Response Newsletter January 2022

Holy Union Sisters

WINTER 2022 VOLUME 10, ISSUE 17

RESPONSE

Surprised by Grace

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United States Province Leadership Team LEFT TO RIGHT: Sister Carol Sister Kathee Sister Joan

Dear Friends, We are preparing this issue of Response just after celebrating Thanksgiving with the hope it will reach you early in 2022. The two holy/holidays of Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day invite us into a dynamic of remembering and expressing gratitude. We look back over all that has transpired since we last celebrated each feast, savoring the memories that surface, rejoicing in the goodness we have experienced, and looking ahead in hope.

Of course, not all our memories delight us, but even disturbing ones, with the perspective that time and distance bring, can reveal blessing and call us to gratitude and hope. The experience of the English writer and theologian C.S. Lewis suggests just that. We have “borrowed” the theme of this issue of Response, “Surprised by Grace”, from his account of his return to Christian faith and practice Surprised by Joy. While the title Lewis chose for his memoir might suggest his conversion was a pleasant experience, he describes it as painful and himself as “...kicking, struggling, darting (my) eyes in every direction for a chance to escape”, until eventually he was surprised by joy.

What memories have we of being surprised by grace as we remember the past year and even grace-filled surprises from years ago? Weary as we may be after a pandemic of two years’ duration, we may have been surprised by the graces of endurance, resourcefulness, compassion and generosity we experienced as we rose to new and difficult challenges.

Often the grace that surprises us is a “little” one. Just before Thanksgiving, we received a hand-written note from a staff member at a facility where some of our sisters have received rehab or skilled nursing care; she wrote, “We … are blessed to have (your) sisters in our lives!” Her gratitude was grace to us on a bleak November day.

In this issue of Response, some sisters offer brief vignettes of their experiences of being surprised by grace; an article gives a fuller account of the surprising graces a group of sisters discovered as they began to live community life in a new and different way. We can say to you that your generosity and support during this difficult time have been grace to us, although because we have known you over the years, we have not been too surprised! But that only increases our gratitude to you.

Taking our first steps into another new year, we make Pope Francis’ prayer our own for you: “have a good journey … open to the Holy Spirit’s surprises, the grace of encounter, reciprocal listening and discernment, joyfully convinced that, even as we seek the Lord, He always comes with His love to meet us first.”

With our thanks and prayer for a surprising, grace-filled new year

Kathleen Corrigan, SUSC

Joan Guertin, SUSC

Carol Regan, SUSC

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Kenneth Gustin Director of Mission Advancement and Communications

Director’s Column

Dear Friends, I hope you had a lovely Christmas and are still enjoying the Season!

Our theme for this issue of Response is “Surprised by Grace”. There are times in our lives when we are faced with a great struggle or even a tragedy, and all we can see is difficulty and suffering. But as time passes, we begin to witness tiny rays of light which can grow into dazzlingly beautiful developments that would never had been possible without the trials that spawned them.

In 2016 I was diagnosed with a particularly deadly blood cancer which, without aggressive treatment, would have been fatal within weeks. Even with treatment, my chances of survival were less than twenty percent. The next eighteen months featured a series of trials which were physical, psychological, financial, and spiritual. It was the most existential upheaval of my life, and it impacted my family, my friends, and my career. They were dark days, and it was difficult to see any good in it at all. I found myself feeling a bit like Job, asking God why I was being put through this ordeal.

Today, against all odds, I am cancer-free, and the graces which have come from this experience are too numerous to mention. It made me take a close look at my role as husband and father. It helped me see so many failings which I knew I had to correct. It made me question my career path and my priorities for my entire life up to that point. It gave me the opportunity to delve deeply into my faith, more than I had ever done before. I developed a stronger appreciation of mercy and a lesser emphasis on justice than I had previously. It helped me to recognize that God was at work in my life and this upheaval was not a punishment, it was a gift. It was a course correction I badly needed. I had not been using my time well.

