Celebrating a Missionary Spirit on the Feast of St. Vincent de Paul

"The Company (of the Daughters of Charity) is missionary by nature; it strives to retain the flexibility and mobility needed to respond to the calls of the Church in the face of every form of poverty. Like its Founders, the Company tries to reach out to those who are poor wherever they may be and to seek out the most abandoned and neglected. From the very beginning, Saint Vincent and Saint Louise, with the audacious courage of the apostles, sent forth their Daughters on the highways of the world." Constitution 25

Sr. Patty Huffman was recently "sent on mission" to the Cook Islands.  The Cook Islands?  You ask, "Where is that?"  Scroll down.  Daughters of Charity are sent on mission by the leadership in response to needs.  For Daughters of Charity, like Sr. Patty, to be sent on foreign missions the Sister needs to request it.  Foreign missions are a call within a call.  The Sisters discerns foreign mission work with the community and then is sent accordingly.

Yes, the Cook Islands are in the area of the star where there is no sign of land from this zooming distance! Our Sisters are on 2 of the islands and it is a 2 hour flight between the 2 on a small plane! 

Did you ever watch the movie "Whale Rider"?  It is a great movie about the clashes of culture and generations.  But anyway, the movie has a special cultural dance--does it look familar with the photo below from the Cook Islands?  The dance was also in "Invictus".  (The movies didn't include the females.)

So, what are the Daughters of Charity doing in the Cook Islands?  Sr. Margaret O'Dwyer (below) has been on mission on the Cook Islands for several years.  Sr. Margaret leads a program for inmate rehabilitation focusing on literary and working skills in conjunction with other agencies.The books the women are holding in the photo below were donated by Rotary for the inmate literacy program. 

The Sisters have an after-school program for children.  Below you see they not only feed the minds.

The Sisters are also very involved in the community. Here Sr. Margaret is visiting a new mother.

Another outreach of the Daughters on the islands is support and care for those with special needs.  Some of these disabilities are since birth others are from accidents, aging or health problems like strokes.

Here Sr. Madeline and Sr. Mary are serving at Te Ata o te Ra...

 and a home visit.

While St. Vincent still lived, he sent Daughters of Charity from France to Poland and the Congregation of the Mission (our brother community) as far as Madagascar.  Most of us won't live in far off lands, but the princples remain the same for home also--to honor the cultures of others, to acknowledge the faith of those we serve, to serve with respect and to be open to being evangelized by those living in poverty.

Take a moment to reflect on those principles and how they exist in your service.

Natural Disasters or a Visit to the Holy City

Last week while I was away in Rome for a meeting there was an earthquake an a hurricane at home.  I sure got the better end of that deal!!  Actually, the hurricane was in process at home when I left Rome.  I owe great thanks to Delta for quickly rerouting my flight and upgrading my seat!!  This is not a product placement!  Once home it was only 2 days without electricity--not bad compared with those who went a week.

So, let's get to the time in Rome!  Did anyone ever tell you that August is incredibly hot?  Well, it is!!  However, that didn't put a damper on my visit.  It didn't stop all those pilgrims there from WYD either.  Have you been to Rome before?  If not let me take you on a little tour..

The Catholic Church understands that we need concrete expressions of our faith--just as Christ understood when He gave us the Eucharist.  So you go into St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican and you see amazing art work all around you.  You have been to art museums right?  Somethings are just not to be touched!  However, as you enter St. Peter's there is a golden cross on the right which many people touch.  Then there is also the statue of St. Joseph--shown above.  People line up to touch the feet of this statue.  The feet of St. Joseph are slowly disappearing due to the amazing number of hands that have rubbes his feet.

Here is a statue of St. Vincent de Paul inside St. Peter's.  St Vincent got a front road seat--ok he is standing, but he is on the lower level of statues on the right shortly after you come in the door.  He is right outside the Eucharistic chapel. 

St. Louise de Marillac also got a big space in St. Peter's!  There is a "chapel"  area where the daily Mass is regularly held.  She is on the upper level there--larger than life.

This is a photo of the Eucharistic chapel.  I was disappointed to find it closed that time.  However, I was able to get this photo.  When the chapel is open, the gates are open but a curtain blocks the doorway.  There are no photos allowed in the chapel because it is truly a place of prayer for pilgrims and not a place for tourists.

I went along the corridor set up on the right side for people to follow to get to the Eucharistic Chapel.  There was a group crowded next to some barricades that were in front of this side chapel.  I thought they were a tour group just hearing about the painting or something.  When I came back later I could get closer to the barricade and check it out and then I saw...

it was the resting place of Blessed John Paul II!

