REPORT
2019 ANNUAL
Immaculate Heart Community 5o years of faith, hope, & action
A LETTER FROM OUR PRESIDENT
KAROL SCHULKIN IHC PRESIDENT
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HOW DO WE LIVE AS PEOPLE OF FAITH IN THESE TIMES WHEN OUR EARTH IS IN PERIL AND NATIONS CONTINUE TO STOCKPILE WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION, AS ALL THE WHILE CHILDREN GO TO BED HUNGRY AND THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE LIVE HOMELESS ON THE STREETS AND IN THE DESERTS?
These are questions we struggle with on our journey as members of the Immaculate Community (IHC). Currently, IHC administers four non-profit programs, and our community members are engaged in Study & Action Commissions in the areas of “Immigration & Refugees,” “Environmental Issues,” and “Justice for Women.” Individually, our community members serve in hospitals, jails, schools, parishes, and as trustees on Boards of schools, housing developers, and hospitals. Our call to Community is a call to a life of prayer and service—nurtured by meditation—and a deepening understanding of the lived reality of the love of God, and by our mutual support of one another. We know we don’t have solutions to all the world’s needs, but we desire to live with open eyes, hands, and s ,
working to create “access of all persons to truth, dignity, and full human development” (excerpt from Member Goal Statement). We desire to build bridges, not walls, between the world’s faith traditions, cultural diversity, the earth, and all who dwell therein. As a spiritual community, we have created an ecumenical context where we can speak with one another about our unfolding understanding of the Divine with openness and truth, and accompany one another on the challenging journey of living our faith out loud. How do we live and act in these times? With faithfulness, love, courage, generosity, and joy! — Karol Schulkin, IHM
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epea t the stories of the past; we must also write new ones. We must step off the page into our o w n s
— Anita Caspary, IHM
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This Annual Report is a bunch of things:
This is from a poem written by an Immaculate Community member. Which one? We have no idea! Was it you?? If so, call us up— you’re brilliant!
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WE ARE PROUD AND GRATEFUL TO CELEBRATE 50 YEARS OF FAITH, HOPE, AND ACTION.
It was the year 1970 when the journey began. Maps were studied, alternative routes were proposed, advice was sought from all quarters. But in the end, it was a small but courageous group of women who chose to set out in a new way [...] A journey like ours is a risky business. To travel the road we have chosen takes both independence and the ability to trust one’s companions. Because we chose to give up the approved guide books, we must deal head-on with the complexity and ambiguity that is our path. This demands a deep faith which can sustain our uncertainties. Sometimes we feel alone, wondering if the group has wandered off seeking another goal. We must sustain a healthy belief in our reason for being and our relevance to our times.
Toward what shall be, we turn in hope.
For all that is, we thank God.
For all that has been, we praise God.
The grace to live and pray in harmony; The grace of friends to challenge and encourage us.
The grace of choosing still to teach the little ones, to heal the sick, to visit the prisoner;
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tradition. We work toward peace and justice for all peoples, with a dedicated focus on the arts, women, immigration, and the environment.
The grace of landing on our feet, regrouping, choosing still to walk toward the reign of heaven;
The Immaculate Community, founded in 1970, is a nonprofit public benefit corporation in the faith
Consider:
A century and a half of turning.
50 YEARS, THOUSANDS OF DEARS
———— A recounting of things that happened in 2019 ———— A broader recounting of our history these last 50 years ———— An expression of ourselves, modeled in the spirit of the irregular bulletin, published at the Immaculate Heart College, circa 1956–63 After reading through, we hope you know us a bit better and feel a bit warmer about the future of our world. We hope you feel that same spark we had fifty years ago to step out with integrity, courage, and love. We hope you join us in whatever ways you can.
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For more information about the irregular bulletin and why it inspired this annual report, please go to the back cover.
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GOAL STATEMENT WE, the members of the Immaculate Community, rooted in Jesus Christ and united with the people of God, commit ourselves to build relations in society which foster access of all persons to truth, dignity, and full human development, and to strategically change practices and situations which impede such access. With reverence for all creation, in our choice of work and living style, and in our use of time, talent, and money, we hold ourselves accountable to God and to one another for effecting this goal and supporting one another in this effort.
