CROSS CURRENTS
Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur • Ohio Province
NOTRE DAME AMERICORPS: TEACHING FOR LIFE
SUMMER 2023 VOLUME 19 ISSUE 2
CROSS CURRENTS
Summer 2023 | Volume 19/Issue 2
Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur change lives by making known God’s goodness.
Throughout the world, we are committed to education. We take our stand with those living in poverty, especially women and children in the most abandoned places. Cross Currents is published two times a year for friends of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur by the Ohio Province Development Office.
We invite reader responses on the content of this publication or on the work of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur. Comments may be submitted to Kevin Manley, Director of Development, at kmanley@ohsnd.org.
Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur Ohio Province
701 E. Columbia Avenue Cincinnati, OH 45215 513-761-7636 / 513-761-6159 (fax) www.sndohio.org
Leadership Team:
Sister Kathleen Harmon, SNDdeN, Provincial
Sister Donna Marie Jurick, SNDdeN
Sister Patricia Loome, SNDdeN
Publisher:
Kevin Manley kmanley@ohsnd.org
513-679-8117
Writers
Joe Foley
Dyah Miller
Graphic Design
Jane Bobel
Editor
Anne Brown Miller
Photography
Cover, page 3 (middle left), page 4, page 6, page 8 (bottom right), page 9 (top right); page 10 (right): Dyah Miller.
Page 3 (top), page 5, page 7: Courtesy Notre Dame Mission
Volunteers Annual Report (Amanda Odell, site director and staff).
Back cover (left): Ivan Martinez. All others by local and international Sisters and staff.
AN EMBRACING CHARISM
‘Charism’ is one of those mysterious words. Some will never have heard of it; some will think about it every day.
Charism can be thought of as the soul of a religious congregation. It takes into account the apostolate, or the work of its members. It takes into account spirituality as practiced on a regular basis. It takes into account how members decide to live in relation to one another, and it takes into account how members engage with the world.
For the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, this charism is expressed through education and walking with those who are marginalized. And though Sisters have lived, labored and passed on, the charism remains. It’s as a stream flowing through one generation of Sisters to the next, from Saint Julie to the Sisters of today.
Importantly, charism is not all or nothing. Many of you reading this will not live in a religious community. You may not say prayers at a certain time. You may have a spouse and children. And yet, that essential part of charism – the work – that is something we can share. We can join in it together. In this issue of Cross Currents, you’ll see how young people have done just that, and how the world is a better place because of it.
KEVIN MANLEY Director of Development
Cover: Samantha Smyjunas is a first-year Notre Dame AmeriCorps member at Imago Earth Center, Cincinnati, OH.
CARRYING THE TORCH
Education everywhere was in chaos. If not complete chaos, managed chaos. Teachers knew it, parents knew it, children knew it. The pandemic felled businesses one after the other. Government offices scrambled to remain functional. School budgets went up in smoke. Everyone everywhere fought to hang on. Landis Soto was among them. As was Nancy Groszek.
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TOP: Notre Dame AmeriCorps supports the International Rescue Committee’s humanitarian work.
LEFT: Alicia Pepper (right) is a firstyear member at Cincinnati, OH-based, Education Matters.
RIGHT: Landis Soto (pictured here with a Corryville Catholic School student) is a former Notre Dame AmeriCorps member.
The Bond of Notre Dame Across Generations
Elena Telemante, NDMVA member in Lumberton, NM, learned about the service from her mom, who was hired by Sister Rose Marie Deibel, SNDdeN, in 1995 to work at the St. Francis of Assisi School. After the first year, Elena thought she barely scratched the surface of serving students. She is now finishing her second year as an NDMVA member.
Landis worked as a Notre Dame AmeriCorps volunteer* at Corryville Catholic Elementary in a low-income neighborhood deep in the Cincinnati inner-city. Nancy worked as the director for multiple Notre Dame AmeriCorps sites, such as schools, social service and other helping organizations, likewise in Cincinnati.
Both got up very early.
By 6:50 in the morning, Landis was serving breakfast in the school cafeteria for low-income students participating in in-person learning. Then she tutored these same students as well as students learning remotely. Still later she helped prepare recorded lessons for students who sat down in the evenings in front of home computers with parents fortunate enough to have retained their day jobs. And all through it were masks, sanitizing, social distancing, Zoom and the gremlins of new technologies that until now had never been called on to such a degree.
