Tag Archives: vocations

Teens seek vocations through SEARCH retreat

Posted on by
Reply

By Abbey Schuhmann
High school juniors and seniors from across the Diocese of Jackson gathered at Camp Wesley Pines near Hazlehurst Nov. 11-13 for the fall diocesan SEARCH Retreat. SEARCH is a Catholic youth retreat that models the Cursillo retreat for adults but designed for youth in grades 11th-12th who have a strong desire to deepen their faith and relationship with Christ.
A retreat “for teens, led by teens,” SEARCH is an experience like none other with a strong focus on vocations. It engages youth in a special way and calls them to live out their Catholic faith in a bold, real, active and healthy way.
SEARCH first started in this diocese in the 1970s but interest in it declined in the 1980s. In 2003, Father Mike O’Brien and Father Frank Cosgrove approached Jackson St. Richard parishioners Ann and Jeff Cook and encouraged them to re-introduce the SEARCH retreat to the diocese.
Having lived in Austin, Texas, and participated with multiple SEARCH retreats there, the Cooks coordinated bringing in a team from Austin to lead the first SEARCH retreat in nearly 20 years for our Diocese in January 2004. The first youth staff from the diocese led the next SEARCH retreat under the leadership from volunteers, Ann and Jeff Cook in May of 2004.
During the past 13 years, the diocese has held more than 25 SEARCH retreats under the leadership of the Cooks.
Much of what happens in the retreat is kept a mystery but a few things are certain – you will have fun, you will be challenged to grow in your faith and chances are you will make a few new friends.
The retreat team is primarily made up of a youth staff from teens who have previously attended a SEARCH retreat. Once a teen attends a SEARCH retreat weekend, he or she has the opportunity to apply to staff future retreats.
The adults who are present throughout the weekend serve “behind the scenes.” It is the teens who lead this retreat. The SEARCH model really gives our youth the opportunity to demonstrate and carry out servant leadership. This retreat would not be possible without the help of adult volunteers who have served in this ministry for so many years.
We are especially grateful to Ann and Jeff Cook for continuing to serve as the volunteer, adult SEARCH coordinators. Without their dedicated service, this ministry would not be where it is today.
The SEARCH ministry is alive and well in the diocese and the SEARCH family continues to grow through each retreat.
The Office of Youth Ministry is currently looking at dates in 2017 for future SEARCH retreats. We are always looking for adults who are open to serving in the SEARCH ministry. If you are interested, contact Abbey Schuhmann, coordinator for the Office of Youth Ministry, abbey.schuhmann@jacksondiocese.org, 601-949-6934.

Teens on SEARCH retreat take time for prayer outside. (Photos by Abbey Schuhmann)

Teens on SEARCH retreat take time for prayer outside. (Photos by Abbey Schuhmann)

Young people on the Search retreat spend time at liturgies such as this one. Tim Cook and Ellie Smith led music during the retreat.

Young people on the Search retreat spend time at liturgies such as this one. Tim Cook and Ellie Smith led music during the retreat.

Called to Serve: Pray for seminarians, priests, religious

Posted on by
Reply

During National Vocations Awareness Week, we ask you to keep the seminarians, priests and religious for the Diocese of Jackson in your prayers. Here is a look at orders serving in the Diocese of Jackson.

Brothers:
Congregation of Christian Brothers, C.F.C
Franciscans, O.F.M.
Missionary Servants of the Most Holy Trinity, S.T.

Priests:
Priests of the Sacred Heart, S.C.J.
Diocesan Priests
Franciscan Friars, O.F.M.
Missionary Servants of the Most Holy Trinity, S.T.
Norbertine Fathers, O.Praem.
Redemptorist Fathers, C.Ss.R.
Society of the Divine Word, S.V.D.
St. Joseph’s Society of the Sacred Heart, S.S.J.

