Guess Who West Point, NE Awarded the Community Service Award
Posted on February 26, 2010
Filed Under Franciscanized World | 5 Comments
How often is a community service award actually presented to another community? Here’s one example. West Point, NE Chamber of Commerce’s 2010 Community Service Recognition was awarded to the Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity.
Although the current Franciscans serving at Franciscan Care Services, Guardian Angels Catholic School and Central Catholic High School were enthusiastically present for a dinner on February 21, 2010, the award actually included all the many members of the religious community who had been sent to serve in West Point during significant years of the town’s proud history.
Sister Louise Hembrecht, OSF, Community Director, was happy to be on hand to receive the engraved plaque having once taught at Catholic Central High School. Sister Adrianna Schouten, OSF, council member, and Sister Laura Wolf, OSF, President of Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity Healthcare Ministry, Inc., were also present for this nightly celebration saluting the selfless generosity of many of the Franciscan Sisters in education and health care.
The award is given to someone ‘who goes about quietly doing good’ in the community of West Point. Needless to say, the Franciscan Sisters were surprised and touched that others would consider them worthy of this honor.
How Often May I See Family
Posted on February 20, 2010
Filed Under Franciscanized World, Vocations / Discernment | 3 Comments
Being retro is really a lifetime movement when it comes to family. Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity are not alone in needing quality time of just hanging out with parents, grandparents, sibblings, and other relatives. So just how often can a young woman expect to see family in the process of becoming a Sister?
Here are some short, simple responses. Feel free to ask for further clarification.
During the first year of becoming a Sister (called postulancy), you can expect to ‘hang out at home’ with family at Christmas time and for a couple of weeks in May. Your family may choose one day each semester which is most convenient for them to visit you at the Motherhouse. When families come from a distance, they are welcome to use our guest houses that are on our Motherhouse property for overnight accommodations.
The novitiate (a time of learning to be a woman religious with an intense study of the vowed life) extends over a period of two years beginning for us on the feast of St. Anthony of Padua, June 13. As a novice you may visit your family home once a year. You also invite family to see you at the Motherhouse twice during the year. The Community’s Novice Directress assists in setting these dates.
As a professed Franciscan Sister, we may enjoy a two-week annual visit with our family and relatives. The times may be broken up to allow several visits each year or attendance at some special family event, providing the traveling distance is reasonable.
Any further question or comment?
How Did the Church Begin Hospital Ministry
Posted on February 17, 2010
Filed Under Franciscanized World | 4 Comments
Franciscan Sister of Christian Charity HealthCare Ministry, Inc. CEO, Sister Laura Wolf, OSF, answers this question from a perspective that “Catholic health ministry does not belong to me or to our congregation alone. It is Christ’s ministry.”
While Catholic health care organizations comprise the largest provider of not-for-profit health care in America today, they have all been built upon one foundational purpose: to fulfill the Gospel mandate to proclaim the good news and “cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers: (Mt 10:8)
Religious orders throughout their histories have sought ways of bringing Jesus’ mission of love and healing to communities in need. This is what compelled 12 Ursuline sisters to travel from France to New Orleans in 1727 to provide health and social services to the underserved immigrant poor in that city and the following year to open Charity Hospital, the first Catholic hospital in what was to become the United States.
Today Catholic health care, in the form of hospitals and nursing homes is present in all 50 states. According to the Catholic Health Association of the United States (CHA), there are more than 600 Catholic hospitals in the U.S. which employ more than 500,000 full-time and more than 200, 000 part-time workers. Every day, roughly one in six patients in the United States-more than 5.5 million every year-receives care in a Catholic hospital.
The vast majority of Catholic health care organizations in the U.S. were founded and continue to be sponsored by congregations of women religious. And like the Ursulines before them, the many congregations of Sisters began their health care ministries for one basic reason: people, usually in poor immigrant communities, were suffering, and their needs were not being met. Today, we all remain committed to continuing the Catholic Church’s healing ministry for virtually that same reason…”
Does this answer the question for you? Any comments?
