Daughters of Charity in March 2009

March was an exciting month for the Daughters in the Emmitsburg Province! March 15th we had Sr. Elizabeth Ann (Liz) Sjoberg's "sending on mission". Here she is signing on the dotted line in the St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Basilica.

Then on March 25th, the Feast of the Annunciation we renewed our vows. This is the 200th anniversary of Mother Seton's vows made at St. Mary's on Paca St. in Baltimore (where her she lived for a year and St. Mary's Seminary had been located). Archbishop O'Brien celebrated Mass for about 36 of the Daughters of Charity in the small downstairs chapel on Paca St. It was a powerful experience renewing my vows in the same space that St. Elizabeth Ann Seton first made her own vows. In all my years renewing my annual vows, this is the first time I have done it with so many Daughters. I was very touched by the experience. What a great boost for my vocation!

Daughter of Charity Novitiate: Day in the Life

Sr. Liz is supporting vocations through her creative video skills! She has created a video featuring herself and other seminary sisters (novices). I can't seem to upload videos today, so I will put the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-HTpU7wnng. Sr. Liz will be sent on mission March 15th--the feast of St. Louise de Marillac, our foundress. She will then begin a new phase of her religious vocation out on mission.

Daughters of Charity will send a new sister on Mission

March 15th is the big day for Sr. Elizabeth Ann "Liz" Sjoberg! She has finished her intensive prep time (seminary/novitiate) and will now be "sent on mission". Here is a photo of Sr. Liz with her amazing parents:

We are very blessed with such a great religious vocation! She has created a short video using the Founders Prayer we pray everyday with the community. She did a great job! I hope you enjoy watching it and that it gives you a good sense of the charism/personality of the Daughters of Charity.

A New Daughter of Charity!

The Daughters of Charity welcomed a new Sister on January 11 at the Shrine of St. Elizabeth Seton! Sr. Salvatrice signed on the dotted line! She will now enter the seminary (not THE seminary). We call our novitiate the seminary. The Daughters of Charity are the first community of non-cloistered Sisters. We are a Society of Apostolic Life. Terminology for the Daughters is often different from other communities so that back in the 1600s we could remain outside the cloister in order to serve the poor.

Sr. Salvatrice will leave in a couple days for Evansville, Indiana where our seminary is currently located. She will be there for a year and a half. It is a time of intensive prayer, study, and reflection. Her studies will include that of the Church, the heritage of the DCs, the vows (we make 4 annual vows), spirit of the community, and personal development. Once a week Sr. Salvatrice will have an apostolic day (service). She will leave Evansville for a period of about 6 weeks for an extended apostolic experience "on mission" with a local community of Daughters of Charity. Then she will be "sent on mission"once her seminary experience is over. She is sent forth in the name of the community. She is not only serving in her name, but also that of the Daughters of Charity and the Church. Our mission to serve Christ in the poor is a corporate mission, one we accomplish together. Sr. Salvatrice will not make her vows for the first time (first time since she will redo them every year) for another 5-7 years. So, there is the basic process once a woman signs on! I pray that many women have the courage to take that step in faith to follow the call of Christ in this radical way!

Roe vs. Wade Anniversary

We are coming up on another anniversary of the Roe vs. Wade case. Recently, we have become aware of the Freedom of Choice Act which abortion advocates are pushing. Thankfully, it is extremely controversial and as an NPR columnist wrote, "FOCA has as much chance of passage as the 0-10 Detroit Lions have of winning the next Super Bowl." However, I believe it is a great opportunity for us to raise our voices and make some noise! You can get the fact sheet and other information at the United States Council of Catholic Bishops website:
http://www.usccb.org/prolife/issues/FOCA/FOCA_FactSheet08.pdf

As we prepare for our first African-American president to take office, I can't help but be amazed about how far we have moved forward since slavery in our country in recognizing the equality of people no matter the color of their skin. There has been such significant progress in civil rights. One day the rights of the pre-born will be fully valued in the eyes of the law also. The young people will look back and be horrified that the pre-born were not considered human just as we wonder how slavery could have been tolerated. It won't likely happen in my lifetime. But, then again if you talk to older African Americans who experienced life without civil rights, they will repeat what a great surprise it is to witness a black man becoming President of the United States in their lifetime. All things are possible through Christ--right? Right!

