides an opportunity for young people and adults of all ages to recognize that fact. The largest parish-based vocations conference in the United States brings together Religious from across the country to share the joy of their vocation. The best Catholic speakers and musicians join with them to share the joy of their own vocation and faith.

The theme for next year’s (March 5 – 8, 2015) meeting is: Be Not Afraid! And don’t be afraid to register now if you are a religious community. Space is limited!!

 

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.

 

News

Pedaling for the Poor

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tor bikesThis summer, Fr. Matt Russick, T.O.R., is going to cycle more than 250 miles of rail trails across 4 states to raise money for the Franciscans’ ministries to the poor in Steubenville, Ohio. Father’s goal is to reach $5,000 by August 1 when he will arrive, God willing, back in Steubenville.

At the Heart of Mary Mission House in downtown Steubenville,the sisters serve the poor, the sick and the oppressed, sharing the good news and instilling hope and healing. They also coordinate a ministry at Samaritan House Thrift Store, a clothing store and emergency food center. In addition to this, the sisters also run a catechetical soup kitchen.

Father’s trip will begin in Hancock, Maryland, and will probably follow the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal, the Great Allegheny Passage and the Panhandle Trail. If you would like to donate to help this worthy cause, pledges can be made through PayPal on their Pedaling for the Poor fundraising website. Donations may also be made by check, payable to Franciscan Sisters, T.O.R. with “Pedaling for the Poor” in the memo line. Please send checks to Franciscan Sisters, T.O.R. 369 Little Church Road, Toronto, OH 43964.

“Our ministry aims to restore the dignity of those who through poverty, various forms of oppression, or suffering, have lost the sense of their preciousness as being a son or daughter of God” (Constitutions 88).

Men's communities

East Meets West on EWTN

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abbott nick

We at the IRL were privileged to spend 2 days at The Holy Resurrection Monastery in St. Nazianz, Wisconsin, a year or so ago. We were also blessed to have Abbot Nicholas Zachariadis celebrate the Divine Liturgy at the 2013 National Meeting. He has some beautiful and profound insights into the gifts that the Eastern Church can offer the West. For me, the Byzantine awareness of this passing life and our approaching final judgement needs to be reawakened our hearts. There is a mysticism, a profound encounter with heavenly realities that is present in the Eastern Catholic Divine Liturgy.

On April 9, Abbot Nicholas joined Fr. Mitch Pacwa, SJ, on EWTN to discuss the growth of his new community of Byzantine monks. And they are growing, thanks be to God.

Also, an article by Abbot Nicholas and Benjamin Mann recently appeared in The Catholic World Report. They have this to say about the New Evangelization: To re-evangelize the West, the Church must recover its mystical heritage – but this task requires contact with the living monastic tradition. Monasteries are thus essential to the New Evangelization.

And what is mysticism? Mysticism means relating to God on the deepest level of our being. It means knowing and loving him in a transcendent way, in keeping with His infinite and unfathomable nature. This profound communion with the Triune God is the reason for our existence, the true meaning of our lives.

By encountering our Eastern tradition, Western Christians can reconnect with their own mystical and monastic roots – as they must, in order to evangelize the spiritual seekers in their midst.

The monks welcome pilgrims and retreatants. One piece of advice: do not plug a hair dryer into the shaver outlet. You’ll blow the lights out of a good portion of the monastery!

To those who doubt the value of monasticism for the New Evangelization, we say: “Come and see!” (John 1:39). For the witness of our tradition cannot be conveyed by words alone.

 

 

News

Dominican Evangelization on the Streets of DC

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op lean on meWhen you see a group of people singing “Lean on Me” on a busy city street, you might think it is a throwback to the 1970’s. However, this group of singers are Dominican friars and sisters who took to the streets of Washington, DC, on May 17th to do a little street evangelization.

The friars are from the Dominican House of Studies, while the sisters came from Ann Arbor, Michigan, and the Dominican Sisters of Rosary House.

For the Dominicans, this was their way of spreading Easter joy. While they handed out rosaries and pamphlets explaining this prayerful  way of meditating on Scripture, they drew people in by engaging them in song. It was a way for an encounter with Christ to take place.

“Music is such a beautiful expression of Gospel joy that it just ‘clicks’ for people,” said Dominican Brother Gregory Pine. Music is a way of “re-presenting the attractiveness of the Gospel in another medium.” Brother Norbert Keliher said that the music and the rosary are a “doorway for evangelization.”

To see this energetic group in action, go to YouTube to watch their rendition of “Lean on Me!”

You can support the young Dominicans friars of the  Province of St. Joseph by purchasing their first release from Dominicana Records, In Medio Ecclesiae. In Medio Ecclesiae offers chant and polyphonic treasures of the Church’s musical tradition as well as two new compositions by Dominican friars. Click here to listen to the Good Friday meditation: O vos omnes (“O all you who walk by on the road, pay attention and see if there be any sorrow like my sorrow.”)

Dominican Students of the Province of Saint Joseph
Dominican Students of the Province of Saint Joseph

 

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.