Now Is The Time: Franciscan On-line Lenten Retreat
Posted on February 15, 2010
Filed Under Franciscanized World | 44 Comments
Welcome to Franciscanized World’s first Lenten On-Line Retreat. We, Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity, invite you not only to be inspired by the seasonal Sunday Scriptural readings, the sharings of Sister Anne Marie Lom, OSF and Father Paul Gallagher, OFM, but to be visually introduced to dedicated people of St. Raphael, Oshkosh, St. Mary, Omro and St. Mary, Winneconnie Catholic Communities of Faith.
Of course, ‘Now is the Time’ welcomes comments to ensure this retreat is relevant and lived. Please find the Second Sunday of Lent’s Gospel and commentary in the comment section. Sister Anne Marie introduces the new week of reflection material.
First Sunday of Lent: February 21, 2010 (Luke 4:1-13)
Filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the desert, for forty days, to be tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and when they were over he was hungry. The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone.”‘ Then he took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a single instant. The devil said to him, “I shall give to you all this power and their glory; for it has been handed over to me, and I may give it to whomever I wish. All this will be yours, if you worship me. ” Jesus said to him in reply, “It is written: ‘You shall worship the Lord, your God, and him alone shall you serve.”‘ Then he led him to Jerusalem, made him stand on the parapet of the temple, and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from her, for it is written: ‘He will command his angels concerning you, to guard you,’ and : ‘With their hands they will support you, lest you dash your foot against a stone.”‘ Jesus said to him in reply, “It also says, ‘You shall not put the Lord, your God to the test.”‘ When the devil had finished every temptation, he departed from him for a time.
Background
Luke ends his description of the Baptism of Jesus with a voice of God proclaiming: “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” (Luke 3:22) People of Jesus’ culture would assume that such statement would have been heard throughout the spirit world. They believed that numerous evil spirits roamed about creating as much havoc as possible on human beings. The first verses of the Book of Job, a dialogue between Satan and God, illustrates the thinking of the ancient peoples regarding the role of evil spirits in their world.
“One day, when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, Satan also came among them. And the Lord said to Satan, “Whence do you come?” Then Satan answered the Lord and said, “From roaming the earth and patrolling it.” And the Lord said to Satan, “Have you noticed my servant Job, and that there is no one on earth like him, blameless and upright, fearing God and avoiding evil?” But Satan answered the Lord and said, “Is it for nothing that Job is God-fearing? Have you not surrounded him and his family and all that he has with your protection? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his livestock are spread over the land. But now put forth your hand and touch anything that he has, and surely he will blaspheme you to your face.” (Job 1:6-11)
These ancient people would expect that the evil spirits would respond to God’s statement of confidence and delight in Jesus, as a challenge, to see if it’s true. Secondly, if the evil spirits convince Jesus to do something that would cause him to forfeit his favor with God, the spirits would be victorious.
Because people believed that numerous evil spirits roamed the earth looking for people to torment, temptations are understood to be an expected part of normal life. Each of the temptations can be seen as an attempt, on Satan’s part, to use a form of power, personal, social and religious, in a way that would align him with certain groups of people. Rejecting the use of power aligns Jesus with other groups of people. Luke is setting the stage for the rest of Jesus’ ministry through the choices Jesus makes. Luke also has made some changes in his presentation of Jesus being tempted. Both Matthew and Mark end their presentation with the angels coming and waiting on Jesus. Instead, Luke ends his description suggesting the tempter will leave for now but will look for another opportunity to return. That opportunity will come at the crucifixion. Also within Luke’s description of the temptations, the final one is directly tied to Jerusalem. Luke is laying the groundwork for the reader to notice the events that will take place at the close of his gospel.
- Which ones are you making progress in resisting?
- Which are more difficult?
2. Do you know people who have dealt with temptation in their life in ways that you admire?
- How were they tempted?
- How did they deal with their temptation?
- What insight can you get from them for your own life?
