October 22' News - Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word, Houston

SEPT. 2020

A MONTHLY NEWSLETTER PRODUCED EXCLUSIVELY FOR OUR SISTERS

NEWS & NOTES

OCTOBER, 2022

Monarch butterflies stop at the Villa de Matel along their flyway to the south for winter. Photo by Sr. Francesca Kearns, CCVI

OCTOBER NEWS Pope's Prayer A Church Open to Everyone: We pray for the Church; ever faithful Intention to, and courageous in preaching the Gospel, may the Church be a for October community of solidarity, fraternity and welcome, always living in an atmosphere of synodality.

New Formation and accompaniment center opens in Torola

The new rental house where the Congregational programs will be implemented

BY SRS. MARÍA ARACELY PÉREZ CHINCHILLA & VILMA ARACELY RAMOS GUTIÉRREZ, CCVI

The Congregation of the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word began its mission in Torola Morazán, El Salvador on April 26, 2019. During these last three years, we have supported St. James the Apostle Parish by serving in their different ministries: liturgical, catechism, and social-pastoral work.

At the beginning of 2020 we began looking into new programs that would be in line with the Congregation’s mission to incarnate God’s love in Torola Morazán’s current reality.

The following are the two programs that are in the beginning stages at the Torola Morazán mission: 1. “Comprehensive Formation and Accompaniment Center” 2. “Internet, printing service, educational materials, and religious items The following are recent accomplishments for these future programs: The two programs previously described have been approved by the General Council As of July 2022, we have begun renting a new house, appropriate for the implementation of the programs.

Internet has been installed at the new house What we hope to do in the future is to open the Comprehensive Formation and Accompaniment Center for different groups and to serve them through workshops and individual accompaniment based on the needs of the people.

Providing access to the internet, a printing service, educational materials, and religious items is meant to support the students. The sale of a few small religious items and educational materials will help sustain some of the internet center’s basic expenses.

We are grateful to the Incarnate Word and the Congregation because through these programs we are responding to the signs of the times. The Congregation is a presence and we journey with the people of Torola.

These programs were envisioned and outlined during the pandemic; we are now post-pandemic and they are becoming a reality. It is a blessing.

HE ANSWERS ME

BY SR. SYMPHONIE GIAO-HUONG NGOC NGO, CCVI

“You asked me why I love you

The world is insane and dangerous, Do not go anywhere I love you because of you whom I created You may choose wrong over right, bad over good Without bringing me with you.

If someday you wander and get lost, Till the end of day, you are my beloved.

Call upon my name, and I will be there.

I feel pain when you get hurt If someday you feel so ashamed I long for you when you lose your way.

To even call or look at my face I look for you when you call on me, Take a deep breath, another breath, … another breath, and another breath, I wait for you when you change your mind. … and run fast toward me.

I smile when you find joy, My arms are always open for you.

I cry when you are sad.

It pains me more when you’re away.

I love you whether you’re good or bad.

Just know that I even died for your sins, There is nothing I cannot do for you.

You just need to ask, and I will answer Stay close to me day by day.

Every moment I am with you is precious.

I repeat, just run to me, even if You feel it is the end of the world.

There is nothing I cannot do for you I even died for you, my love.”

Love, God (aka JC)

PHOTO BY SR. RICCA DIMALIBOT, CCVI

PRAYER FOR FOUNDATION DAY OCTOBER 25

n this Foundation Day, we give thanks for the great legacy our founder, Bishop Claude Marie Dubuis, imparted to us 155 years ago.

We are cognizant of his courage, persistence, and his total dependence on the providence of God to carry out his mission.

His resounding words: “Our Lord Jesus Christ, suffering in the persons of a multitude of sick and infirm of every kind, seeks relief at your hands” still echoes today in our ministries in El Salvador, Guatemala, Ireland, Kenya, and in the U.S. Grant that all who remember and reflect on the life of Bishop Dubuis, your priest and servant, be inspired to be “Gospels of Love”.

