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Nuns, priests, and brothers in the news
THE CONGREGATION of Notre Dame sisters in Montreal, Canada marked the opening of the Year of Mercy holy door at St. Peter’s Basilica with the opening of their own holy door. The sisters built a doorway near their infirmary and invited elderly sisters to ritually pass through it, accompanied by mercythemed music.
AROUND THE WORLD, religious communities have been making this truly an Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy. Here are just a few of the ways men and women in consecrated life are expressing the merciful dimension of God during this year: • Many religious order priests have become “missionaries of mercy,” priests specially appointed by Pope Francis to be responsible for preaching, teaching, and practicing mercy. • Communities are using social media to communicate the Christian concept of mercy. Check out #MakeMercyReal and #MercyMonday.
• Communities are hosting retreats, days of reflection, and book discussions with a theme of mercy.
• Schools sponsored by religious communities are discussing mercy in classrooms, praying about it in chapels, and spearheading special works of mercy projects.
• Priests in religious communities are doubling up their efforts to make the sacrament of Reconciliation more accessible. Father Michael Champagne, C.J.C. of St. Martinsville, Louisiana, went so far as to convert a former ambulance into a “confessional on wheels” that he has been driving to meet people where they are and offer God’s forgiveness.
• Religious communities have ritually opened “holy doors of mercy” in their own chapels, shrines, and holy places. Pope Francis has encouraged Catholics to make a pilgrimage to a “holy door of mercy” to better experience God’s mercy through the symbolism of crossing a threshold.
Learn more about what other communities are doing at vocationnetwork.org/blog/ spiritcitings_blog.
BROTHER AL MASCIA, O.F.M. uses music to bring people together across religious differences. In doing so, he says, he is following an old tradition of his Franciscan ancestors: that of being a “minstrel of God.”
A musician, singer, songwriter, and storyteller, Brother Mascia is co-founder of Song and Spirit Institute in Berkley, Michigan. He and his two artistic partners—interfaith married couple Steve Klaper and Mary Gilhuly—conduct retreats, programs, and performances that blend music, storytelling, and visual art. The Song and Spirit Institute frequently adds a charitable element to its outreach, too, encouraging the making of food sacks at their bookings.
Mascia has been a member since 2001 of the Franciscan Friars of the Cincinnati, Ohio-based St. John the Baptist Province. In fact, closely associated with Song and Spirit Institute is the Duns Scotus Friary, a residence for men in the Franciscan community. The friary is located in a section of the former convent that houses the Song and Spirit Institute.
At the heart of Song and Spirit’s interfaith approach is the pairing of Catholic and Jewish traditions. Klaper calls himself a “Jewish troubadour”; he is also a cantor, musician, and storyteller.
Mascia—whose songs can be found on YouTube—explains his ap-
“MINSTREL OF GOD” Franciscan Brother Al Mascia, O.F.M. uses his musical talents to deepen understanding between people of different faiths.
proach on songandspirit.org: “When we experience another’s culture, their music, rituals, beliefs—we come to understand that there are no ‘others’— we are all one people seeking the same human relationships, grappling with the same divine mysteries.”
Family study finds key influences to Catholic vocations
A MAJOR STUDY on the role of families in nurturing vocations found that recent entrants to religious life and diocesan priesthood come from families that go to Mass weekly, pray together often, have active faith lives, and encourage family members to be open to vocation options. The study was commissioned by the National Religious Vocation Conference (NRVC) and conducted by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) at Georgetown University. To read more about the findings, visit tinyurl.com/NRVCFamilyStudy.
CHOOSING LIFE
SISTER MARY HEALY, R.S.M. with her older brother Joey Healy, who was murdered in 2000. Healy is an outspoken opponent of the death penalty.
FOR MOST PEOPLE, the death penalty is not personal. But for Sister Mary Healy, R.S.M., it is connected to one of the most painful chapters of her life—her brother’s murder.
“Joey was my big brother, a gentle giant, a holy man, my mentor, ” she writes in the Sisters of Mercy blog “Connect with Mercy” about her brother, who was shot at random in the back of the head in 2000.
