Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

Awareness and Advocacy re: Human Trafficking

January 20, 2022

Cabrini High School, New Orleans, took the week of January 10-14 to highlight National Human Trafficking Awareness Month. In solidarity with Mother Cabrini’s Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart, each day began with prayers for an end to this sinful tragedy. Facts about human trafficking and how we can advocate and fight against it were highlighted daily. The week culminated in a dress-up day, where students raised funds for the anti-trafficking efforts of the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart and the Cabrini Mission Foundation.

Join Catholic Sisters in Praying and Working to End Human Trafficking

January 13, 2022

~ by Gail DeGeorge, Global Sisters Report

The fight against human trafficking continues, 15 years after the United States designated January 11 as National Human Trafficking Awareness Day in 2007, and January as National Human Trafficking Prevention Month in 2010.

Catholic sisters around the world are deeply committed to ending the scourge of modern-day slavery. Through regional organizations, such as the U.S. Catholic Sisters Against Human Trafficking and Rome-based Talitha Kum, initiated by the International Union of Superiors General as a “network of networks” active in five continents coordinating efforts of congregations in 60 or more networks, sisters work to raise awareness, aid and rehabilitate victims, and lobby for stricter laws and enforcement.
The Global Sisters Report (GRS) reflects these efforts in their coverage of sisters’ ministries and work related to human trafficking. They also take opportunities to help raise awareness through other venues. The GSR in the Classroom curriculum, for instance, offers six lessons about human trafficking. GSR correspondent Soli Salgado, who has reported extensively about human trafficking, produced a special video presentation for the annual California Ministry Conference Hope, Heal, Renew, sponsored by eight dioceses and archdioceses from California, Nevada and Hawaii. The 2021 conference was a virtual gathering held November. 4-6.
The hourlong segment, entitled, “Migrating Toward Exploitation: Why Migrants Are Susceptible to Human Trafficking, and How Sisters Are Helping,” featured an explanatory introduction, plus interviews with Sr. Sally Duffy, a Sister of Charity of Cincinnati who is involved with migration and trafficking issues, and Jennifer Reyes Lay, executive director of U.S. Catholic Sisters Against Human Trafficking.

There are also other official days to commemorate trafficking victims and efforts to raise awareness and stop human trafficking. February 8 is the feast day of St. Josephine Bakhita, who was born in Sudan and sold into slavery and taken to Italy where she eventually joined the Canossian Sisters. February 8 is a World Day of Prayer, Reflection, and Action against Human Trafficking, designated by the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace and the International Union of Superiors General. The theme for this year’s day of prayer is “The Power of Care – Women, Economics, Human Trafficking.”

In addition, the United Nations observes the World Day Against Trafficking in Persons on July 30.

While much of the attention of anti-trafficking is on women and children who are trafficked and abused, there is also growing attention to the labor trafficking and workers who are exploited.

There can never be enough attention to the issue of human trafficking, or the efforts by Catholic sisters and others to help women, children and vulnerable adults avoid becoming victims of trafficking, or assisting those who are already caught in the trap. So, this day, this month, February 8th and every day take time to pray and add your efforts to the cause to stop human trafficking.
To read the complete article, please click here

The Missionary Sisters of the Guadalupe Province have a Corporate Stance on Human Trafficking.
To learn more please click here and here to download a PDF of the Corporate Stance brochure.

Celebrating the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe at Sacred Heart Convent

December 14, 2021

December 12th was such a special day. It was not only the Third Sunday of Advent but it was also the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, our Province Feast. The Cabrini Lay Missionaries (CLMs) wanted to do something special for the Feast Day so we shared in a prayer service with the Cabrini Sisters who reside at Sacred Heart Convent in New York City.

Some of the CLMs were at the convent where they celebrated liturgy and lunch with the Sisters and then shared prayer with some of the other CLMs via Zoom. What a beautiful way to honor Our Lady. In addition to prayer, it was so wonderful to ‘catch up’ with one another and enjoy a lot of laughs. Thank you, Sisters, for your hospitality and for sharing prayer with us.