3. Do you find it difficult to believe that Jesus had to deal with temptation just like you?
- Do you think he had some kind of spiritual help that made it easier for him?
- In what sense do you believe that Jesus was truly human?
4. Why do you think God would lead Jesus into the desert to be tempted?
- What is happening within Jesus as he deals with the temptations that Satan is presenting to him?
5. What happens within you during periods of temptation that does not happen in periods of spiritual tranquility?
- Do you ever think that God would like to lead you into the desert to struggle?
- Do you resist and seek to avoid the struggles?
6. Why do you think we begin every Lent with a gospel reading that focuses on Jesus being tempted?
- By this choice of gospel at the beginning of Lent, to what reflection are we being invited?
- How might your reflection help you to use this period of Lent?
7. When you reflect on your life and the choices you have made, with which groups of people do your choices align?
- Have you ever thought of Jesus as making deliberate choices to be aligned with the powerless?
- How is personal, political and religious power part of your personal life?
- Have you ever been tempted to use evil means in order to maintain or get personal, political or religious power?
8. What things/people have helped you deal with your temptations?
- Are there things you could change in your life that would help you deal with your temptations?
- Are there people you need to avoid or relate to who could help you in some way?
Written by Paul Gallagher, OFM
Edited by Sister Anne Marie Lom, OSF
Gospel Reflections are distributed free of charge to your email address if you so choose.
To receive them, contact annemarie.lom@gmail.com
If copied, please include this information.
Discern ‘How I Long to Love You’ on Valentine’s Day
Posted on February 14, 2010
Filed Under Franciscanized World, Vocations / Discernment | 16 Comments
Boarding a plane with final destination a convent for February 14? On a weekend traditionally focused on love, young women 
truly arrived at the Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity’s Motherhouse for a discernment retreat entitled: How I Long to Love You.
Apart from a totally cool Valentine theme, Friday’s Opening Ceremonies for the 2010 Winter Olympics was a jumpstart for sharing introductions. Even simple refreshments and sharing carried this focus. A candlelit night prayer beginning with an awesomely vivid flame picturesquely moved souls to reflect on the passionate love of God.
A pilgrimage prayer on Saturday morning acquainted retreatants with the wisdom of St. Bonaventure’s The Tree of Life centering Jesus as the goal of all things. After a dramatic telling of St. Francis’ conversion experience with a leper, all reflected on readings from the Catechism of the Catholic Church on the Eucharist, a true gift of love from Christ. For those without Wisconsin winter experiences, there was time to get feet wet in new fallen snow.
Saturday evening music outreach’s destination was St. Peter the Fisherman, Two Rivers. Father William O’Brien and a full church of faithful welcomed the visiting troubadours as they shared their musical gifts. Franciscan Sisters serving in the parish arranged that the musicians and singers enjoy pizza before returning to the Motherhouse for other weekend retreat action.
Plan now to attend the May discernment retreat. Click here to register.
What does your heart long for on this day?
Who is the Most Popular Saint in the Whole Catholic Church
Posted on February 11, 2010
Filed Under Franciscanized World | 7 Comments
Pope Benedict XVI did it again. After calling St. Francis “an authentic giant of holiness” at a recent Vatican audience, a few weeks later he characterizes St. Anthony of Padua as “one of the most popular in the whole Catholic Church”. Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity and all Franciscans are standing tall and joyously following in the footsteps of Jesus Christ with these two cofounders of their Gospel life. (Portrait: Stephen B. Whatley)
Here’s a few notes from the Pope’s reflections:
- a gifted preacher that intitiated one of the specific features of Franciscan theology-the role of divine love
- “his outstanding gifts of intelligence, balance, apostolic zeal and mainly, mystic fervor” contributed to the development of Franciscan spirituality
- when learned of the first five Franciscan missionaries who were martyred in Morocco, Anthony decided to join the friars
- wrote two collections of sermons near the end of his life
- “reminds us that prayer needs an atmosphere of silence, which is not the same as withdrawal from external noise, but is an interior experience…”
Pope Benedict’s closing comments: “Anthony many times invites the faithful to think of true wealth, that of the heart, which, making them good and merciful, makes them accumulate treasures for Heaven. Is not this perhaps, dear friends, a very important teaching also today, when the financial crisis and the serious economic imbalances impoverish not a few persons and create conditions of misery?”
