These last few days I have had the pleasure of meeting almost all the high school girls of St. Joseph Hill which was founded by the Daughters of Divine Charity. What a wonderful group of young women. They reminded me of the older women who, after forty years of Communist tyranny joined together to have a plaque installed in their high school in Budapest which the Communists took away from the Congregation, dispersing the sisters without any warning or provision for their support. The girls remembered the joy and enthusiasm for God and His people that their teachers had conveyed and they made sure they expressed this gratitude at the first opportunity. All over Staten Island are successful women in many helping professions and strong mothers raising good citizens for our church and country.
The girls showed their interest the promotion of women and children in Uganda by health care and education so that happy citizens can help their country join the group of responsible nations making a better world for us all. God bless them.
Sunday, May 13, 2012
Thursday, May 3, 2012
Memories of Africa
Trying to live an environmentally supportive lifestyle I was rinsing out my glass water bottle. It required a great deal of tap water to get the last bubbles of dish soap out of the narrow neck…. As I ran more and more of the precious liquid my mind turned again to the experience of over a decade ago.
I was privileged to accompany our General Superior to the blessing of the newly built convent in the little village of Rushooka in south west Uganda. Google can find the nearest town called Kabale.
We left from Rome, Italy and had a midnight stopover in London. Having slept on the plane I was awakened as by a welcome mat, of the sun glistening on Lake Victoria as we circled to land in the airport at Entebbe near the capital, Kampala.
The sisters greeted us and took us on a dusty red road to the city of Mbarara where their diocesan bishop resides. We stayed at a Catholic hostel built for missioners and others travelling in the country and then continued on the same road to Rushooka. Since the convent was not ready we slept as the sisters had for a year, in a hut very much like the best house in the village. The walls were made of sticks and mud and the room sister had lent me was filled with the low bed. She said not to be disturbed if things were crawling on the cross beams over my head. I hoped she didn’t mean a leapard and fell into an exhausted sleep. The next day I tried to wash in a basin as I poured water from a very heavy jerry can to rinse my tooth brush. We had breakfast and prayers in another mud walled room and then explored the village. Happy children followed me everywhere, especially when they could see the picture I had just taken on the tiny digital screen at the back of my camera.
We were all busy preparing the new convent and the entire village for the wonderful celebration to bless the new convent, constructed of local brick. On the big day the Bishop, Msgr. Bakjenga of Mbarara arrived. Mass was celebrated outdoors under a blue United Nations tarp. It rained briefly during the celebration and water had to be poked out from the recesses in our covering. Singing was joyful, in English, children danced and women gestured. Many new friends of the sisters attended and afterward the entire village had a great feast. In the convent the bishop and guests from far had a chicken dinner and all around the villagers sat with bowls of the banana preparation called matoke, enriched with meat and sauce.
We moved into the convent that night and had accommodations which were more familiar to us northeners, but water was still in jerry cans hauled by truck from a spring five kilometers distant. In the mud hut which served as an infirmary people gathered in the waiting room under a tree as the sisters treated various ailments.
The faith came to Uganda through the ministry of the so-called White Fathers and was nourished by the blood of the Uganda Martyrs, page boys who resisted the sinful commands of the king.
Since the sisters have come to the village, health care has become officially certified and is in a new building. Except in times of seasonal drought the people have food but they need cash for living improvements and for education. The sisters began a program of giving widows pregnant goats which began a herd for sale and for protein. There is a cooperative for raising pigs. A Sister taught sewing and nutritious cooking and another watched over the orphans cared for by the village. They now have a mill also run as a coop which grinds the grain they grow eliminating the expensive middle man. The success of ornamental sunflowers brought the idea of growing a variety that produced oil for sale and this is now another profitable enterprise.
As more women wanted to follow our charism and join our congregation we began a formation house in Mbarara where they could live and work while they completed their education. Now there are plans for a house in the capital which can some day give service and training to women who might otherwise be at the mercy of international sex traffickers.
The people of Rushooka were good Catholics thanks to the ministry of Franciscan priests who also inspired our General Superior to send sisters. All people need health care and education to live in freedom and human dignity. In our world this necessitates money. Water has been brought into the village. There are still jerry cans but they must be carried a much shorter distance. More and more boys and girls are able to go to school and receive even higher education. The health center is receiving the necessary requisites to fight the scourges of AIDS and malaria. Jesus healed body and souls and in this tradition the work goes on with missioners and local vocations.