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— Immaculate
Community Goal Statement
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«WITH REVERENCE FOR ALL CREATION…» This is one of the newest additions, and one we want you to take notice of it. IT’S GOOD, ISN’T IT?
This Goal Statement has been our map for the past fifty years. Without it, we would be lost and likely not the IHC you may (or may not) know us as. On March 28, 1970, as required by the Archbishop of Los Angeles, many of us reluctantly signed dispensations from our vows… but not our faith. As we gave up our designation as a canonical religious community, we knew we needed to change, as we were being called into a larger life and truth. We began establishing a new Christian ecumenical community, following the promptings of the Spirit.
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As a highly educated and focused group of women, guided by faith and hope, we took a moment to ground ourselves in a new vision for our community through this Member Goal Statement. It has become our North Star that we look to for guidance and encouragement.
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ecumenical: promoting unity among the world's Christian traditions. And now, with fifty years as the new Immaculate Community, we are proud of the programs we have developed, the communities we have supported, and the many people who have journeyed with us along the way.
* * When we
are no longer
able to change
a situation,
*
we are challenged
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to change
ourselves.
Viktor E. Frankl
no single group can do it alone / the job is too big and we can only make it / if we work together.
CORITA KENT
JOAN CHITTISTER, OSB
community without walls / spirituality without infantilism / the poor without prejudice / the planet without exploitation. 7
ONE IN MIND AND As a faith-based nonprofit public benefit corporation, community members participate in our active Commissions. Collectively, these three Commissions serve as a powerful platform for us to advocate for the forgotten, oppressed, and marginalized, and see change through progressive action.
COMMISSION ON JUSTICE FOR WOMEN IHC’s legacy is rooted in a 170-year mission of transforming society through the education of women and girls. The Commission on Justice for Women continues this legacy in its mission to elevate understanding of the global need to ensure the rights and welfare of women and girls, and to strategically change practices and situations that impede such access. We seek to encourage women’s intellectual, emotional, creative, and spiritual growth, as well as participation and leadership in secular, spiritual, and political communities. We do this by educating the public on the critical role of women priests, clergy and spiritual ministers, which will bring about reform to churches; by educating the public on feminist spirituality to counter prevailing models; and by educating and empowering women and girls in the US and developing countries, which in turn enriches communities and protects the environment. We
:
Roman Catholic Women Priests
COMMISSION ON JUSTICE FOR IMMIGRANTS AND REFUGEES We welcome the men and women who seek safe haven in our land. The Commission on Justice for Immigrants and Refugees actualizes our goal of justice for immigrants and refugees by serving as court observers at immigration hearings, visiting those held in detention centers, and driving immigrants to necessary appointments. We participate in educational meetings, conferences, and trainings; write letters and make calls to legislators; and participate in public vigils, at detention centers, in public squares, and at the border. This past year we helped a woman seeking assylum reunite with her family in NYC and another family settle in LA. We join rallies and marches to give public witness to the plight of immigrants, refugees, and Dreamers who are the victims of an unjust system. We reject demonization of those whose culture, language, and national origin are different from ours. We
working hand in hand with these groups:
Annunciation House / International Rescue Committee (IRC) / Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA) / Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) / Clergy & Laity United for Economic Justice (CLUE LA / Ventura) / Freedom for Immigrants (formerly CIVIC) / Interfaith Coalition for Human Integrity / American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) / Santa Barbara Interfaith Sanctuary
COMMISSION ON THE ENVIRONMENT One of the great moral issues of our time is our continual destruction of the Earth. Global warming due to elevated CO2 emissions has ignited this destruction, and resulted in poverty, violence, hatred, homelessness, and despair. The Commission on the Environment seeks to elevate our understanding and reduce our contribution to this moral and actual threat. Guided by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Earth Charter, the Beatitudes, and Laudato Si, we openly declare our commitment to foster a renewed understanding and reexperience of our unity with the natural world. We are not separate from or superior to our natural world, but instead must live with reverence for all Creation, acutely aware of our interdependency. We have been instituting sustainable practices in all of our holdings and are focusing La Casa de Maria and the Center for Spiritual Renewal as the core Educational Center for Environmental Action and Design. Some of our current partners we
:
Sierra Club / The Global Climate Action Summit / Nuns on the Bus / The Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) / California Interfaith Power and Light / Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) / Earthjustice / Environmental Defense Fund / San Pedro Garden Church / Feed and Be Fed
Alliance / Drivers Listos / Religious groups: The Episcopal Church, Presbyterian Church, Unitarian Universalist Church, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
(RCWP) / Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) / Claremont Graduate University (Pat Reif
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Memorial Lecture Series) / Mount Saint Mary’s University (Pat Reif Memorial Lecture Series) / Alverno Heights Academy / Westside Waldorf School / fINdings Art Center & Women’s Project / Immaculate Heart High School
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The challenges of today’s world are impossible to take on alone, and working with partners helps bring focus, support, and joy to the journey. Our main programs are Casa Esperanza (see page 11), the Corita Art Center (see page 12), the Kenmore Residence (see page 15), and La Casa de Maria and the Center for Spiritual Renewal (see page 16).