Sisters:
Adrian Dominican Sisters, OP
Congregation of Humility of Mary, CHM
Congregation of Sisters of St. Agnes, CSA
Dominican Sisters of Racine, WI, OP
Dominican Sisters of Sinsinawa, WI, OP
Dominican Sisters of Springfield, IL, OP
Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity, OSF
Franciscan Sisters of Little Falls, MN, OSF
Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, FSPA
Missionaries Guadalupanas of the Holy Spirit, MGSpS
Order of the Discalced Carmelites, OCD
Sisters for Christian Community, SFCC
School Sisters of Notre Dame, Atlantic Midwest Province, SSND
School Sisters of Notre Dame, Central
Pacific Province, SSND
School Sisters of St. Francis, OSF
Sisters of Charity of Nazareth, SCN
Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary, US/Ontario Province, SNJM
Sisters of the Holy Spirit and Mary Immaculate, S.H.Sp.
Sisters of the Living Word, SLW
Sisters of Mercy of the Americas, South Central Community, RSM
Sisters of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, PBVM
Sisters of St. Francis of the Holy Family, OSF
Sisters of St. Francis, OSF
Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, CSJ
Sisters of St. Joseph of Chestnut Hill, SSJ
Sisters of St. Joseph of Baden, PA, CSJ
Solitary, Diocese of East Anglia, UK
Union of Presentation Sisters, PBVM

Guest Column: At life’s end, your best gift

Posted on by
Reply

By Sister Constance Veit, l.s.p.
As a resident of Washington, D.C., I have been closely following the campaign to legalize assisted suicide in our nation’s capital.
At the same time, my siblings and I have spent the last two weeks at my mother’s bedside in a hospital intensive care unit in my hometown. For days, I’ve been watching the physicians and nurses tending, with incredible focus and professionalism, to my mother, who is unconscious. No clinical sign has been left unexamined; no potential treatment option left undiscussed. Witnessing all of this has given me a lot to think about.
Such attention to detail; so many resources spent on a single life – and the lives of each of the other critically ill patients in this and so many other hospitals – how can we explain such an intense level of financial and human investment in the sick and elderly?
For me the answer to this question is obvious: Each human life is worth our care and attention because every person has been created in God’s image and likeness and is thus endowed with inviolable dignity and worth. As Pope Benedict XVI often said, “Each of us is willed, each of us is loved, each of us is necessary” in God’s plan.
Every human life is sacred, even when the individual is unaware or no longer values life.

Sr. Viet

Sr. Viet

To those who are advocating for the ability to cut short the lives of the sick and elderly, and to those who express the desire to end life on their own terms, we must offer a heartfelt response: Even if you no longer value your own life, we do. We value your life because you are inherently worthy of love and reverence. There is no need to prove your usefulness or your personal worth; you are valuable simply because you are, and because you are a fellow child of God.
The sick, disabled and elderly play an essential role in our human community, in part, because they draw us together and teach us, through their state of dependence, how to be more loving. This was highlighted by Tracy Grant of The Washington Post, whose reflection about caring for her terminally ill husband went viral several weeks ago.
Grant referred to the time she spent caring for her husband as the best months of her life. Prior to her husband’s illness, she wrote, “I had yet to discover the reason I was put on this earth. During those seven months, I came to understand that whatever else I did in my life, nothing would matter more than this. Even though I really didn’t know how this would end.”
“Some days were more difficult than others,” Grant recalled, “but there were moments of joy, laughter, tenderness in every day – if I was willing to look hard enough. I found I could train myself to see more beauty than bother, to set my internal barometer to be more compassionate than callous. But I also discovered that with each day, my heart and soul grew more open to seeing this beauty than at any other time in my life.”
Grant believes that she “will never again be as good a person” as she was when she cared for her husband. “I am a better person for having been [his] caregiver,” she concluded. “It was his last, best gift to me.”
My siblings and I returned home to share a home-cooked meal dropped off by an old friend. We watched the World Series and talked about all we’ve been through with my mother so far, as well as our own wishes and intentions in such a situation. If my mother had chosen to check out early, we, her children, would not have these weeks together to shower her with our love and grow up a little more, together. This may be her last, best gift to us.
As you consider your end of life wishes think twice before you deprive your family members and friends of your last, best gift.
(Sister Constance Veit, l.s.p., is director of communications for the Little Sisters of the Poor.)

