Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus
Bringing Christ's love to the world
Since his arrival, Cabrini College PresidentDr. Donald Taylor has inaugurated the tradition of spring and fall Campus Beautification Days. This week, faculty and staff fanned out across campus to plant shrubs and colorful annuals and perennials in anticipation of the College’s Commencement this weekend. This year’s class will be the last to graduate from Cabrini College, which will become a university on July 1, 2016.
Cabrini High School faculty members prepared and served dinners for the residents of Ronald McDonald House representing the Cabrini Cares service program.
Cabrini faculty members Mary Cordeiro, Caitlin Duplantier, Kasey Laird ’08, Paul Distler, and Jen Cabrera, donated the food and their time to support the families at the New Orleans’ Ronald McDonald House and ensure they were properly fed and nourished.
The group prepared, served, and cleaned up after the families of cancer-stricken children who reside at Ronald McDonald House while their children receive cancer treatment. The Cabrini faculty members worked to create a well-balanced meal and to lessen the burden of those families struggling who often lack the time or resources to cook.
A year on mission is many things. It is a year of discovery, growth, spirituality and friendship. It is about learning who you are and who you are becoming. It is about giving of oneself and serving others. It is about the transformation of hearts – your own and those of others. It is about walking with others and walking in their shoes. It is about the hope of changing the world for the better. It is about being a “bearer of the love of Christ in the world.”
Please enjoy this video that captures the essence of service with Cabrini Mission Corps.
This year, Cinco d
e Mayo was celebrated at Cabrini College with an environmental twist. Thousands of annuals were planted throughout campus assuring a riotous show of color next week just in time for Commencement.
Teams of faculty and staff volunteers wielded rakes, shovels, trowels and dug, mulched and planted throughout the campus for the Spring Beautification Day.
The Radnor campus is already showing off the efforts of the Fall Beautification Day when over 10,000 bulbs were planted.
The morning gardening effort concluded with a community lunch
In celebration and commemoration of Pope Francis’s declaration of this year being the Year of Consecrated Life, the National Religious Vocations Conference Region 3 hosted an inter-congregational day of service on Sunday, May 3rd in the Kensington section of Philadelphia.
Sisters from eight religious congregations and young adults were invited to join each other in serving communities in need of some TLC and what a beautiful day we had!
We kicked off the day at 11 a.m. with a gathering at Community Center at Visitation where we had a lovely “sending forth” with our groups to our respective worksites. The air was palpable with excitement for what the day was to hold for each of us.
When I signed up for the event, I really had no idea what kind of impact we were going to have on the communities in which we were going to be serving. [However, due to the cadre of volunteers] La Salle Academy now has fresh, new ground murals of the United States and the world, a new foursquare court, and a beautiful hopscotch court. Several local churches have fresh coats of paint on their walls and doors and the Providence Center has a charming community garden.
I had the great honor of floating from worksite to worksite, taking photos of what was being done at each place. Leaving each site, my heart was filled with joy and gratitude to be able to witness the good work that was being done with a shared objective – to permeate each location with the insurmountable love, joy, and hope of Jesus. Throughout the day, a verse from the book of Matthew kept coming to mind – “For where two or three come together in my name, there I am with them.” What a privilege to serve alongside Jesus.
Around 3:00 p.m., we once again gathered at the Community Center at Visitation for pizza, snacks, and group sharing. The room buzzed with enthusiastic chatter as each person described their individual experiences from the day. Throughout the time of sharing, there existed a common thread of beauty seen in these communities that have been hit so hard by poverty; beauty in the people they encountered, beauty in the sites themselves, and beauty in the experience of service. Each reflection contained not only pride in the work that had been done, but a sense of privilege to have been a part of it all. With humble gratitude, I can say that I am so very blessed to have had this opportunity to serve alongside so many beautiful servants of the Lord. What a privilege, indeed! ~ submitted by CMC missioner Ashley Block
A group of nine students and two chaperones from Cabrini High School in New Orleans sacrificed their Mardi Gras opting instead to go on a mission trip to Cabrini College in Radnor, PA and snowy New York City. The trip’s purpose was evangelization, direct service, and future discernment.
During the New York leg of their trip, the Cabrini High School “missioners” spent a day with the Missionary Sisters at Sacred Heart Convent, performing service at Cabrini Immigrant Services, and praying at the St. F. X Cabrini Shrine. The girls spent a second day visiting Fordham, New York University (NYU), and Columbia Universities, and Parson’s College of Design, and managed to visit Times Square to catch the Broadway Show, “On The Town.”
Next on the itinerary was Radnor, Pennsylvania where students toured Cabrini College and nearby Villanova University. At Cabrini, the girls met with several Cabrini New Orleans alumnae currently attending Cabrini College. There, they joined the Cabrini Mission Corps missioners and experienced the Cabriniana Room with many of Mother Cabrini’s most sacred artifacts. Cabrini College President Dr. Donald Taylor greeted all the participants.
A second day in Pennsylvania was spent historic Philadelphia, where the group visited Love Park, the Liberty Bell and the Reading Terminal Market.
Record snowfall – and Southwest Airlines – allowed us to spend a few extra days at Cabrini College, during which the students relaxed and reflected on the experiences of the previous days. The girls also found time to ride the subways and explore the community, ponder college life, perform service, engage in nightly reflection, and to pray. Meeting girls from other Cabrini schools on similar mission trips was a special treat, one that broadened their idea of what it means to be Cabrinian, and to live out Mother Cabrini’s legacy.