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We also have a network of Collaborative Partners, who may not share our name, but we share similar ideas and values. For some of our partners, we have acted as an incubator to help them grow and launch into
purpose
of
community
and wide
a deep
We are
ROUGH TRANSLATION: “LOVE FOR ALL IS WHAT HOLDS US TOGETHER” OR “LOVE FOR HUMANITY ALIGNS US.”
☮ CASAESPERANZAIHM.ORG ☮ INSTAGRAM: @CASAESPERANZA_BLYTHE ☮ FACEBOOK: FACEBOOK.COM/CASAESPERANZACOMMUNITY
CARITAS NOS ALLIGET*
CASA ESPERANZA For 27 years, Casa Esperanza has empowered families in Panorama City to create their best possible future and become active stakeholders in the community. Over those few decades, we have supported 297 families and encouraged 120 young people to resist gang affiliation. Casa Esperanza supports immigrant families who reside in an under-resourced area. Our families live in substandard housing, overcrowded conditions, and are surrounded by alcohol and drug addiction, gang activity, and crime. Collectively, these conditions have created an oppressive environment that affects the health of our entire community.
While Casa Esperanza holds a bigger vision for our community’s wellbeing, we are grateful to be included as a vital part of the life of our community. By participating in our programs and gaining the skills and confidence they need to thrive, young people are taking hold of their future and families are creating a healthy and hopeful community.
the world. These organizations include the Immaculate High School & Middle School, Alexandria House, Emanate Health, Housing Works and fINdings Art Center, Inc. For others, we have simply found like-minded friends who also want to build bridges, create community, and promote justice, reconciliation, and peace, including Alverno Heights Academy and Housing Works. Among these partners and friends, we see issues that need addressing, messages that need a voice, and people whom we can serve.
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Corita is the cultural icon we all need—rebellious yet hopeful—during this new era of radical change.
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As we enter Corita’s 101st year, I encourage you to join me in sharing her work and ethos widely.
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Corita sought out all that Los Angeles’ burgeoning art scene had to offer, from museum and gallery shows to the Watts Towers and of course the movies, but she also found meaning and ritual in everyday life. At Immaculate College, where she led the art department, she taught people how to look at the world literally one inch at a time by cutting a small rectangular hole in a piece of paper, and through these details she exposed beauty and injustice.
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Here at the Corita Art Center, we are focused on fostering her legacy and introducing a new generation of joyful revolutionaries to her work and message.
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We again find ourselves in a moment of great upheaval. The climate is in crisis, mass shootings are now commonplace in the public sphere, children are suffering, and an endless war continues abroad. There are countless reasons to ruminate in dismay, and anyone who can inspire us to show up to make change is invaluable. For me that is Corita.
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Through her art, Corita shared ideas about faith, love, and justice. She challenged racial and economic inequality at home, protested the war abroad, and pushed boundaries in the church and the art world.
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«I should like to be able to love my country and still love justice.»