“This is what our students need,” said Landis at the time, “so this is what we have to do.”
Not far away, Nancy grappled with how to keep volunteers safe but engaged in confronting not only perennial challenges in education and hunger, but also existential challenges wrought by the contagion, and in an environment where the usual conduits of support, such as
schools and churches, were brought to their knees and that in some cases had turned off the lights.
And yet, for so many of the people served by Notre Dame AmeriCorps, and by the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur as well, the pandemic wasn’t an episode so much as a continuation. The dislocation, the trauma, the privations, the lack of control – these were part and parcel of a daily and crisis-driven existence.
*Notre Dame AmeriCorps volunteers are often referred to as members
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DAME DE NAMUR
Elena Telemante, Notre Dame Mission Volunteers AmeriCorps (NDMVA) member
“This is what our students need, so this is what we have to do.”
—Landis Soto
Game Changer
It’s for these people living on the margins that the Sisters, in 1992, initiated Notre Dame Mission Volunteers. At first, the work was limited to the urban cores of Cincinnati and Baltimore and the agricultural economy of Apopka, Florida. The volunteers went where sometimes the Sisters could not. They taught in schools, they tutored, they met emergency needs. Then, just three years after beginning, the program teamed up with the federal AmeriCorps Program.
“It just took off then,” says Nancy. “It exploded.”
From a handful of volunteers, Notre Dame AmeriCorps grew to nearly 350 volunteers, most in their twenties and most, recent college graduates. They came
to work in 29 cities and towns from the Midwest to the South to both coasts. Locations became as diverse as Youngstown and Phoenix, Seattle and Tampa Bay. Within each of the cities and towns, site directors, such as Nancy at the time, coordinated recruitment, compliance with AmeriCorps guidelines, housing and other needs of volunteers, and partnerships with area-helping organizations, partnerships that in conjunction with AmeriCorps’ federal dollars help underwrite volunteer stipends and program overhead.
Yet despite the growth and expanding
geographic reach, Notre Dame AmeriCorps remained and remains focused on individual efforts, and how one committed individual can, on a person-toperson basis, have a substantial and far-reaching impact. In this regard, Notre Dame AmeriCorps closely mirrors the ethos of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur both as a congregation and as individual Sisters.
“It reminds me of how important it is for me to follow Jesus through action,” says Landis. “There’s a need to talk about spirit and beliefs, but sometimes it’s more important to walk the walk and to be present to people one person at a time.”
For Landis, this meant being in a school cafeteria before the sun came up.
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Volunteers continue the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur’s strong educational tradition.
Serving Her Own Community
The Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur are educators inside and outside classrooms.
Sister Kathy O'Hagan, SNDdeN, site director, Big Laurel Learning Center, Kermit, WV, had known Angel Esteep since she was four years old. Angel and her brother used to ride with Sister Kathy on her truck and helped the Sister with gardening. Angel continued to attend Sister Kathy’s summer camps as she got older.
Two years ago, when Angel was looking for a job, Sister Kathy suggested NDMVA.
Angel is now completing a second year serving her own community at the Big Laurel.
For Nancy, it meant ensuring the safety of volunteers in an upended work environment.
“As individuals,” Landis says, “there is always something we can do.”
Impact
Over ninety percent of Notre Dame AmeriCorps Volunteers are involved with education, primarily in kindergarten through 12th grade education and in adult education.
For K through 12, 15,225 students at 68 different locations were taught and/or tutored by Notre Dame AmeriCorps Volunteers during the 2021-22 academic year. Another 758 pre-school students received individualized instruction. Because of a nationwide teacher shortage (300,000 teacher openings as estimated by the National Education Association), these volunteers helped fill a void that at the ground level has the capacity to handicap the reading and math skills of students for years to come.
In the area of adult education, Notre Dame Mission Volunteers likewise met a need in the areas of job readiness and training, English as a Second Language (ESL), tutoring and GED preparation. At 40 sites around the country, over 3,500 adults participated.
