Motherhouse Musings

 Pandemic and Presence  The Catholic Health Association graphic of a woman wearing a mask (above) to demonstrate her love of her neighbors during the Covid-19 pandemic is one of the best visuals I have to symbolize what self-sacrificing love looks like right now in our world. I do not know one person who enjoys wearing a mask, especially here in Florida with our heat and humidity.  Another way to demonstrate self-sacrificing love now is staying home and avoiding risky behaviors such as optional traveling and being in crowded groups of people where others may not be wearing masks and social distancing is difficult.  As Sisters of St. Joseph who have been seized by God's love, we work in collaboration with others to bring union and reconciliation to our world "that  all may be one." (John 17;21) Looking back at all the tragic events of 2020 and even recently in our own country, the need for this mission and charism of healing and reconciliation and unity is greate...

Portion of Christmas novena prayed by Sisters of St. Joseph of St. Augustine, FL What is a Novena? This afternoon following Evening Prayer the Sisters of St. Joseph will begin to pray their Christmas novena, and continue praying it daily through Dec. 24th in preparation for the celebration of Christmas. If you are a Catholic of a certain age, you have probably prayed a novena in your life. However, if you are a young Catholic, or not a Catholic, you may not know what a novena is.  In the U.S. Catholic Catechism for Adults (2006) published by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, a novena is defined as the following in their glossary of terms: "Nine days of prayer, usually invoking the intercession of the Virgin Mary or a saint. The novena traces its development to the scriptural nine days of prayer by Mary, the Apostles, and disciples asking for the gift of the Holy Spirit after the Ascension of Jesus Christ into heaven." (p. 521) Nativity in Motherhouse chapel in 2018 Anot...

Fratelli Tutti calls world to live Gospel values Crape Myrtle bloom in Motherhouse gardens in spring. In his recent encyclical, Fratelli Tutti , "On the Fraternity and Social Friendship," Pope Francis calls the world to meet the challenges of Gospel charity. Using the parable of the Good Samaritan and many other sources, he urges us to a change of heart, attitudes and lifestyles.  Reading this during the COVID-19 pandemic and a presidential election year in our country, it was easy to see how the world would be a much better place if we tried to live as the Holy Father suggests. In Chapter Six of the encyclical, "Dialogue and Friendship in Society," the pope brings out the need for dialogue, which he defines as "approaching, speaking, listening, looking at, coming to know and understand one another, and to find common ground." This kind of dialogue is not accomplished through social media. At the end of Chapter Six is a section entitled "Recovering K...

  Why Joseph? Statue of St. Joseph and Child Jesus in front foyer of Motherhouse. During this Year of St. Joseph in the Diocese of St. Augustine, I thought a blog entry on how the Sisters of St. Joseph received their name would be fitting . S ince October 15, 1650, is recognized as the official founding of the Sisters of St. Joseph in Le Puy-en-Velay, France, I decided to post this on October 15, 2020, 370 years later.   In researching this topic, I found a page on the Philadelphia (Chesnut Hill) Sisters of St. Joseph website that was written by Sister Dolores Clerico, SSJ, one of their members who is familiar to our Congregation since she has spoken at our Assemblies, and even led a Congregational retreat one summer at Marywood.  According to Sister Dolores, St. Joseph was in the shadows before the 16th century. St. Teresa of Avila, the discalced Carmelites, the Jesuits and Franciscans and many newly-formed confraternities of Catholic laity in Europe began to promote dev...

  Season of Creation Calls Christians to Reflect on Our Common Home A tree is the symbol for Season of Creation If you have not heard about the Season of Creation, do not feel bad. The Catholic Church did not officially join in until 2015, the same year that Pope Francis released his papal encyclical, Laudato Si , on Care for Our Common Home. It was back in 1989 that Ecumenical Patriarch Dimitrios I proclaimed September 1 as a day of prayer for the Orthodox. The Orthodox church year starts on that day with a commemoration of how God created the world. The World Council of Churches was instrumental in making the special time a season, extending the celebration from September 1 until October 4, the feast of St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of ecology beloved by many Christian denominations. Throughout the month-long celebration, the world’s 2.2 billion Christians come together to care for the earth, our common home. With a worldwide pandemic this year, most local events ar...