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⌇CEDAR FALLS, IOWA ↹ AOTEAROA, NEW ZEALAND ↸ PROVO, UTAH ⇧SAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA ↓ NEWPORT, RHODE ISLAND ♂ PARIS, FRANCE ╳ MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA ➲ ➳ CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS ※ LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY … BRISTOL, UNITED KINGDOM ➔ PORTLAND, OREGON ↻ MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN ⏎ DÜSSELDORF, GERMANY ↠ BROOKLYN, NEW YORK ⇗ ⇛ LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA ☈ SAN PEDRO, CALIFORNIA ↝ ↹ DETROIT, MICHIGAN ⊱ MELBOURNE, VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA ☞ COLOGNE, GERMANY ➦ ➱ WASHINGTON, DC ➻ BRUSSELS, BELGIUM ➭ NEW YORK, NEW YORK ➹ EAST SUSSEX, ENGLAND ➨ METZ, FRANCE ♐ SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA ⇔ LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM ⇉ LISBON, PORTUGAL ➶ ➧ BROOKLYN, NEW YORK ➽ ✒ GREENVILLE, PENNSYLVANIA ➾ NEW CASTLE, PENNSYLVANIA ⤴ ROME, ITALY ☛ ✺ ✶ CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS ✌ ➳ NOTTINGHAM, UNITED KINGDOM ➺ ❋
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By Nellie Scott, Director, Corita Art Center
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WHERE IN THE WORLD HAS CORITA BEEN THIS PAST YEAR?
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CORITA KENT IS THE CULTURAL ICON WE NEED IN 2020
ha peo ni d p to ce m le sa th an y a in y he b g r! ou s t
IN LO C I T O N S A Y A 20 R I T OV N G N D 1 9, A E D MB ELE CO C A S E U 10 OR Y IN R 2 NA NT 1 s IT A t Y B K HO 0 th ME IR EN N D TH T O D ’S R O AY F .
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2019 was Corita’s 100th year, and it’s clear that her groundbreaking art—whether first experienced decades ago or for the first time today—remains powerfully relevant.
In love justice, a piece by Corita Kent from 1970, a Camus quote pops from a patriotic red, white, and blue page:
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The Corita Art Center is the largest and most comprehensive archive of the work of iconic pop artist and former Sister Corita Kent (1918 – 1986). The Center preserves and promotes Corita’s artistic and educational legacy and passion for social justice. We act as a lending institution, oversee merchandising rights, produce public programming, support creative practitioners, and serve as a resource and archive for Corita scholars and fans.
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☮ CORITA.ORG ☮ INSTAGRAM: @CORITAARTCENTER ☮ TWITTER: @CORITAARTCENTER ☮ FACEBOOK: FACEBOOK.COM/CORITAARTCENTER
CORITA ART CENTER
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☮ IHMRESIDENCE.ORG
IHM KENMORE RESIDENCE The IHM Kenmore Residence is an apartment building that offers affordable living units for an IHC collaborative program, Alexandria House, and TLC for a number of those who were once Sisters of the Immaculate of Mary and newer Immaculate Community members, who live as neighbors with others who are in need of an affordable and community-oriented place to live. Located in Koreatown, the IHM Kenmore Residence welcomes visitors and has become a multicultural, inter-generational hub full of care, laughter and prayer.
the designation of a formal historical archive memorializing the Immaculate College and Community. The staff and younger members of the Immaculate Community work hard to continually expand programming, maintain and upgrade the facilities, and to provide the level of care the residents have become accustomed to with the support of a host of partners from Episcopal Senior Communities and BrightStar Care, to Food Management Associates.
The women at the IHM Residence are a remarkable group of people who have collectively spent 1,500 years of service with the Immaculate Community. They gather daily in prayer, carrying in their s the needs of all who have asked for their prayerful intercession and for all who are voiceless in their need. The Immaculate Community members who live at the IHM Residence also keep active in a number of ways. Our in-house activities include sittercize, art, poetry, bingo, and knitting and quilt making for others, all led by residents to keep minds and bodies limber!
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Clockwise: 500K total messaging impressions during Corita Week City Councilmember David Ryu introduces the resolution to name November 20th Corita Day. Led by Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, LA County Board of Supervisors declare November 20th Corita Day. Artist David Booth (@ghostpatrol) created a special image to celebrate Corita Day online.