Notre Dame Mission Volunteers also provided environmental education at 13 partnering sites, such as Tikkun Farm in Cincinnati and the Ocean Discovery Institute in San Diego; provided nutrition education that included the collection and distribution of food during the pandemic (over 52,000 meals last year); and offered citizenship education to newly arrived immigrants.
Notre Dame AmeriCorps closely mirrors the ethos of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur ...
“The Sisters stay with this because they are committed to education and to the poor,” says Nancy. “And that’s what we do. That’s what Notre Dame AmeriCorps does.”
Into the Future
Today, Landis works one-onone with students at Cincinnati-area schools through the Beech Acres Parenting Center, a social services organization dedicated to strengthening children and families. The Notre Dame Mission Volunteers experience, Landis believes, led her here.
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SISTERS OF NOTRE DAME DE NAMUR
Angel Esteep, Notre Dame Mission Volunteers AmeriCorps (NDMVA) member
“It definitely had an effect,” she says. “Being at a school during the pandemic you had to persevere through all kinds of challenges,” much as the students she sees now must do. “Plus,” Landis says, “I wasn’t looking to work in a school setting, but after working with young minds you see the impact one person can have. As individuals, there is always something we can do. That empowered me.”
It’s a sentiment Nancy, both as a site director and later as interim national director, sees often. The Notre Dame Mission Volunteers give to those they serve, but they also receive spiritual enrichment and many times, future direction.
“They’re out of their comfort zone, their bubble, and so they walk away with a better sense of themselves and their communities.”
—Nancy Groszek
“The draw is the work,” Nancy says. “The work we’ve done and the work we do. Some want to give back. Some want to explore a possible career. But it’s a different generation we’re in. There is a hunger there, a soul-searching there. This is the first time many of them have served people who are disadvantaged. They’re out of their comfort zone, their bubble, and so they walk away with a better sense of themselves and their communities.”
In early 2022, after Nancy had retired as the Cincinnati site director, the Sisters called her back as interim national director. “There was a need and I knew the program and could step in,” she says.
“I love the Sisters of Notre Dame. My time
them
And so, after 11 years already served, Nancy served an additional 14 months in charge of the program nationally. In April of this year, Ted Miles, a former Maryknoll Lay Missioners executive director, was named as national executive director.
Looking back, Nancy says she and the Mission Volunteers are a part of the Sisters’ legacy.
“We’re passing along the charism and the love of education,” she says, “and the belief that education changes lives.
“It’s consistency and persistence that are the most important things. If you’re able to provide encouragement, support and hope to people, that in the long run will give them the courage to keep doing what they need to do. You’re journeying with them, with each person, to get them to the next step.
“You’re teaching not just the academic. You’re teaching for life.”
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with
changed my life.”
Big Laurel, Kermit, WV, is one of 13 environmental education partner sites.
LEFT TO RIGHT: Interim executive director Nancy Groszek and executive director Ted Miles.
NEWSBRIEFS
ICING ON THE CAKE
Quarterly birthday gatherings are icing on the cake of living in community. The Notre Dame Health Center honored 22 resident Sisters observing birthdays in December, January, February and March. A few honorees and friends are pictured here:
LEFT TO RIGHT, TOP: Sister Agatha Fitzgerald, OSU, and Sister Marie-Louise Rossi, SNDBC.
LEFT TO RIGHT, BOTTOM: Sisters Jane Mudd,
and Mary
NEW DIRECTOR OF ASSOCIATES
“Discernment continues,” remarks Barb Markus, new director of Associates, Ohio Province. All of us – regardless of calling – “are making decisions about our lives,” she explains.
Barb is uniquely qualified to journey with persons discerning Association with the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur (SNDdeN): She attended and taught at SNDdeN schools and spent 15 years as a vowed community member.
“Julie has been with me for a long time,” Barb quips.
Barb assumed her new role in early February. A key priority is re-establishing connections lost during the pandemic. For example, Barb's office sponsored a Day of Retreat and Commitment (including Mass) on May 20.
She also hopes to extend Association reach beyond traditional borders and to re-institute days of spirituality.
