NewsNotes April 2015

Peace and Nonviolence 2

Eco -Spirituality Update 2

Corner on Vocations 3

Quote for the month 3

Communications 3

Associate Tea 4

Powerhouse of Prayer 4

Monthly Reflection 5

Notes of Gratitude 5

Death Watch 5

Monthly Calendar 5

Inside this issue:

Come to the Water

The efforts taking place through the presence of four Grey Nuns of the Sacred Heart in Buffalo was featured in the April Western New York Catholic newspaper. Sister Barbara Schiavoni was featured for her work in Faith Formation. Special mention was made of the new Sacred Heart Center as well as the ongoing service being provided by our many Sisters in the area.

Come to the Water was the theme of the retreat day for women and men on Saturday, March 21. The annual retreat day which takes place at D'Youville College has been offered by the Grey Nuns of the Sacred Heart and Friends each Lent for almost a decade. Ambiance featured a fountain of living water and a river full of stones, each of which held a message. About fifty participants prayed, sang, reflected, wrote, and shared with each other. Activities included physical movement exercises (after lunch) and dancing with water-colored streamers to the song: Permission to Play.

Special tribute was given to Sr Helen O'Hara who was always on the retreat team, providing centers of beauty with pictures and flowers, including the integration of physical movement and spiritual well-being. The memorial card from her Mass of Resurrection was given to each participant.

One woman said: "I look forward to this retreat each year and consider it a major part of my Lenten journey." One man said, "The annual

men's spirituality day also takes place today, but if I go there I would sit

and listen to talks all day. This retreat has more variety.”

Members of the team are Arlene Zawadski, Vicky

Christopher, Denise Hodur, Mary Lynn Heidle, Sr. Joan

Daly, Sr. Sheila Stone, and Sr. Donna Lord. Spiritual books from Life

Resources were available for sale. Sr. Ruth Penksa gave an author talk and sold her books at a special discounted rate.

View more photos here

Thank you Sisters for keeping St. Marguerite’s spirit alive in Buffalo. The full article is attached as a .pdf

In the News...

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ECO- SPIRITUALITY GROUP: SOIL update

When the SOIL Project was initiated by the Earth Committee in 2012, we hoped to raise $10,000 in financial support. We are pleased to report that D’Youville College’s recent drive which raised $1500 along with our Motherhouse Lenten almsgiving week for SOIL helped us reach a total of slightly over $11,000. Our thanks to all who have donated to SOIL over these three years. We hope many who have donated to SOIL will continue to do so. With our financial goal reached and SOIL’s

Catholic Social Teaching: Just Wage This month, both the House and the Senate have passed budgets that would repeal the Affordable Care Act, turn Medicaid into a block grant and cut billions of dollars from nutrition and education programs, while increasing spending on overseas wars and cutting taxes for the wealthiest. This, in a nutshell, is why the Federal budget is such a current “hot topic” for many Social Justice Organizations. The Catholic Church has a long history of involvement in economic justice. Most recently the 1986 pastoral letter of the U.S. Bishops, Economic Justice for All which proclaimed that one of the main proving grounds of our faith, our love of neighbor and where we “fulfill God’s creative design,” is in our economic life. Since then, Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI continued proclaiming that principle in their encyclicals.

And Pope Francis stated that “Poverty in the world is a scandal. In a world where there is so much wealth, so many resources to feed everyone, it is unfathomable that there are so many hungry children, that there are so many children without an education, so many poor persons.” Simply put economic justice looks at how the inherent dignity of all human beings is

being met and honored. Are the physical, intellectual and spiritual needs of the 100% seen as necessary for the common good? As Americans we cherish our three basic rights: “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”; as Christians we must even more, protect those rights for everyone. A good way to start is to reflect on several questions that NETWORK has provided: 1. Does our economic system place more emphasis on maximizing profits than on meeting human needs and fostering human dignity? 2. Does it promote excessive materialism and individualism to the detriment of justice for all and the common good? 3. Does it adequately protect the environment and the nation’s natural resources? 4. Does it do all it can to alleviate poverty? One of NETWORK’s efforts to find budget solutions is the Faithful Budget (click to learn more). We thank the Education for Justice Project of the Center of Concern for permission to offer their resource to you for your further enlightenment

