June 12, 2021
By Erin DeGregorio, The Tablet
CARROLL GARDENS — It was a long time coming for the Diocese of Brooklyn to have its own Mother Cabrini statue, 
but the faithful finally got to see the final figure.
Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio unveiled and blessed the statue and shrine of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini — also known as Mother Cabrini — outside her Brooklyn parish, Sacred Hearts & St. Stephen Church on June 11.
Members of Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, founded in 1880 by Mother Cabrini, were also in attendance. Once the sisters removed the red fabric from the monument, applause, Italian music, and red, white, and green confetti filled the air.
The statue features Mother Cabrini standing on a cobblestone street with two young children on either side of her. She is depicted at the age she was when she arrived in Brooklyn — approximately 40 years old — and wearing the habit of her order.
The design of the statue includes a variety of historical references, including on the brick base on which the statue will stand. The base also contains the cornerstone of the original church.
Mother Cabrini worked in Brooklyn after she and six other Cabrini Sisters arrived in the U.S. from her native Italy in 1889 and tended to immigrants in the original Carroll Gardens church, which is now the site of Mother Cabrini Park.
“The decision was that the statue should be placed in the parish where she worked here in Brooklyn first,” said John Heyer II, pastoral associate at Sacred Hearts & St. Stephen Parish. “She founded the first school for Italian immigrants here on all of Long Island, quite frankly, and the first for the Diocese of Brooklyn.”
Sister Antonina Avitabile, MSC was a member of the committee that helped bring the diocese’s statue to fruition.
“I think the parish and the Italians in the Brooklyn diocese will love it,” she said before the unveiling. “We put a lot of work into choosing it.”
Msgr. Guy Massie, pastor of Sacred Hearts & St. Stephen, noted the important messages the monument sends.
“It makes a statement to all immigrants that the church is with them and for them, particularly at this time in the history of the United States where there are such anti-immigrant feelings,” he explained. “And it is a great statement of the devotion that people have to Frances Cabrini, who lived right here in our parish.”
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Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is devotion to Jesus Christ Himself, but in the particular ways of meditating on his interior life and on His threefold love — His divine love, His burning love that fed His human will, and His sensible love that affects His interior life.
The Cabrini Mission Foundation has a long history of working with migrants and displaced people. Responding to the Gospel call for justice and love, honoring the Catholic Social Teachings on the dignity of all persons, and continuing the legacy of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, Patroness of Immigrants, the Cabrini Mission Foundation is committed to:
Catholic Sisters Week
Cabrini University’s annual Give Love, Give Socks, Give Hope drive helped The Joy of Sox reach a notable milestone: With its delivery on Saturday, Feb. 13 to Prevention Point Philadelphia in Kensington, PA, the Radnor-based nonprofit has donated a half million pairs of socks since 2010. In the past four years, Cabrini has contributed 6,000 pairs of socks to The Joy of Sox’s donation efforts in the Philadelphia area.
February 2, 2021 was a big day and a joyful day for us and for our Institute, and for our families. On this day we made our first profession as Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus; and we were welcomed as Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini’s daughters.
were offering their lives and service completely to God for His greater Glory.
Sister Diane Dalle Molle, MSC, Superior of the Holy Spirit Region, and Sister Genet Henok, MSC served as the official witnesses of the recitation and signing of the vows. In declaring their intentions, Sister Ayantu and Sister Tigist answered their call and responded, “HERE I AM”.
In 1997, Pope Saint John Paul II instituted a day of prayer for women and men in consecrated life. This celebration is attached to the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord on February 2nd. This Feast is also known as Candlemas Day; the day on which candles are blessed symbolizing Christ who is the light of the world. So too, those in consecrated life are called to reflect the light of Jesus Christ to all peoples. The celebration of World Day for Consecrated Life is transferred to the following Sunday in order to highlight the gift of consecrated persons for the whole Church.
“Did anyone notice during this entire presidential campaign what was said most about Joe Biden? It was that he is a good man,” Sr. Joan Chittister, a Benedictine Sister of Erie, PA, and the co-chair of the Global Initiative of Women told the GSR, “[people] are looking for character. They’re looking for quality.”
said she is looking for a return to civility.
Catholic social justice lobby, said Biden’s Catholic faith is inseparable from who he is.