Year of St. Joseph during Pandemic   In 1870, the same year that the Catholic Diocese of St. Augustine, Florida was established, Pope Pius IX named St. Joseph as patron of the Universal Church. Here we are, 150 years later in 2020, in the midst of a worldwide pandemic, so celebrations of any kind are limited due to social distancing restrictions because of the chance of spreading the COVID-19 coronavirus.  However, when Bishop Felipe Estevez asked our Congregation, the Sisters of St. Joseph of St. Augustine, Florida, to take the lead in planning whatever we could for the Year of St. Joseph in the Diocese of St. Augustine, we said yes. Sister Kathleen Carr, our General Superior, formed a committee and we came up with a plan. The theme chosen for the year was "Go to Joseph."  Prayer Cards sent to Catholic Schools The first activity was writing, designing, and having printed prayer cards with prayers to St. Joseph on them to be distributed to all Catholic school student...

What is the significance of our Congregational seal? Since we use our Congregational seal on our website, letterhead stationery, and other public places such as our social media postings, it seemed fitting that I write a blog entry on the meaning of the various parts of the seal, along with an enlarged graphic of the seal so you could see the smaller parts more easily. The name along the outer edges of the seal is Sisters of St. Joseph, St. Augustine, Florida. We are a small diocesan congregation of Catholic women consecrated to God through the evangelical, or Gospel, counsels/vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, in imitation of Jesus Christ, who was poor, chaste and obedient. We became the Sisters of St. Joseph of St. Augustine, Florida in 1899 when Bishop John Moore of St. Augustine made us diocesan, cutting us off from the Motherhouse in Le Puy, France, where we came from in 1866. To our knowledge, we are the only Motherhouse of Catholic women religious in Northeast Florida....

Photos of  2015 Compassionate St. Augustine Obelisk by Wendy Mandel McDaniel Roses of Compassion Obelisk at Motherhouse Five years ago, during the big 450th anniversary celebration of the City of St. Augustine, Compassionate St. Augustine, a local not-for-profit organization, chose the grounds of the Sisters of St. Joseph of St. Augustine Motherhouse as a location for one of the 25 obelisks to be displayed around the city incorporating the themes of Freedom, Democracy, Human Rights, and Compassion.  The obelisk, which is eight and a half feet tall, is modeled on the larger obelisk in the Plaza in downtown St. Augustine that was a gift from Spain. Wendy Mandel McDaniel, a local multi-media artist, was the designer of this obelisk that had as its theme, "Roses of Compassion." After the exhibition was concluded, the obelisk was given to the Sisters of St. Joseph by Wendy and her husband Philip and Mike and Kelly Diaz. Philip and Mike are co-owners of the St. Augustine Distillery...

Springbank Retreat, Kingstree, S.C . Spring Sabbatical in South Carolina during COVID-19  There are some events in one's life that you will never forget. For me, one was hearing of President John F. Kennedy's assassination in Dallas, Texas, when I was a student at Bishop Kenny High School in Jacksonville, Florida. Another was hearing of the bombing of the World Trade Centers when I was driving to Stuart, Florida from Palm Beach Gardens.  This spring I heard of the COVID-19 pandemic in our country while I was on a two-month sabbatical at Springbank Retreat in Kingstree, South Carolina, from late February to late April. The stay-at-home orders actually came while I was with my nephew Patrick and his wife Mina touring Charleston, South Carolina. We were able to do our tours of the historic district on a Saturday in March, but the Sunday tours were cancelled.  One of many lovely houses in Charleston, SC The COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic has changed dai...

February Brings Changes to St. Augustine Motherhouse A s of February 2nd this year I no longer have the responsibilities of  serving as Motherhouse Coordinator/Administrator. Sister Ann Kuhn, who is assistant General Superior of our Congregation and has been manager of the Marriage Tribunal for the Diocese of St. Augustine for many years, assumed the Motherhouse Coordinator position that evening in a special prayer service in the Motherhouse chapel.  Sister Ann Kuhn and I stand on right side of altar as S. Kathleen Carr leads Motherhouse Community in prayer over both of us.  After eight and a half years in this position, I was ready for a change. And, to my delight and surprise, the General Superior and leadership team have gifted me with a mini-sabbatical of two months before I begin my new full-time General Councilor position working in the areas of Congregational communications, strategic planning, and on-going formation. I will remain at the M...

The tibouchina bloom above, sometimes called a Glory bush, is in our Motherhouse backyard. We planted it in a large ceramic pot next to our big kitchen building. It seems to like the location as it has been full of blooms since it adjusted to its being planted.   On Dec. 28th I visited the one-room school house for African-Americans next to the Mandarin Museum on Mandarin Road for the first time since it opened a few years ago. It was one our pioneer French Sisters of St. Joseph taught in after the Civil War. I wonder how those early Sisters felt being transplanted to a new country, speaking a new language, in a new climate and culture, to serve those who were being neglected by the State of Florida. The roots of our Congregation may have been in Le Puy, France, but we are now firmly planted in Florida. Sisters have been buried in several locations throughout this beautiful State. We served wherever there was a need, often starting new Catholic schools or hospit...