For those of us who only visited for a time, every run of water and every hot shower is appreciated for the privilege it is and occasions a prayer of gratitude and intercession for the millions in the world who do not enjoy these, to us, simple pleasures.
I was privileged to accompany our General Superior to the blessing of the newly built convent in the little village of Rushooka in south west Uganda. Google can find the nearest town called Kabale.
We left from Rome, Italy and had a midnight stopover in London. Having slept on the plane I was awakened as by a welcome mat, of the sun glistening on Lake Victoria as we circled to land in the airport at Entebbe near the capital, Kampala.
The sisters greeted us and took us on a dusty red road to the city of Mbarara where their diocesan bishop resides. We stayed at a Catholic hostel built for missioners and others travelling in the country and then continued on the same road to Rushooka. Since the convent was not ready we slept as the sisters had for a year, in a hut very much like the best house in the village. The walls were made of sticks and mud and the room sister had lent me was filled with the low bed. She said not to be disturbed if things were crawling on the cross beams over my head. I hoped she didn’t mean a leapard and fell into an exhausted sleep. The next day I tried to wash in a basin as I poured water from a very heavy jerry can to rinse my tooth brush. We had breakfast and prayers in another mud walled room and then explored the village. Happy children followed me everywhere, especially when they could see the picture I had just taken on the tiny digital screen at the back of my camera.
We were all busy preparing the new convent and the entire village for the wonderful celebration to bless the new convent, constructed of local brick. On the big day the Bishop, Msgr. Bakjenga of Mbarara arrived. Mass was celebrated outdoors under a blue United Nations tarp. It rained briefly during the celebration and water had to be poked out from the recesses in our covering. Singing was joyful, in English, children danced and women gestured. Many new friends of the sisters attended and afterward the entire village had a great feast. In the convent the bishop and guests from far had a chicken dinner and all around the villagers sat with bowls of the banana preparation called matoke, enriched with meat and sauce.
We moved into the convent that night and had accommodations which were more familiar to us northeners, but water was still in jerry cans hauled by truck from a spring five kilometers distant. In the mud hut which served as an infirmary people gathered in the waiting room under a tree as the sisters treated various ailments.
The faith came to Uganda through the ministry of the so-called White Fathers and was nourished by the blood of the Uganda Martyrs, page boys who resisted the sinful commands of the king.
Since the sisters have come to the village, health care has become officially certified and is in a new building. Except in times of seasonal drought the people have food but they need cash for living improvements and for education. The sisters began a program of giving widows pregnant goats which began a herd for sale and for protein. There is a cooperative for raising pigs. A Sister taught sewing and nutritious cooking and another watched over the orphans cared for by the village. They now have a mill also run as a coop which grinds the grain they grow eliminating the expensive middle man. The success of ornamental sunflowers brought the idea of growing a variety that produced oil for sale and this is now another profitable enterprise.
As more women wanted to follow our charism and join our congregation we began a formation house in Mbarara where they could live and work while they completed their education. Now there are plans for a house in the capital which can some day give service and training to women who might otherwise be at the mercy of international sex traffickers.
The people of Rushooka were good Catholics thanks to the ministry of Franciscan priests who also inspired our General Superior to send sisters. All people need health care and education to live in freedom and human dignity. In our world this necessitates money. Water has been brought into the village. There are still jerry cans but they must be carried a much shorter distance. More and more boys and girls are able to go to school and receive even higher education. The health center is receiving the necessary requisites to fight the scourges of AIDS and malaria. Jesus healed body and souls and in this tradition the work goes on with missioners and local vocations.
For those of us who only visited for a time, every run of water and every hot shower is appreciated for the privilege it is and occasions a prayer of gratitude and intercession for the millions in the world who do not enjoy these, to us, simple pleasures.
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
FRANZISKA NOTES April 2012
We read a strange thing in the account of Our Lord’s Ascension. The disciples accompany Jesus and he raises his arms in blessing as he ascends to his Father. In our imagination we could see them weeping and consoling one another at the farewell of this perfect friend and teacher. That is not what happens. It says they returned to Jerusalem rejoicing. In his book Jesus of Nazareth part two our Holy Father contemplates the same phenomenon. He tells us that the disciples and we can rejoice because Jesus is now not limited by our time and space. Having returned to the Father he is now for all time in “divine space”. He now belongs intimately to all of us. Those who lived with Jesus in Israel were fortunate to meet him once or twice in a lifetime. They might touch his robe and be healed but then he moves on “to the other cities of Israel”. Today we need only turn our mind and heart to him and our friend, consoler, Lord and God is there with us.
