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Cabrini Immigrant Services-NYC Holds Heart of Cabrini Benefit

On Tuesday, April 10th, 2018, Cabrini Immigrant Services of NYC hosted our fifth annual “Heart of Cabrini” Benefit Dinner at the Manhattan Penthouse on Fifth Avenue. We kicked the evening off with music from Hector Martignon and the Foreign Affair Trio, followed by dinner with a view!

We were proud to recognize the achievements of our two honorees, Cristina Jimenez and FWD.us, who have been fearless advocates for the immigrant community. Award presentations were followed by a screening of “I’m Not the Only One,” a short film produced by Dreamers who participated in the DACAmented Voices Program (a collaboration between CIS-NYC and Los Herederos).

It was a wonderful night full of inspiring speeches, delicious food, and great conversation.  Thank you to all of the generous donors and committed supporters who made the night a success! We would like to extend a special thank you to our event sponsors: First American International Bank, Cabrini of Westchester, and Cabrini University

MSCs and Cabrini KIDs United to Help Those Experiencing Homelessness

Thanks to a grant from St. Faith’s House Foundation, the Cabrini Kids from Cabrini Immigrant Services (CIS), Dobbs Ferry, NY were able to help some people who are experiencing homelessness  in Peekskill, NY.   The packages that were made are being donated to CHOP (Caring for the Homeless and Hungry of Peekskill).  There are some veterans who are part of CHOP so our Kids made cards thanking them for their service.  In addition to the card, an American flag was also put in their bag.

This Giving Back Program had a very special blessing: Missionary Sisters Sr. John Giani, Sr. Joan Marie Sariti, Sr. Patricia Dunleavy and Sr. Damien Ciminera, joined the children of Grades 1-3 for the program.  Each Sister worked with 3 children as they made cards for the veterans and packed bags with facecloths, body wash, deodorant, shaving cream, shampoo, a toothbrush, toothpaste, a pair of socks and a notebook and pen.   Another special part of the program was the donation of socks from The Joy of Sox, an organization founded by Tom Costello, husband of Nancy Costello of the Province Communications Office.

The Sisters enjoyed listening to the children and learning about their countries of origin.  The children also enjoyed hearing the stories of the Sisters’ great works over the years.  Interestingly, all the Sisters had worked with children.  One Sister worked with children who were sick in Africa while another Sister worked as a nurse in the United States.  They both spoke about how hard it was to see children who were sick.  One Sister was a teacher and another Sister had a very unique story to tell.  Sr. Patricia said that she worked with cowboys and indians!  

The Dalai Lama said, “When educating the minds of the youth, we must not forget to educate their hearts.”  Our Kids learned about the need to help those who are less fortunate but more importantly, their hearts were moved.  When asked about how they felt helping those experiencing  homelessness, we heard responses like, “It’s a wonderful day because we are helping someone else have a wonderful day.” Another child said, “We should always help other people.”

A special thank you to the Cabrini Sisters and to Tom Costello for all their help in making this another successful program.

Resourcefulness leads to warmer homes in Guatemala

The Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus conduct the Senior Citizen Care Program in Zone 6 of Guatemala City. As part of this program, Sister Laudir Crócoli visits homes and offers senior citizens spiritual accompaniment. During one of these visits in December 2017, she found very precarious housing conditions. She noticed that the heat and cold were affecting the health of an elderly woman in a sheet metal home lacking any insulation. She found a safe and ecological answer to meet this need.

To do this, milk cartons are collected, opened, and cleaned, before attaching them to each other using thread taken from sacks of flour. They are then installed on the roof with wooden support beams that hold them up.

This effort was possible thanks to other members of the Senior Citizen Program, young people, women, and neighbors from the area. Approximately 200 people were involved in the project. A total of 214 milk cartons were received during the first collection, making it possible to create a first false ceiling.

The big takeaway from this project is that once the need to improve the living conditions of one member of the Senior Citizen Program was identified, various members – not just of her community, but also from other neighborhoods– pitched in to collect the materials that were needed. These actions resulted in interrelation and solidarity among neighbors, environmental awareness, improved living conditions, and proof that there are other ways to improve the quality of life while at the same time taking care of one’s own home as well as the community.

