70 Years as a Sister of St. Joseph

Our Jubilarians - celebrating 70 years as Sisters of St. Joseph

70 years as a Sister of St. Joseph - now that’s something to celebrate! And we did just that on Sunday, September 27th.  The five Sisters pictured here entered our congregation at Hamilton and London in 1950 as beautiful young women eager to give their lives entirely to God through loving service to the dear neighbor without distinction.  Throughout the years, they have lived their vows of poverty by sharing all things in common, chastity seen in self-emptying love, and obedience in discerning God’s call in the depths of their hearts and in collaboration with the needs of the congregation.

“We praise God for the unswerving dedication of our jubilarians these 70 years.”

This generous group of jubilarians puts their vows into practice in loving service to God’s people these many years through their various ministries in healthcare, education, and leadership of the congregation to name a few. They served throughout Canada and abroad in mission territory in Guatemala and Jamaica.

In her welcome at Eucharist, Sr. Nancy referred to the 70th anniversary year as a platinum celebration. Our jubilarians have displayed in their lives the qualities of platinum: unique, strong, steadfast, flexible, and gifted.  These traits, along with their deep faith throughout the years, make them our special wisdom women. Happy Anniversary, Sisters!

The Power of One

No doubt you know, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States died on Friday, September 18. May the “Notorious RBG” now rest in peace after her years of loving labours fighting for justice for all. 

What is it with Fridays?  They keep tripping me up.  Here where I am, we first went into lockdown on Friday, 13 March.  RBG died last Friday, just as our Jewish neighbours were ushering in Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. As of Friday 24 September we are once again back in lockdown.

My latest lockdown is of little significance compared to the significance of the phenomenal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg dying on Rosh Hashanah.  Immediately after her death, “A number of prominent Twitter users began to circulate the notion that, when a Jew dies on the holiday, it is testimony to the fact that he or she is a zaddik [or a zaddika] a righteous person.” (washingtonpost.com)

““All deeds are right in the sight of the doer, but the Lord weighs the heart.  To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.” (Proverbs 21:2) ”

I started these scribbles on Tuesday, and it so happened the Scripture reading from the Old Testament that day was from Proverbs, “All deeds are right in the sight of the doer, but the Lord weighs the heart.  To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.” (Proverbs 21:2 NRSV) This verse, in a nutshell, describes what the righteous RBG did all her life. From all we have learned this week about this incredible, tiny wisp of a Jewish woman, I would say she can easily be summed up in these few words: she lived and breathed justice and equality for all.  “Rabbi Lauren Holtzblatt, who leads the Adas Israel Congregation [where the late RBG worshiped], eulogized Ginsburg at a ceremony in the Capitol's Statuary Hall where the late justice became the first woman and first Jewish person to lie in state.” Among other things that the Rabbi said about her was, "Justice did not arrive like a lightning bolt, but rather, through dogged persistence, all the days of her life. Real change, she said, enduring change, happens one step at a time." (thehill.com)

I would say this phenomenal, living legend of a woman personified the human being the great Abraham Joshua Heschel describes in his words, “…God is absent, invisible, and the task of a human being is to represent the Divine, to be a reminder of the presence of God.”  Tiny, polite, with a soft-spoken voice belying a steely mind, she was a reminder of the presence of God.  Was she ruthless in her work for justice throughout her many years as a Justice?  Certainly, but never without compassion.  Ruth is a perfect example of the power of small. Small as she was, she is a huge inspiration, a hero to many, especially to women of all ages.  Women may now feel “Ruthless” but undoubtedly many are inspired to take up the torch from her. 

-Sister Magdalena Vogt, cps

Taking A Stand for Justice

The deep prejudice against African Americans is so painful and shameful to witness on our newscasts, and in our own experience and makes me think of the way Sister St John Fournier in 1845 defended the teaching of African American girls, against a furious white mob in St. Louis, who came at night to forcibly drive out the Sisters.  I want to share with you what she wrote about it. 

But first, I think we would be proud to note also that in the book Spirited Lives, which treats the way a French Sisterhood, namely the Sisters of St. Joseph, adapted to American culture, the authors (Carol K. Coburn and Martha Smith) has a footnote listing those Sisterhoods that used slave labor, and state that the Sisters of St. Joseph never did so. (Spirited Lives, footnote 14, p.241). 

-Sister Wendy Cotter, csj

Now, here is Sister Saint John Fournier: 

Sister St. John Fournier

"In 1845 Bishop Kendrick, [Bishop of St. Louis] established a school for Catholic coloured girls, the daughters of free negroes". Sister Saint John Fournier  (to whom Mother Saint John had given her name while she was preparing to come to the New World, a new novice) was now thirty years old when she faced the threats of a mob determined to drive them from the house.  Here is her account:  

"Obedience sent me there with two Sisters.  We were preparing these girls for the reception of the Sacraments. This so displeased the white people that they threatened to drive us away by force.  The leaders came every day. One morning several persons spoke to me after Mass and warned me that the next night we were to be driven from the house. I had no fear and said nothing to the Sisters because I had so much confidence in the Blessed Virgin.  I placed miraculous medals on the street door and on the fence.  

That night, at eleven o'clock a great noise suddenly awakened the Sisters.  A crowd of men, gathered in the street, were screaming and blaspheming.   We cast ourselves on our knees and began the Miserere and other prayers.  In the meantime, the enraged mob rushed upon the door.   The police drove them away. They returned three times that night.  The Blessed Virgin protected us.  In spite of their fury and their efforts, they succeeded neither in opening nor forcing the door.  

The day after this occurrence, the Mayor of Saint Louis advised the Bishop to close the school for the time being. Peace was restored.  The Sisters' schools received indiscriminately rich and poor, Catholics, Protestants, schismatics, and children of all religions.  A few years later, the asylum alone numbered two hundred fifty orphans."  

- Mother Saint John Fontbonne; A Biography, 1936 English translation of the French original, 1929, researched and written by "A Sister of St. Joseph", pp 358-359.                                       

“To Zoom or Not to Zoom”, that is the Question

With the radical ways of being moving and changing so drastically because of Covid-19, we are drawn to ponder the question:  “To Zoom or NOT to Zoom?”

In my own personal experience of connecting with people, I have found that Zoom is right now the new “normal” for connecting with family, friends, organizations.

Just recently (Sept. 17th) I had the privilege to host a Zoom call with 45 participants all across Canada to be engaged with an Indigenous helper and knowledge keeper on her experience of “The Impact of Residential Schools”.

We literally “zoomed in” on her personal experience and engaged in the experience by expressing how we were affected by what was heard.

I was on the de-briefing residential schools’ Zoom call with a few people when Jean came in and joined in this small gathering as we were de-briefing. Jean shared what she experienced in Jeff Thistle’s presentation, and we shared our experience of the circle Zoom call that had just ended.  We connected through and because of two Zoom calls that had been experienced at the same time, both involving relationships between Indigenous and non Indigenous peoples.

I share this by way of indicating how Zoom has made it possible for people to truly connect across geographic, cultural, and social lines.

We, Sisters of St. Joseph in Canada, experienced this in our recent beginning of Chapter 2020.  The conversations we had were respectful, well-paced, and came from deep reflection. Kudos to the many Sisters who have learned how to Zoom!

It seems to be one of the effective ways of linking people together when the world seems to be falling apart.  What the world needs now is truly effective ways of communicating involving sight and sound if possible.

So if you are asking yourself, “to Zoom or not to Zoom?” I highly recommend it for connecting with your families, friends, reflection groups, community members…and possibly at unexpected levels of depth.

-Sister Kathleen Lichti, CSJ