and reflection. See the attached .pdf

good work and reputation receiving international attention, our Committee has decided to turn to educating others about Haiti’s environmental situation. We hope to spread knowledge of SOIL as one of the successful NGOs that continues to spark real progress in Haiti through its innovative work in waste management. And, because of Sister Mary Finnick’s experience in Haiti, we will also communicate a positive picture of Haitians and their participation in solving their country’s number one problem, sanitation. Pray for our success!

United Nations Secretary General Ban ki-Moon will meet Pope Francis in the Vatican later this month to discuss several issues, including climate change.

Pope Francis meeting UN Secretary General Ban

Income from Sister Maureen O’Hara’s “Lost Penny” project at the Motherhouse this February was donated to help purchase a “Poopmobile” for SOIL. SOIL’s “Poopmobiles” pick up waste and are one of the franchises SOIL has established for its own sustainability and to offer the opportunity for entrepreneurship to Haitians. Thank you to all who “found” lost pennies!

Earth Day Prior to Earth Day we shared 5 Reasons Catholics Should Care for Creation. Here’s the short list: 1. Creation takes care of us. 2. It promotes peace. 3. It’s part of the preferential option for the poor. 4. Beauty matters 5. We love God through respecting the things God gave us. (check out our blog post from April 21 for the full story )

This month we continued our afternoon discussions of the NRVC Convocation talks using Transfigured by God. Next month, we will look at Sister Theresa Rickard’s ‘The Joy of the Gospel’ Has Messages For Us. If you are not at the Motherhouse, and would like a copy of any or all of these talks, please let Maryellen know! On May 3, the Grey Nuns of the Sacred Heart will participate in a collaborative day of service held in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. Named SERVE WITH THE SISTERS, the day has been organized by women religious and will serve ministries of religious congregations which are located in the Kensington section of Philadelphia. The event has been organized in recognition of

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Corner on Vocations the Year of Consecrated Life. Please pray for the success of the day! The National Religious Vocation Conference will release a study on the Role of the Family in Nurturing Vocations late this summer.

Maryellen has been a member of the committee overseeing the questions and process for this study which is being conducted by CARA. Plans are in place to present this study at the World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia this September.

Please continue to pray for Vocations. Your prayers are powerful and an important contribution to this ministry.

Sign up to read www.GlobalSistersReport.org

In an age when [we] have forgotten our origins and are blind even to [our]

most essential needs for survival, water along with other resources has

become the victim of [our] indifference. - Rachel Carson

Work is continuing apace on the Member’s (Internal) Section of the website. When complete it will feature GNSH policies and all applicable forms (fillable online) as well as easy to use lists of Sisters, and LAG groups. LAG response summaries will be available for one year. There is also a new article section which will be an archive of recommended readings. The Sisters Blog will be removed from the internal site to allow for a universal user name and password since forgetting this information was a major issue for most users. (Maryellen would be happy to assist anyone who would like to set up a personal or group blog.) The project should be completed by mid-May. Tutorials will be available! We encourage both sisters and Associates to take some time to enjoy and review the external

Communications

website and share your ideas for content. We’ve recently posted updates to the Year for Consecrated Life, including photos from Tea with the Sisters. New to the external blog are the Jubilee reflections of our Sisters. These are also being posted to Facebook 3x per week prior to Jubilee and have been getting an enthusiastic response from people who remember you fondly. Happy reading!

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Mr. Ed Lawrence contacted us about being a “Praying Congregation” for a cyber-network which is being designed. It involves an internet website that will connect people who are requesting prayers for a particular intention with religious congregations who will accept the responsibility of praying for these intentions.

Our Motherhouse community is a powerhouse of prayer and has agreed to be the nucleus of the “praying congregation” for the Grey Nuns of the Sacred Heart. This is a new venture which Archbishop Chaput has endorsed as well as local Religious Congregations. We will be one group of several who will be praying intercessory prayers for intentions being sent our way.