This is the plaza outside St. Peter's--it is huge!!  This is actually just like a quarter of the plaza.  There is a spot that is marked that you can stand on and when you look at the 3 curved rows of pillars it looks like just row.  My grandfather told me about that, so this photo is in his honor!

On a non-religious note, this is the Trevi Fountain.  I know that the water isn't actually showing, but all the people are blocking it.  There are steps that go down and people through a coin in backwards over their shoulder and wish to return to Rome.  Of course there is the mandatory gelato also!  That is a kind of Italian ice cream.  I actually had one EACH day!  Fortunately, I did a lot of walking too!!

This photo is of Casa Maria Immaculata.  It is the house of hospitality that the Daughters of Charity run.  It is only about a 20 minute walk to St. Peter's.  It was a blessing to be with our Sisters there.  Their hospitality was amazing despite the language barrier--and the great meals with them!!  An added bonus was that some of Daughters on their way to an international heritage sesssion for the coming month  stopped by in Rome on their way to the motherhouse in Paris.  Right next door is another local community of Daughters of Charity where some of the elderly Sisters live and they provide special hospitality for women with children in need.

Did I mention I was there for a meeting?  The meeting was fantastic too, but there is something amazing about being at the Vatican--I was able to go on the Scavi tour too:  http://www.vatican.va/various/basiliche/necropoli/scavi_english.html (virtual tour). Being surrounded by pilgrims from around the world speaking and praying in so many languages is such a spiritual shot in the arm!

Why did Sr. Meg decide to be a Daughter of Charity??

From Sr. Meg Kymes!

While I was a Vincentian Service Corps volunteer in St. Louis, MO, I felt called to be a Daughter of Charity. From the moment I met them I felt drawn to their joyful spirit. I heard this little voice inside of me say, “You could be happy like that.” At first I was shocked and a little scared. I tried to push the little voice away and say NO! But, the voice got more and more insistent and I had to at least see what was drawing me to the Daughters of Charity.

That was 5 years ago, and today I still feel as called as I was then. Now, I am a Seminary Sister (know to other communities as a novice) in Evansville, IN. Today, looking back it was not just the Daughters joyful spirit that kept me coming back to them during my discernment, but other aspects as well.

There is a saying in the community that states, “If you’ve seen one Daughter of Charity you have seen one Daughter of Charity.” I have found this to be true. Among us you will find we dress the same and many do similar works, but underneath the works and blue and white habits you will find many different personalities, interests, and backgrounds which makes life much more interesting! There is truly room for everyone at the table of Vincent, Louise, and Elizabeth Ann!

I also saw a great openness and flexibility in them; my vocation directress told me over and over, “A Daughter of Charity, if nothing else, is flexible.” Vincent would call this obedience; he told the first Daughters they would go where they don’t want to go and do what they don’t want to do not because of themselves but because of God’s will. While going where we don’t want to go and doing what we don’t want to do seems like a bad thing, it isn’t always. I visit a sister at our retirement home that went from growing up on the streets of Chicago to spending 55 years in Japan. She tells me she wanted to go to China, but God had other plans for her. She stayed in Japan all that time happy to follow God’s will for her. I have found myself in places I never imagined doing things beyond my wildest dreams because of being open to God’s will. I spent last year in New Orleans. Now, I was born in raised in St. Louis and until meeting the Daughters had no intentions of ever leaving St. Louis. However, my last year in New Orleans was one of the happiest times of my life. I fell in love with the city, the culture, and the people. If I was not flexible and open I would have never had that experience like the retired sister who had the opportunity to serve the poor in Japan for 55 years.
Most of all, I was continually drawn back to the Daughters of Charity because their love for the poor. Louise implored us in her Spiritual Testament, “…above all take good care of service of the poor.” Vincent told us, “Let us love God, but let it be with the strength of our arm and the sweat of our brow.” While a relationship with Jesus is central to a Daughter’s life, all of our prayers, daily Mass attendances, spiritual readings, and Rosaries are done to give us the spiritual energy to go out to those living in poverty. Most of the Daughters I have met say what makes a Daughter and true Daughter of Charity is love for the poor. Their eyes light up when they speak about their current ministries or their past experiences of serving those living in poverty.

So, why am I drawn to the Daughters of Charity? I fell in love with the poor and decided to follow Christ’s call to by being given to God, in community for, their service.