Through his intercession, may we obtain many graces in this life and everlasting glory in the life to come; we pray this through the Word Incarnate. Amen. ~ Blessing ~ May the God who calls you to serve, Bring you to your deepest heart and there inspire you, Fill you with courage for the journey, Compassion for the people.

May this same God send you forth To promote the common good in our Religious lives and Congregation To hold this sacred time in your care, To nurture it, to account for it, To witness to those you serve The power of God’s healing, holding love.

May that same love keep you always. Amen.

Adapted from a 2016 prayer service to bless a bust sculpture of Bishop Dubuis gifted to the Congregation on the occasion of its Sesquincentennial Anniversary.

A PILGRIMAGE TO THE PLACE OF OUR ROOTS L' ANTIQUAILLE

Three CCVI Sisters with the Hospital Sisters and a member of Chemin Neuf Community at the Antiquaille in Lyon, France.

BY SR. MARY MCHALE, CCVI As we prepare to give thanks and remember the arrival of our first three Sisters in Galveston, Texas, 156 years ago, it is a good time to share a most profound experience for me during the CHRISTUS Pilgrimage to Lyon in June this year. Sister Magdalena, Helena and I arrived in France on Friday, June 17.

On the afternoon of Saturday, June 18, we had the privilege of visiting the Antiquaille, where our first three sisters ministered before responding to Bishop Dubuis’s invitation. To the great delight of us CCVI’s, two of the Hospital Sisters were there. My heart had longed for many years to visit the Antiquaille and meet the Sisters. Soeur Alice Noir the Superior of the Hospital Sisters, addressed the pilgrims in the following words: “Welcome to you all who have fared overseas for a Pilgrimage to the place of your roots, of your beginnings, to remember your story, somewhat linked to ours: ‘Hospitality requires the spirit, the heart, mouth and hands, and that is what makes it perfect.

The spirit for attention and intention; The heart for tenderness and compassion: The mouth for gentleness and words of comfort; And a generous hand for the external help of Charity.’

This beautiful text is a passage of the Rules of the Soeurs hospitaliers, written in 1773 in the *Hotel Dieu of Lyon, the place of our founding in 1665.”

I cannot help but think that our three Sisters, leaving the Antiquaille in 1866, inevitably passed on this evangelic message that resided within them and resides in us today.

Hospital Sisters sitting together.

“The Soeurs hospitaliers continued to grow and around 1900, there were 1000 of us. Years go by, bringing the congregation both joys and ordeals, and inevitably over the years, the number of our Sisters decreases due to the scarcity of vocations and the evolution of society.

Today a small number of us (22) remain, and faced with this reality, we decided, prayed, and signed an ALLIANCE with the Chemin Nuef Community.

We rejoice over this choice: they are, for us, a spiritual and fraternal presence and an efficient and reassuring aid.

Today our Congregations continue along their way to where the Lord leads them, sure that he is the SHEPHERD who watches over his sheep.” *(We stayed in Hotel Dieu now transformed into a hotel on the edge of the Rhone river).

After visiting Coutouvre, meeting some of Bishop Dubuis’s relatives, praying at his grave in the church where he was also baptized; and later visiting Rouane and seeing Mother de Matel’s home, Sister Magdalena and I spent some time with the community of the Hospital Sisters on Sunday, June 19. Imagine having the privilege of visiting the three interconnecting roots of our humble beginnings–the great mystery of God at work. Several of the Hospital Sisters who were able to gather in the community room with us, were overjoyed to meet us and learn about our connection with them. One of the first sisters we met was Sister Blandine – what a coincidence! They shared about their lives where they had ministered, and one could sense the dedicated, compassionate, and hardworking women they were.

We shared delicious French pastries with them and prayed the Evening Prayer. It definitely confirmed for me the rich heritage we have, not only from Mother de Matel and Bishop Dubuis, but also from the Hospital Sisters. Let us keep these women in our daily prayer and ask that we may inherit a portion of their spirit of caring for the poor and destitute of every kind who seeks relief at our hands and do so with love and compassion.

Group photo in the Hospital Sisters' Chapel.

Group photo in the Hospital Sisters chapel.