Though Healy went through a period of deep struggle and grief, she came to the realization that forgiveness was her only option: “Forgiveness is not excusing, not forgetting, not approval. Rather, it is the meeting of mercy and justice.” A year after her brother’s death Healy found herself testifying for the defense during the sentencing phase of the murder trial of her brother’s killer. The offender remains on death row. “Victims’ families do not find closure with the death sentence of the offender,” says Healy. “Rather it throws them into another period of waiting for the execution. lt is a fantasy to think the victims’ families’ healing or closure is a direct consequence of the end of [an offender’s] life.”
Healy is now a member of a club she never imagined being part of: Family members of victims opposed to capital punishment. “I am honored to be a part of this community of victims’ family members,” says Healy. “They are all so staunchly convinced of the sacredness of every human life.”
Read more at tinyurl.com/MyBrotherJoe.
Pope schools Congress on Day and Merton
TWENTIETH-CENTURY AmericanCatholic activists Dorothy Day and Thomas Merton took center stage along with Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King Jr. during Pope Francis’ historic address to the U.S. Congress in September 2015. Francis held up these four individuals to impart Catholic social teaching to all Americans. Merton (1915-1968) was a Trappist monk, pacifist, and writer, most famously of the autobiographical The Seven Storey Mountain. “Merton was above all a man of prayer, a thinker who challenged the certitudes of his time and opened new horizons for souls and for the church,” the pope said. Day (1897-1980) was a journalist, laywoman, radical Christian, and founder of the Catholic Worker movement, whose mission is to show hospitality to those on the margins and live out the works of mercy.
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TV HOSTS TALK FAITH
POLITICAL COMMENTATOR Chris Matthews had two resounding words for the Christian Brothers who taught him in high school: “Thank you.”
In his commencement speech to the 2015 graduating class at Saint Mary’s College of California in Moraga, the host of the MSNBC talk show Hardball with Chris Matthews said, “Thank you for your dedication to students like me, for how you educated us, for your quiet humility—Yes, I had the Jesuits, too!—and for being more impressed with the young people you teach than you are with yourselves. As a Brother’s Boy, I know what I’m talking about.” Matthews graduated from La Salle College High School in Wyndmoor, Pennsylvania. He also attended the Jesuit-run College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts.
Matthews’ media peers Rachel Maddow and Stephen Colbert have also shared on air about their Catholic backgrounds. Maddow, who also hosts a political talk show on MSNBC and was raised “very, very Catholic” in her words, praised the work of social justice activist Sister Simone Campbell on her show, saying, “I love that the Holy Spirit is alive and well and making mischief.” Colbert, now the new host of STEPHEN COLBERT The Late Show on CBS, is a practicing Catholic and former catechism teacher. He displayed his impressive knowledge of his religion during a “Catholic throwdown” segment with Catholic TV actress Patricia Heaton, quizzing one another on beliefs and customs. (Watch the clip at tinyurl.com/ TVhostsTalkFaith.)
CHRIS MATTHEWS
RACHEL MADDOW
Monks produce first hand-lettered Bible in 500 years
AMINNESOTA COMMUNITY of Benedictine monks has resurrected the ancient tradition of hand-scribing Bibles. Several years ago Saint John’s Abbey and University in Collegeville, Minnesota commissioned the Saint John’s Bible, the first completely handwritten and illuminated Bible since the invention of the printing press more than 500 years ago. Twelve have been produced.
One copy of this rare Bible was presented to the Library of Congress in honor of Pope Francis’ address to Congress in September 2015.
In keeping with an ancient Benedictine tradition of illustrating and hand-lettering scripture, scholars at Saint John’s Abbey and University and a team of artists and calligraphers have been working on the Bibles entirely by hand, writing with quills and illuminating pages with precious metals and paints ground manually from minerals.
One of the Bibles is on display at Saint John’s Abbey and will go on tour as an exhibit around the world.
POPE FRANCIS and government and church officials gathered in September 2015 in Washington, D.C. to present a copy of the St. John’s Bible to the Library of Congress.
