FEBRUARY 2, 2015

Today is the feast of the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple, and the official day of Prayer for Consecrated Life.  Nary a mention of it yesterday or today at Mass.  Must remember to meditate on the Hidden Life—the first 30 years!  

Introduction to the recent evening for Iona College students.

Menu for dinner announced!

Reflection with Iona College students

I got some pictures of Iona College’s recent visit to us off of Bob’s phone!  Folks seemed to be happy—or were they just hungry and being polite till dinner or dessert showed?

On Saturday, January 31^st, John spent the morning teamed with Sr. Maura O’Donovan, CHF in a presentation about the work of the Burning Bush group.  Burning Bush is a collaboration of  religious who, concerned about peace making in this violent time, share ideas and actions to build peace and support peace makers.

Sr. Maura and Br. John at the Holy Family Motherhouse

The presentation was to an assembly of Sisters of the Holy Family.  Their website notes:  “Twenty years before the Civil War of the United States, and before it was legal for such a Congregation to exist, the Sisters of the Holy Family were founded in New Orleans, Louisiana by Venerable Henriette Delille, a free woman of color.   Co-foundresses of this religious community of African-American women were Juliette Gaudin and Josephine Charles.”

Focus on the screen--you are not getting sleepy--I hope.

Was John taking lunch orders?

There are some smiles?

John worked with the Sisters last year at the Academy of Our Lady on the grounds of their Motherhouse.  That was with the Discovery Walks Program; John is a coach for school leaders seeing to improve the academic life of the school.  This visit was to share on a collaborative program among religious in the Archdiocese of New Orleans reaching out to all concerned about peacemaking.

Sr. Maura gave a series of brief presentations, and John facilitated the groups’ responses.  As in a classroom, ‘pair and share’ enabled all participants to be involved and John took notes on their insights to share with the Burning Bush committee.  The Sisters were an informed, involved group with insights and great wisdom to share.

That evening Bob, Charles [after an afternoon of Offenbach] and John had dinner with Sr. Vera Butler, PBVM and Sr. Enid Storey, PBVM at their home in the Lakeview area of New Orleans, west of City Park.  It was a wonderful evening.

FOR REFLECTION

Venerable Henriette Delille

Henriette applied to join religious life with the Ursuline and Carmelite Sisters, but was refused because she admitted to being of mixed race.

But as other women joined Henriette and her friends,  the community that evolved became known as the Sisters of the Holy Family. In addition to education, the Sisters worked in hospitals, in social work and with the sick elderly. This was at a time in history when educating black people could be punished by prison or even death.

Mother Henriette died in 1862, at the age of only 50. Her only recorded writing was penned in the inside cover of an 1836 prayer book: “I believe in God. I hope in God. I love God. I want to live and die for God.”

Today, her congregation’s more than 200 members operate schools for the poor and homes for the elderly in Louisiana and several other states, as well as in the Central American country of Belize.

Mother Henriette’s sainthood cause was opened in 1988, and the New Orleans archdiocesan investigation was completed in 2005. She is the first native-born Creole whose cause for sainthood has been officially recognized by the Church.  She was declared “venerable” by Pope Benedict XVI in 2010.

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