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Women Religious: Lives of mercy and justice
Feb. 17, 2010The purpose of Women Religious: Lives of mercy and justice is to draw attention to the remarkable work of women religious around the globe. You won't miss any postings to this new feature, if you sign up to receive an e-mail alert. The sign-up page is here.
'Human formation' for vulnerable youth
Mar. 19, 2010
Denise Pichardo Rodriquez (Dennis Sadowski)
BOCA CHICA, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC -- Boca Chica is a has-been of a resort town along the crystal blue Caribbean. It is a place of worn-out luxury, where prostitutes ply their trade openly and children of poverty, often undocumented Haitians, are easy targets for drug runners and sex traffickers.
A short drive east of the capital city of Santo Domingo, it is also a place of remarkable transformation. Not far from the beach, a compound of buildings called Caminante, which means “one who walks the path,” offers youth a different future. On one day in late October, an industrial-type kitchen in that compound was rich with the aroma of just-baked pizza and bread as more than a dozen students gathered around the finished products.
Lessons learned in Haiti: From the mouths of babes
Mar. 08, 2010
A group of children at the L'Ouverture Cleary School near Port-au-Prince, March 2. (CNS photo/George M. Martell, The Catholic Foundation)
Commentary
I was fortunate enough to be in Haiti twice, once just three days after the earthquake and a second time during the third week post earthquake. My mind is filled with unforgettable experiences, but I want the children of Haiti to speak for themselves, so I will tell you their stories. Each one holds an important lesson for me and, quite possibly, for you, as well. Each child has a unique perception ... about life ... about Haiti’s political reality ... about faith ... about family ... about acceptance and most of all, about hope.
Heeding founders' call, women religious combat racism
Feb. 27, 2010
Mercy Sr. Cora Marie Billings
In 1945, when Mary Paul heard God’s call to religious life, she could not enter any community of women religious in her hometown of Philadelphia, including the Sisters of Mercy. Not because her vocation was untrue, but because she was a person of color. At the time, women of color in the city were referred to three orders: the Oblate Sisters of Providence in Baltimore, the Franciscan Handmaids of Mary in Harlem, N.Y., or the Sisters of the Holy Family in New Orleans -- communities comprised mostly of women of color. Paul entered the Baltimore order. Her story is the story of many other women of color who were refused entrance to so-called “white” communities.
Historian shines light on US sisters' contributions
Feb. 27, 2010
A group of nurses who trained in the Foundling's Infant Care Technician program share mementos of their time together as the agency celebrates its 140th anniversary in New York Oct. 10. the agency was started by the Sisters of Charity in 1869.
Marching along New York’s Fifth Avenue in the 2009 St. Patrick’s Day Parade, many a Sister and a Daughter of Charity heard onlookers shout: “Thank you for teaching me to read.” “Thank you for giving us our baby.” “Thank you for your compassion.”
Organizers dedicated last year’s parade to the Charity sisters in honor of their 200th anniversary and in recognition of their continuous legacy to the city.
Sharing the spirit of Francis and Clare
Feb. 27, 2010
During a Franciscan Common Venture leadership meeting in 2005, Marlene Weisenbeck, right, of the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, offers comfort to a young patient at an orthopedic hospital in Bafut, Cameroon.
A giant washing machine does not immediately conjure images of international peacemaking, but it could -- and it does, for four congregations of Franciscan sisters.
Ten years ago, the Tertiary Sisters of St. Francis did all the laundry for their 200-bed hospital in Shisong, Cameroon, by hand, sanitizing the sheets in huge vats of water boiled over a wood fire. Today, they use industrial washing machines provided by Franciscan sisters in the United States.
A life of change and renewal
Sr. Margaret Brennan's memoir resonates as the story of a religious everywoman
Feb. 19, 2010
From left, Brennan with Passionist Fr. Thomas Berry and Dominican Sr. Donna Markham in Toronto in 1993
Years from now, when historians look back to better understand the mindsets of U.S. women religious who lived through the Second Vatican Council and its aftermath, they would be well advised to read What Was There for Me Once, a memoir by Servant of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Sr. Margaret Brennan.
With a vantage of 65 years as a woman religious, she looks back and in an unassuming manner tells the story of her love affair with religious life during a period of monumental change. Brennan embraced this change, at times being called upon to manage and direct it, causing her bursts of excitement and reexamination, along with disappointment and a tinge of sadness, perhaps for dreams that never quite came to be.
Sisters' hospital takes patients from Haiti's capital
Feb. 17, 2010
A young earthquake victim is brought via helicopter Jan. 28 to receive treatment at the 73-bed Sacred Heart Hospital in Haiti's northern city of Milot. (CNS photo/David Agren)
MILOT, Haiti -- When the earthquake shook Port-au-Prince, the three Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace began to prepare the 73-bed Sacred Heart Hospital in the northern city of Milot.
The influx of critically injured patients has been more than they ever imagined, however. The hospital has opened additional wards in a nearby school and nutrition center and converted a local soccer field into a heliport to receive critically wounded patients, who were unable to get adequate treatment for injuries such as broken bones, burns and infections in the Haitian capital.
By the end of January, the patient count had topped 300, and Irish Sister Ann Crawley said that number was expected to grow.
Nuns help poor people celebrate Tet
Feb. 11, 2010
Nguyen Thi Lanh with her bag of gifts
HUE, Vietnam – Hundreds of poor families will be able to enjoy the upcoming Tet festival a little bit more this year thanks to gifts of food and cash from Catholic nuns.
The Tet festival, or Lunar New Year, is celebrated Feb. 14-16 this year.
Tran Thi Thiep, 53, received a 10-kilogram bag of rice, some cakes and tien li xi or “lucky money” from Saint Paul de Chartres Sr. Ephrem Nguyen Thi Luu.
She was among 200 families in Hue city who were given rice, cake and money by the nun on Feb. 7.
“We are very happy to have enough food to celebrate the Tet festival,” Thiep told UCA News.
Dedicated to giving hope to young people
Feb. 03, 2010
Precious Blood Sr. Celestine Nyoni works with a youth working in the Insinga Center's garden. (Marko Phiri)
BULAWAYO, ZIMBABWE — In a country where millions of people are without jobs, Sr. Celestine Nyoni instills a bit of hope and provides outlets for the energies of young people.
After a dozen years of its economy shrinking, last year Zimbabwe saw its economy post positive growth. One year ago, according to U.N. figures, Zimbabwe had an official unemployment rate of 94 percent. Fewer than a half a million Zimbabweans were working in the formal sector.
Zimbabwe's chronic economic instability has forced young people to seek their livelihoods as migrant workers in neighboring countries. An estimated 3 million Zimbabweans live abroad. Their remittances — of food and cash — keep the country alive.
