Tag Archives: Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration

Cloistered life, Women's Communities

Magdala Apostolate – For Cloistered Women Religious Too!

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By Mother Mary Paschal, PCPA, Abbess

Several years ago, a friend of our community who is an integral member of the Magdala Apostolate venture, encouraged us to take the plunge and join in the classes they offered. A period of discernment ensued since an online forum of classes was so far outside our realm of lived experience in the cloister. Yet the opportunity for ongoing formation offered by Magdala answered a real need that was not being met in our studies and classes. For many an enclosed monastery, bringing in someone to teach the basics of theology or philosophy is a rare feat that is seldom realized.

Thus the Magdala Apostolate offers an ingenious gift to women religious around the world. Under the guidance from proficient clergy, scholars, and professors, the horizons and the heights of our Catholic Faith and Tradition are opened up for apostolic and contemplative religious. The courses on Scripture and the Liturgy have deepened our life of prayer and illuminated the mystery of Christ in which we are immersed every day. Philosophy and Theology classes have opened the door for many of our Sisters to search with greater understanding for the wisdom hidden in Christ. We have benefited greatly from the classes offered on Religious Life itself and have often learned much from the insights and questions asked by fellow Religious Sister-students.

It would be impossible to quantify the gift that Magdala Apostolate has made towards our human and spiritual formation over the past few years. It has struck us deeply how much those who give their time and resources to make this endeavor possible, believe in the importance of building up a solid formation program for women religious. Joining with fellow Sisters and teachers of the Faith each week, we experience the truth of St. Paul’s exhortation through Magdala: that their hearts may be encouraged as they are knit together in love, to have all the riches of assured understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, of Christ, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Col 2:3).

 Mother Mary Paschal, PCPA, Abbess
Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration
Our Lady of the Angels Monastery
Hanceville, Alabama

The Magdala Apostolate is an outreach project of the Institute of Catholic Culture and is dedicated to providing sound doctrinal formation, both initial and ongoing, for women religious and novices, in accord with the Church’s call for a new evangelization.

Cloistered life, Women's Communities

A Desert Nun’s Clothing Ceremony

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dseet nunOn June 6th, Jennifer Meissonnier became Sr. Augusta Mary of Our Lady of Grace, becoming clothed in the habit of the Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration  in Tonopah, Arizona. They are commonly referred to as the “desert nuns.”

The image of the desert is appropriate because it was the underlying theme behind Sr. Marie Andre’s talk during the ceremony. As she rightly pointed out, many people misunderstand the call to the cloistered life, viewing it as “barren.” On the contrary, a life lived in response to the Lord’s call is always fruitful. “Our life here justifies the absence of an exterior apostolate/working out in the world,” said Sr. Marie Andre, “by drawing down from Heaven an abundance of divine grace to assist the evangelical workers (especially priests and active-order Sisters) in the field of their labors.”

As Jennifer began her journey into the desert, Sister Marie Andre quoted Fr. Robert Barron who said quite beautifully: “The desert represents a stripping away so as to make the fundamental things appear. In the desert there are no distractions or diversions or secondary matters. Everything is basic, necessary, simple. One survives or one doesn’t. One discovers in the desert strengths and weaknesses she didn’t know she had.”

Sister Marie Andre asked the question posed by the Psalmist long ago: “”Is it possible for God to prepare a table in the desert?’ (Psalm 78) And like the Israelites of old, we have to say YES!!!! Not only a table with the manna of old, but a Eucharistic Throne, and this happens because God does all!”

Here are some highlights from the clothing ceremony. God bless Sr. Augusta Mary of Our Lady of Grace!

 

 

 

Cloistered life, Women's Communities

Mother Angelica Update

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m angelicaThe Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration in Alabama recently gave an update on Mother Angelica’s health. As they relate in their newsletter, Mother is living a “life of silence in union with Jesus in His Sacred Childhood, with all His helplessness and dependence on others.”

 “Although she is bedridden, Mother Angelica is strong and doing well. Our good Friars celebrate Mass in her room on Sundays, and each morning she receives our Lord in Holy Communion, the Divine Life that sustains her and gives her strength.
“Thirteen years ago on Christmas Eve, Mother said, ‘Jesus is coming today and I am going to the Chapel to wait for Him.’ It was there before Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament that Jesus visited her with a stroke. Since then she has lived a life of silence in union with Jesus in His Sacred Childhood, waiting till He comes again.
“In her later years, before the stroke, Mother Angelica developed a great devotion and love for the Divine Child and it seems that Jesus wants her to experience His own Childhood with all His helplessness, totally dependent on others.
“So as she waits, Jesus continues to come to her in His hidden Presence in the Eucharist. It is Jesus who lives His life in her. With St. Paul she can say, ‘It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.'” (Gal. 2:20)

The PCPA nuns were invited to the Diocese of Mobile in 1962. The Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN) was founded on August 15, 1981. In 1999, the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament at Our Lady of the Angels Monastery in Hanceville, north of Birmingham, was consecrated. Mother suffered a severe stroke on Christmas Eve in 2001.

Bringing new life to their beginnings, sisters were sent to their original monastery in Ohio in 2002. They also sent sisters to help restart their “cradle” monastery in France. Two new foundations were begun in Tonopah, Arizona and San Antonio, Texas. And to think that Mother Angelica started EWTN with $200 in a garage. That’s all it takes for the Lord to begin His work.

We pray for blessings on Mother and her sisters, EWTN listeners and viewers, in grateful thanks for all Mother has done for the IRL, religious life and the Church.

News, Women's Communities

Pope John Paul II Eucharist Center Opens

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There are many reason to visit the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Hanceville, Alabama, but now there is another reason: the opening of the John Paul II Eucharistic Center.

Sister Mary Jacinta of the Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration says that many of the people who visit the shrine are not Catholic. Some even come from local colleges on buses to see what a traditional European Church or art looks like. Like the name suggests, Adoration is an important part of the Order’s charism and the exhibits aim to show the purpose and meaning behind Perpetual Adoration. And unfortunately, many Catholics do not understand the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist so it is an educational encounter for them as well.

The exhibits include:

  • Multimedia displays showing how the Passover meal foreshadows the Eucharist
  • Video/depiction of the Last Supper
  • Large paintings from the Masters such as Caravaggio
  • Interactive computer stations where visitors can ask Questions
  • A description of Eucharistic miracles and Eucharistic saints
  • Activities for Children as well

The center is named after Pope John Paul II because of his deep love for the Eucharist. “The Holy Father understood the importance of true culture,” said Sr. Mary Jacinta. “The Eucharistic Center highlights the culture that has flourished from the Church’s Eucharistic life.”

See the complete story in the National Catholic Register.

jpii pics hanceville

 

 

 

 

 

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.

Women's Communities

“Fiddling” For the Roof!

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Sr. Marie Antoinette, PCPA, was a professional violinist before she entered the Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration in 1984, one of the early sisters who joined Mother Angelica’s new community in Birmingham, Alabama.

Now she is using her talents to raise money for the restoration of the Monastere Notre Dame des Anges, their cradle monastery, in Troyes, France.   Their foundress, Mother Marie of St. Claire Bouillevaux, is buried in the monastery garden.

The chapel was renovated and reopened in 2007. In order to raise funds to repair the roof, Sister Marie Antoinette has recorded a CD of Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons and a Sonata by Veracini. The sisters hope to sell hundreds of the CDs to pay for part of the expenses. As Sister said, “You could say I was ‘fiddling’ for the roof!”

Read the complete article in the National Catholic Register (2/26/12). To order the CD, visit the EWTN website or call (800)854-6316.