‘God charmed me’ into life of simplicity, joy

Posted on by
Reply
JACKSON – Missionaries Guadalupanas of the Holy Spirit Sisters Lourdes Gonzalez (right) and Obdulia Olivar share a happy smile during the recent meeting of Hispanic ministers in Jackson.

JACKSON – Missionaries Guadalupanas of the Holy Spirit Sisters Lourdes Gonzalez (right) and Obdulia Olivar share a happy smile during the recent meeting of Hispanic ministers in Jackson.

By Sister Lourdes Gonzalez, MGSpS
“Vocational experience! Are you crazy? What is happening to you? I don’t understand anything” These are some of the comments I heard from several people when I shared with them my desire to respond to God’s call, when He was calling me to be part of his life, to dedicate my life to him, in service to my brothers and sisters.
With simplicity, I share with you the way in which God charmed me and I let myself be seduced by him.
I was 20-years-old when suddenly, without knowing why, I began to feel a sense of emptiness, of dissatisfaction. Nothing of what I did or saw around me made sense. By then I had finished my interior decoration studies at the University of Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico, and I was working. With my savings I had bought a new car which made me feel like I was living in a dream. I was very pleased to have achieved one of my dreams in such a short time.
And I had a boyfriend. He was a nice young man, a professional, responsible and respectful. It was a good match, as it is commonly said. I also had good friends with whom I traveled frequently to the beach and other places we enjoyed and I had a good relationship with my extended family. I could not understand why I was feeling this inner emptiness.
Although my parents were active Catholics, I only attended Mass on Sundays and Holy Days but tried to live my life in a very healthy and responsible way. I say this to mention that God’s call came without me asking.
I put in my lips the words of the Prophet Amos, “I was not a prophet nor the son of prophet, I was a pastor and seller of figs.” The Lord took me from following the flock and said to me, go prophesy to my people Israel.”(Amos 7:14-16)
I went through a period of uncertainty, searching in my inner self, trying to figure out, to discover what was going on. I wanted to get to the root of this feeling so strange that I was experiencing in my heart.
By chance, one day I met Mother Mary of Jesus Ramos, MGSpS, who worked in my parish, Immaculate Heart of Mary. She had been working there for two years but I didn’t know her. I remember very well, it was a Tuesday. Luckily, I was at home that day and at 5 in the afternoon as she knocked on the door to lead a Bible study, something she did weekly at different homes as part of her apostolate.
As soon as I saw her my heart began to beat at a rapid pace, as if the presence of a religious was a novelty to me, as if I had never seen a Sister in my life. That was not the case because I had studied at a Catholic school with the Servants of Jesus of the Blessed Sacrament.
Since the first moment I was very impressed by Mother Mary – her joy, her joviality, when my gaze crossed with hers, and I liked the way she conducted the meeting, so cordial, direct when she spoke to all the people gathered there.
From then on I asked her to talk with me so she could help me discover what was going on in my life. Kindly she accepted, I don’t remember how often we gathered and for how long we talked.
Finally I asked her to let me live an experience with the community to learn more, to see how they lived and what they were doing. A short time later she told me I could go to Morelia to have an experience with the postulants (girls who are starting their process in religious life).
I remember that when I arrived at the community’s house, and from the moment they opened the door I said ‘here it is! This is what I am looking for!’
The ministry I have undertaken as a Missionary Guadalupana of the Holy Spirit has been in this beloved country, United States, specifically in California, Florida, Georgia, Massachusetts and now here in Mississippi for almost six years. Currently I am serving the Hispanic community of Jackson St. Therese Parish.
“You duped me, O Lord, and I let myself be duped; you were too strong form me, and you triumphed. (Jr. 20:7)

Sr. Bernadette felt call to religious life early

Posted on by
Reply

By Sister Bernadette McNamara, S.H.Sp.
I’m a Sister of the Holy Spirit and Mary Immaculate. Our Motherhouse is located in San Antonio, Texas, the cradle of our foundation.
I grew up in a loving and faith filled family on Achill Island, County Mayo, Ireland. I was the third oldest of 12 children. I had a wonderful childhood though because of health issues, aggravated by the dampness on the island, my father had to work in England and we only got to see him, for a week, every few months.
As a young girl, Missionary Sisters often visited our elementary school, many of whom worked in Africa – they told us stories and showed us pictures of their missionary work among African children who were very poor. They asked us to sell tickets and fill “mite boxes” with our pennies to support their work. I began to dream of one day working with those children – my vocation was born.