Srs. Helena and Mary with a relative of Bishop Dubuis.

Church in Coutouve where Bishop Dubuis was baptized and is now buried.

SAINT TERESA OF ÁVILA, SPANISH SAINT RESEARCHED BY MONICA HATCHER, DIRECTOR OF SOCIAL CONCERNS AND DOROTHY HARRIS, LIBRARIAN AT VILLA DE MATEL

Saint Teresa of Ávila was born on March 28, 1515 at Avila, Castile, Spain as Teresa Sanchez Cepeda Davila y Ahumada and died on October 4, 1582 at Alba de Tormes of natural causes in the arms of her secretary and close friend Blessed Anne of Saint Bartholomew.

Born to the Spanish nobility, she was the daughter of Don Alonso Sanchez de Cepeda and Doña Beatriz. She grew up reading the lives of the saints, and playing a “hermit” in the garden.

Crippled by disease in her youth, which led to her being well educated at home, she was cured after prayer to Saint Joseph. Her mother died when Teresa was 12, and she prayed to Our Lady to be her replacement. Her father opposed her entry to religious life, so she left home without telling anyone, and entered a Carmelite house at 17. Seeing her conviction to her call, her father and family consented.

Soon after taking her vows, Teresa became gravely ill, and her condition was aggravated by the inadequate medical help she received; she never fully recovered. She began receiving visions, and was examined by Dominicans and Jesuits, including Saint Francis Borgia, who pronounced the visions to be holy and true.

She considered her original house too lax in its rule, so she founded a reformed convent with Saint John of Avila. Teresa founded several houses, often against fierce opposition from local authorities. She was proclaimed a Doctor of the Church on September 27, 1970 by Pope Paul VI. She was beatified April 24, 1614 by Pope Paul V, and canonized on March 12, 1622 by Pope Gregory XV. Her Feast Day is celebrated each year on October 15.

CELEBRATED & ADMIRED

After 16 years in the role, Sr. Rose Scanlan officially retired as General Secretary in September, ending a much-admired tenure of quiet service to the Congregation and its Council.

The occasion was marked with a Eucharistic celebration and meal on Sept. 4 to give thanks and to enjoy the richly deserved milestone with her.

"Sr. Rose was an inspiration to us," said Sr. Lillian Anne Healy who appointed her to the key role in 2006 when she became Congregational Leader. "During those 8 years, she was a mentor, a guide, a great listener," she said.

To Sr. Lillian Anne, Sr. Rose presented the ideal candidate for the position owing to her deep and multifaceted knowledge of the life of the Congregation across its missions.

"Because of the roles she had previously, she had a wonderful understanding of our younger Sisters. She has a Master's in psychology and had a great understanding of culture that the rest of us didn't have. She had a real feel for what was going on in the missions, in Kenya and Central America," Sr. Lillian Anne said.

"Her participation in ministry is well grounded in her study of anthropology and intercultural living. Her incarnational spirituality enables her to integrate the many aspects of ministry in leadership and formation," said Sr. Francesca Kearns.

Beyond knowledge gained from her experiences working in the missions in both healthcare and formation, Sr. Rose also brought a raft of skills and personal qualities to the job that made her indispensable to the smooth functioning of the council. She speaks and writes fluent Spanish and is familiar with Ki Swahili. She is very knowledgeable in history, canon law and grammar, which was important in minute-taking, editing, and communicating with the Sisters. She is known for her punctilious attention to detail; no point too fine, no detail too small, to be overlooked. She supervised Archives and dealt with the personal files of the Sisters, which she held in deepest trust.

Her commitment to confidentiality was absolutely unwavering, according to Sr. Lillian Anne. She also had a love for the poor which was deepened through her ministry in times of war and in the midst of poverty.

"My experience is that Sr Rose has a deep love of the Incarnate Word. This devotion nourishes and guides her reflection and ministry," Sr. Francesca said.

Sr. Ethel Puno has now assumed the role of General Secretary under, for the time being, the guidance of Sr. Rose.

