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!

Fr. Greg's Advent letter--“And there was no room for them.”

Fr. Greg Gay is the Superior General for the entire Vincentian Family (Ladies of Charity, Vincent de Paul Society, Daughters of Charity...) Each year he writes a special Advent reflection. The theme of the reflection is “And there was no room for them.” Follow the link below to read the reflection. I found it beautiful!

http://famvin.org/en/archive/advent-letter-of-the-superior-general-2

Money Well Spent for Christmas

This is a great video about Christmas!

Seal of the Daughters of Charity

The original seal for the Daughters of Charity was:

It was used by St. Louise de Marillac to seal her letters. It is from here that we have our motto, "The Charity of Christ Crucified Urges Us." We use various versions of the seal today:

Looking at more than one version it is easier to see the important elements!