News

Resources for Consecrated Virgins

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One of the oldest sacramentals in the Church is Consecrated Virginity. This state in life was restored in the Church following Vatican II. It is still a relatively rare phenomenon in the Church for there are only 215 or so consecrated virgins in the United States.

Barb Swieciak is one of them. She became a consecrated virgin in 1984 in LaCrosse, Wisconsin, and as such has much wisdom to relay to those contemplating this step or those seeking to deepening their understanding of it. At the request of her bishop, Barb has prepared a new resource called Meditations on Mary for those discerning this vocation and for those who have embraced this relationship with the Lord. It is the first in a series of planned books.

Barb started with Mary because “that really is the essence of consecrated virgins living in the world, imitating the Mother of God in her life of holiness, in her purity of heart and intention, and in devoting herself totally to our Lord.” She opens the book with the Angelus, for the Incarnation, where the Word became flesh, is the beginning of the vocation of consecrated virginity.

The book is for anyone wishing to meditate on the mysteries of Jesus’ life, pondered in the heart of His Mother. It is written and designed, not to be read, but to be prayed over. If you want more information or wish to order the book, you can contact Barb at bswieciak@dioceseoflacrosse.com or fill out the PDF form. For more information on consecrated virginity, please visit www.

Consecrated virgins are like the unseen leaven in a bread, the activating agent that makes it rise. They were no distinctive garb, receive no pay from their diocese but through their works of mercy and penance, demonstrate to the world the fruitfulness that comes from their relationship with Jesus, their Spouse.

 

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.”

 

 

Cloistered life, Men's communities

The Hermits of Our Lady of Mount Carmel

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Br_Isaac_Post 108With great joy, the Hermits of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Christoval, Texas, welcomed Br. Isaac Sokolowski as an aspirant on October 1, 2013, the Feast Day of St. Therese of Lisieux. Fr. Fabian Maria said, “He has been a very dear gift of God to us and he has been progressing quickly in the monastic virtues of humility and constant prayer. In light of this, he became a Postulant on March 19, 2014, the Solemnity of St. Joseph.”

The community is growing and can use your help. Two ice storms and other issues prevented them from sending out their Christmas newsletter and product catalog. Visit their website to order jellies, honey, pecans, breads, glazes, biscotti, coffee, peanut brittle and fudge. Wow! They are self-supporting but donations are welcome too!

If you are a young man between the ages of 18 and 40 interested in this eremitical life of humility, solitude, obedience and love, you may come for a weekend visit to experience their life of prayer and work and community. An application is on their website. Men over 40 may be considered as oblates and priests on an individual basis. The next weekend on the schedule is June 6-8, 2014.

The vocation of the Carmelite hermit is the contemplative vocation and the foundations of his life are the Eucharist, Sacred Scripture and devotion to Our Blessed Lady under the title of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. For the hermit, the cell is the place of encounter with God.

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.

 

News

IRL National Meeting 2014 – YouTube Video Links

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exformAnother wonderful IRL National Meeting has come and gone with hundreds of attendees from many, many communities. Franciscans, Norbertines, Dominicans, Carmelites, Hermits, Consecrated Virgins, Consecrated Lay People, Diocesan Priests, Deacons, many other communities, lay people etc. were there in blue, brown, black, white, maroon or grey habits or in civilian clothes as the case may be. People came from California, Florida, Boston, Canada and points in between. Some of the friars were barefoot. One elderly priest made the trip as he always does by greyhound bus and the local train. Some came with no money and relied as they always do on the kindness of strangers to get them safely to their destination.

As one first-time attendee put it: It was God’s creative wisdom fully on display. It was also a foreshadowing of heaven when God will gather all the faithful together in His heavenly embrace.

For those of you who missed attending, all the the talks that took place in the Chapel at St. Mary of the Lake Seminary were recorded. You can click on the link below to watch any of these talks.

IRL 2014 National Meeting Talks and Masses

Friday April 25 Pontifical High Mass

Friday April 25 Rosary and Benediction

Friday April 25 Dr. Timothy O’Donnell “Building a Civilization of Love Through the Sacred Heart of Jesus”

Saturday April 26 Sheila Liaugminas “Having Our Answers Ready”

Saturday April 26 Bishops Panel with Most Rev. Robert Vasa and Most Rev. James C. Timlin

Saturday April 26 Divine Mercy Vigil Mass

Sunday April 27 Divine Mercy Mass

Sunday April 27 Divine Mercy Chaplet and Relic Veneration

Sunday April 27 Mother M. Julie Saegaert, SCMC, “True Holiness, True Joy”

 

 

General interest

Watch 2014 National Meeting Via Live Video Streaming

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40thThrough the generosity of Corey and Katherine Huber of the Mater Ecclesiae Fund for Vocations, we wish to extend a special invitation to all our IRL affiliates, especially cloistered and monastic communities, and IRL friends to participate in the 2014 IRL National Meeting by viewing all the scheduled chapel events online via video streaming.