Playwright Finds Inspiration from Mother Cabrini’s Life

December 2, 2021

~ by Paula Katinas, The Tablet

FOREST HILLS, NY – Of the numerous stage productions being performed across New York city as the pandemic eases, perhaps only one will star…a saint

“Happening Woman,” a musical based on the life and times of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, better known as Mother Cabrini, the beloved Patron Saint of Immigrants, [was staged] on November 13 and 14 in the auditorium of Our Lady of Mercy Church in Forest Hills.

Featuring 15 songs and a cast of 24, the play spotlights the founder of the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, who spent much of her life tending to immigrants and the poor.

It’s the brainchild of AnnaMarie Prono, a parishioner at Our Lady of Mercy, who recalls the point in time when she developed an interest in the Italian-born luminary. During a chat, she asked a friend, “What do you know about Mother Cabrini?”

Her friend answered, “She was a happening woman when women weren’t happening.”

That comment became the inspiration for “Happening Woman,” which Prono has co-written with composer Bob Kaufmann. The show is co-produced with Milini Singh McDonald.

The play features a variety of musical genres – including a traditional Italian tarantella, marching band music inspired by John Philip Sousa, rock and roll numbers and music with a Mexican flavor.

Kaufmann, who said the score is “unapologetically spiritual,” added that his goal was to make the songs “as upbeat and catchy as possible.”

The plot of “Happening Woman” jumps back and forth in time between the past and the present. It depicts Mother Cabrini’s life but also tells the parallel present day story of a 13 year old girl struggling with multiple sclerosis (MS). Prono has MS as does McDonald. They’re both inspired by the legacy of Mother Cabrini who was “sickly her entire life,” Prono said. “And yet she just did so much. She never stopped. People told her no. She didn’t care. She just kept going.”

Prono is hoping “Happening Woman” inspires people, just as she was by St. Cabrini.

The creators wanted the show to bring Catholics closer to their faith.
~ submitted by Sr. Christine Marie Baltas, MSC

Sr. Christine Marie Baltas, MSC and Cabrini University Library Director Anne Schwelm recently traveled to Forest Hills, NY to enjoy this play for which they served as resource persons.

Advent – A Reflection by Sr. Therese Merandi, MSC

December 2, 2021

~ A Reflection by Sr. Terezinha Esperanca Merandi, MSC originally written for the Global Sisters Report.

Advent is a coming, an awaiting, expectation. It involves emptiness, an openness, eyes, heart and spirit awake! Wanting to be filled, looking for something more and better.

It spells H-O-P-E and b-e-y-o-n-d the here and now of all around.

In South Sudan, in this fragmented country of conflict and shattered dreams, having completed a decade of independence and yet living in the constant, haunting shadow of war, ambush, kidnappings, torture and brutal killings, this youngest and newest country in the world can choose!

Choose what? Choose to “put pain to purpose”!1 There is so much pain and trauma here in this “adolescent of a country”, whose dreams waver on nightmares when faced with everyday threats and obstacles. Where is God? Where is change? Where is hope? How to “feed” hope? Teach our hearts to hope, dream for the future, hope in impossible times of sadness and tragedy? How?First and foremost: to stay with; not cloud, abandon or mystify reality. Join hands (hearts and spirits), even in this time of Covid; defy mistrust and fear to find energy, that can be renewed, in a community of believers who know that Emmanuel is on the horizon.

Relationship and sharing enable a unifying process, beyond revenge, separation, hatred and exclusion. Is this not what the promises of the Incarnation, of God’s Advent into our human history brought about? Hope! And hope in abundance feeding our life in need (Jn 10,10).

Mustering up a maturing in growth for mindful re-evaluation: God is light, His light has come into the world (Jn 1,4-5.9). Reaching out, willfully, in dialogue, going towards encounter: exer-cising a freedom, true and deep, which breaks down barriers (Jn 4,10). Making love real, tan-gible, present in the situation here and now: affectively not withdrawing and being inclusive of all ailing parties (Jn17,21.26). Where there is great suffering, only great love can endure,2 to give meaning and motivation for the struggle ahead, forging the pathway forward with purpose: accompanying/building/ encouraging the newness of life being born, strengthening faltering and slumping hope, be-ing a bridge in the breach for reconciliation and peace.