Enter #191 at VocationMatch.com
SISTERS frequently study theology and other subjects during their formation years. Pictured here are theology students at Catholic Theological Union.
NFCRV helps women become sisters
A new fund—aimed at tackling the problem of educational debt—is helping 10 young women to pursue their dream of becoming Catholic sisters.
RESEARCH HAS SHOWN that more than 1,000 religious vocations are lost each year due to educational debt. With the average student debt at $35,000 (in 2016), religious communities simply cannot afford to service the student loans of prospective candidates to religious life.
Young adults with educational debt either self-select out of the process of entering religious life or must defer their vocations until they are debt-free, which can take years. Now, thanks to the 2015 establishment of the National Fund for Catholic
Religious Vocations (NFCRV), with inital funding from the Conrad N. Hilton
Foundation and GHR Foundation, eight religious communities are able to welcome 10 new candidates (featured here) to pursue their dreams of becoming Catholic sisters. For information on the 2016 men’s and women’s community grantees and to the learn more about the fund, go to NFCRV.org.
Ana Gonzalez
Dominican SiSterSof Peace What is most surprising about religious life?
I thought sisters would be lonely. I didn’t see the role community played. Now as a candidate living in a community I
know sisters are never alone. There is that sisterly bond.
Boram Lee
DaughterSofmaryhelP ofchriStianS
What was the turning point that made you consider becoming a nun?
I had an opportunity to go on this mission trip to Haiti. I spent a week there living with the clergy and the religious sisters and brothers of that order. I felt so much joy and beauty in their life, which was being used completely to serve other people. I thought maybe I could have a fulfilling life, too, living in this way.
Christina Chavez
congregationof Divine ProviDence
What made you choose religious life?
I remember asking some sisters, “How do you know what you are doing with your life?“ and they said that they were still discerning—it blew my mind. I was interested in finding out what it takes to become a nun. I googled it from my cell phone and VISION vocation Match came up. That’s when the journey began.
Regina Garofalo
felician SiSterSofnorthamerica
What have you found difficult about religious life?
I have a German shepherd, and that has been hard for me to give up. Also giving up control and thinking I know what’s best. At first it was hard putting everything in God’s hands.
SiSterSofthe humilityofmary What would you tell someone on the fence about religious life?
I would tell them what someone told me: “Just try it.” You have a minimum of six years between candidacy and final vows, so there is time to test the waters.
Among the sisters in my community, we range from 29 to 100 years old—we laugh, we are filled with joy, we have a good time while being centered in God, all living with the same purpose.
Cialinett Colon
DaughterSofchriStiancharity What made you begin to consider religious life?
I was very focused on my education—it was everything really. But there was this God-shaped hole in my life. I decided to go to Calcutta to volunteer and be where Mother Teresa started her ministry. I sensed that I really liked this. When I came back, I began to discern more seriously.
Josefina Whitmore
SiSterS, ServantSoftheimmaculate heartofmary
How did your education help equip you for religious life?
I think my experiences at a liberal, public college strengthened my faith and moved me more toward religious life, when at the time I was worried it was doing the opposite. That exposure prepares you to appreciate people of different faiths.
Katherine Frazier
aDrian Dominican SiSterS
What are the differences between your academic life and your life in the church?
As an academic, you are trying to understand things and their roots. In religious life it feels more like jumping off a cliff because I don’t know what the world or my congregation will look like in 30 years. For me the journey of religious life is about putting all my faith in God.
Lauren Galt
felician SiSterSof northamerica
What is the most difficult part about adjusting to religious life?
Just getting used to the freedom that religious life brings. It is such a pure freedom. It is about the freedom that comes from God’s love. But I do miss sleeping in sometimes.
Margaret Uche
Dominican SiSter of Peace
What would you like to say to the NFCRV and its benefactors?
I would like to thank them for helping me continue my vocation because my student loans were one of the issues I had when I entered religious life. I worried I wouldn’t get in. This grant helped me make that dream come true.
