Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

Cabrini Mission Foundation Celebrates 20th Anniversary

June 18, 2019

On Thursday, June 6, 2019 Cabrini Mission Foundation celebrated 20 years of service with a gala at New York’s prestigious Metropolitan Club. Reverend Monsignor Gregory Mustaciuolo and Sister Lucille Souza, MSC were honored for their missionary spirit and service to immigrants, women, and children in need. Both honorees were joined by their family members.

Approximately 300 guests were in attendance including his Eminence, Timothy Cardinal Dolan. They were treated to a cocktail hour featuring live harp, violin, and cello music. The marble hall was filled with happy conversation and music. Following a cocktail hour guests entered the main dining room and enjoyed a three-course dinner.

Joe Piscopo, renouned comedian and musician was master of ceremonies. What a hit! He entertained everyone with jokes and two Frank Sinatra songs. We were so lucky to have him with our guests for the evening.

We are so grateful to everyone who sponsored or attended this wonderful event. It was an incredible success because of the generosity of our friends and supporters.

To see more photos from the Cabrini Mission Foundation 20th Anniversary Gala: http://bit.ly/CMFGalaAlbum
To see the journal from the 20th Anniversary Gala: https://cabrinifoundation.org/events/20th-anniversary-gala-e-journal

Reverend Monsignor Gregory Mustaciuolo (l) and Sr. Lucille Souza, MSC (2nd r.) receive warm congratulations from Sr. Pietrina Raccuglia, MSC, Cabrini Mission Foundation President (2nd l.) and Sr. Barbara Staley, MSC, General Superior, Missionary Sisters

Cabrini of Westchester Hosts Fun 1950s Fundraiser

May 29, 2019

Cabrini of Westchester recognized several deserving honorees at its 21st Annual Fundraising Event, The Sharing in Mission Dinner, “An Evening in the Fabulous Fifties” held on May 16, 2019 at the beautiful Tappan Hill Estates in Tarrytown, NY.

This year’s honorees included board member, Joan Mooney and her husband, William Mooney, Jr. and their son, William Mooney, III, as well as Medline Industries and Patricia Tinston, Employee Health Nurse at Cabrini of Westchester. The honorees were chosen for their dedication to Cabrini of Westchester’s mission which calls on individuals to be leaders, educators, advocates and sponsors of quality services to those in need of care and compassion.

The event’s fun 1950’s theme transcended time and the supporting décor invited guests to travel through time to the age of pink ladies, poodle skirts, Thunderbirds and greased-back hair. Many dressed for the occasion including Missionary Sisters Arlene Van Dusen and Catherine Garry!

We are truly grateful to the honorees, sponsors, donors and the 2019 Sharing in Mission Dinner Event Committee for making the evening such a wonderful success. Thanks to their efforts, the event raised approximately $200,000 to benefit Cabrini of Westchester!

Continuing Education

May 17, 2019

This week, Sr. Genet Henok, MSC, Director of Formation, accompanied two MSC novices from Ethiopia, Sr. Ayantu Abera, MSC and Sr. Tigist Loha, MSC to the Cabrini Cottage on the campus of Cabrini University in Radnor, PA for several days of formation. The topics that were covered were the founding, history and traditions of Cabrini University. PowerPoint presentations and interactive learning sessions were interspersed with campus tours designed to bring the history alive.

Dr. Nick Rademacher, Professor of Religious Studies, joined the sisters presenting two sessions on Contemporary Issues in American Catholicism.

Rounding out their visit in Radnor was a lively conversation on vocational discernment.

We surely look forward to their return visit and the opportunity to engage in further cultural exchanges.

Superiors General Call for Broader Environmental Action and Stance on Church Abuse

May 9, 2019

Catholic sisters have a unique opportunity and responsibility to lead efforts to curb climate change and environmental degradation as individuals, communities and a network of congregations worldwide, Franciscan Sr. Sheila Kinsey told 850 superiors general of women religious congregations gathered May 7 in Rome during the second day of the International Union of Superiors Generals’ (USIG) plenary assembly. The gathered leaders were from 80 countries representing 450,00 women religious around the world.

Kinsey outlined steps taken since June 2018 when UISG launched the campaign Sowing Hope for the Planet to share environmental practices many communities have adopted for decades and efforts of women religious who are putting Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si’ into practice.

Sisters live and minister both in countries where lifestyle contributes to the rise in temperatures and in regions where climate change has the strongest effects. “Our communities are both intimate with the cause and effect,” Sr. Kinsey said. “With our personal commitment to one another, we are ideally positioned to respond compassionately in an integrated effort.”

Abuse and challenges
In light of the ongoing abuse scandal within the Church, the executive board of UISG issued a statement condemning any abuse of power and the “necessity to form the members of our congregations so that relationships at every level are healthy, respectful and mutual,” said Sr. Carmen Sammut, the outgoing UISG president.