Here’s an Earth-Shaking Alliance of Concerned People
Posted on February 10, 2010
Filed Under Franciscanized World | 7 Comments
When people in the pews of a number of Manitowoc congregations and a religious community (Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity) unite to answer a real need, this is an earth-shaking alliance. Lakeshore Interfaith Hospitality Network of Manitowoc County (LIHN) was born when individuals discovered that there was no homeless shelter for families other than those who are victims of domestic violence.
LIHN began utilizing trained volunteers and space in congregations throughout the county to provide overnight accommodations, three meals per day, and hospitality to up to 14 guests in the program at one time.
This week the Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity are housing people in one of their guest houses on their Motherhouse property. Guests arrived on Sunday, February 7 and are scheduled to stay until Sunday, February 14 when they will move to another congregational site for lodging if services continue to be needed.
During the day, guests reside at a Day Center located in the city of Manitowoc. From there, they are able to work, attend school and/or look for work, housing and other community resources which will help them get back on their feet.
Any comments?
How Busy Students Become Prophets
Posted on February 5, 2010
Filed Under Franciscanized World | 4 Comments
Ever wonder what ‘prophet training’ might include? Franciscan Sister of Christian Charity Sister Mary Ann Spanjers, OSF, eye-witnessed a Busy Student Retreat, January 31-February 4, 2010 at the Newman University Parish at the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point entitled: Listening to Prophets. Becoming Prophets.
Wendy Mitch, Deb McComas and Father Tom Linder, pastoral leaders, planned the theme and organized the retreat with the help of countless others including Dominican preacher, Fr. Brian Walker, OP who addressed these topics:
- I Have Formed You From the Womb To Be Something Special-The New Prophet.
- How Do I React to Violence Directed Toward Me or People I Love?
- Do I Understand the Suffering of Others? Do I Ever See Myself In Their Place?
- Hearing the Prophet, Becoming a Prophet in Celebrating the Eucharist.
- One Day All of Us Shall Do the Way of All Flesh! Until That Time, There is a Mission for Each of Us.
Add to these strongly delivered words an intensive, holistic week of:
- daily Eucharist
- opportunities for the Sacrament of Reconciliation
- a half-hour of individual uninterrupted quiet prayer
- journaling
- evening prayer service
- honest, open conversations with retreat directors representing various religious communities.
Religious spending time with the young adults included Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, La Crosse, WI, American Province of the Hospital Sisters of St. Francis, Springfield, OH, Jesuits: Society of Jesus, Midwest Province; Franciscan Friars Assumption BVM Province; Norbertines of St. Norbert Abbey; Dominican Order of Preachers, Minneapolis; Sisters of St. Joseph of the Third Order of St. Francis and of course, the Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity.
Community-building among the students and all off-campus visitors was also an important part of the days spent together.
What would you include in ‘prophet training’?
Move ‘Beyond the Blues’ with Peter Case
Posted on February 1, 2010
Filed Under Song of the Month | 24 Comments
Amid important conscious-raising causes and significant celebrations during the month of February, the Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity offer singer-songwriter-author-guitarist Peter Case’s truth-seeking Beyond the Blues.
About Peter Case
Ever since he grabbed on to rock’s roots as a teenaged street singer, Peter used his guitar to tell it as he sees it reported from the margins and outskirts of society for 30 years. Eventually working his way up, after countless nights of roadwork, Case has met not only the ghosts of a thousand truck drivers but plenty of real people, from Mississippi to Montana who appreciate a true song when they hear one, folks who treasure the words of a writer who speaks truth and directly to their dashed hopes, deferred dreams and the promise of a some bright morning on the horizon. Read his new book As Far As You Can Get Without a Passport.