Sister Bernadette McNamara narrates the annual Holy Family Early Learning Center Passion Play in this 2014 file photo.

Sister Bernadette McNamara narrates the annual Holy Family Early Learning Center Passion Play in this 2014 file photo.

I didn’t know how my dream would become a reality, but the Holy Spirit has a way of guiding each one of us exactly where God wants us to be. I went to live with my aunt, in County Galway; she lived close to the convent and high school where the Sisters of the Holy Spirit and Mary Immaculate lived and taught. I was 12 years old at that time.
When I was 15, I told my parents that I had decided to join the sisters. On January 6, 1950, I bid farewell to my beloved family and with two others, I entered the Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Spirit and Mary Immaculate. A few months later, on July 4, we left on the Mauretania – a passenger ship bound for New York. We made the trip to San Antonio by train. There I received my formation as a Sister of the Holy Spirit, and continued my education, first at St. Mary’s University and later at the University of Incarnate Word.
I pronounced my first vows as a religious sister in 1952. During the next 64 years I lived a full and rich life, which had its challenges but also an abundance of joys and blessings. In the earlier years I taught in schools in Texas, and in New Orleans, Louisiana, where I taught for a year and then became the school principal.
I had the privilege of ministering with and for the people of Mississippi for 21 great years – 12 as principal of St. Peter the Apostle Elementary School in Pascagoula and nine at Holy Family in Natchez. St. Peter the Apostle School in Pascagoula was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina and the pastor decided it was not feasible to rebuild. And so ended my ministry there.
I volunteered to go to Natchez to teach. Two years after I arrived, the elementary school closed because of financial challenges. In the fall of 2007 an Early Childhood Learning Center opened at Holy Family and I was asked to serve as the Catholic identity and financial director of the Program. Talk about life after death. The following eight years were a mixture of so many joys and blessings, but also some serious challenges.
In March 2015 I had a serious fall. I broke my second cervical vertebra. After time in the hospital and physical therapy I was able to travel. I moved to our Motherhouse in San Antonio where I now reside. Although I had to leave Natchez, I left my heart there with the beautiful people who were such a blessing in my life. I continue to support the program from a distance, through my daily prayers and in any other way I can offer my support.
(Sister McNamara lives in retirement in San Antonio. See the ad on this page for an address.)

New Carmelite leader gives parents credit for deep faith

Posted on by
Reply
In this file photo from 2015, Sister Mary Jane of the Resurrection (right) shares a laugh with Sister Cor Christi Abenio and Lloyd Chatham during the art show of Sister Mary Muriel Ludden, a Discalced Carmelite nun who died in 2013.(Photo by Elsa Baughman)

In this file photo from 2015, Sister Mary Jane of the Resurrection (right) shares a laugh with Sister Cor Christi Abenio and Lloyd Chatham during the art show of Sister Mary Muriel Ludden, a Discalced Carmelite nun who died in 2013.(Photo by Elsa Baughman)

