57930 RKG Visions.ps - 3/8/2007 9:18 AM VisionVision VOLUME 11, ISSUE 1, Winter 2006/7 Sisters Honored for Making Life Better in the Bahamas On January 4th, Elizabeth Seton's feast day, From the Void to the Wonderful: A History of the Catholics from across The Bahamas gathered at Roman Catholic Church in The Bahamas, in St. Francis Xavier Cathedral in Nassau to honor which author Patricia Glinton-Meicholas wrote the Sisters of Charity of New York for their 117 that the Sisters' work came to "be acknowl- years of service to their island country. edged as one of the outstanding contributions to the social and educational development in Archbishop Patrick Pinder of Nassau officiated this country." You can read Archbishop Pinder's at the special liturgical celebration at which a full homily online at www.archdioceseofnassau. plaque was dedicated to the 212 Sisters who org/ homilySisCharity07.htm developed the local Catholic community, and the country as a whole, since first coming there The Congregation was represented at the in 1889. ceremony by Sr. Dorothy Metz, President, Sr. Joan Anderson, who has worked in the In his homily, Archbishop Pinder noted how the islands for 41 years, and Sr. Regina Murphy, Sisters "intertwined social ministry with who was missioned there. In this issue: education and faith formation in all the • Mission Possible: missions they undertook." He told During the liturgy, Sr. Dorothy quoted The Bahamas how they established St. Francis Sr. Veronica Mary McAghan who in Xavier School, the first parish 1933 wrote, "We have nothing to • 160th Anniversary school – and his alma mater. work with, no place to store any as New Yorkers He quoted from the 1995 book, equipment…but we are happy in the realization that under such • Feast Day & Holidays conditions the work will… truly be God's and • Retreat & Reviews not ours." (continued on page 3) Over the years, the Sisters prepared Bahamians for leadership positions, including Archbishop Pinder and Alfred Sears, the Attorney General and Minister of Education seen here with Sr. Dorothy Metz. Many other prominent Bahamians also attended the tribute to the Congregation. 1 57930 RKG Visions.ps - 3/8/2007 9:18 AM Letter from the President Dear Sisters, Associates and Friends, In 1817, Mother Elizabeth Seton sent three Sisters of Charity from Emmitsburg, MD, to New York City to open an orphanage. Thirty years later, there were 62 Sisters in New York and they faced a momentous decision: whether to remain in New York taking care of orphan boys or to return to Emmitsburg. The choice to stay would involve separation from their community and founding a new one in New York. It was a heart-rending decision. Thirty-three Sisters, moved by their ministry to the orphans, decided to form a new Community. It is not surprising that these Sisters placed the care of the orphans before their strong ties with each other. It was about the ministry, about meeting unmet needs. In 1889, at the request of Archbishop Michael Corrigan of New York, five Sisters went to Nassau in The Bahamas. Three days after their arrival they opened a free school for poor children in two rooms of the convent. When they heard how great the need was, more Sisters volunteered to go. With very few resources, they continued to open schools and clinics, to visit the sick, the dying, women in prison, and the lepers. On January 4, 2007, the Feast of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, Archbishop Patrick Pinder of The Bahamas celebrated a special liturgy at St. Francis Xavier Cathedral in thanksgiving for the ministry of the Sisters of Charity of New York in his island country. (He is one of the many Bahamians who were taught by our Sisters.) I was privileged to attend. After the Mass, a plaque, inscribed with the names of the 212 Sisters who served there, was unveiled on the out- side wall of the Cathedral. It was a great honor for me to hear so many people express gratitude for the work of our Congregation. The article in The Nassau Tribune expressed it so well: “The Sisters prepared the Bahamian people for the day when they would be in charge of their own destiny – and so the torch has passed. Their mission has been accomplished.” It has always been about the ministry, about meeting unmet needs. Sincerely in Christ, Sr. Dorothy Metz, SC President Vision enables the Sisters of Charity of New York to make a cohesive statement about how they reveal God’s love in their lives and the many and varied ways in which they respond to the signs of the times. Advisory Board Christine Haggerty Regina Bechtle, SC A. Jean Iannone, SC Mary Gallagher, SC Rita King, SC William Hurley, Associate Mary Mc Cormick, SC Mary Mc Cormick, SC Mary Margaret McGovern, SC Patricia McGowan, SC Yolanda De Mola, SC Eileen McGrory, SC Regina Murphy, SC Contributors Claire E. Regan, SC Margaret Beaudette, SC Editor Regina Bechtle, SC Christine Haggerty Maureen Dunn, SC Mary Jane Fitzgibbon, SC Designer/Printer Mary Gallagher, SC RKG Article contributions to this publication are welcome, however all submissions are subject to editorial and space constraints. See back page for our mailing address. 