As a direct result of these trials, I’m honored to be working today for the Holy Union Sisters. I get to spend my days in the presence of humble women doing truly extraordinary things with a quiet grace and a love for their fellow human beings. They inspire me to be better by their example alone, and I don’t know what I would do without them.

As COVID grows smaller behind us and we move forward, I wonder what graces we will be surprised by as together we reflect on this period of trial and tragedy.

May God continue to bless you in all that you do, and please take every precaution to stay safe and keep those around you safe as well.

Be Good !

GRACES FOUND AT ANCHOR BAY Holy Union has six Sisters living at the senior living facility at Anchor Bay in Johnston, Rhode Island.

For some, it was their first experience living in community with anyone other than women religious.

They have found that graces abound there and that they are inspired by their new and dear friends.

Russell

I am graced daily by the bearers of God’s goodness in my dwelling place. They teach me as I grow old gracefully. I am impressed by their deep faith which I observe in many circumstances: The faithful who participate in our weekly religious services have something very special about them. Their love for God is transparent.

Pauline is an excellent reader of the Word of God. She imparts each message with deep conviction reflecting her inner beauty. I like that! What an example she is to me.

Claudette has deep love for her husband Ernie who is in Memory Care. She exemplifies the true meaning of marriage in good and bad days. This is made possible by her meditation, rosary, Mass and love of God. Ann has Parkinson’s Disease. Her movements are slower than ours. It is very difficult for her to get up from a chair.

She struggles but tries very hard. Her effort and patience are remarkable.

Louise is open to visitors in her apartment with whom she is free to chat about many topics. She loves to talk about God. That’s one reason I enjoy visiting her.

Russell is also a resident that I notice frequently. His difficulty in walking with a walker never prevents him from greeting everyone with a smile. His courage and joy are outstanding.

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Holy Union Sisters here at Anchor Bay live out their call to be at the heart of the world revealing God’s love. Each sister lives it out in her unique way. I consider being a member of this community a great blessing.

The staff often works short-handedly due to the pandemic without complaint. Their patience is extraordinary!

The Administration works very hard. It is evident that they love their job and the residents. How blessed we all are because of them.

– Sr. Lorraine Sirois, SUSC

Claudette

Anne with Sr. Lorraine

Louise

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Sisters Reflect on Being Surprised by Grace Grace is often a surprise. It comes to us at unexpected times. Sometimes it finds us when we are struggling. Other times it presents itself quietly during a moment of peace. Below are a few brief reflections from Sisters on times they were surprised by grace.

God's grace has been with me as I transitioned from living in Astoria, NY for 30 years to now living at Rock St. in Fall River, MA. I thank God for the love, support and prayers of my Holy Union Sisters, my family and friends.

One summer while I was on retreat, my spirits were low because I was feeling God's absence in my life. As I was walking on the property trying to pray and reflect, I came across a beautiful blue robin's eggshell on the ground. It spoke to me of new life and filled my heart with hope.

– Sr. Rita Theresa Goulet

Bi-lateral breast cancer is not often considered a blessing, but it was for me. Journeying through the diagnosis (twice,) the surgeries and 50 radiation treatments, I came to a deeper awareness of myself and of the presence of God with and within me. And with the prayer and support of so many sisters and friends, I was indeed filled with and “surprised by grace”.

– Sr. Mary Bridget McGettigan – Sr. Fran Cavey, SUSC

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Ministering among children and their families, Southeast Asian and Latino refugees and immigrants, as well as two prison populations has proven to me the resilience of the human/divine spirit within and the gifts I received from each group to "keep on, keepin' on" amidst seemingly insurmountable challenges and sorrows. Here at the Prosper Community (assisted living facility) I am now learning of this resilient spirit among us, an aging community, as each of us daily set one foot in front of the other, albeit more slowly than ever, but journeying nonetheless. All this has been and is "grace" for me day by day, including the opportunity for this reflection, itself.