By Elsa Baughman
JACKSON – Before she came to the United States from the Philippines to serve at the Carmelite Monastery, Sister Mary Jane of the Resurrection had been a Carmelite nun for 35 years. She says her calling began to develop at a very young age when her neighbor would come to her house to read her and her siblings children’s books about the life of the saints. “I was about seven years old, and these stories, which were very easy to follow, taught us about how to practice virtues such as acts of love, kindness,” she remembers. “These hidden messages stuck with me.”
One of the books she loved the best was the life of St. Therese of Avila. Later in life, Sister Mary Jane was attracted to silence and solitude, something she thinks is a gift from God because while she was surrounded by all the noise she was able to feel the presence of God. “I think I got this feeling from St. Therese.”
She learned a lot from reading the life of St. Therese but she attributes her faith to her parents who were devoted Catholics.
She had a normal life growing up in the Philippines. She had friends, went to parties, joined clubs, was a ballet dancer. But her calling was haunting her. “I wanted to put this feeling aside because I wanted to enjoy the life I was having but the calling kept haunting me,” she noted. “I even considered marriage life in the future but then I thought if I married there was not coming back.
“With time I began to feel the need to address God’s will for me and when I made my decision to answer His call there was this feeling of liberation, of peace, it was a confirmation that God was going to protect me.”
She grew up with the Columban Sisters from Ireland who ran the school she attended. Remembering her childhood, when she started to hear the Lord’s calling, Sister Mary Jane said she was attracted to their mission but at the time she was looking for something that she didn’t find in that congregation.
At the age of 15, she thought about applying at the Carmelite congregation and without telling anyone she went to their monastery to speak to the prioress, a French nun who could barely speak English. When she told her about her intentions to enter the monastery the nun told her, “Oh my child, there is only one St. Therese.” Sister Mary Jane had a good laugh reminiscing this scene.
The prioress encouraged her to go back home, to continue her high school studies and to return after she was sure about her vocation. “And I just did that. I really wanted to ‘taste’ how their life was.”
At 18 she returned to the monastery to begin her religious life. She said she thought that if she didn’t like it she would go back home to start college.
“Here I am, 45 years later and enjoying my life as a Carmelite nun. She says she could have gone the other way but this was a special call. “I have always felt I am one of the few chosen. Everything comes from him and I did his will. I am happy where I am. My life as a Carmelite nun is a life of prayer. We spend much of our life praying not only for the church but for all people of the world, for peace, for refugees, for the unborn. We do it for our love for him, to save souls, to save sinners. This is my great joy, praying.”
In fact, the sisters gather seven times a day to pray as a community and they are required to have individual prayers in the morning and in the evening as well as spend time in silence.
Sister Mary Jane, who has been living in the Carmelite Monastery for 10 years, was elected as prioress of her community on May 24 of this year and installed by Bishop Joseph Kopacz during a special Mass at the monastery.
About her new role in the community she says that it’s a big responsibility. “I do my part to serve the community and I feel myself as a servant of the servants.”
There are five sisters living in the monastery at his moment.

Dominicans offer invitation to adventure

Posted on by
Reply

Dear Catholic Women of Mississippi,
National Vocation Awareness Week is wrapping up. Will you join me and all of our Springfield Dominican Sisters in Jackson and around the world in praying for young people who are discerning religious life?
Do you know someone you feel has the gifts to be a sister?
Be in touch. I’m happy to share with you some tips for how to water the seed of God’s call in someone you know and love. Check out springfieldop.org/a-gift-for-you/.
Interested in Dominican life for yourself? Keep reading!
Do you have a heart made for God?