Advent of Jesus’ Incarnation in South Sudan: Come, Lord Jesus, Come! Oh Wisdom, oh Adonai, oh Stem of Jesse, Radiant Star, David’s Key, King of all Nations, Emmanuel,3 Come! Walk with us through tragedy into the joy and hope of your ever-coming Advent Presence! Christmas Peace on South Sudan, Sudan, Ethiopia, Eswatini, Nicaragua and All!
~ Terezinha Esperança Merandi, MSC November 27, 2021 Kit, South Sudan

To read a related article in the Global Sisters Report please click here
1 Jane “Nightbirde” Marczewski, CNN interview, Chris Cuomo Prime Time, June 23, 2021.
2 Richard Rohr develops this theme at length in “The Universal Christ”, p.83.
3 “O” antiphons of the Advent Evening Prayer Magnificat, December 17 – 23.

A Life Inspired by Mother Cabrini

November 18, 2021

A Life Inspired by Mother Cabrini
~Fairfield County Catholic

When Lucille Souza was a high school freshman in Burbank, California, the idea crossed her mind that maybe, just maybe, she might be called to the religious life. Her parents, who were immigrants from Portugal, worked hard to make a good life for their family, and they sent her to a school run by Mother Cabrini’s Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

I was very active in school,” she recalled. “I played sports and did all different kinds of things. I never really thought of entering the convent until my freshman year when I kind of had this calling.”

When she was growing up, her mother always asked, “Don’t you want to become a sister?” And Lucille would promptly repond, “No, I don’t! Don’t even talk about it!”

But, by senior year, the desire became very, very strong, largely inspired by the example of sisters in her school.

“Then, when I told my mother I wanted to enter the convent, she said, ‘Oh no! Don’t even talk about it!” She was not happy with her daughter’s decision, but her father was.

And so, at 18 years old, right out of high school, she entered the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and within a month she was teaching second grade at a school in Brooklyn, NY.

Recalling the sisters who inspired her, she said, “I knew this is what I wanted because I saw the sisters interacting with one another and how they loved each other and how they reached out to us girls, not just for the academics, but for our personal lives and to help us grow and know Christ. That’s what really motivated me.”

Today, years later, after dedicating her life to the order, Sr. Lucille Souza, MSC has accomplished many things through the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the example of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, the Patroness of Immigrants and the first American citizen saint.

recently spoke at the Cabrini Mass at Sacred Heart Church, which is sponsored by Catholic Charities of Fairfield County, CT. It commemorates the Italian-American founder of the religious order, who supported immigrants throughout the United States and established 67 institutions, including schools, orphanages and hospitals that cared for the poor and marginalized.

“Mother’s message today is as it has been throughout her whole life and that is love – bringing the love of Christ to the whole world,” Sr. Lucille said. “That is the message the Missionary Cabrini Sisters bring to the world. Bringing that love means feeding the poor and reaching out to those in hardship. Mother really had a devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and that is the devotion and charism she has passed on to us.”

Mother’s deep love of the Sacred Heart is what propelled her to do everything she did. It was that love of him that he shared with her and, and she reciprocated that love to people she met along the way. “That is what we are trying to do today through that same love, that same going out of ourselves to give to others, especially those who are in dire straits,” she said.

Remembering MSCs We Knew and Loved

November 10, 2021

On “All Saints Day” the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart who reside at St. Cabrini Nursing Home in Dobbs Ferry, NY, held a special prayer service in honor of all the deceased Missionary Sisters throughout the world, who passed away in 2019, 2020, and 2021. Father Thomas Vadakemuriyil, Director of Pastoral Care, led the sisters in prayer.

At the end of the “Reading of Names”, Fr. Thomas invited the sisters to share memories and reflect on their relationships with those that were known to them. This time was a special time of healing and meaning for the sisters who were in attendance.

The following day, on the “Feast of All Souls” all the other sisters of the Guadalupe Province shared in the same prayer service.
St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, pray for them and pray for us, who mourn their loss.

Cabrini University First in PA to Partner with The Dream.US

November 3, 2021

Cabrini University First in PA
to Partner with The Dream.US

In an email to the Cabrini University community, President Donald B. Taylor announced:

Cabrini University has been selected as the first school in Pennsylvania to partner with TheDream.US to provide scholarships for the Commonwealth’s undocumented immigrant youth as they achieve their dreams in higher education.