Let us not neglect the privileged presences of Jesus to us: the Sacred Scriptures and the Eucharist. Both are concrete and available to our senses. They are the keys to renewing our understanding the mystical presence of Jesus with us always.
Mother Franziska drew her courage and strength from this presence of Christ. She was very aware of Jesus living in her heart, in the Eucharist and in the Holy Scripture which she frequently quoted. As she traveled across the Empire she saluted Jesus in the tabernacle of the churches whose towers passed her train or coach window.
Let us not be afraid of a personal relationship with Christ and his mother and the saints who preceded us. It is countercultural and we will sometimes feel alone. We are not alone, all over the world are Christians ready to serve and lay down their lives for Jesus and their neighbor. Jesus promised that he would be with us always and at every Mass we celebrate that he will come again. So we can rejoice. The Easter joy is not for a day, a week, or a season. He is risen! Forever!
Let us not neglect the privileged presences of Jesus to us: the Sacred Scriptures and the Eucharist. Both are concrete and available to our senses. They are the keys to renewing our understanding the mystical presence of Jesus with us always.
Mother Franziska drew her courage and strength from this presence of Christ. She was very aware of Jesus living in her heart, in the Eucharist and in the Holy Scripture which she frequently quoted. As she traveled across the Empire she saluted Jesus in the tabernacle of the churches whose towers passed her train or coach window.
Let us not be afraid of a personal relationship with Christ and his mother and the saints who preceded us. It is countercultural and we will sometimes feel alone. We are not alone, all over the world are Christians ready to serve and lay down their lives for Jesus and their neighbor. Jesus promised that he would be with us always and at every Mass we celebrate that he will come again. So we can rejoice. The Easter joy is not for a day, a week, or a season. He is risen! Forever!
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Franziska Notes March 2012
All of March this year is dedicated to the season of Lent. Our times and our experience of this season of penance and conversion is much different from the time of Mother Franziska. The sins of which we are conscious and the penance we must do are also different. Her society by and large supported the faith into which most people were baptized. Expected behavior was clear and those who were different were on the fringes. The news was black and white in more than paper and ink.
We are bombarded by many versions of “right and wrong”. Many different types of behavior are tolerated and judgment of others’ behavior is frowned upon. In many ways this is a Christian stance for God our Father loves all people and makes the sun and rain benefit the “good” and the “bad”. Jesus tells us we must not judge so that we too will not be judged.
We cannot live in a moral vacuum. We have the voice of the Church to guide us as we make decisions. Sometimes a prominent person takes great risk in articulating his or her Catholic faith. Soon they are ridiculed and their words shredded and mocked in the media. In some circles it has become “cool” and even sophisticated to criticize the Bishops or our priests. Our children may very seldom hear the great achievements of our martyrs, scientists, workers of charity of all types. They may hear us apologize for our faith and those who profess it. So we are obliged to study our faith and to rejoice in the many benefits of nature and grace that have come to us with our Baptism. We have the Eucharist, the consolation of the sacraments, the example of the saints and heroes who shared these graces. We must courageously speak of what is good and holy in what we believe, even if it is mocked. We see courageous Catholic public figures who stay true to what the Church teaches even though they risk losing the esteem or office they strive for. We ask the intercession of Mother Franziska, Servant of God, to live joyously and courageously in our time as she did in hers and as the sisters who followed her did in subsequent times of poverty and persecution.
We are bombarded by many versions of “right and wrong”. Many different types of behavior are tolerated and judgment of others’ behavior is frowned upon. In many ways this is a Christian stance for God our Father loves all people and makes the sun and rain benefit the “good” and the “bad”. Jesus tells us we must not judge so that we too will not be judged.
We cannot live in a moral vacuum. We have the voice of the Church to guide us as we make decisions. Sometimes a prominent person takes great risk in articulating his or her Catholic faith. Soon they are ridiculed and their words shredded and mocked in the media. In some circles it has become “cool” and even sophisticated to criticize the Bishops or our priests. Our children may very seldom hear the great achievements of our martyrs, scientists, workers of charity of all types. They may hear us apologize for our faith and those who profess it. So we are obliged to study our faith and to rejoice in the many benefits of nature and grace that have come to us with our Baptism. We have the Eucharist, the consolation of the sacraments, the example of the saints and heroes who shared these graces. We must courageously speak of what is good and holy in what we believe, even if it is mocked. We see courageous Catholic public figures who stay true to what the Church teaches even though they risk losing the esteem or office they strive for. We ask the intercession of Mother Franziska, Servant of God, to live joyously and courageously in our time as she did in hers and as the sisters who followed her did in subsequent times of poverty and persecution.