Sr. Marron

Sr. Marron

Here’s the secret: everyone does! It’s just a matter of being quiet long enough to hear where your heart, already connected to God, is calling you. Do you think religious life takes courage? It does, some. Having courage is the same thing as having “heart.” The ‘cour’ in courage means heart. St. Paul’s talk about being members of the body of Christ is another way of saying that we are deeply connected to one another and to all of God’s creation in the heart of Jesus, God’s love-made-human for us all.
Do you have a sense of adventure?
Do you like the idea of learning a second language? Traveling overseas? Giving a year of service in an unfamiliar city? Then you already have that sense of adventure that might make you an excellent sister-candidate! There is no shortage of adventure when you belong to the Dominican family: sisters, nuns, priests, brothers, laity and associates who circle the globe and are deeply committed to one another and the preaching mission that St. Dominic imagined when he founded the Order of Preachers 800 years ago.
Do you want to be happy?
Who doesn’t! There’s all kinds of evidence that the one thing that makes us happiest — no matter who we are — is a deep sense of gratitude for the gift of our life, the little and big pleasures, wonders, and surprises that keep us aware of the movement of God’s Holy Spirit in our lives and in our world. Being a Catholic sister comes with a HUGE happiness quotient when it’s the right fit for you.
Are you looking for a place to belong?
Sooner or later every person develops her own sense of identity and the awareness that her gifts are meant, not just for herself, but for the well-being of the world. When you come to that realization, life in religious community can be a fantastic place to land!
More about us
People who know us well say that we Springfield Dominican Sisters are effective ministers, powerful pray-ers and hospitable, down-to-earth folks. They see us as leaders in places where God’s people are alive and thriving. We’ve served in the Diocese of Jackson for 70 years at St. Dominic’s Health Services. We also have a broad reach across Illinois, where we are based, in several other states, and in the peaks and valleys of Peru. With us, you and other like-minded women have the opportunity to live out your dreams in ways that can change the world.
It is never too early — or too late — to consider joining St. Dominic’s family, the Order or Preachers. We’d be honored to accompany you on your journey of discernment no matter what time in life you are ready to respond to God’s call.
The easiest way to learn more about being a Dominican Sister is to talk with a Dominican Sister. You can reach out in all the traditional and electronic ways, but the best way is to get to know one of us. You are most welcome to call Sister Susan Karina Dickey at St. Dominic’s in Jackson at 601-200-6829, or to touch base with me in Springfield at srteresa@spdom.org or 217-787-0481.
We are known most prominently for our education and healthcare ministries, but we also minister to people in need of spiritual guidance, pastoral care and counseling. We are caretakers of 150 acres of land in central Illinois where our mission is to care for Earth, our common home. Our sisters have traveled the world to witness to the urgent needs of God’s people in areas of conflict and poverty around the globe.
At our three Illinois high schools — Rosary High School, Aurora; Sacred Heart-Griffin, Springfield; and Marian Catholic, Chicago Heights — we teach and preach the Gospel, passing along to young women and men excellent intellectual training, a love for Jesus, a commitment to truth, and the skills needed for productive and faithful adulthood.
This year we celebrate 70 years of compassionate, healing service to the people of central Mississippi at St. Dominic Health Services, Jackson, where the opportunities to fulfill Jesus’ healing mission are countless.
We also minister in places like Our Lady of the Sioux, at Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in Oglala, South Dakota, and are deeply engaged in accompanying women and men who want to learn English and become U.S. citizens at our two literacy centers in the Chicago area.
Unsure of Where to Use Your Gifts?
That’s okay! You can make your path by walking it. Our Springfield Dominican family includes both North and South Americans. Our Peruvian sisters minister high in the rural Andes and in Lima’s urban center in parishes and in a shelter for homeless elderly women.
We are passionate in our commitment to dismantle systemic racism in the United States and Peru. Our modest efforts have begun to ripple throughout our spheres of influence in exciting, and we believe Spirit-led ways to root out systemic racism.
Let God Prove You Wrong
If you love God and God’s people, and are attracted — even a little bit — to finding yourself by losing yourself in service to the Gospel, then be in touch with us!
Why not give God the opportunity to prove you wrong? You have nothing to lose and everything to gain! There is a place for you as a Springfield Dominican Sister.
I’d love to hear from you. Please be in touch.
In Jesus and St. Dominic,
Sister Teresa Marron, OP

Jubilarians celebrate Mississippi service

Posted on by
Reply

Two Sisters of Charity, BVM, with ties to the Diocese of Jackson celebrated 75 years in religious life this fall. This year the jubilarian group also included sisters celebrating 73, 72 and 70 years.

Sister Curoe

Sister Curoe

Sister Janita Curoe and Sister Kathleen Spurlin (Bernardone) are among 29 diamond jubilarians who gathered in the Mount Carmel Motherhouse Chapel in Dubuque, Iowa, on Sept. 11, for a Liturgy of Thanksgiving.
Sister Curoe was born in Bernard, Iowa, and entered the BVM congregation on Sept. 8, 1946. She professed first vows on March 19, 1949, and final vows on Aug. 15, 1954.
Sister Janita was principal at Clarksdale Immaculate Conception Elementary School and at Jackson Christ the King Elementary School, and served as Madison County literacy coordinator, volunteer tutor, and specialist tutor in Canton.

