USA
Dominican Sisters of Peace: Annual Mission Bazaar
On November 14, 2015, the Dominican Sisters of Peace held the Annual Mission Bazaar. Read more
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Mount Food Drive Yields Hefty Haul
NEWBURGH, N.Y. – November 2015 – Mount Saint Mary College students donated more than $1,000 worth of food on Monday, November 23, helping to feed local people in need this Thanksgiving.
The initiative, spearheaded by the college’s Campus Ministry, delivered the food to First United Methodist Church on Liberty Street in Newburgh, N.Y. for distribution to local families.
According to Roger May, assistant director of Campus Ministry, students donated about 100 food items over the last week. Additionally, students raised nearly $900 last month during “Spirit of the Mount Week,” which volunteers used to purchase boxed and canned goods.
Mount chaplain Fr. Francis Amodio, O.Carm, was very pleased with the Mount’s commitment to aiding the less fortunate this Thanksgiving.
“At Mount Saint Mary College, according to our mission, we are to educate the whole person,” he said. “When they graduate from the Mount, service will be a value which they would naturally share in their communities.”
For more information, visit www.msmc.edu
Faith and Film: Spotlight
Movie review by Fr. Tom Condon, OP
For many of us, Spotlight will be a hard movie to watch. While I admit that I did squirm through parts of Spotlight, I thought, on the whole, it was a balanced approach to a difficult subject. Spotlight tells the story of the Boston Globe’s investigation into the sexual abuse scandal in the Archdiocese of Boston. A series of articles was published in 2002 in the Globe which led to the resignation of Cardinal Law, and an overhaul of the way the church treats the issue. Spotlight shows how much has changed in the last 13 years, and is a thoughtful look at what we did wrong. More than anything else, it emphasizes the need for all of us, whether we are bishops (or even provincials), clergy, parishioners, lawyers, reporters, parents, and others, to be vigilant for the protection of children. My favorite line in the movie comes from Mitchell Garabedian, attorney for several victims, who says: “If it takes a village to raise them [children], it takes a village to abuse them.”
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Western Province friars, sisters host Mass, reception
Saturday, October 31 was more than Halloween in San Francisco for Dominican friars, nuns, sisters, laity, and friends. It was the culmination of a year of collaborative planning. When it was learned that the Master of the Order, Fr. Bruno Cadoré, would be visiting the Western Province, it was decided to start off the 800th jubilee celebration a little early! A small committee from the province, the San Rafael sisters and the Mission San Jose sisters decided to host a Mass and reception.
The choice of location was particularly special: the first St. Dominic’s Church was built in San Francisco in 1873. This celebration was held in the fourth church that was built in the English Gothic style in 1928 and has been extensively and lovingly restored over the years.
On Saturday the church was full to its capacity of 800+ people – and with the sheer joy of being together for such a momentous anniversary. We worshipped, prayed, received Eucharist, and sang together as the family that St. Dominic envisioned. We could well imagine Archbishop Joseph Alemany, Mother Mary Goemaere, and Fr. Sadoc Vilarrasa, the first three Dominicans to arrive in San Francisco in 1850, smiling at the spectacle.
Afterwards on the sunny, crisp fall day, all repaired to a beautiful black and white tent set up in the church parking lot for refreshments and fond greetings. It was a magnificent celebration on the West Coast!
Message from DomLife Editor Susan Oxley
It is a bittersweet experience, working on my last Dominican Life | USA update. When I was hired by the Dominican Leadership Conference (now the Dominican Sisters Conference), I was also coordinator for the National Communicators Network for Women Religious (NCNWR). I have continued in both roles, which are complementary in many ways.
In seven years with DSC and 11 years with CWR (NCNWR changed its name to Communicators for Women Religious in 2013, to better reflect the organization’s international membership), I have had the opportunity and the privilege of working with Catholic sisters and lay employees from a variety of congregations. My “formative” years working in the communications office for the School Sisters of St. Francis in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (1995–1998 and 2000–2003) brought me to an understanding of the mission and ministries of Catholic sisters today, and inspired and motivated me to want to tell their stories to the world.
I took on the role of DomLife editor when my son was 3 years old. Now he is 10 and in the fifth grade at Williams Bay Elementary School, Williams Bay, Wisconsin. He is old enough to understand now that I work for “Catholic sisters,” but he does not really know what this means, or what vowed religious life is all about. This is not uncommon for his generation, or in that matter for the general public.
This lack of awareness of who Catholic sisters are today is something that the Conrad N. Hilton Catholic Sisters Initiative is working to impact through a strategic focus on “building the global sisterhood.” CWR is an active partner in this collaborative effort. I am excited to be able to dedicate myself full time to my expanding role as CWR coordinator, and to be part of a broad vision for supporting and promoting Catholic sisters and their ministries throughout the world.
I am leaving DomLife in excellent hands. Cassie Vazquez in the DSC office will be taking on the role of editor. Cassie has a bachelor’s degree in English and a master’s in library and information science from Dominican University, River Forest, Illinois. She previously worked as a special collection archivist at the McGreal Center for Dominican Historical Studies at Dominican University. Cassie works with DSC Executive Director Sister Pat Farrell, OP (San Rafael) in the DSC office in River Forest.
It has been a joy and a privilege to serve as editor of Dominican Life | USA. Thank you for helping me to tell the stories of the Dominican family!
Susan Oxley
