Au Regard de Notre-Dame
heretical dissenting womenpriest, queerplatonic aubergine, former employee of the Catholic Church, Francophone cat lady hermitess, education and social work student, and somewhat episcopalian university student who works with nuns after class.
[please ignore the BLATANT grammatical error in the first paragraph of this piece. Time get yourself together]
The five women were from small town America but chose to live in the midst of one of West Africa’s most brutal civil wars. Each belonged to the Adorers of the Blood of Christ, a St. Louis-based Catholic order; each had volunteered to live in Liberia, not only as missionaries, but as desperately needed relief workers.
Three of the sisters have jubilees this year, and I get to go to their Mass and celebration on December 1!
God protect them
“But St. Mary’s and the rest of the Point dodged major damage.”
Short reminder: St Mary’s is a former hotel built in the 1880s and was bought over 100 years ago by the Sisters of Saint Joseph of Philadelphia, part of the Federation of the Sisters of Saint Joseph. It has managed to survive all major hurricanes to the area; one of the sisters says it is because they rely on the prayers of all the sisters who have taken retreats there for over 100 years.
Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill.
How can we meet the needs of our society today if we are not open to listening to those among us who are hurting, and to those living on the margins? Many are spiritually hungry, including young people and others who are active in their service within the church.
They are also looking for a place where they can be spiritually nourished and supported. How do we provide for them?
When Blessed Pope John XXIII called the Second Vatican Council he said that the church was to become “more pastoral and merciful”. Yet today, some who when they turn to the church in the midst of their pain, are alienated by judgmental attitudes or issues of power and control.
This only pushes them further away. Can we allow ourselves to enter into the pain of our people?"
She has been arrested 40 or 50 times for acts of civil disobedience and once served six months in prison. In the Nevada desert, she and other peace activists knelt down to block a truck rumbling across the government’s nuclear test site, prompting the authorities to take her into custody.
………….
“It’s the criminality of this 70-year industry,” she said. “We spend more on nuclear arms than on the departments of education, health, transportation, disaster relief and a number of other government agencies that I can’t remember.”
I know I’ve posted this before, but I found it again today and this can really never be posted too much
Give us, O God, leaders whose hearts are large enough
To match the breadth of our own souls,
And give us souls strong enough
To follow leaders of vision and wisdom.
In seeking a leader, let us seek
More than development for ourselves –
Though development we hope for –
More than security for our own land –
Though security we need –
More than satisfaction for our wants –
Though many things we desire.
Give us the hearts to choose the leader
Who will work with other leaders
To bring safety to the whole world.
Give us a government
That provides for the advancement of this country
Without taking resources from others to achieve it.
Give us insight enough ourselves
To choose leaders who can tell
Strength from power,
Growth from greed,
Leadership from dominance,
And real greatness from the trappings of grandiosity.
We trust you, great God
To open our hearts to learn from those
To whom you speak in different tongues
And to respect the life and words
Of those to whom you entrusted
The good of other parts of this planet.
We beg you, great God
Give us the vision as a people
To know where global leadership truly lies,
To pursue it diligently,
To require it to protect human rights
For everyone, everywhere.
We ask these things, Great God,
With minds open to your word
And hearts that trust in your eternal care.
Amen!-Joan Chittister, OSB
The Franciscan sisters just posted a picture of them with a dog
everything about the photo is too cute for words.
Dinner was amazing! Sr I had already made dinner, some delicious beef and vegetable soup with salad and rolls from whole foods. The minute I got there Sr P handed me the National Catholic Reporter and said “READ THIS ARTICLE” and then we talked about it and ate a delicious dinner.
I saw so many wonderful videos tonight! The first was of the six novices in the community giving an introduction of their new noviatiate house in Michigan and the second was of a local novice being recieved into the noviatiate. I was supposed to go, but I was at my parents’ house for break :(. It was so beautiful. I love ceremonies.
We also got frozen yogurt because Sr P LOVES pistachio frozen yogurt.
Sr. Christine Schenk, SSJ