Rejoice and Be Glad

God calls all Christians to be saints – real people who make time for prayer and who show loving care for others in the simplest gestures, Pope Francis said in his new document on holiness.

“Do not be afraid of holiness.  It will take away none of your energy, vitality or joy,” the Pope write in “Gaudete et Exsultate”, his apostolic exhortation on “the call to holiness in today’s world.”

Pope Francis signed the exhortation on March 19th, the feast of St. Joseph, and the Vatican released it on April 9th.

Much of the document wads written in the second person, speaking directly to the individual reading it.  “With this exhortation I would like to insist primarily on the call to holiness that the Lord addresses to each of us, the call that he also addresses, personally, to you,” he wrote.

Pope Francis focused mainly on how the call to holiness is a personal call, something God asks of each Christian and which requires a personal response given one’s state in life, talents and circumstances.

“We are frequently tempted to think that holiness is only for those who can with draw from ordinary affairs to spend much time in prayer,” he wrote.  Buy “that is not the case.”

We are all called to be holy by living our lives with love and by bearing witness in everything we do, wherever we find ourselves,” he said.

He wrote about “the saints next door” and said he like “to contemplate the holiness present in the patience of God’s people: in those parents who raise their children with immense love. In those men and women who work hard to support their families, in the sick, in elderly religious who never lose their smile.”

The path to holiness, he wrote, is almost always gradual, made up of small steps in prayer, in sacrifice and in service to others.  Being part of a parish community and receiving the sacraments, especially the Eucharist and reconciliation are essential supports for living a holy life, Pope Francis wrote and so is time for silent prayer.  “I do not believe in holiness without prayer.”

Sharing Religious Traditions Builds Friendships and Deepens Understanding

Pope Francis has always stressed the inclusion of all people.  He stated that “although we seek or meet God in different ways, we are all children of God.”  What better time than during the Easter/Passover holidays to help spread the words of our Pope!

Thanks to a grant from St. Faith’s House Foundation, Cabrini Immigrant Services (CIS), Dobbs Ferry, held a special program for its Kids in Grades 1-5.  The children learned through story, food and art about Easter, Passover and Ramadan.  We had people present who are Christian, Jewish and Islamic.  Their personal thoughts and experiences certainly added to the program.

Ellen Tessitore, a retired art teacher, created the program for the children.  When the children first arrived, they completed a “Search a Word” puzzle where she used specific words that had to do with each of the holidays.  She then read about each holiday and had the children do a project that was related to each one.

After reading about Easter, the children dyed Easter eggs.  They decorated them and then added them to some “Easter grass.”   Following Easter, Ellen read about Passover and the special meal that is served.  The children then had matzo and charoset, which is a mixture of apples, pears, cinnamon and honey.  They learned about what the different foods represent and why they are used at the Seder.  The children then learned about Ramadan.  They learned that the ninth month of the Muslim year is called Ramadan.   It is a time of strict fasting.   Besides fasting, people are encouraged to do good works, to be light in the world.   Our children made “Charity Jars.”  A votive candle was placed inside a jar and then the children dec

orated the outside of the jar with diverse color tissue paper.  The jar is a reminder to always do good to others and to themselves.   Every time they do a good work, they can open their jars and light the candle as a reminder that they are doing good works.

The children enjoyed hearing about the various religions and also about the different traditions.   The main learning that everyone took home was that it doesn’t matter what religion you practice but that we are all one.   What is important is what is in your heart and how you treat others.  What a wonderful lesson for everyone to learn and how important it is to teach children the importance of acceptance.  After all, as Pope Francis says, “We are all children of God.”Reli

1600 Catholic Organizations Urge Administration Officials to Support Refugee Resettlement

In a letter to Acting Secretary of State John Sullivan and U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen, more than 1,600 Catholic organizations, women and men religious, and lay leaders signed the letter to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) supporting refugee resettlement