2 Living Lives of Love 57930 RKG Visions.ps - 3/8/2007 9:18 AM Bahamian Tribute...(continued from page 1) In the beginning Sisters of Charity of New In 1889, Mother General Mary Ambrosia Sweeney at Mount York "was the single most Saint Vincent answered NY Archbishop Michael Corrigan's important development of call to provide educational and social services to the poor Catholicism in the islands and needy in the islands. She selected five Sisters from many to date." volunteers to start the mission and accompanied them to Nassau. Sr. Marie Dolores Van Rensselaer was appointed The December 29, 2006 superior. (Read about Sister's remarkable life on p. 6.) Their issue of The Nassau Daily ship arrived on October 28, 1889, after a 5-day voyage. Tribune covered the Sis- ters' contributions to the Within a week, the Sisters had opened a free school for islands and reprinted an black children in two of the largest rooms in their limited editorial written for their temporary quarters. At that time, blacks were not given the 50th anniversary there be- opportunity to benefit from an education, public or other- cause the 1939 tribute was wise. Fifteen children enrolled initially. That number as valid now as then. Sr. Joan Anderson from a child's Today's editor concluded perspective in the nursery at doubled within a week, and by the end of the month a larger Nazareth Centre. facility was needed. with "The Sisters prepared the Bahamian people for the day when they would be Over the years, in addition to their educational endeavors, in charge of their own destiny.… Their mission has the Sisters opened several clinics and a day care nursery, been accomplished." visited prisoners and lepers, and also trained the native women interested in a religious life. Sr. Joan Anderson is the only member of the Congregation now serving in The Bahamas. She first came there in 1963 Lives well spent as a teacher. Since 2001, Sister has been the administrator of the Nazareth Centre, a home in Nassau for abused In his 1973 book, Upon These Rocks: Catholics in the children. Bahamas, Fr. Colman J. Barry wrote that the arrival of the Sr. Joan Anderson is still on mission in The Bahamas. These 29 Sisters, who also served there, are now in New York. Joan (James Marietta) Burbage Elizabeth Judge Mary Regina Caulfield Eileen T. Kelly Anne Miriam Connellan Marie Liguori Leyer Loretta Josepha Conran Regina Michael Lowe Lorraine Cooper Eileen (Regina Francis) Maher Mary Eucharia Carrigan Mary E. Mc Cormick Margaret Rose Margaret McEntee (Elizabeth Marietta) Curry Helen McTaggart Rita Dermody Regina Murphy Mary (Peter Mary) Donagher Mary (Maria Bernard) O'Brien Margaret (Clare Marie) Dowling Frances Maureen Smith Sheila Mary Finucane Grace Anne Troisi Miriam Laboure Hart Marie Julia Whalen A. Jean Iannone Margaret Mary Helen R. (Maria Francis) Jarczynski (William Marie) Whalen Virginia Catherine Jarczynski The 212 Sisters of Charity of New York who have served in The Bahamas since 1889 are listed alphabetically – by the first name (either religious or birth) by which they were known while on mission there – on this plaque at St. Francis Xavier Cathedral in Nassau. Living Lives of Love 3 57930 RKG Visions.ps - 3/8/2007 9:18 AM New Beginnings by Sr. Mary Mc Cormick of girls. As wives and mothers, well-educated Catholic women would be the bedrock of the Church, which then January 1, 1847, marked the beginning of the Sisters of was often regarded with disdain, even hostility, in the newly Charity of New York as an independent community. On its established country. eve, the Sisters (the number would eventually reach 33) who chose to remain in New York gathered at St. Patrick’s Con- Even before the Community began to spread, the need for vent, Mott Street, and elected Elizabeth Boyle as their first other kinds of ministries, such as the care of orphans, became superior. a necessity and, in some places, a priority. Although 29 Sisters opted to return to Emmitsburg, MD, In the 1830s and '40s, several shifts took place within and Elizabeth and her new Council closed none of the schools beyond the Sisters that, taken together, led to the painful and asylums – nine institutions in all – that then served the separation between Emmitsburg and New York. people of New York. By February, several young women joined • The Sulpicians had been the Superiors of the Community the new foundation.