“Prayers Unite the Word” links those in need of prayer support and Religious Congregations who promise to pray for their welfare. Both groups benefit: people who have no one to pray for them are remembered and websites of Religious Congregations are linked through prayer and this cyber-network. Religious Congregations have their charisms and mission promoted to more people. Gratitude is the outcome of both thrusts of this cyber-network. Sr. Mary Elizabeth will be the “cyber contact” for this effort. Please contact her if you’d like more information.

MOTHERHOUSE. A “POWERHOUSE” of Prayer

Associates Host Tea with the Sisters

On Sunday, April 19, the Grey Nun Associates hosted an Afternoon Tea for the Sisters. The Motherhouse dining room was buzzing with joyful energy from the forty-five in attendance. Dainty tea sandwiches and finger foods, delicious pastries and desserts were served along with delicate herbal teas, both hot and cold! This wonderful event was prompted by the Associates’ awareness that they really didn’t know many Sisters individually. So in concert with the celebration of the Year of Consecrated Life, a Tea seemed like a most delightful and timely way to change that. New friendships were made, old friendships were rekindled and not surprising, it promises to be the first of many others. We are so grateful to our Associates for all they do on behalf of the GNSH!

Motherhouse

1750 Quarry Road

Yardley, PA 19067

Phone: 215-968-4236

Fax: 215-968-6656

E-mail: Vocations@greynun.org

www.greynun.org

Twitter: @GNSH21

Facebook: Greynunsofthesacredheart

Flickr:compassionateworld

Grey Nuns of the Sacred Heart

Creating a Compassionate World

Pray for an end to the death penalty,

for those scheduled for execution,

for the victims of these crimes and

all whose lives have been impacted by violence.

Scheduled Executions: May 3 Rodney Berget, SD (stayed) May 12 Olen Hutchinson, TN Derrick Charles, TX May 14 Jeffrey Wogenstahl, OH (stayed)

Catholic Mobilizing Network to end the use of the Death Penalty is grateful for the work people of faith are doing to change legislation and to change our culture from one that uses violence to solve its problems. We are praying for the Justices as the Supreme Court reviews the protocol of drugs used for lethal injection.

CALENDAR

2015 Year for Consecrated Life

May

1 GNSH Leadership Meetings 3 “Serving with the Sisters” 11am-4 pm (Philadelphia) 6 “Rise, Have No Fear” Motherhouse Vocation Discussion, 4 pm 16 Jubilee 2015 21-22 GNSH Leadership Meetings 27 LAG mailing to be returned Upcoming Dates:

June:

12: Feast of the Sacred Heart

August:

11-14 LCWR Conference

October:

10-11 Congregational Meeting

The Miracle

Thy love, my God, the eternal spring,

the source of hope – the inexhaustible well. The purple crocus blooms imperial; from the cold winter earth it bursts, my God, resplendent into Thy light. To witness the birth of an unfolding flower, is drama, is mystery, is Thy power transcendent.

-Marya

Notes of Gratitude: Our family wishes to convey our sincerest appreciation for your prayers and support during Paul’s (Switzer) passing. We are blessed to have family and friends like you and are thankful for all you have done. Love, The Switzers Delora, Emily, Hope, Ben and Harry (Sister Mary Elizabeth Looby’s niece and children) Sincere thanks on behalf of my brother Tom and the whole family for your prayers and offerings of condolences at his death. All is much appreciated.

Sister Rose Mary Cauley

Summer Retreat Offering Sisters Marlene Butler, GNSH and Mary Elizabeth Looby, GNSH, will be part of the team of Spiritual Directors participating in a June 21-26, 2015 retreat which will be held at Wadhams Hall in Ogdensburg, NY. The retreat center is located on a 198 acre campus on the St. Lawrence waterway. This directed retreat will be offered in an atmosphere of silence, with an opportunity for daily one-on-one meetings with a spiritual director, along with the celebration of the Liturgy each day. The flyer is attached as a .pdf