IHM Archives Newsletter
Every month our sisters working in Archives publish a newsletter with quirky stories and little known facts about IHM life in the past. Below is a link to the latest Archives Notes. Consider this a mini-coursse in IHM her-story!
http://ihmsisters.org/media/publications_autogen/ArchivesNewsletter08312011.pdf
Posted in IHM, Meet IHMs, religious life, vocation
Tagged IHM Archives, IHM her-story, IHM sisters farm work, IHM sisters friendships
One of the joys of the weeks surrounding Jubilee is that our sisters who live at a distance are home. I took the opportunity to ask Sr. Maureen Kelly and Sr. Maria Antonia Aranda Diaz, two of our sisters who minister in Juarez, Mexico to share their vocation stories on video. I particularly wanted Maria Antonia to tell her story in her native tongue. Those of you whose native language is Spanish can enjoy that clip more than many of us. I also asked them to talk about their experiences of mission in Juarez. Stay tuned. I’ll be posting those later.
Posted in IHM, Meet IHMs, religious life, spirituality, vocation
Tagged call, IHM sisters, Juarez, Mexico, Sr. Maria Antonia Aranda Diaz, Sr. Maureen Kelly, vocation, vocation story in Spanish
Last week The Immaculata IHM sisters in initial formation (postulant, novices and temporary professed sisters) came to Monroe for a “Roots Trip.” The three IHM communities of Monroe, MI, Scranton, PA and Immaculata, PA all find our roots along the Raisin River here in Monroe. Here are the sites of the first sisters’ log cabin convent, St. Mary’s church church where Mother Theresa and Sr. Celestine pronounced their vows, and the chapel in the cemetery where co-founder Rev. Louis Florent Gillet’s remains are housed. Our guests were touched to actually walk on the holy ground of our founding. One particulary powerful moment occurred in St. Mary’s Church. Sr. Margaret Brennan pointed out the place where the altar would have stood in 1845. We all stood in a circle there singing the Salve Regina, a hymn precious to all of us and then renewing our vows. A moment of communion in our shared consecration and history!
Other highlights included a guided tour of the Motherhouse “Green” renovation and experiencing the loving welcome and warm hospitality of their Monroe “cousins. And, of course, the ice cream trip!
“Here are a few pictures and videos of a couple of the sisters telling what struck them most forcefully.
Sr. Margaret Brennan, IHM (Monroe) and Immaculata IHMs praying in Fr. Gillet's Chapel
Sr. Sue Sattler giving a tour of the Motherhouse "Green" renovation
Sr. Caroline enjoys the obligatory "pilgrimage" to Independent Dairy
IHM Sister Gloria Rivera says her ministry “flows from the IHM commitment to both sustainability and to the City of Detroit.” She and Sr. Paula Cathcart initiated Great Lakes Bioneers Detroit (GLBD) in 2005. Sister Gloria serves as its coordinator, and Sister Paula helps organize local workshops for the annual conference. GLBD is part of a network of Bioneers groups throughout the country. The national Bioneers organization, created in 1990, promotes practical solutions to environmental and social problems, recognizing the interdependence and intelligence of the natural world. Bioneers holds an annual conference each October in California, and plenary sessions are broadcast through satellite feeds to “Beaming Bioneers” sites throughout the United States and Canada. Sisters Gloria and Paula participated in the “beamed” conference in Traverse City, Mich., in 2004 and saw the potential for bringing the conference to Detroit. They met with representatives from 11 organizations to shape the purpose and get the project moving. Within four months Sister Gloria had submitted an application to establish the GLBD satellite, and the first Great Lakes Bioneers Detroit Conference was held in October 2005. “We not only tap into information at a national level, but the conference also highlights the power and richness of Detroit’s diversity and explores topics relevant to current urban issues through the expertise of our local presenters,” Sister Gloria explains. “The IHMs have always been committed to social justice and advocacy for the abandoned and the poor,” she continues. “We know the Earth has been abandoned in many ways, and we see the results of environmental injustice. We work in collaboration with organizations in the Detroit area to effect change toward green thinking and just living.” Sister Gloria says that GLBD has developed about 30 community partnerships from the annual conferences. “We’ve worked with others to try to close the Detroit incinerator, and we’ve helped create the Detroit Food Policy Council’s first board. The board will develop and maintain a sustainable, localized, healthy food system for city residents. “Under the direction of a professor from Eastern Michigan University and in collaboration with 10 local community partners we are also working with a place-based eco-justice education project in eight schools. “Through healthy collaborations and systemic approaches, we are trying to live out a truth we have come to realize: the environmental movement and the social justice movement are not just intertwined – they are one.”
Sister Marjorie (Katherine Drexel) Polys, IHM, is a clinical social worker in practice both in Wyandotte and Taylor, Mich.
Like many IHM Sisters, she began her ministerial life in schools as a teacher and as a principal. She earned two master’s degrees and moved on to pastoral work and campus ministery, followed by 15 years serving in leadership for the IHM congregation.
“When I left IHM leadership, I knew I needed to get ‘retooled,’” Sister Marge says. I had always had an interest in psychology, and I felt I’d have more ministry opportunity as a clinical social worker.”
Sister Marge saw the values of the IHM community and the values within social work were much the same. After she graduated from Simmons Graduate School of Social Work in Boston, she began ministering in Raleigh , N.C., first at a family services organization, and then with a Catholic ministries agency.
“I walked closely with victims of crime and trauma, from homeless people to millionaires,” Sister Marge recalls. “I discovered I truly enjoy working with people in transition, as well as with people in trauma, grief, anxiety and depression.”
Sister Marge spent nine years in North Carolina before returning to Michigan to begin private practice.
“Although I tend to work more with adults, I work with individuals of all ages,” she says, “as well as with couples and families.”
Sister Marge is “eclectic in the processes” she uses with her clients. “Everything I’ve ever used in my previous ministries comes into play as a clinical social worker,” Sister Marge says.
“For instance, just as when I ministered in schools, I utilize art and storytelling. I work to help people develop empathy, compassion and belief in themselves, as I did in pastoral work and campus ministry. I also bring the specific skills I’ve learned as a social worker including policy change.
“Especially helpful with anxiety is ’mindfulness,’” Sister Marge continues. “It’s not about pushing the pain away, but acknowledging it without judging it, to ask the question, ‘Is this thought helpful?’ If the answer is no, let it go. It’s easy to get caught up in the content of a difficult experience or thought, but mindfulness liberates us to live more fully.”
For Sister Marge, the most challenging part of her ministry is hearing the story of someone’s pain.
“The stories can be horrendous,” she notes. “But the flip side is that clinical social work is person-centered and strength-based. Being able to witness people’s strength; seeing the light in their eyes when they break through and tell themselves, ‘I - or we - can start over;’ and watching them choose life and self empowerment - those are huge rewards!”
Posted in IHM, Meet IHMs, Ministry of the Month, religious life, vocation
Tagged IHM, Ihm clinical social worker, Sr. Marge Polys