Despite the sense of joy and community with one another, this past year has been one of tremendous loss at the IHM Kenmore Residence as eleven elders have died. All of these women had been teachers, and there were multiple PhDs in the group—including Helen Kelley, who had been president of the Immaculate College, and JoAnn Vasquez, who had been the dean of education at Santa Clara University. The residents and members have begun to honor those who have gone before us through
A quartet of carolers from LA Opera visited the Kenmore Residence to spread Christmas cheer.
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THE ROAD TO RECOVERY: PROGRESS IN 2019 La Casa de Maria and Center for Spiritual Renewal (LCDM-CSR) has historically been a retreat and a sanctuary of peace where guests come to renew their sense of purpose. On January 9, 2018, rain and fire violently tore through Santa Barbara and Montecito, and the resulting mud and debris flow changed the face of our retreat center, and the lives of our neighbors and the community around us. For the last few years, we have worked with a network of organizations to help restore the Montecito property. The Santa Barbara Beekeepers Association advised us on the health and expansion of our hives. We partnered with Pacifica College and the Santa Barbara Natives plant nursery to provide hundreds of native oak seedlings for the Montecito area affected by the debris flow.
Thousands of pounds of apples, pomegranates, avocados, kumquats, oranges, lemons, and grapefruits were gleaned by volunteers and donated to Santa Barbara Food Bank’s Backyard Bounty Program. In partnership with the California Wildlife Conservation Board, we are redesigning our water conservation efforts to reflect changes in the property and the new natural landscape. We donated a 250-gallon GeoTea compost tea brewer to the Center for Regenerative Agriculture (CRA). Through volunteer support from CRA and Patagonia Action Works, the GeoTea will help with the Thomas Fire regeneration program. Now, after two years of remediation and recovery, we are moving into the next phase: redesign. This reimagining is giving us an opportunity to revitalize our programs that continue encouraging spiritual transformation, with a clear focus on regenerative and resilient environmental practice. At the end of 2019, we hired RCH Studios, a Los Angeles-based firm, as the Master Architect to design and build a welcoming, inclusive, and eco-friendly space that creates a sense of peace through its connection to nature. We look forward to continued progress as we move through 2020 and into the future.
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At a Retreat, a Zen Monk Plants the Seeds of Peace By Peter Steinfels (Excerpt from The New York Times, September 19, 1993) First came the clear, resonant sound of the bell, a shining brass bowl held delicately on the fingertips of a Buddhist nun. Then came the sound of more than 500 people rhythmically inhaling and exhaling, among them a contingent of American Vietnam veterans, a large number of psychotherapists and social workers, and Jewish students of Zen Buddhism who gathered for a Rosh ha-Shanah service between meditation sessions. They came to a five-day retreat led by Thich Nhat Hanh, a Zen monk, scholar, poet and political figure from Vietnam. He was a leader in the opposition to the war in Vietnam, and he is still striving to heal the wounds. He believes that the slow, attentive breathing is a key to healing, part of a Buddhist practice of mindfulness, aimed at easing the pains of history and planting the seeds of peace.
community members continued on to study at Thich Nhat Hanh’s Plum Village , and brought many of the Zen Buddhism teachings back to the Immaculate Community:
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«Our practice of Contemplative Dialogue is analogous to the practice of Deep Listening and Loving Speech taught by Thich Nhat Hanh.»
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Located near Bordeaux in southwest France, the Plum Village has today grown into Europe’s largest Buddhist monastery, with over 200 resident monks and nuns. Every year, Plum Village welcomes thousands of meditation practitioners and lay people from all around the world who come to experience the art of mindful communal living.
The Tree of Faith, near La Casa’s Sadako Peace Garden.
☮ LACASADEMARIA.ORG ☮ INSTAGRAM: @CENTERFORSPIRITUALRENEWAL ☮ FACEBOOK: FACEBOOK.COM/CENTERFORSPIRITUALRENEWAL
LA CASA DE MARIA AND CENTER FOR SPIRITUAL RENEWAL
“If you take good care of the present moment you can take care of the past and the future,” Thich Nhat Hanh said.