– Sr. Christine Lacroix

When I was 15 my parents divorced, and at the same time my grandmother passed away. My mother, sister and I moved into my grandmother’s old, drafty house in Brooklyn, NY. Winter was upon us and we had a visit from a dear friend of my grandmother, Mrs. Graham. It was a visit filled with reminiscing of the woman we all loved; it was a day of tears and smiles. As the time for her leaving came upon us, Mrs. Graham asked to use the restroom. It was located on the second floor of our home and she had to go into the cold, drafty stairway to the equally cold and drafty bathroom. Then she gathered her things, and off she went. The next day the doorbell rang and there stood Mrs. Graham. I opened the door and she said, “These are for you to keep you warm” and she handed me three beautiful, new, big green comforters. Then she turned and walked away. I was so deeply touched by her generosity. Every year as the weather gets cold, I think of those comforters and the warmth and love attached to them. Yes, I was truly surprised by grace... disguised as Mrs. Graham.

– Sr. Kathee Corrigan

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THE HOLY UNION PODCAST! A collection of life experiences quietly gathered and gently shared.

We’re so pleased to announce a brand-new adventure we are embarking on! We have created our own podcast named, “Called to Be…” For the uninitiated, a podcast is like a radio program that you can listen to anytime you want on your computer or your smartphone. We are producing a new episode every month and making it available to listen to on our website at www.holyunionsisters.org with one click! The episodes are also being distributed on all major podcast services like Apple, Spotify, Pandora, and many others. If you are already an experienced podcast listener, just search on “Called to Be” on your favorite podcasting service, and listen to as many episodes as you’d like. Of course, all of this is free. We hope you decide to add us to your “favorites”.

Our first episode was published January 1, 2022. Each episode will feature several Holy Union Sisters and/or Holy Union Associates discussing a wide range of topics, ranging from various aspects of our spirituality, religious life, faith journey, cultural trends, current events, stories from our lives and experiences in a broad array of ministries, even favorite TV shows and movies. We see this as a new ministry using very current technologies to support our on-going efforts to reveal God’s love to the world.

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“Called to Be…” is being developed by our newly formed Podcast Team of Sisters MaryEllen Ryan, Fran Cavey, Ann Boland, Barbara Walsh, Christine LaCroix, Jane Newcomb, Nancy Stiles, and Alice Arsenault. The team has worked to help define the program’s format, topics, and various combinations of Sisters to participate in each episode.

The idea for this new ministry is based on a suggestion from several of you, our former students and friends! We see it as a wonderful new way to engage with each other. The Podcast page on our website also contains a form where you can suggest topics you’d like to know more about or ask questions of us. We can’t guarantee we’ll be able to get to every question or deliver on every request, but we’ll do our best.

We’re especially pleased to be joined in this effort by a number of our Associates, an extraordinary community of lay women and men who have joyfully committed to live their lives according to our charism, and work along side us to help reveal God’s love at the heart of the world. We hope you enjoy getting to know them and learning about their community. They have been a great blessing to us.

So, make yourself a cup of tea or pour a glass of wine and join us for “Called to Be…”. Whether you’re sitting at your kitchen table or driving home after work, we’re looking forward to engaging with you regularly in this new way. Please feel free to give us feedback and suggestions as we learn and grow together using these wonderful new ways to stay in touch with you.

Know of our love for you, and that you remain in our prayers always! We ask that you continue to pray for us as well, and for this wonderful new undertaking, that it may be successful in helping people along their journey of faith, as we continue to find new ways to reveal God’s love.

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Grace and Technology

by Ken Gustin

We have stretched ourselves to understand, embrace, The words Grace and Technology and use technology to further our mission, our seem oddly mismatched. And cer- reach, and the revelation of God’s love to the world. and sent it around via email tainly, much has been written about with a link to it on YouTube. the dangers, scams, and evil which technology has enThese same technologies have been embraced by variabled in recent years. Hackers steal identities, scammers ous committees who now meet regularly via Zoom. And steal money, and social media predators try to steal at our 2021 Assembly, when we could again gather safely, human dignity. But we can honestly say that the Sisters we used them to allow our Sisters who could not travel have experienced a great blossoming of technologies, easily to still join us remotely as we created our first (but and benefitted from the graces they have given us over not last) “hybrid” assembly, mixing face to face gatherthe past eighteen months. ings with virtual ones.

