Wondering whether God is calling you to religious life?
Sometimes feeling you’re just going round and round in your head?
Wish there were other discerners to share with?
We invite you to join us for a discernment retreat that includes prayer , “hanging out with some sisters,” input to help you with your discernment and sharing with other discerners.
Click Come and See under Highlights
Sr. Peg and her mother Margaret
As my 50th jubilee approaches, I am reflecting upon the impact of the amazing novitiate and education provided to members of our Congregation all down the years, but especially during the Vatican II Council. Joining the Congregation was a life-changing experience for me in discovering God’s unconditional love revealed in the Person of Jesus – and of our invitation in baptism to love and serve. I carried this amazing formation into ministries in Michigan; Ohio; Ontario, Canada; North Carolina; Missouri and eventually KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa – through teaching 5-12th grade; Visitation House of Prayer, theological study, pastoral ministry, migrant ministry, CSsR formation, publications and outreach to the poor.
A turning point for me was ministry as secretary of the Overseas Missions Province in mid-80’s. I was asked by Mary Jo Maher to study the life and spirituality of St. Alphonsus Liguori, which was definitely not one of my interests at the time. I wanted to work with the Overseas Missions – and I assumed that the study of St. Alphonsus and his works would be on the back burner!
With Mary Jo’s encouragement I began reading several ‘old time’ biographies (only ones available) and the old series of ‘green books’, published in 1932 by Eugene Grimm of many of the 111 books St Alphonsus wrote during his lifetime (1696-1787). Because I was being exposed to a variety of cultural differences through ministry with Sisters in Latin America and Africa and at the same time I was studying St. Alphonsus, I became aware that I needed to focus on the deep values of Alphonsus’ writings, not on the Neapolitan expression, style, examples, etc. that made his message so appealing way to his readers in the 1700’s. As my study continued, I fell in love with Alphonsian Spirituality,. with the vision of a God who is madly in love with us; with Jesus who was willing to live and to bleed for us; with Eucharist as the Divine with us as food and support; with commitment to God’s will as the only understandable response to such a loving God; with Mary as our advocate; with prayer making grace available to all people; with zeal for the mission and for the abandoned a priority; etc. I understood that Alphonsian Spirituality needed to be freed from its culturally unattractive presentation and offered as the gift that it truly is. Happily, young Redemptorists have begun to communicate a truer image of Alphonsian Spirituality for our time and place with new biographies, translations and expressions of his works.
Just as being influenced by overseas cultural differences helped me to see St. Alphonusus in a new light, being a student of Alphonsian Spirituality led me to minister with the Formation Team of CSsRs in St. Louis in late 80′s. Then, in 1992, I was invited to teach Alphonsian Spirituality in South Africa to novices and students. I had cried in the late 60’s when I was missioned so far away – to Akron, Ohio; but South Africa seemed closer and presented a new opportunity to learn and to share. I spent my first year in Africa in a rural area near Bergville. I lived with CSsRs in mud huts with a pump for water, fire for hot water bathing, washing clothes in buckets, breaking ice in winter to wash our hands in plastic bowls, etc. I learned a new way of slowing down while working hard to survive. I also taught Alphonsian Spirituality on the days when we were not hosting visitors or retreatants. I learned that rural Africa can operate on a different time and schedule – and not too many classes were actually taught.
In the years following Bergville, I have been blessed to minister with CSsRs among the poor who make up the majority of the population. I have experienced many emotions and feelings: joy, fear, encouragement, resentment, hope, despair, confidence, disapproval, abundance, poverty, energy, unconditional love. South Africa is deepening and challenging me in ways that I would never have expected. I do see animals and tall grass, but the daily life is more demanding than one could imagine and more wonderful than one could believe. My greatest hope is that a young IHM will continue the study of our treasure of heritage from St. Alphonsus and that others will continue ministry in South Africa in the next decades.
Sr. Peg and her South African friend
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
Sr. Sandra Schneiders, IHM and our Jubilee guests
On the day after Jubilee, July 31, Sr. Sandra Schneiders, IHM spoke with a few of our guests about the development of religious life from its beginnings. As you probably know, Sr. Sandra, a Biblical Scholar teaching at Berkley, has written extensively on the topic, including her two books of a trilogy Finding the Treasure and Selling All, the last of which will come out this fall, and her recent book, Prophets in Their Own Country.
Sr. Sandra began with an overview and explanation of major shifts that have occurred in religious life over the centuries, particularly after Vatican II, putting the error of “It has always been this way” to rest. She calls the current form of religious life lived by 90% of U.S. religious women including the IHMs, ”Ministerial,” and during the Q&A session explained how ministerial religious more and more feel a call to reflect on God’s call to us in the needy, the poor and the voiceless. Of course Sandra couldn’t resist calling on her own long experience as an IHM to share some insight. One of the guests shared afterwards that she was blown away by one of Sandra’s suggestions to include in discernment, “As you are considering various different congregations ask yourself, “Will this community help me to grow?” Quite a question.
‘Sorry you couldn’t be here, but if you’d like to read some of Sandra’s recent material on ministerial religious life today I suggest getting her recent book pictured below from Amazon. ‘Sorry you can’t just click here to look inside.