Sr. Teresa Maya, former president of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious and a Sister of Charity of the Incarnate Word spoke of the current challenges in the Church. “Among all the different crises we are called to live and hope in, the one that must be named…is the crisis in our church. History will judge how we responded to this crisis. One day, women religious will be either accomplices or prophets or victims. We simply cannot sit this one out on the sidelines, even when we are being sidelined.” She explored how women religious can be “women of vision, seers of hope.”

She said that when she heard Sr. Veronica Openibo, leader of the Society of the Holy Child Jesus, address the [recent] Vatican summit on abuse, she was filled with hope.

“We all stood with her as she witnessed for women the world over,” she said. She continued, “Our feminist legacy has a word of integrity to offer. Religious sisters should all be feminists, Christian feminists, who are committed to struggle and resist to ensure that women and men and children are all treated as human beings.” ~ Joyce Meyer and Gail DeGeorge, Global Sisters Report

Cabrini Immigrant Services – NYC Celebrates 20 Years of Heartfelt Service

April 18, 2019

On Tuesday, April 2nd 2019 Cabrini Immigrant Services of NYC celebrated their 20th Anniversary at their annual “Heart of Cabrini” Benefit Dinner in the company of nearly 200 generous supporters. The dinner took place at the Manhattan Penthouse on Fifth Avenue in New York City where guests had a stunning view of the city and enjoyed live music from Grammy Award Nominated Artist Hector Martignon and the Foreign Affair Trio as they arrived.

“Heart of Cabrini” awards were presented to three honorees for their commitment to supporting and advocating for the immigrant community in the spirit of Mother Cabrini. The honorees were: Hon. Barbara A. Lee, former Board Member and Volunteer ESOL Teacher at CIS-NYC; Frances Liu, Vice President of Strategy at Citi Community Development; and Jessica Garcia, Assistant to the President at the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union.

Photos and stories from CIS-NYC’s clients and community members were on display throughout the space, giving guests an opportunity to get to know them and learn about the impact CIS-NYC has had on their lives over the past 20 years. The night came to a close with a surprise mariachi performance, which had guests dancing on their way out!

CIS-NYC is thankful for the support of the many generous donors who made this celebratory event impossible, including the event sponsors: the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Royal Business Bank, Citi, the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, The Ricca Family, Ignatian Volunteer Corps, and Margaret Alade. ~ submitted by Ella Nimmo, Cabrini Immigrant Services, NYC
Photos from the evening event can be viewed at: bit.ly/cis20pics

Missionary Sisters Launch New Website

March 28, 2019

CURIA GENERALIZIA

MISSIONARIE DEL SACRO CUORE DI GESÙ
00135 ROMA – Viale Cortina D’Ampezzo, 269
Tel. 06 35505721 – 06 35505949 – Fax 06 3017520
E-Mail: segreteria@msccuria.191.it

26 March 2019

Dear Sisters and Partners-in-Mission,
We are delighted to announce the launch of our new Generalate website ‘Cabrini World’ this Friday, March 29, 2019 at 2pm Rome time. The website, www.cabriniworld.org goes live on this date!
We specifically chose the 29th of March as the launch date because March 31st marks 130 years since St. Frances Xavier Cabrini landed from Italy in New York, NY, USA, on her first missionary journey. We think of the faith, courage and tenacity she and her companions had, and how Mother made use of the latest forms of technology to spread the gospel with fervor and rapidity in those times. After 130 years, her missionary spirit and zeal is alive in the Sisters and Lay

Collaborators who continue to expand the work that began all those years ago.
We see this website as another way we can proclaim and carry out our charism, highlighting important issues and encouraging all to embrace the power and the love of Jesus. It is also a means to enhance our interconnectedness!

In the coming weeks, months, and years we will further develop the website and the Cabrini World social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Linked In); all of you are invited to provide input! Please send us updates, photographs and media that will contribute to our missionary presence in this new season of our lives.

United in prayer,
Sr. Bernadette Anello, MSC General Councillor

Cabrini University Students’ Immersion in Guatemala

March 13, 2019

Eleven Cabrini University students, one alumna, three faculty members and the Director of the Wolfington Center participated in an immersion trip to San Lucas Tolimán, Guatemala over [the recent] Spring Break. The trip was led for an 11th year by Communications Professor Dr. Jerry Zurek and Romance Languages and Literatures Professor Dr. Raquel Green, as part of their Engagements with the Common Good course entitled “Working for
Justice in Guatemala”.

All participants spent the week working in the mornings on construction projects in and around San Lucas Tolimán, and being educated on the numerous initiatives of the San Lucas Mission to promote health, education and the empowerment of women in the region.