OUR TRADITION OF SPIRITUAL RENEWAL During Thich Nhat Hanh’s tour across the United States in the 1990s, he stopped at LCDM-CSR to teach our community and to offer a healing meditation retreat for wounded veterans of the Vietnam War. One of our
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HIGHLIGHTS FROM 2019
JANUARY
FEBRUARY
MARCH
JULY
AUGUST
OCTOBER
La Casa de Maria Otis Resiliency Partnership: Otis College of Art and Design students visited to learn about resilient environmental design.
Alverno Heights Academy Gala: Supported by the Commission on Justice for Women, Corita Art Center, and fINdings Art Center.
La Casa de Maria + Santa Barbara Beekeeper Association: Worked together on the health and expansion of our hives.
CicLAvia: Meet the Hollywoods: Corita Art Center was situated at the Hollywood Blvd hub for a day of art making and community action!
Women's March Joined approximately 200,000 people in LA, advocating for justice and equality.
La Casa de Maria + Santa Barbara Natives Reoaking: In partnership with Pacifica College and the Santa Barbara Natives plant nursery, we harvested hundreds of native oak seedlings for the Montecito area affected by the debris flow.
17th Annual Pat Reif Memorial Lecture: This year’s lecture, Welcome Table: Liturgical Justice Through Sacred Song featured Dr. Kim R. Harris, Assistant Professor of African American Thought and Practice at Loyola Marymount University.
APRIL
MAY
JUNE
NOVEMBER
DECEMBER
Arizona State University Lecture: Community member Nan Cano spoke on Women & Resistance and the IHC.
LAPD Peace Walk with Casa Esperanza: An evening walk with LAPD police officers to promote peace in the neighborhood.
Dolores Huerta Square Festival: In honor of the new Dolores Huerta Square in Boyle Heights, Corita Art Center hosted a community art-making booth.
Dia de los Muertos @ Hollywood Forever Cemetery: Corita Art Center and CHIRLA, the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, built an altar honoring those lost in the struggle for immigrant rights.
Folklorico Performance at Casa Esperanza
LA Art Book Fair: Corita Art Center curated an exhibition featuring Corita's iconic serigraphs alongside a selection of the photographs she employed in her innovative process.
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CalArts + Corita: Design MFA Practicum at Casa Esperanza: CalArts design MFA students took inspiration from Corita’s ethos of community engagement to build a workshop for Casa Esperanza families.
Pink Smoke over the Vatican screenings and discussion: Held at Westminster Gardens in Duarte, in conjunction with the Roman Catholic Womenpriests (RCWP).
Great Humans Series: A contemporary reboot of the seminal Immaculate College event series, featuring writer Roxane Gay and comedian and writer Abbi Jacobson in conversation at Second Home in Hollywood. Corita Day Designation: The city and county of Los Angeles named November 20th Corita Day in honor of Corita Kent’s 101st birthday. Corita Day Online Happening: To celebrate Corita, people shared her art and words through social media, gaining over 75K impressions.
LA Opera Christmas Chorale at Kenmore: In mid-December, a quartet of carolers from LA Opera visited the Kenmore Residence to spread Christmas cheer. Casa Esperanza’s annual holiday and food event
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AT IHC’S FOUNDING, MORE THAN HALF OF OUR MEMBERS HAD ADVANCED DEGREES IN SOCIOLOGY, HISTORY, LANGUAGES, MUSIC,FILM, THEOLOGY, SCIENCE, AND PSYCHOLOGY FROM PRESTIGIOUS UNIVERSITIES LIKE STANFORD, OXFORD, USC, FORDHAM, AND CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY IN WASHINGTON, DC.
✶
NOTE:
BY THE NUMBERS
IN CASE YOU’RE A NUMBERS PERSON
119 MEMBERS AS OF JANUARY 2020
⇉ ⇥
57 from the original inaugural cohort 62
✶
in 1970 joined from 1970 onward
WE REACHED 647K+ PEOPLE THROUGH ALL 2019 IHC ACTIVITIES 35K+ total attendees to LA Art Book Fair ⇢ 1,000+ total attendees to Dolores Huerta Square ↠
↦ ↬ ↱
80K+ 30K+ 500K+
festival total attendees at CicLAvia total attendees to Dia de los Muertos at Hollywood Forever total reach during Corita Week
1,028 D IRECTLY ENGAGED THROUGH OUR PROGRAMMING, INCLUDING: 300+ youth and families served through ›
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↝ ↗
1 00+
↛
120
↷
360
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Casa Esperanza programs and events youth, on average, enrolled in at least one of Casa Esperanza’s weekly programs families receive toys and food through Casa Esperanza during the holiday season 8- to 17-year-old youth served through Casa Esperanza’s after-school and summer programming attendees at the Corita Art Center’s Great Humans event (sold out!)