March 26. 2018

Dear Secretary Nielsen and Acting Secretary Sullivan,

As Catholic organizations and individuals, we are deeply concerned about the status of the U.S. refugee resettlement program and our current commitment as a country to welcome and integrate refugees in this time of extreme global need. Recently, the number of refugees resettled by the United States has plummeted. For Fiscal Year (FY) 2018, our country set an annual goal to admit 45,000 refugees, the lowest target in the history of the refugee program, which was formally begun in 1980. At the halfway point of FY18, the U.S. has resettled 9,616 refugees, setting the program on pace to not even reach half of the year’s low refugee admissions target. These low levels of refugee arrivals leave thousands of vulnerable people in harm’s way. The U.S. Refugee Admissions Program helps to resettle the most vulnerable of the world’s refugees, the estimated 5% who cannot remain in refugee host countries that neighbor the home countries they fled and who cannot return to their homes. For personal safety, they need resettlement to a third country. These individuals are frequently women and children, and often targeted for violence due to their religion or political views.

For 37 years, the U.S. has been proud to be the world leader in welcoming and resettling these most vulnerable refugees, as Catholic organizations, priests, brothers, sisters, and lay professionals and volunteers, have been joyful partners to help accomplish this life-saving, humanitarian work. We know firsthand about the life-saving work that occurs on the ground in our communities to help welcome, accompany and integrate refugees in the United States. Refugees are more than just numbers and statistics, they are our neighbors, our friends, our fellow parishioners, and our brothers and sisters in Christ.

As Christians, our concern for refugees is integral to our life of faith. The Catholic Church believes that every person is created in God’s image. In the Old Testament, God calls upon his people to care for the newcomers because of their own experience as newcomers: “So, you, too, must befriend the alien, for you were once aliens yourselves in the land of Egypt” (Deut. 10:17-19). In the New Testament, the image of the refugee is seen in the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. In his own life and work, Jesus identified himself with newcomers and with other marginalized persons in a special way: “I was a stranger and you welcomed me” (Mt. 25:35). Jesus himself was a refugee fleeing as an infant with his family to Egypt to avoid persecution and death (Mt. 2:15). Recently Pope Francis reminded us all to welcome and protect refugees.

In this spirit, we ask the Administration and Congress to restore America’s bipartisan commitment to life-saving resettlement, including for Christian and other religious minorities. We urge admitting at least 45,000 refugees this year and 75,000 next year. We strongly suggest that DHS work to process refugees in a more robust, efficient and transparent manner. We also request the Administration to listen to our communities when we stand in solidarity to welcome refugees in this moment of global need.    ~ Justice for Immigrants

Working the Front Lines of Migrant Education

The first conference on women religious to be held at the University of Notre Dame’s Kylemore Abbey Global Centre in Ireland focused on the role of women religious in migrant education.

[Last month], sisters working on the front lines in migrant education in places like Italy, the Philippines, Latin America and Nigeria exchanged information and testimonies with scholars who document sisters’ work.

Kathleen Sprows Cummings, associate professor of American studies and history at the University of Notre Dame, oversees the History of Women Religious project, an academic organization devoted to the historical study of Catholic sisters in the United States.  She told Global Sisters Report the impetus for the gathering was the centenary of the death of St. Frances X. Cabrini in 2017. 

The title of the Kylemore conference, “A Pedagogy of Peace,” comes from Pope John Paul II who described Cabrini’s role in educating migrants as a pedagogy of peace, said Sprows Cummings, one of the organizers of the conference.

One of the presenters was Sr. Phil Kilroy of the Society of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, said, “We are all migrants.  There is no pure race. Until that connection is made, we won’t treat migrants properly because we see them as ‘them’.  [In my talk], I was trying to make the point that it is ‘us.’”

Benedictine Sr. Jacqueline Leiter, who teaches English-language learners at St. Paul’s Public School in Minnesota is guided by St. Benedict’s hospitality rule:  “All guests who present themselves are to be welcomed as Christ, for he himself will say: “I was a stranger, and you welcomed me.’” But she said after visiting some of her students’ homes, she felt anger and grief,

“I was angry that apartment managers and owners allowed the conditions in which the families lived in crumbling buildings:  mold, cockroaches, cracked walls, peeling floors and leaks,” she said. “I was grieved to see whole families who had to work so hard to make a life for themselves in a new country under these conditions.”