In honor and gratitude, we celebrate Sr. Rose happily expressed her gratitude to everyone for the surprise celebration in her honor.

Sisters Maria Mendez, Juana Matias, and Betty Campos singing for Sr. Rose.

Sr. Lillian Anne honoring Sr. Rose for saying "yes" to the different roles she has held throughout the years of her ministry life thus far. .

Sister Celeste acknowledging Sr. Rose for her many years of dedicated service to the Congregation.

Sisters from Kenya (L-R: Sr. Sharon Apiyo Anam, Sr. Veronicah Nyokabi Karengeri, Sr. Joyce Susan Njeri Mbataru, Sr. Benedetta Malindi, and Sr. Annastacia Mutiso) singing a song for in honor of Sr. Rose

SAN JOSE CLINIC'S LIVING LEGACY OF LOVE

BY SR. PAULINE TRONCALE, CCVI

Throughout the year of 2022, the staff, volunteers, and many, many friends of San Jose Clinic are celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the Clinic’s very humble beginnings. In that year, Msgr. George Walsh heard the cry of the poor families who had immigrated to Houston due to the Mexican Revolution. He heard about the high mortality rate among the Mexican American people, especially children and infants.

The principal of Our Lady of Guadalupe School at the time was a Sister of Divine Providence named Sr. Benitia Vermeersch, CDP. She was well known as someone who went out alone, at night, to visit the families in their homes. Some historians believe that Sr. Benitia is the one who informed others about the early deaths and poor health of children in the barrio.

Msgr. Walsh called upon the ladies of the National Council of Catholic Women, who later became the Charity Guild of Catholic Women in Houston. The story that has been passed down is that there were 59 members of the Charity Guild at the time. They collected $1 from each member to pay the rent on the house for the first Clinic. Originally the Clinic was called “the Mexican Clinic,” although they assisted everyone who came to their door.

Between 1946-1954, the Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Conception of Patterson, New Jersey staffed and managed the clinic. Upon their departure, our Congregation, the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word, Houston, took over the staffing until 1999. A great number of our Sisters ministered at San Jose Clinic throughout the years and were among those with really great memories of serving the underserved through good times and hard times.

Myriads of volunteer physicians from many specialties have provided care to those in need. By offering adult medicine, pediatrics, dental care and immunizations, the clinic allows the patients to maintain their health regardless of their financial situation and other circumstances. From cardiology to neurology to orthopedics, mammography and behavioral health, the Clinic offers critical services. They also provide medications with their in-house pharmacy.

In 2017, the Clinic became a member of the Texas Medical Center and is now aligned with many of the teaching programs of these medical institutions. In 2020, San Jose Clinic opened a new branch in Ft. Bend County. Ft. Bend is the most diverse county in the United States with a fast-growing population.

Joining in on the yearlong celebration, the University of Houston Center for Public History produced an in-depth publication on the history and development of the Clinic.

This well-researched record includes interviews with past and present staff, board members, community members, and former patients. Award-winning restaurant owner and Chef Irma Galvan shares her memories of San Jose Clinic and what it means to Houston’s Latino community.

Many of our sisters and staff members remember that the clinic atmosphere encompassed a close, spiritual feeling that is difficult to describe. Many felt that the Lord was in the walls! Their current motto is very fitting---Forever healing!

A SEASON OF CREATION

Caring for Nature that Nourishes and humanizes

BY SR. ELIZABETH MARISOL CRUZ The Santa Teresita students strengthen family learning by caring for nature. The eggs that they eat are produced by the chickens they care for. Trash is separated, that organic waste serves as fertilizer for the cornfield, banana and coffee plants; the chickens eat some of the food waste – fruit peels and some vegetables.

Furthermore, a small greenhouse has been created with a capacity of 45 tomato plants, its harvest has been satisfactory; green beans and cilantro are also harvested for the students to eat.

The work is cooperative and collaborative, each young lady has rotating assignments for the week. The purpose is to make good use of the Congregation’s resources and to raise awareness of the importance of valuing work and being grateful for the generosity of the earth that germinates a small seed that becomes food.