30+ E XHIBITIONS OF CORITA’S WORK IN 2019 60+ EVENTS HOSTED BY IHC IN 2019
OUR COMMUNITY OF SUPPORT List of Members Already members at the Inauguration in 1970 of the new Immaculate Heart Community Charmaine Aghili Maria Arroyo Rosemary Babbitt Rosalina Boldonado Delphine Baptista Marya Barr Margaret Baumann Eileen Berg Pat Boland Teresa Briones Agnes Caballero Kathleen Cejka Ann Chamberlin Rose Chamberlin Annette Ciketic Joann Connors Anita Daniel Mary Laura Distaso Betty Dodt Patricia Dominguez Lenore Dowling Marie Egan Nieves Esquivel Mary Fay-Zenk Julie Friese Vivian Gabehart Stephanie Glatt Mary Grove Virginia Hurst Leila Justen Mary Kirchen Gloria Kolarik Ellen Leonard Hermine Lees Fran Lester Ella Mae Lorack Mary Lyons Kathy Marcos Maria Inez Martinez Patricia McAllister Dorothy Mullins Ruth Anne Murray Alexis Navarro Maureen O’Rourke Betty Pedrazzi Virginia Prince
Anna Maria Prieto Rosalie Rohrer Claire Sayegh Mary Schirot Catherine Smith Phyllis Straling Anita Tavera Gretchen Teeple Patrice Underwood Lucia Van Ruiten Teresita Venegas Dorothy Washle
Current Members Who Joined IHC in 1970s Michelle de Beixedon Pauline Krismanich Bob Miller Margi Miller Karol Schulkin Jean Scott Nelson Small
Current Members Who Joined IHC in 1980s / 1990s Marla Ciarfalio Vivian Engel Diane Greenberg Bernadette Hengstebeck Michael Jones Rosa Manriguez Maggie Small Toni Stuart Juliet Spohn Twomey
Current Members Who Joined IHC 2000–2009 Marisa Antonini Mary Becker Victoria Berry Joan De Francesco Angie Dickson Angie Dickson Mary Jenison Rick Jenison John Keelin Kim Keelin Andy Kerr
Megan Kerr Ray Mattes Jayne McGuiness Ken Murphy Kitty Murphy John Mutz Ana Rubyn Gary Rye Judy Small Sandy Steinbacher Rod Stephens Jane Via Jill Whittington
Current Members Who Joined IHC 2010–2019 Donna Alioto Sharon Bagley Nan Cano Art Carlson Kathryn Clare Patricia Cosman Gretchen Dumas Susan Duquesnel Mary Elbrecht Peggy Haskell Joanne Helfrich Jean Holsten Marylouise Lau Christine Monroe Sherry Purcell Tristine Rainer Aida Serrano-Caballero Martha Siegel Carol Stech Ellen Taylor Michael Tompkins
Supporters of IHC and our programs Adams Legacy Fund The Ahmanson Foundation The Angell Foundation Angels Baseball Foundation Antioch University California Arts Council California Community Foundation Capacitar City of Santa Barbara County of Santa Barbara
Department of Cultural Affairs, City of Los Angeles Dora Herrera Eli Broad FEMA First Interstate Bank of California The Fred and June MacMurray Foundation Fred Segal Handbuilt Studio Hiromi Paper Hutton Parker Foundation Kevin McCarney LA City Councilmember Ryu LA County Board of Supervisors LA County Department of Arts & Culture Laura Owens LLWW Foundation Los Angeles Police Department Marisla Foundation Metabolic Studio Metropolitan Theatres Corporation Montecito Association Montecito Fire Department Otis College of Art and Design Pacifica University Pearl Chase Society Pepperdine Ruth & Joseph C. Reed Foundation Santa Barbara Jewish Federation Sarah McHale UC Santa Barbara UCLA USC Westmont College Wildlife Conservation Board Wounded Warrior
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CHOOSE LIFE IN MEMORIAM
HELEN KELLY May 21, 1925 – October 31, 2019
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choose life, only that and always, at whatever risk... to let life leak out, to let it wear away by the mere passage of time, to withhold giving and spending it is to choose nothing.