In selecting Cabrini, TheDream.US noted our mission as a Catholic institution with a long standing commitment to helping the underserved and serving the social justice charism of the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The nonprofit also admired the work of Cabrini’s Center on Immigration, which advocates on a local and national level on behalf of immigrants, and has provided pro bono legal assistance for students seeking citizenship or facing deportation.

Our namesake St. Frances Xavier Cabrini was herself an immigrant, and is the Patron Saint of Immigrants, so it is fitting that the University aid Pennsylvania DREAMers in pursuing their college aspirations.

.US, the nation’s largest college access and success program for DREAMers, provides scholarships which include tuition, fees, books, and supplies of up to $37,000 for first-time college students or up to $31,000 for community college graduates to earn a bachelor’s degree. These students attend over 70 partner colleges in 21 states and Washington, DC.

We look forward to welcoming applications from DREAMers for the 2022-23 academic year. To apply for the scholarship, applicants must have DACA or TPS authorization, or have come to the country before November 1, 2016 (before the age of 16), and otherwise meet the DACA eligibility criteria.

We are thrilled to support the mission of the Office of Mission, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, and Student Engagement, as it continues to create an atmosphere of belonging and support for all students. ~ Cabrini University email communication

To learn more about The Dream.US please click here

Cabrini Mission Foundation Hosts Gala

October 14, 2021

There were plenty of smiles, tears, and cheers at the highly anticipated 2021 Cabrini Mission Foundation Gala, hosted on Oct 7th at the Metropolitan Club. The event bolstered many familiar and a few new faces, all sharing a common goal to support and celebrate the Missionary Sisters as well as the honorees. A dazzling performance by our emcee, Joe Piscopo and a first look at the upcoming Mother Cabrini movie were just a few highlights of the wonderful night.

Kathleen Ann Michels

The feeling in the room was heart-warming as each honoree was highlighted for their remarkable achievements and commitment to helping others. Four individuals were awarded the Covid Angel Award which recognizes those who have helped their community and brought smiles to the faces of those who needed it most.

Ron Cole

Nurse Bissoondai Persad has the task of caring for our Senior Sisters at the Sacred Heart Convent here in New York, and at the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, worked diligently to keep our Sisters safe. Luzmilla Cedeño has been a volunteer at Cabrini Immigrant Services in New York for 20 years, and each week has come to help in the distribution of food to those in need as part of our food pantry program. Ronald Cole, a Respiratory Therapist at the St. Cabrini Nursing Home, has been courageous throughout the pandemic, and was one of the first to deliver up close and personal care

Luzmila Cedeno, Sr. Yolanda Flores

and treatment to our residents who contracted COVID-19. Kathleen Ann Michels, an Emergency Room nurse in New York-Presbyterian Hospital the Weill Cornell Level 1 Trauma Center, was at the forefront of treating COVID patients as the pandemic unfolded, working countless hours to help see them recover.

Along with these dedicated individuals, three honorees were awarded the Spirit of Cabrini Award, which represents an understanding of Mother Cabrini and a willingness to continue her legacy of helping people who are in need throughout New York City beginning with the Italian-American community. Philip Foglia, Sr. (Posthumously) and Chazz and Gianna Palminteri, have been involved with the Foundation for many years and were able to use their connections to erect the Mother Cabrini statue in Bryant Park.

Chazz Palminteri, Gianna Palminteri, Pietrina Raccuglia, Joe Piscopo, Chris LaBianco

The Sisters and Foundation staff would like to extend a heart-felt thank you to everyone in attendance and for the continued support of the mission.

The National Shrine of Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini – 8th Annual Benefit Event

October 13, 2021

The National Shrine of Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini – 8th Annual Benefit Event

All enjoyed this beautiful evening beginning with a cocktail hour under the stars followed by dinner and presentations by emcee Janet Davies, and our Executive Director Sr. Bridget Zanin, MSC and our Rector Fr. Ramil Fajardo, who inspired us with stories about Mother Cabrini and the enormous impact she made in our city.

Our Benefit Event Committee worked extraordinarily hard in a very short period of time to produce this wonderful and remarkably successful event. Proceeds for this year’s Benefit will provide important support for our Shrine Ministries, Programming and Special Events.

Mother Cabrini was certainly watching down upon us and we can be sure she was smiling.