      The Role of Joy in Discernment  In many Christmas cards we receive, and in Christmas carols we sing at this time of year, we read the word "joy." As Christians we are joyful that a Savior has been born.  As a woman Religious in a congregation founded by Jesuit priest, Father Jean-Pierre Medaille, joy is an important part of Ignatian discernment in decision making in one's life. Yesterday we received the fall 2019 issue of Human Development, a scholarly journal "for people involved in the work of fostering the human and spiritual growth of others." There is an article in this issue entitled "Discernment: A Partnership with God" by Marina McCoy, a professor at Boston College. The author says there are three simple questions for discerning (according to Fr. Michael Himes): 1. What gives you joy? 2. What are you good at? 3. What does the world need you to do?   These are used particularly for Boston College students to help discern...

Looking at a photo of a hydrangea bloom above, as an extreme close-up, gives an entirely different perspective than looking at the same bloom from farther away. One's perspective makes all the difference. Today in our country we have significantly less numbers of consecrated women Religious than in the past. Our own Congregation is down to 45 members. Many congregations of women Religious around the country are down to fewer than 100 members.  Instead of asking ourselves, "Why is this happening to me/us?", we are challenged to ask ourselves "God, where do you want to meet us/me in this experience?" During Advent we will reflect on meaning-making in times of transition. We are invited to "find meaning in our suffering and transform it into something noble and full of hope." ("The Role of Meaning-Making in Transitional Times" by Ted Dunn, PhD in LCWR's Summer 2019 Occasional Papers). As Sisters of St. Joseph we are call...

Front of Motherhouse on St. George Street in St. Augustine, Florida being tented.  Since I entered the Sisters of St. Joseph in 1976, forty-three years ago this month, I cannot remember us ever having the Motherhouse or Our Lady of Lourdes Convents tented for termites. Emptying houses full of Sisters is no easy task. Besides finding places for all the Sisters to stay, all the food and beverages and medicines and pillows in the houses had to be removed also. The kitchen, a separate building attached to the Motherhouse by a stairwell, also was tented. The maintenance building or workshop is being tented too. Back of Our Lady of Lourdes Convent being tented for termites.  Seventeen sisters moved out of the Motherhouse and about fifteen from Our Lady of Lourdes Convent. And this was immediately following ten of the Lourdes Convent sisters having moved into the Motherhouse during the Hurricane Dorian experience over Labor Day weekend and the weekdays following it. The...

The Grace in Aging: Awaken as You Grow Older   by Kathleen Dowling Singh is a book whose title I came across in an article by a Sister of St. Joseph writing on spirituality and aging in a National Religious Retirement Office  (NRRO) newsletter. Sister Liz Sweeney, SSJ, a Sister of St. Joseph of Chesnut Hill, Pennsylvania, wrote an article, "Contemplation's Impact on Aging: Rooted in Mystery and Poured Out in Contemplation" in the Spring 2017 issue of Engaging Aging , an NRRO newsletter.  Sister Sweeney said over the past five years she had studied two books by Kathleen Singh: The Grace in Dying and The Grace in Aging.  Due to their scope and depth, the books qualified for her as wisdom literature. She writes that Singh emphasizes that "while the dying process is naturally transformative, the transformation offered in the self-surrender of aging must be freely chosen and embraced, moment by moment." In the Forward of The Grace in Aging, Singh writ...

One of the things we do as consecrated Religious women each year is to make a retreat.  For us, as Sisters of St. Joseph of St. Augustine, Florida, our Constitutions say the following: "Annually, each sister sets aside at least six consecutive days for retreat." (p. 52) The times and the places of our retreats vary, but many make them in the summer.  A retreat for us is different from those retreats made by corporate teams. For Catholic women Religious it is a time of silence, prayer, and solitude except for meals, liturgy, and meetings with directors or confessors. Some sisters make preached retreats, some make silent directed retreats, and some make other types of retreat such as contemplative or centering prayer, nature retreats, or artistic retreats of some kind. Some make private retreats, often using books or tapes or CD's for input and reflection. Silence is needed in order to quiet one's mind and heart and really listen to God. This year there w...