Helen Kelley, IHM (Sister William) left this life marching in to join all saints on the eve of All Saints Day, October 31. As President of Immaculate College from 1963-1977, after having served as Graduate Dean since 1960, she presided over an academic community that was known, not only for its creative programs in art, music, and theater, but also for engagement by faculty and students in domestic and global issues— especially the Vietnam war. Posters, assemblies, visiting dignitaries—all supported the anti-war sentiment that permeated the campus. Holding to the highest academic standards, Dr. Kelley was a model of truth-telling, disciplined thought, and insightful analysis. She encouraged Corita-created celebrations on Mary's day and urged the college community to “Choose life” despite the climate of fear, racism, and national unrest. Her tenure at the College spanned the years that the Sisters of the Immaculate transitioned to [the new] Immaculate Community. Helen Kelley was a leader in the Immaculate Community, having served as President from 1993-1996. She had entered the Sisters of the Immaculate in 1945, and received her Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of St. Louis in 1958, then joined the faculty of Immaculate College. In the late sixties, Helen participated in Community deliberations in response to Vatican Council II, which urged religious communities to adapt to the modern world. She was a leader in opting for change in the face of Archdiocesan opposition to the Community's
stance on independent decision-making that involved significant communal changes. [Together] with the leadership of Anita Caspary, IHM, she was one of the major writers who framed the document that would guide the life and spirit of the new ecumenical Immaculate Community, established in 1970. Helen's writing to this day remains a testimony to her deep spirituality, her brilliant intellect, and her fidelity to truth and self-determination. Twenty-three years ago, as IHM President, Helen was instrumental in the formation of an IHM collaboration with Alexandria House, a transitional residence in Los Angeles for homeless women and women with children, founded by Judy Vaughan, CSJ. Helen Kelley lived a long productive life, known for her wit and wisdom and for her speeches, pithy and profound. Following her academic career, she was the Deputy Associate Director for Older Americans Volunteer Programs of the federal ACTION program, 1977-1981 during the Carter administration. She was Education Director of People for the American Way from 1982–1985, followed by three years as a consultant to several foundations. In 1988 she became the Executive Director at Josephson Institute for Ethics in the Professions. In [the] intervening years, she was writing the history of the IHMs. She remains a towering presence in the annals of the IHM Community. — Excerpt from Helen Kelley’s obituary, published in The Los Angeles Times on November 14, 2019.
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Thanks to a grant from California Revealed, the irregular bulletin will be digitized in 2020! During this process, we’ll have the chance to not only make the Irregular Bulletin available to view online, but time to learn more about this unique part of our history.
So what was it, you ask? It initially comprised of a few pages of printed paper announcing departmental news, but it then quickly evolved into a more extended publication, with a distinct graphic style that in many ways presaged the formation of contemporary zines.
Published intermittently by the Art Department of the Immaculate College between 1956 through 1963, the irregular bulletin was a newsletter that announced the various activities and accomplishments of the students and faculty. Led by Sister Mag, or Magdalen Mary, she created the whole thing: named it, selected articles, provided commentary, made sure it got printed and into people’s hands… without her, this incredible look into the IHC community would have never happened.
About the irregular bulletin
IMMACULATE HEART COMMUNITY .ORG
☮ INSTAGRAM: @IIMMACULATEHEARTCOMMUNITY ☮ FACEBOOK: FACEBOOK.COM/IHC50 ☮ IHC 50TH/IHWORKS: IHWORKS.ORG
IMMACULATE COMMUNITY 5515 FRANKLIN AVENUE, SUITE A LOS ANGELES, CA 90028
Magdalen Mary Martin,
Sister
(lovingly known as
Sister Mag or Maggie), teacher extraordinaire and author of
irregular bulletin
the original