ROAD TO RETIREMENT PAVED IN CHOCOLATE
Fat Tuesday (February 21, 2023) offered an all-sweets opportunity to celebrate Sister Elizabeth Anne Schaad, SNDdeN’s, retirement.
Fellow Sisters and co-workers drizzled and dolloped a dessert feast fitting of the Province’s favorite chocolate lover. Sister Elizabeth Anne (right) had worked with Chief financial officer Shari Powers (left) and other members of the finance team since 2016.
“We’re hoping to make connections globally with other Associate groups,” comments Barb Markus, director of Associates (pictured).
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SISTERS OF NOTRE DAME DE NAMUR
SNDdeN,
DiCroce, SNDdeN. Sisters Colette Didier, SNDdeN, Lea Cozzini, SNDdeN, and Anne Flanagan, SNDdeN.
“No graces are greater than the gift of friendship.”
— St. Julie Billiart
SPIRITUAL DIRECTION: ART AND GIFT
Sister Dr. Linda Soucek, SNDdeN, a clinical psychologist, recently earned designation as certified spiritual director. She completed a sixmonth training through the Linwood Spiritual Center in Rhinebeck, NY. The focus was eclectic, but emphasized Carl Jung’s writings. “Spiritual direction is an art and a gift. I am eager to share this gift with others and round out my retirement activities,” Sister Linda explains.
PRESENCE AND SOLIDARITY
Sister Rebecca Trujillo, SNDdeN, and Chicago friend, Hope Little, displayed unwavering presence during a three-day protest at the National Rifle Association (NRA) convention in Indianapolis, IN. “For many hours, the two of us were the only protesters in the police-designated area at a park adjacent to the convention center,” she says.
Sister Rebecca and Hope stood in solidarity with a mother who read out loud the names of more than 3,000 children lost to gun violence in 2022 and 2023.
Sister Rebecca recalls: “It seemed every state in the country was listed; the majority were children under ten.”
The women’s faithfulness was acknowledged by local workers and bystanders. “We went to lunch at a restaurant and the server paid for our meal in appreciation of our protest,”
Sister Rebecca says.
OHIO PROVINCE WELCOMED SISTER FROM JAPAN
Sister Kumiko Azuma, SNDdeN, a kindergarten and Montessori teacher from Japan, visited the Ohio Province in early February. The trip was an integral part of Sister Kumiko’s six-month internship with the Congregational Mission Office (CMO) in Ipswich, MA.
Sister Kumiko’s Cincinnati-based itinerary included a day with Archivist Sister Kim Dalgarn, SNDdeN, a local tour of Congregational landmarks and meetings with Province staff. Sister Kumiko’s affinity for the Montessori Method contributed to her enthusiasm following a morning spent observing classes at The Summit. “Visiting teachers and children … seeing the chapel and the immense school … and realizing its significance in our history,” made it a highlight experience, Sister Kumiko mentioned.
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Hope Little of Chicago (left) and Sister Rebecca Trujillo, SNDdeN, (right) carried simple – yet profoundly powerful – posters during their three-day protest outside the NRA convention held in April.
Sister Dr. Linda Soucek, SNDdeN
Sister Carol DiFiore, SNDdeN, (right) coordinated Sister Kumiko Azuma, SNDdeN’s, (left) daily itinerary.
MOUNT NOTRE DAME HEALTH CENTER
“The Sisters truly care about us and our families – to the extent that one Sister checks my feet daily to ensure I’m wearing warm socks or comfortable knee highs,” notes Sheila Arbino (pictured here).
If you were taught by a Sister of Notre Dame de Namur, whether in Chicago, Ohio, Arizona, or in some instances, on either of the coasts, that Sister more than likely lived, is living or will live in the Mount Notre Dame Health Center in Cincinnati.
Constructed in 2001, the Health Center has an assisted living floor, home to 40 Sisters; and a skilled nursing floor, home to another 40. Importantly, the Health Center is an extension of the Mount Notre Dame Convent with Sisters participating in the social, governance and spiritual activities of the Congregation. Sisters from other Notre Dame provinces also have the option of retiring here.
The Health Center is ranked in the top best long-term care facilities in the state by the State of Ohio, and has consistently received perfect scores – no deficiencies – from the Ohio Department of Health, including during the pandemic.
