RELIGIOUS SIGHTINGS
JEFFREY BRUNO; COURTESY OF LITTLE SISTERS OF THE POOR
SISTER REFLECTS ON HER LIFE AS A BEGGAR
SISTER ELISABETH ANNE, L.S.P. has begged for food donations for decades so that her community can continue to assist older adults who need care in Queens, New York.
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ISTER ELISABETH ANNE, L.S.P. has spent much of her time as a nun begging at a food market—and at first, she hated what has become her life’s work. In 1979 her community, the Little Sisters of the Poor, asked her to go to a wholesale produce market and solicit donations to feed the elderly in a home they ran in Queens, New York. “To go out and be a beggar was the worst thing you could ever ask me to do.
I cried my heart out for two weeks,” she told Eli Rosenberg of the New York Times. Nonetheless, the job grew on her, and she says she loves it. Sister Elisabeth Anne is now in her late 70s, the same age as many of the home’s residents. Vendors at Hunts Point Terminal Market in Queens have befriended her and her cause. She not only solicits produce each week but also asks parishes and foundations for money to support her community’s ministry. The tradition of having a “collecting sister” dates back to the founding of the Little Sisters of the Poor in 1839. Today, the home shelters and feeds 85 lowincome older adults and 19 nuns, who also live in the building serving the residents. It is one of 197 homes around the world run by the Little Sisters of the Poor, an order whose mission is to support the elderly poor. She is humble about her long record of begging. She told the New York Times: “I’m the last on the ladder; I’m the lowest. I’m the director of nothing except my life. Beggar. That’s my title.”
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COALITION of brothers and their supporters sponsored a national brothers symposium in March 2017 at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana. The first national day for Catholic brothers was held on May 1. More than 200 people representing 32 religious communities attended the symposium. Their discussion centered on the singularity of the vocation, focusing on the 2015 Vatican document “Identity and Mission of the Religious Brother in the PANELISTS AT THE MARCH 2017 Brothers Symposium discuss Church.” Along with VISION’s publisher, the National Religious the vocation to be a Catholic brother. Vocation Conference, the symposium sponsors were the Conference of Major Superiors of Men, the Religious Brothers Conference, the Religious Formation Conference, and the University of Notre Dame. The May 1 day of commemoration—to be repeated in 2018 and coming years—involved parishes, brothers’ communities, and other groups recognizing and celebrating the unique vocation of brothers and their contribution to the world. Learn more about the lifestyle, ministries, and vocations of brothers at todaysbrother.com and VocationNetwork.org. VISION articles about brothers: tinyurl.com/VocationNetworkBrothers Basic information about brothers: yearforconsecratedlife.com/religious-brothers.html SHARE YOUR SIGHTINGS
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10 | VISION 2018 | VocationNetwork.org
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FRIAR MATT HINDELANG, O.F.M. CAP.
Brothers go front and center