Sister Spurlin

Sister Spurlin

She taught elementary school and was principal in Davenport, Iowa; and Memphis and Chattanooga, Tenn. Sister Curoe is retired and lives in Dubuque.
Sister Spurlin was born in Nevis, Minn., and entered the BVM congregation on Sept. 8, 1946. She professed first vows on March 19, 1949, and final vows on Aug. 15, 1954.
She taught at Clarksdale Immaculate Conception Elementary School and served as prison chaplain at Mississippi State Penitentiary in Parchman. She was Hospice volunteer chaplain in Hattiesburg and Leakesville, Miss.
She taught elementary and secondary school in Butte and Missoula, Mont.; San Francisco, Phoenix, and Kauai, Hawaii. In Houston, she served in college campus/youth ministry and as teacher. Sister Spurlin is retired and lives in Dubuque.
To send a congratulatory message to a sister on her jubilee or to donate to the BVM congregation on behalf of these sisters, visit www.bvmcong.org/whatsnew_jubs.cfm.

 

Sisters of Charity of Nazareth: ‘lives of quiet hope, deep joy’

Posted on by
Reply

By Dana Hinton

The late Sr. Paula Merrill, SCN, visiting with a patient at the Lexington Medical Clinic in this file photo. She is one of many Sisters of Charity of Nazareth serving around the world. (File Photo)

The late Sr. Paula Merrill, SCN, visiting with a patient at the Lexington Medical Clinic in this file photo. She is one of many Sisters of Charity of Nazareth serving around the world. (File Photo)

We are the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth. We are the community to which Paula Merrill, SCN, belonged. As you probably know, in late August our Sister Paula and her companion in community and ministry, Sister Margaret Held, a School Sister of St. Francis, were murdered in their home.
Sister Paula and Sister Margaret lived in Durant, Mississippi, quietly serving a greatly underserved population as nurse practitioners at a small clinic and living in the community as good neighbors, baking bread to give away, sharing meals, singing in the choir and visiting their patients in their homes when they needed extra care. Paula lived our SCN mission wholeheartedly letting our motto, “the love of Christ impels us” guide her day by day.
Sister Paula’s death was sudden and unusual. Her quiet, dedicated, loving way of living the SCN charism and mission, however, was not unusual. She lived like so many SCNs and Associates who use their expertise, their love and their talents to make real the reign of God that Jesus talks about in the Gospel.
SCNs just like Sister Paula can be found throughout the United States and all around the world, serving in ministries of education, healthcare, and social services. They live lives of quiet hope and with the deep joy that comes from their relationship with the God whose people they love and serve – in the slums of Delhi, walking the halls of the hospice for AIDS patients in Botswana, among the elderly living in poverty in Belize City, with differently-abled children in Nepal, among immigrants in Louisville, KY – just to name a few examples.
We strive to live out our Mission and Vision Statement each day:
Mission: The Sisters of Charity of Nazareth are an international Congregation in a multicultural world. Impelled by the love of Christ, in the tradition of Vincent de Paul and the pioneer spirit of Catherine Spalding, Sisters and Associates are committed to work for justice in solidarity with oppressed peoples, especially the economically poor and women, and to care for the earth. They risk their lives and resources, both personally and corporately, as they engage in diverse ministries in carrying out this mission.
Vision: The Sisters of Charity of Nazareth promote the dignity and equality of women and other oppressed people in Church and in society.
If you are interested in learning more about religious life and the SCN Community, we encourage you to visit: scnfamily.org. You can contact our vocations office at vocation@scnky.org or 502-331-4516.