Tragedy often acts as a catalyst to bring about grace.

COVID -19 caused the deaths of hundreds of thousands of family and friends, and changed our world forever. It interrupted routines, disrupted jobs, and greatly restricted our ability to travel and get together. Since human contact was the primary means of transmitting the disease, almost over-night hugs, kisses, and even handshakes disappeared, replaced by masks, elbow bumps and social distancing.

Against that backdrop, and out of necessity, we were forced to reinvent our annual Assembly, scheduled for late July of 2020. This much-anticipated annual gathering gives our province a chance to gather and get caught up on all that has happened over the year. It re-energizes us and allows us to pay tribute to those who have died and celebrate our Jubilarians. But, suddenly, for the first time in memory, it was in danger of being canceled.

Enter those wonderful technologies like Zoom, YouTube, Facebook, JoinMe, and even our smartphones. Before last year some of us struggled with email. But thanks to a concerted effort we were able to deliver, record, and distribute a number of presentations and talks on several important topics so our Sisters could watch them safely in their own homes on YouTube and reflect on them.

Then we gathered virtually via Zoom for question and answer sessions, and had private group discussions on conference calls using a free service called JoinMe. During Advent 2020, our leadership team filmed a Christmas message using a cell phone, posted it on Facebook

We’ve begun using email to stay in touch with you, our dear friends, from time to time, and enjoy hearing back from you on how you and your families are doing.

Facebook has become a routine means of staying in touch with our friends, and our most recent technological adventure is our new Holy Union podcast (see the article in this issue of Response). Starting this month it will be available globally on every major podcasting platform.

And finally, we now stay in touch with our Sisters around the world via WhatsApp, Skype and an array of other technologies. And wonder of wonders, the cost for the vast majority of this is virtually zero (with a couple modest exceptions).

The history of Catholic women religious has always included a strong element of “finding a way” with few or no resources. That tradition continues today and includes a great deal of very sophisticated and free technology.

We have stretched ourselves to understand, embrace, and use it to further our mission, our reach, and the revelation of God’s love to the world. Great graces are coming from these tools, and we encourage you to be mindful of the potential they represent, and the good they can do.

Blossoming in the miasma of a pandemic, these mysterious high-tech apps, websites, and systems have helped bring us together, support one another, and continue to share God’s love with those who have been most vulnerable during a very difficult time.

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Our New Legacy Society We are pleased to announce the creation of “The Generations of Blessings Legacy Society.” This new giving society has been established as a way to acknowledge and thank our supporters who have decided to include the Holy Union Sisters in their Estate Planning. Future issues of our Annual Report will feature a list of the members of this new society, and many will receive a booklet with more information about this in the spring.

If you have questions in the meantime, feel free to contact Kenneth Gustin, Director of Mission Advancement, at ken.gustin@husmilton.org or 617-696-8765.

Online Donations Please visit the Donate and Mission Advancement page at www.holyunionsisters.org in order to: • Make a one time, or recurring, donation online • Learn about other ways to support our ministries Please visit us regularly online at: www.holyunionsisters.org.

Go to our “Contact Us” page to send us your email address and we’d be happy to send useful and timely faith formation information and other interesting content directly to your inbox. It will also give you a direct line of contact back to us for your prayer intentions; so the sisters can raise them up for you.

May God bless and keep you.

Kenneth Gustin Director of Mission Advancement & Communications PO Box 410, Milton, MA 02186-0006 (617) 696-8765 ext 19 Fax: (617) 696-8571 ken.gustin@husmilton.org Anne Martens, Designer 22 Cape Cod Avenue Plymouth, MA 02360 (508) 224-2648 annea333@gmail.com Printer: Image Resolutions, Norwell, MA 02061 Cover: istock image 1058076664.jpeg

Response is published twice a year by the Mission Advancement and Communications Office for friends and families of the Holy Union Sisters. www.holyunionsisters.org