San Lucas Tolimán is a community of roughly twenty thousand people located on the southeastern edge of Lake Atitlán, which was once famously described by naturalist and explorer Alexander von Humboldt as the “most beautiful lake on Earth.” It is located in an area of Guatemala that was ravaged during the thirty-five year Guatemalan Civil War, particularly during the early 1980s, when Blessed Father Stanley Rother of neighboring Santiago Atitlán was one of several Catholic priests murdered in the country. In San Lucas Tolimán, Father Gregory Schaffer also was threatened with death, and one of his closest workers in the Mission was disappeared in the same year.

Despite such ever-present violence and deeply entrenched material poverty, Father Greg was able to profoundly alter the conditions of the area by empowering lasting social change rooted in the needs as stated by the community. Today, nearly seven years after Father Greg’s death, the staff and long-term volunteers of the Mission work alongside numerous visiting groups to engage in projects that support basic material needs and also contribute to the communal and spiritual growth of the residents of the area.

“Working in the community really opened my eyes to the spiritual richness of the people of San Lucas Tolimán, which is what I will forever focus on instead of their material deprivation. I learned so much from each person about grace, dignity and respect,” said Dr. Todd Matthews, one of the faculty members on the trip.

In addition to San Lucas Tolimán, Dr. Ray Ward, Director of the Wolfington Center, Dr. Melissa González-Contreras and Dr. Matthews also had the opportunity to spend a day at the Dispensario Madre Cabrini in the town of Bárcena, close to Guatemala City and roughly three hours from San Lucas Tolimán. There they were able to meet with Sister Juanita of the Missionary Sisters, along with the Administrator of the Dispensario, Claudia Aceituno, and several members of the staff. They also saw the tremendous work being done by the Missionary Sisters and lay staff with the residents of Bárcena and surrounding villages. The Dispensario operates a medical clinic, provides psychological services, vocational training and a variety of other services such as a school and workshops that particularly aim to educate and empower women.

In the hillside village of El Tablón, a women’s center has been established, where roughly 1/3 of the women in the community regularly meet to learn about leadership and women’s rights along with providing social support to each other. Compared to San Lucas Tolimán, these efforts are in the nascent stage of development but are already having a significant impact on the lives of those in a community where most children are not able to go beyond a grade school education and many of them are married in their early teens.

Social change is slow and often frustrating, but the work done by the Missionary Sisters in Bárcena and all of the participants in the San Lucas Tolimán Mission is directly improving the lives of countless Guatemalans and is a powerful reminder of the beauty and impact of what Mother Cabrini started over a century ago. We may not change the world, but lives can be transformed, as we saw happening to ourselves and to the people in these two missions we were privileged to visit. ~ submitted by Dr. Todd Matthews

Cabrini High School’s Chapel and Heritage Room Named as Local Shrines

February 28, 2019

Mr. Jack Truxillo, the President of Cabrini High School in New Orleans, recently shared with the Missionary Sisters that the Sacred Heart Chapel at Cabrini High School as well as Mother Cabrini’s bedroom and the Mother Cabrini Exhibit Room have received official recognition as a local shrine by Archbishop Gregory Aymond.

Sr. Renee Kittelson, MSC serves as a tour guide for visiting groups to Cabrini High School.

Mr. Truxillo is grateful to the Missionary Sisters for their support in achieving this distinguished designation. [Read more…]

Gift of Mission Vocation Workshop for High School Juniors

February 7, 2019

With a cheerful “heart” theme for the day, eighty high school junior girls participated in a Gift of Mission vocation awareness program held in Immaculata, PA, sponsored by an intercongregational team of vocation directors – including the Missionary Sisters – from the National Religious Vocation Conference (NRVC). Young ladies from Bishop Shanahan H.S., West Chester, PA; Mount St. Joseph Academy, Chestnut Hill, PA; York Catholic H.S., York, PA; and Glouscester Catholic H.S., Glouscester City, NJ entered into a fun and interactive day learning about vowed religious life, prayer, and ministry. [Read more…]

Mother Cabrini Highest Vote Getter in She Built NYC Statue Contest

December 12, 2018

~by Katie Honan, WALL STREET JOURNAL

Across New York City, there are nearly 150 statues that honor men and just five dedicated to women.

A citywide initiative plans to shift the ratio and will start with a statue of Shirley Chisholm, the first black congresswoman in the U.S., who represented New York’s 12 congressional district which at the time was centered in Brooklyn.

The statue honoring Ms. Chisholm who ran for president in 1972, is the first selected through a city-led initiative called She Built NYC, which was created to commission a public monument or piece of art that honors women’s history.

In June, the city asked New Yorkers to submit nominations of inspirational and influential women. They received 326 eligible nominations representing a diverse list of women, from celebrities to schoolteachers to suffragettes.

The woman who received the most nominations through She Built NYC was St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, known as Mother Cabrini, who founded the Missionary Sisters and was a supporter of Italian immigrants. Author and activist Jane Jacobs came in second, and Ms. Chisholm came in third. [Read more…]