To view select portions of the National Meeting on Friday, Saturday or Sunday, you can paste this link into your web browser:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrwD_SicR4hbkuvzS-zzf-w/videos?live_view=502&flow=list&view=2&sort=dd

Or you can go to the www.ReligiousLife.com home page and click on the link there.

The link will direct you to a dedicated IRL YouTube channel.

Please note that the times given below are Central Daylight Time. Check the YouTube channel for the times for your particular time zone.

——————————————————————————————————-

 Friday, April 25, 2014

4:00 pm        Pontifical High Mass (Extraordinary Form) celebrated by Most Rev. James Timlin

7:15 pm       Keynote Address: “Building the Civilization of Love through the Sacred Heart of Jesus,”   Dr.  Timothy O’Donnell

8:15 pm         Rosary & Benediction

 Saturday, April 26, 2014

1:30 pm       “Having Our Answers Ready: Combating the Cultural Climate of Confusion and Scorn,” Sheila Liaugminas

2:30 pm       “Our Shepherds Speak,” Panel Presentation featuring Most Rev. Robert F. Vasa  and Most Rev. James C. Timlin, moderated by Dr. Timothy O’Donnell

4:00 pm       Holy Mass, Main Chapel celebrated by Most Rev. Robert F. Vasa

 Sunday, April 27, 2014

9:00 am       “True Holiness, True Joy,” Mother M. Julie Saegaert, S.C.M.C.

10:00 am       Divine Mercy Chaplet & Relic Veneration

10:30 am       Holy Mass celebrated by Rev. Brian Mullady, O.P.


Please keep in your prayers the dear mother of Katherine Huber, Marjorie, who recently passed away. May her soul and the souls of all the faithful departed rest in peace!

Liturgical Year

“The Greatest Easter Painting Ever Made”

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This headline (“The Greatest Easter Painting Ever Made“) piqued my curiosity so I went to the Crisis magazine website to see what the writer was talking about. When I saw the picture, I knew and believed because I have kept a copy of the exact same picture in my desk for years. The painting is by Eugène Burnand and is called “The Disciples Peter and John Running to the Sepulchre on the Morning of the Resurrection.”

It depicts the moments after St. Mary Magdalene has proclaimed to St. Peter and St. John (John 20: 1-10) that the Lord was not in the tomb. They run with haste and urgency to see for themselves what Mary proclaimed to them: “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.”

Easter Monday

Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in.Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. Then the disciples returned to their homes.

The author of the article, Elise Ehrhard, says: “Burnand created a sparse, simple painting capturing two of the most important players in the greatest story ever told. Meditate upon their faces as Burnand intended you to do and through them discover the empty tomb.”

Pro-life

The Colorado Holy Week Miracle

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co lifeIt is easy to get discouraged these days for a whole host of reasons but on this day, Holy Saturday, let us rejoice! The Lord’s Resurrection is at hand!

Earlier this week the news was not good. One of the headlines that was particularly depressing was the fight in Colorado over an abortion bill that would have effectively killed pro-life activities for a good long time.

Colorado Family Action said the legislation could have eliminated a broad range of laws including: parental notification laws, laws promoting maternal health, government programs and facilities that pay for or promote childbirth and other health care without subsidizing abortion, conscience protections laws, laws requiring that abortion only be performed by a licensed physician, laws regulating school health clinics, laws concerning abstinence education, laws affecting pregnancy centers, etc.

But the faithful rallied around their archbishop, Most Rev. Samuel Aquila of Denver, an IRL Episcopal Advisor. He and Greek Orthodox Father Ambrose Omayas and almost 1000 supporters stood on the steps of the Capitol at 3:00 pm on April 15th and prayed the Chaplet of Divine Mercy. On April 12th, the archbishop had issued a letter explaining the dire consequences of the law and what we as Catholics should do about it.

I am prayerfully asking every person of good will to spend 10 minutes this weekend in prayer. Plead to Our Lord for His intercession on behalf of life in Colorado. Also, pray for our politicians on both sides of this issue, particularly for those who work tirelessly and often without recognition to promote life-affirming legislation in our State Capitol. Pray for the conversion of the heart and mind of those who support such irrational, unscientific, and a denial of conscience legislation. (Read the entire letter here.)

“Many of you have lost faith in politics,” he said, “but remember that attitude is not of God and is of the evil one. The devil confuses people and discourages them.” He quoted Pope Francis who said, “The devil is here…even in the 21st century! And we mustn’t be naïve, right? We must learn from the Gospel how to fight against Satan.”

And on April 16th, the bill died.

“Some of the senators have said they have shut off their phones, some of them said they have never been contacted by so many,” the archbishop said during the gathering. “And you can make a difference. Too many times we have taken a backseat, and Catholics, Christians, and people of good will can no longer take a back seat.”

Jenny Kraska of the Colorado Catholic Conference praised everyone who helped, saying, “I cannot thank you all enough for what you did to make this possible—this is truly a miracle.”