In many instances, a frail elderly person with in-home medical services can remain in his or her home instead of transitioning to a healthcare facility. In many instances, too, this person can stay with children or grandchildren. For the Sisters, neither of these are options. Instead, they return to the home most have known all their lives; they return to Mount Notre Dame.
Filling Baskets with Memories
More than 30 staff and family members joined Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur at a first-ever Health Center-sponsored Easter Egg Hunt in mid-April.
“The Sisters have a deep knowing. The best thing I’ve been told here is ‘You’re a good mom … which is meaningful advice … to hear from these women who, as teachers, raised thousands of children,’” states Mary Hamilton (pictured here).
“You’re blessed and loved all day
St. Julie’s charism infuses Mount Notre Dame Health Center, says a staff member.
“The Sister Glow. You feel it the moment you walk through the doors,” observes Sheila Arbino, activities director. Sheila continues: “When you’re with the Sisters, you’re blessed and loved all day … and, in turn, we absorb the glow and share it with others.”
Mary Hamilton, activities assistant, concurs. She says: “The Sisters share so much wisdom … they are welleducated and traveled … and have seen things that we can’t imagine. It’s beautiful to be around that all day long.”
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...”
This stained glass window depicting St. Julie Billiart, foundress, Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, welcomes visitors to Mount Notre Dame Health Center.
LEFT TO RIGHT: Sisters enjoying the egg hunt. Sister Jo Anne Depweg, SNDdeN, with Ava. Physical therapist Rachel Cameron with Cole.
SERVICE IS THE COMMON THREAD
What does it mean to make God’s goodness known throughout the world? Though the specifics may be somewhat different for everyone, there is often a common thread of service.
For a stay-at-home mom, it may mean helping her elderly neighbors with their groceries. A young adult might fulfill his calling by volunteering as an inner city tutor. A church family could combine their resources to support missionaries overseas. Many others find the best answer for them is to pray for and support charities whose work makes a difference.
Our Sisters serve in many different ways, “Educating for Life” and assisting those in poverty, both in the U.S. and throughout the world. We are so thankful for your willingness to help us to meet the needs of countless individuals facing situations that would be overwhelming without assistance.
Much of the support we’ve received over the years came from friends who continued supporting the Sisters after their lifetimes. In addition to gifts in a will or living trust (called a bequest), there are other ways to leave a legacy such as:
• Life insurance proceeds. You can name the Sisters to receive all or a portion of a life insurance policy, perhaps one that is no longer needed for its original purpose. Income tax benefits can result from giving in this way.
• Retirement plans. It’s easy to include the Sisters as a beneficiary of your retirement plan, and this can be a tax-wise way to make a charitable gift. Otherwise, amounts remaining in these plans that are left to heirs may be subject to income taxes.
• Savings accounts or investment accounts. In most states, you can name a charity as the beneficiary of such an account through what is known as a “pay on death” (POD) provision.
As an added advantage, by using a beneficiary designation form, you avoid probate on that designated asset when you make your legacy gift to the Sisters. Please contact me at 513-679-8106 or khadden@ohsnd.org if you have any questions or would like more information on these types of plans. We appreciate you and your family and include you in our prayers.
KAREN HADDEN Associate Development Director
513-679-8106
khadden@ohsnd.org
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Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur 701 E. Columbia Avenue Cincinnati, OH 45215-3999
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ARIZONA FRIENDS' MASS AND LUNCHEON FEBRUARY 26, 2023
Good friends are at the heart of the Sisters’ work, mission and lives. Phoenix, AZ, friends (pictured here) celebrated liturgy and enjoyed lunch together earlier this year.
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Join us for another Live The Good opportunity ROSARY MAKING AT THE OHIO PROVINCE Saturday, October 14, 2023 • 1:00–3:00 p.m.
LEFT TO RIGHT: Steve Purtell; Debbie Purtell; Sister Meg Walsh, SNDdeN; Tom Fritz and Pam Fritz
LEFT TO RIGHT: Sisters Liane Delsuc, SNDdeN, US E-W; Donna Jurick, SNDdeN; Meg Walsh, SNDdeN; Pat Pieper, SNDdeN and Carmen Silva, SNDdeN.