Debuting in 1986 with a T-Bone Burnett-produced solo album (featuring contributions from Ry Cooder, David Hidalgo and Jim Keltner) he earned a Grammy nomination for its songs detailing the failure of the American Dream. Set to a tribal folk percussive blend of blues, country and rock’n'roll, echoes of its theme and sound run through his entire songbook.
Over the next two decades he would release the highly acclaimed and influential the man with the Blue post-modern fragmented neo-traditionalist Guitar, the dreamscape Torn Again and the rock solid Case classics Full Service No Waiting and Flying Saucer Blues. His own label, Travellin’ Light, released two beloved collections of stripped-down roots music: Peter Case Sings Like Hell and Thank You St. Jude. The 21st Century has seen the psycho-Delhi-blues of Beeline, and 2004’s politically motivated tracks, Wake up Call and My Generation’s Golden Handcuff Blues, compiled on his best of the Vanguard years set, Who’s Gonna Go Your Crooked Mile. The 2007 Yep Roc Records release, Let Us Now Praise Sleepy John, earned Case another Grammy nomination in the Best Traditional Folk Album category. Sleepy John is Case at his most direct: a straight shot from the frontlines of our times, delivered by one man, a guitar (and a handful of friends).
Peter’s Comment:
Vinyl records playing in the sunrise or late at night on teenage apartment phonographs, also heard on the sacred Sunday evening ‘Folkscene’ broadcast that’s what this music started as, for me: a key to the highway, an opening of the doors on the world. It’s a sound that left my heart room to grow and a connection from today’s world to a past that’s vanished, but never that far away.
Lyrics: Beyond the Blues
The old man on the corner, he’s singing my life
He’s playing guitar with a frosty old knife
And each line that he sings rhymes with the truth
And the promise of something beyond the blues, beyond the blues
Now you and me darling took the long way around
Across the wide open country, past the heart attack town
We hit the fork in the road where we all have to choose
Between darkness and light, beyond the blues
Beyond the blues, beyond the shadows, and the rain
Beyond the darkness beyond the pain
When you know in your heart there’s no way out but through’
Take a walk with me darlin’ beyond the blues
That old man on the corner he’s been gone for years
His guitar and his knife are all rusty with tears
But there is a song that he gave us that we’ll never have to lose
About another life waiting beyond the blues
Beyond the blues, beyond the shadows, and the rain
Beyond the darkness, beyond the pain
When you know in your heart there’s no way out but through’
Take a walk with me darlin’ beyond the blues, Beyond the blues Love is the road beyond the blues
Websites:
Wondering About Franciscan Community Life at Roncalli Convent, Manitowoc, WI
Posted on February 1, 2010
Filed Under Franciscanized World | 21 Comments
During the month of February, the eight Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity living at Roncalli Convent, 
Manitowoc, WI promise to blog on their daily lives on Franciscanized World.
Sister Annette Blonde, OSF, Sister Barbara Mathe, OSF, Sister Bernadone Fagan, OSF, Sister Delores Wisnicky, OSF, Sister Dolores Herrmann, OSF, Sister Elizabeth Ann Miller, OSF, Sister Helena Young, OSF, and Sister Jane Kinate, OSF will answer the question: What’s a Sister’s typical day like? Be assured of varied perspectives, but a commonality of Franciscan spirit in living community life today in the midst of responding to real needs among the Sisters and beyond to the people of God in Manitowoc County.
Now, Sisters, tell us about your pictures and what do you do all day?
Recently
- Who is a Saintly Man of Action and Contemplation
- Name a Concert that was Soul-Inspiring
- Find Important Resource in Franciscans International
- Taking a Franciscan Grand Tour of Grand Rapids
- Now Is The Time…Franciscan On-Line Lenten Retreat Continues
- Download Rickie Lee Jones’ ‘His Jeweled Floor’
- Guess Who West Point, NE Awarded the Community Service Award
- How Often May I See Family
- How Did the Church Begin Hospital Ministry
- Now Is The Time: Franciscan On-line Lenten Retreat
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