The photo to the right is St. Gianna Berretta Molla. She is the partron saint of mothers, preborn children, and physicians. She is part of the Vincentian Family--a member of the Vincent de Paul Society in Italy. She died shortly after the birth of her fourth child. To read about her go to: http://famvin.org/wiki/Gianna_Berretta_Molla

So, keep up the prayers for the preborn, but also make your voice heard with your senators and representatives!

New Year for the Daughters of Charity

December 31st is a worldwide day of retreat for the Daughters of Charity. It is a day to review the past year and prepare our hearts for the next year. There is something about being in retreat--together, but separate--with 19,000 other women who share your values and life vocation! The anticipation of Mother Seton's big feast day on January 4th causes me to take to prayer how I personally and we, the Daughters of Charity, are called to be pioneers and prophets.

January 4th we celebrate the opening of the bicentennial year for St. Elizabeth Ann Seton. In 1809 Mother Seton moved to Emmitsburg, Maryland from Baltimore, MD. It is in Emmitsburg that she began her community that was the seed for the presence of 6 communities in the U.S.

Mother Seton really lived an amazing life! She was a woman of great courage and faith. She was a pioneer of her time--not just because she lived in a rural area either. She saw how important education was for all the children and found a way to educate the poor girls that otherwise would not have been able to attend school. Today we are still seeking ways to educate persons who are poor to help them rise up out of poverty. She was quite the prophet of her day--promoting change for those most in need.

Her faith was rock solid! She experienced great loss in her life and was ostracized by others close to her because of her conversion to Catholicism. Yet, she didn't waver. She stood strong and moved forward in faith and conviction. What a great example to follow!

I hope through the many bicentennial events this year that we will be inspired to holiness and to be prophetic people who aren't afraid to try new things!

Here are a couple websites you can go to to check out events for the year: http://www.setonlegacy.org/ (Emmitsburg, MD) and www.setonbicentennial.org (New York area).

60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

This year is the 40th anniversary of many things--including my birth! However, one particular anniversary that I want to point out is the 60th anniversary of the United Nations creating the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Here is the link to see what the rights are: http://www.un.org/Overview/rights.html

There are many NGOs (Non-Governmental Organizations) in the UN. The Daughters of Charity here in the U.S. belong to 2 different NGOs. We are part to the Charity Federation NGO. Here is the link to the latest newsletter: http://famvin.org/en/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/newsletter-december-2008.pdf And we are also part of a the International Daughter of Charity NGO which began recently. Many religious communities are involved in an NGO at the UN. It is a way to promote/advocate for systemic change in addition to charitable works. The work of NGOs at the UN "comprises a number of activities, including information dissemination, awareness raising, development education, policy advocacy, joint operational projects, and providing technical expertise and collaborating with UN agencies, programmes and funds (www.un-ngls.org/ngorelations.htm)."

One issue that has been promoted by the UN and by the Charity Federation has been access to clean water for all people. We have a hard time here in the US of "getting" that there are many people who must walk long distances to obtain water and even then it is not clean water. Many projects have begun to build wells in the areas where people are in need of water. Our use of bottled water as a convenience is transforming water into a commodity. Eventually, the commodity is available to those who have money and those without money don't get access. Examples have been sited in other countries where a soda (and water) bottling company uses a great deal of water while the surrounding people didn't have access to clean water. We have decided to avoid using bottled water so as not to promote it as a commodity, but also to be more earth friendly by avoiding more plastic. Let's hear it for your water bottle!

Amnesty International has put out a music video to celebrate the anniversary of the Univeral Declaration of Human Rights. It is a great video! I wonder if it was really recorded with the UN audience! Enjoy!