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Mary of Bethany
We read in the Gospels of the women who followed the Lord and ministered to the needs of his disciples.... The impression might be that they did the cooking and the laundry... Women know how to do those things and this makes them strong and independent. We also have Mary, the sister of Lazarus, the contemplative, the theologian who sat at the feet of Jesus and listened to His words. Martha was cooking but she was obviously listening for when her brother died she was the one who articulated her faith in the divine power of their friend, Jesus.
In the fifties and before, there was a very strict fast for receiving the Eucharist. No food or water was allowed before the Mass. There were very strong women who loved the Lord no less than Mary and Martha. They rode the ferry each day to their jobs in lower Manhattan without any breakfast because they wanted to meet their Lord in Holy Communion at the noon Mass during their lunch hour.
Today the fast is more relaxed, but it still requires a special love and courage to be witness to Jesus in the Eucharist. It is sometimes difficult to acknowledge our faith in the Real Presence when so much of our society keep their faith, if they have any, as a personal secret. Mockery hurts far more than an empty stomach.
Still today there are brave young woman who cannot deny their love for Jesus and give up part of their precious lunch hour to find and attend a Holy Mass. How dear they are to Him and how blessed will be their lives and those they touch.
In the fifties and before, there was a very strict fast for receiving the Eucharist. No food or water was allowed before the Mass. There were very strong women who loved the Lord no less than Mary and Martha. They rode the ferry each day to their jobs in lower Manhattan without any breakfast because they wanted to meet their Lord in Holy Communion at the noon Mass during their lunch hour.
Today the fast is more relaxed, but it still requires a special love and courage to be witness to Jesus in the Eucharist. It is sometimes difficult to acknowledge our faith in the Real Presence when so much of our society keep their faith, if they have any, as a personal secret. Mockery hurts far more than an empty stomach.
Still today there are brave young woman who cannot deny their love for Jesus and give up part of their precious lunch hour to find and attend a Holy Mass. How dear they are to Him and how blessed will be their lives and those they touch.
Franziska Notes February 2012
February is the “month between” or sometimes the gateway to the Holy Season of Lent.. In our time Catholicism and individual Catholics in public life are very much in the news. People are curious about our faith. No one can be immune from questions provoked by this publicity. We must take advantage of every opportunity to know our faith on an adult intellectual level. Mother Franziska repeated often to her sisters what she must have learned from her father, loosely remembered as a warning not to “travel around as an “empty suitcase”. Our brains and also our spirits can be compared to suitcases or, today, “tote bags”. What do they contain?. Do we want to imprint our precious brain cells with superficial thrills or petty information or do we want to store treasure there for ourselves and others? Good books and media are available to all but there is also much misinformation in the media used by the general public so that the Holy Father, John Paul II’s desire for a new evangelization can not take place without committed Catholics able to respond accurately to questions about the faith
In this Mother Franziska would have her sisters on the front lines. By their prayers, actions, study and love they would demonstrate the true mission of the Church. They would be familiar with the Gospel from their own dedication to reading Sacred Scripture, and be articulate in a loving and true way about God’s Revelation through His Son Jesus Christ. Were we not promised the help of the Holy Spirit? Can we not rely on that promise during lunch breaks and over coffee as we speak from our own conviction about the wonders God has done in His Church and in our lives. The centrality of the Eucharist will become visible in our own manner in churches and at Catholic liturgies and ceremonies. If we have filled our hearts and minds with the beauty of our Catholic Faith we will be messengers of the Living Christ who wishes to draw all people to Himself. The curiosity about the source of our love and joy will attract them to Jesus. We will make Gods love more radiantly visible in our world.
In this Mother Franziska would have her sisters on the front lines. By their prayers, actions, study and love they would demonstrate the true mission of the Church. They would be familiar with the Gospel from their own dedication to reading Sacred Scripture, and be articulate in a loving and true way about God’s Revelation through His Son Jesus Christ. Were we not promised the help of the Holy Spirit? Can we not rely on that promise during lunch breaks and over coffee as we speak from our own conviction about the wonders God has done in His Church and in our lives. The centrality of the Eucharist will become visible in our own manner in churches and at Catholic liturgies and ceremonies. If we have filled our hearts and minds with the beauty of our Catholic Faith we will be messengers of the Living Christ who wishes to draw all people to Himself. The curiosity about the source of our love and joy will attract them to Jesus. We will make Gods love more radiantly visible in our world.
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