Nuns, priests, and brothers in the news

FILMMAKER BROTHER NICH PEREZ, C.S.C. (third from left) with his crew: Khiry Hollowell, Michael Schultz, and Kiefer Szumlas.

FILM INSTRUCTOR and filmmaker Brother Nich Perez, C.S.C. is director, writer, and editor of a full-length independent documentary about Catholic brothers that is intended to inform and inspire people about this vocation.

Perez and his collaborators have started showing Bro: Men With Hope to Bring at high schools and colleges connected to Catholic brothers around the United States, and they hope to do the same in Latin America.

“I asked myself, what can I do as a young religious with a film background? How can we use that tool [of film] to make God known?” Perez says. The film “looks at what a brother is and why these men give up their lives to be brothers.”

In 2009 he started shooting footage of the men in his own congregation, Brothers of Holy Cross, and over time he branched out, although Holy Cross men remained a focal point. He and several volunteer collaborators had amassed 200 hours of video interviews involving 150 Catholic brothers in 25 congregations in the United States, India, and Brazil.

His own film students at Holy Cross College in Notre Dame, Indiana, donated time, as did former students now working in the film industry. A Kickstarter campaign helped them raise some of the $100,000 of project costs.

Learn more at brofilmhope.com.

POPE’S SCHEDULE

Tuesday, Sept. 22

Arrival in Washington, D.C.

Wednesday, Sept. 24

Visit to the White House Address to Congress

Thursday, Sept. 24

Arrival in New York City

Friday, Sept. 25

Address to United Nations

Saturday, Sept. 26

World Meeting of Families Prayer Service, Philadelphia

Sunday, Sept. 27

World Meeting of Families Mass, Philadelphia

Pope’s U.S. visit includes attendance at World Meeting of Families

POPE FRANCIS IS SCHEDULED to visit the United States Sept. 22-27, with stops in Washington, D.C. and New York City, before arriving in Philadelphia for the World Meeting of Families, during which families from around the world will gather to pray, learn, and celebrate the gift of the family. TheHolySee’sPontificalCouncilfor the Family organizes the World Meeting of Families and describes it as “a triennial global event that seeks to strengthen the sacred bonds of family across the globe

POPE FRANCIS is scheduled to visit the U.S. in September for the World Meeting of Families.

and highlight the value of families to the good ofsociety.”Thisisthefirsttimeitwillbeheld intheUnitedStates.Theofficialthemeforthe 2015 World Meeting of Families is “Love is our mission: the family fully alive.”

BBC meets Vocation Match

VISION VocationMatch.com is “rather like using an online dating site to find the perfect partner,” said reporter Caroline Wyatt in a British Broadcasting Company (BBC) report about our award-winning online discernment tool. The May 2015 broadcast (www.bbc.com/news/ uk-32774408) ) featured young women who have found their ideal partnerships in religious communities by using Vocation Match. They are among the tens of thousands of men and women who have found suitable religious vocations or compatible religious communities by using VISION VocationMatch.com since it was introduced in 2007.

HILTON FOUNDATION SUPPORTS CATHOLIC SISTERS

A FEBRUARY 2015 international meeting of leaders from national vocation conferences was sponsored by VISION’s publisher, National Religious Vocation Conference, and funded by the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation. It was among dozens of Hilton Foundation-funded projects aimed at strengthening Catholic sisters and religious life.

HOTEL MAGNATE Conrad N. Hilton created a foundation that in part focuses on Catholic sisters. Since 2013, the foundation has worked to broaden and deepen the impact of sisters around the world by strengthening their congregations and the many organizations that support them. Projects designed to collectively bolster sisters and increase public awareness about their lives and work include:

Know thyself, be a better priest

• A Nun’s Life Ministry, spearheaded by two sisters, helps people explore their vocation options through conversations about God, faith, and religious life. • Communicators for Women Religious is a professional association for communicators for Catholic sisters whose goal is to promote understanding of women religious, enhance their image, and advance their mission. • Conference of Major Superiors of Women Religious and Leadership Conference of Women Religious the two leadership conferences for Catholic sisters. • Giving Voice for Catholic sisters under 40 has started a leadership training program for younger sisters. • Global Sisters Report highlights the diverse ministries of Catholic sisters around the world. • National Catholic Sisters Week, now in its third year, is a nationwide celebration of Catholic sisterhood, celebrated in 2016 the week of March 6-12. • National Religious Vocation Conference, a professional organization for vocation directors (and the publishers of VISION voCationguide), has initiated several programs in recent years to invigorate new membership in women’s communities.

“I RESISTED itat first but then realized that it would be good for me and the community to get some answers. . . . The advantage of having the diagnosis is that now I know why I have been ‘different,’ and knowing that, I can be a better minister and a better community member.”

—Father Greg Schill, S.C.J. on his diagnosis of Asperger’s. Read more about Schill’s journey of acceptance and advocacy at sacredheartusa.org/vocations/meet-our-members.

SHARE YOUR SIGHTINGS

If you spot a member of a religious community in the news, please e-mail the details to us at mail@vocationguide.org.

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Books for discerning religious life

A Sacred Voice Is Calling, by John Neafsy (Orbis, 2006)

Becoming Who You Are, Insights on the True Self from Thomas Merton

and Other Saints, by Father James Martin, S.J. (Hidden Spring, 2006)

Brothers: An Inside Look, by Brother Larry Schatz, F.S.C. (Saint Mary’s Press, 2002)

Catholics on Call: Discerning a Life of Service in the Church, edited by Father Robin Ryan, C.P. (Liturgical Press, 2010)

Discerning Your Vocation: A Catholic

Guide for Young Adults, by Community of the Beatitudes (Alba House, 2014)

Discernment: Reading

the Signs of Daily Life, by Father Henri J. M. Nouwen (Harper Collins, 2015)

Discover Your Path: Best of VISION VOcatION

GuIde, edited by Patrice Tuohy, (Kindle Edition, 2014)

God’s Voice Within: The Ignatian Way to

Discover God’s Will, by Father Mark Thibodeaux, S.J. (Loyola Press, 2010)

Let Your Life Speak: Listening for

the Voice of Vocation, by Parker J. Palmer (Jossey-Bass, 2000)

Sisters: An Inside Look, by Sister Kathleen Rooney, S.S.J. (St. Mary’s Press, 2001)

The Art of Discernment: Making Good Decisions in Your World of Choices, by Stefan Kiechle (Ave Maria Press, 2005)

Vocations Anonymous: A Handbook for Adults Discerning Priesthood

and Religious Life, by Sister Kathleen Bryant, R.S.C. (Rogationist Publications, 2014)

Path to Spiritual Awakening, by Sister Rose Mary Dougherty (Paulist, 2009)

The Way of Discernment: Spiritual Practices for Decision

Making, by Elizabeth Liebert (Paulist, 2008)

Tuning in to God’s Call, by Father Andrew Carl Wisdom, O.P. and Sister Christine Kiley, A.S.C.J. (Liguori, 2012)

2016 designated Year of Mercy

UNDERSCORING A MAJOR THEME of his papacy, Pope Francis has announced a jubilee year to be called the Holy Year of Mercy that begins Dec. 8, 2015 and lasts until Nov. 20, 2016. InApril2015,thepopeissuedaspecialstatementreflecting on the nature of mercy and his hopes for the year. “Jesus asks us also to forgive and to give,” Pope Francis said. “To be instrumentsofmercybecauseitwaswewhofirstreceived mercy from God. To be generous with others, knowing that God showers his goodness upon us with immense generosity. ‘Merciful like the Father,’ therefore,isthe‘motto’ofthisHolyYear.Inmercy,wefindproofofhowGodloves us. He gives his entire self, always, freely, asking nothing in return.”

Read the full address, “Bull of Indiction of the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy,” at vatican.va.