Called to holiness: Creating a Culture of Vocations

Posted on by
Reply

By Bishop Joseph Kopacz
The work of envisioning and pastoral planning is about to reach a significant juncture in the nearly year long process of 2016, that is, the unveiling of the Mission and Vision statements, the three Pastoral Priorities and their specific Goals for the next two years.
It has been an inspiring grassroots project and the Envisioning Team will have met for the seventh day-long session earlier this week to further refine, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, what will be our direction as a diocese for the years ahead. Of course, the next stage is often the most difficult as we dedicate our efforts to implementation in the new year.
Under the umbrella of one of our pastoral priorities: to form life long intentional disciples, is the promotion of a culture of vocations. What does this mean? This issue of Mississippi Catholic is dedicated to vocations and immediately this can elicit for Catholics the traditional line of understanding, i.e. the ordained and consecrated life. But as the Holy Spirit leads us to the plateau of the second millennium of Christianity we are so much more aware that the Lord Jesus calls all who are baptized in life giving waters to follow him throughout their lives as his disciples.
This universal call to holiness under the impulse of the Holy Spirit, with the mind and heart of Jesus Christ, to the glory of God the Father and in the life of the Church, is the foundation for a culture of vocations. Ordained and religious vocations will emerge from this fertile field.
The seed of faith begun in Baptism, God’s life, the promise of eternal life, is to be nurtured and not neglected, at each stage of our lives. The early years, of course, are like a cornerstone and often provide the guiding light of faith within the family and then further nurtured in parishes, schools and in various ministries. At this stage a young boy or girl is introduced to prayer and the Bible, traditional Catholic devotions and especially the Eucharist, the Mass.
Like sponges a child and teenager can see the faith and goodness at work in the lives of older generations in their lives and these living witnesses will strengthen their experience of the living presence of God in our world. This is the fertile field of the seed of faith falling on good soil. But the obstacles revealed in the Lord’s parable of the Sower and the Seed is just as relevant in our post modern world as it was when he told it from a fisherman’s boat on the sea of Galilee in the ancient world.
The seed of faith can land on the path and can easily be trampled by the busyness of life. The seed can land also on rocks and without the possibility of laying down roots, it is burned up by the heat of the day, which is the inevitable suffering in this world, as well as the not infrequent persecution and hostility directed against the Lord’s disciples.
Furthermore, the seed can fall among thorns and daily anxieties and fears, along with the lure of riches and material well being, can also choke the living Word. But even in the harshest climate life can endure and we believe that nothing is impossible for God because where there is life there is hope.
The Lord calls us to persevere and create those gardens and cultures of faith in our families, parishes, schools and ministries, so that we can be life-long intentional disciples where vocations can flourish.
It requires communities of disciples to pray for and encourage vocations in every age. Vocations to the ordained and consecrated life remain a viable and critically important way to serve the Lord Jesus in our time. For more than a century, beginning in the 1850s, larger immigrant families produced many vocations for the priesthood and religious life. With the dawn of the modern world and for the past half century there have been seismic upheavals in the secular and religious realms calling into question all traditional values.
In fact, now more than ever we need disciples of the Lord who choose to be celibate for the sake of the Kingdom of God. When lived fully and faithfully the ordained and religious are living witnesses to eternal life. For sure, Jesus came to give us abundant life now, but always with a view toward eternity.
The hallmark of the celibate state is love for Jesus Christ and the space allowed for God to be embodied uniquely in this world. Never is it to be an escape from this world, or a state of mind that looks upon married love and children as a lower caste. Rather, it is a way of life that allows one the freedom to balance contemplation and action in loving service to the Lord in the Church and in the world in a life long commitment, mirroring the love of Jesus Christ who is not yes today and no tomorrow.
His love is faithful and permanent. This is a value that the modern world struggles to grasp when everything is relative and temporary. The life long commitment of the ordained and religious is an anchor the modern world which is easily tossed about in the winds of change.
A vocation in the Lord’s service according to God’s plan for our lives is our daily peace and purpose and the promise of eternal life. Just last week after 108 years the Chicago Cubs won the World Series. In the middle of it all stood Father Burke Masters, a Catholic priest of the Diocese of Jolliet and a former baseball standout at Mississippi State with a promising professional baseball career.
A great moment in time for him and the Cubs franchise, for sure, but he is working in a daily field of dreams as he serves in the Lord’s vineyard in the parish, in vocation work and at the ballpark, a blessing far beyond this world’s successes.
For me, by God’s grace and the prayers of many, I embrace my vocation as a labor of love on a field of dreams. Blessings abound. “Love one another as I have loved you and my joy will be yours and your joy will be complete” is the peace that the world cannot give.
Pray for vocations to the priesthood and religious life, encourage them in your families and walk faithfully with the Lord in the land of the living.