Speaking on behalf of Migrant Project/Sicily run by the International Union of Superiors in General in Rome Sr. Florence de las Villeon of the Society of the Sacred Heart of Jesus related that congregations and Catholic organizations are putting their energy into setting up centers in Sicily for female migrants to help them avoid prostitution.

Attending the conference were Sr. Patricia Godoy, MSC; Maria Williams, Cabrini research scholar;  and Dr. Maggie McGuinness, former professor at Cabrini College.

To read the full account: http://globalsistersreport.org/news/ministry-migration/working-front-lines-migrant-education-sisters-share-strategies-52926

Alleluia! Christ is Risen

Alleluia! – He is Risen!

Praise God everywhere on earth and in space.

All creation wildly applauds the Almighty One!

Praise God to the outermost edges of the universe and beyond.

Praise God, all you supernovas and supermarkets,

All you mosques and marketplaces,

All you cathedrals and cabarets,

All you temples and tennis courts.

Alleluia! – He is Risen!

Praise God with resounding symbols,

and with crashing markets.

Praise God, you powerful majestic pipe organs

and you New Orleans jazz

bands.

Praise God, you circus carousel calliopes,

and you castanet-clicking gypsy caravans.

Praise God all you with dancing feet,

and all you with walkers and canes.

 Alleluia! – He is Risen!

Praise our Great God of Ten Thousand Names.

Praise God, all you holy saints in heaven.

Praise God, all you halo-less saints on earth.

Let everything that lives on the earth

and in the oceans and seas and space,

praise the LIFE that is and was and shall ever be.

March Madness Highlights Contributions of Women Religious

Yes, Sr. Jean Dolores Schmidt is everywhere.

The 98-year-old chaplain of the Loyola University Chicago men’s basketball team is a media darling, capturing – national – and indeed, international – attention in the Ramblers’ improbably run to a coveted slot in the Final Four of the NCAA Tournament.

Her image is on socks, T-shirts and now is the best-selling bobblehead in history.  National stories have also focused on her community, the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Dubuque, Iowa, and the accomplishments of their members as they cheer on and marvel at the media frenzy around their beloved sister.

Her grace, wit and wisdom are rightly spotlighted in the media, along with her basketball smarts.

The media affection for Sr. Jean is welcome, but there are some points that the Global Sisters Report would like to share.

Sisters across the globe do amazing work, most often out of the media spotlight.

At the same time that so much of the nation’s attention [has been] on college basketball, women religious at the U.N. were among the speakers at the annual Commission on the Status of Women which focused on the scourge of the trafficking of women and girls.

Get beyond “cute and stereotypical images.  Some of the many media reports about Sr. Jean have taken the time to dig deeper into who she is and have portrayed her as more than a team cheerleader.  She is an accomplished woman on many levels, having taught as a college professor for many years.  Members of her [religious] community include a former mayor and several former college presidents.

Aging doesn’t have to be scary or negative. A key focus in the Sr. Jean story is her age: 98 and still active, witty and fully engaged.  However, that is no surprise to the readers of the Global Sisters Report.  We often write of women religious who remain involved in their ministries well into their 80s, 90s or past 100.  Even “retired” sisters often are rarely retired in the common definition of that life state.  Having a sense of purpose, a greater mission, is a big part of the reason.

We hope that the affection for Sr. Jean spills over into bolstering broad appreciation for Catholic women religious.  Yet, long after the swish of the last basket of the 2018 NCAA Tournament, there will be religious women calming the fears of refugees torn from their country by war, drying the tears of a young woman recovering from a life of exploitation and helping disaster victims to start anew.  Because that’s what sisters do.

To read the full account: http://globalsistersreport.org/blog/gsr-today/trends/flurry-over-sr-jean-dolores-schmidt-can-open-clearer-more-complete-look-women?utm_source=GSR%20digest%203-29-18&utm_campaign=cc&utm_medium=email

To read about the U.N. Conference on empowering rural women and girls: http://globalsistersreport.org/news/trends-trafficking/un-womens-commission-agrees-measures-empower-rural-women-and-girls-52856?utm_source=GSR%20digest%203-29-18&utm_campaign=cc&utm_medium=email

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