Sr. Carrie Ann and Sr. Miriam went to the International Eucharistic Congress in Dublin, Ireland from June 10th-17th. It was a week-long celebration of liturgies, workshops and sessions of catechesis on the Eucharist, priesthood and our Catholic faith in general. The demand for workshops was so strong that even showing up half an hour early didn’t guarantee entry as the sisters found out the hard way! The Congress gave many people hope in a country where abuse scandals and cover-ups have dampened the morale of many Catholics in recent years. While the scandals were referenced during the week, and the papal legate did penance publicly there at the request of Pope Benedict, there was also a strong sense of hope, unity, joy and looking toward the future. The Archbishop of Dublin said at the closing Mass at which 80,000 people attended that “we go away from here committed to build a Church of communion and service after the model of Jesus Christ. It is Jesus present in the Eucharist who will be food for the journey of purification and renewal to which we commit ourselves”. The sisters led a holy hour in one of the 34 host Churches around the city of Dublin that had their own programs and events supporting the main Congress events.

During the weekend of June 1-3 we gathered as a community for a Charismatic Retreat entitled “Reforged in the Spirit.” The weekend included renewing our Baptismal Promises, testimonies and talks by our sisters, a time of praise and worship and empowerment as well as various other things! Over the weekend we were blessed to have Father Joe Freedy from the Pittsburgh Diocese  come to celebrate our liturgies giving us such wisdom to pray with in the context of his homilies.

On Saturday, one of our T.O.R. brothers, Father Bradley LaPage joined us along with Mark Nehrebas for a time of empowerment and prayer ministry during which we had Eucharistic adoration with a Eucharistic procession. It certainly was a time of renewing the graces of Pentecost and our week long silent retreat!

The Bishops of the United States have officially launched the “Fortnight for Freedom”, a special time to pray for the preservation of religious freedom in our country. During this time our community is praying an extra Mercy Chaplet at the 3:00 hour everyday as well as extra times of intercessory prayer throughout the two weeks.  Please join us in praying for our country!

June 17th-22nd Sr. Joan Paule and Sr. Maria Clare taught at a Vacation Bible School held at Holy Family Parish serving all of the Steubenville parishes. They taught ages 4-12 with the theme being the Mass and the gift of the Eucharist. There was a celebration Mass on Friday, the last day of the school. They thoroughly enjoyed the privilege of sharing the faith with the  children.

Come Holy Spirit! Pentecost Sunday was the culmination of an eight day silent retreat for the community. We were incredibly blessed! Fr. Boniface Hicks, O.S.B., joined us for the entire week, giving us conferences every day to prepare our hearts for the great feast of Pentecost. His talks were beyond inspiring… simply breathtaking. He gave us a fresh and invigorating perspective of our charisms and way of life. The theme for the retreat was, “The Holy Spirit and the Consecrated Life.” We had Eucharistic Adoration all day and had much time to be with our Beloved Bridegroom in the chapel, in His beautiful creation on our outside grounds, and in the solitude and silence of our rooms. We had four other priests join him in giving spiritual direction to the Sisters during the week.  We thank Fr. Gregory Ross, O.C.D., Fr. Jim Mormon, T.O.R., Fr. Vit Fiala, O.F.M., and Fr. Thomas Nau for their service to us. We were so blessed to be surrounded by such holy priests!

On the Eve of Pentecost we were able to celebrate for the first time the extended Vigil Mass of Pentecost that the Church introduced with the new translation of the liturgy. It began with a candlelight procession into the chapel. The liturgy is similar to the Easter Vigil. It begins with four Old Testament Readings, each followed by a Psalm. The Gloria follows, then there is a reading from an Epistle preceding the Gospel. We had some time of praise and worship following the Vigil Mass.  On Sunday we celebrated Pentecost again with another beautiful liturgy.  You can find more pictures on our Facebook page. Sunday evening we had more praise and worship preceding the Liturgy of the Hours and had dinner together sharing with one another the graces of retreat.  It was an incredibly blessed time for the community. God is so good!

The summer is always a wonderful time of being reunited with our Sisters that come home from the mission houses. We welcomed home our Sisters that are assigned to our house in Gaming, Austria in early May.  We had a special dinner together with the whole community as we celebrated the Lord’s Day.  Our Sisters from Austria came bearing gifts: a beautiful icon of the face of Christ painted by our very own Sr. Monica, as well as Austrian chocolate… a long time favorite of the Sisters! Our Sisters from the other mission houses are also at the motherhouse for part of the summer.  We have had many wonderful times of simply being together as a community.  Below is a bonfire and some “water fun” we had on Memorial Day.

During Franciscan University’s “Reading Day” on May 3rd, 2012, in the JC Williams Center, our sisters joined Beloved First Truth and Sacrifice of Love households in a flash mob to the tune of “Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee” to help students to relieve some of the stress from finals. If you cannot view it here, view on Youtube.

We celebrated Sr. Jean Daugherty’s 50th jubilee of profession of vows on Sunday July 8th, one day prior to the actual date of Sr. Jean’s Golden Jubilee. Bishop Emeritus Gilbert Sheldon was the main celebrant, and joining him were a number of other priests including some of our own T.O.R. brothers! The homilist for this celebration was Father Jim Mormon, T.O.R. who spoke beautifully on Sr. Jeans life, and commitment of vows in light of the Gospel and readings from the liturgy. Five of Sr. Jean’s 7 siblings were present along with many of her nieces and nephews and grand nieces and nephews. Following our liturgical celebration in which Sr. Jean renewed her vows, we had a reception where a video put together by the Sisters on her life was shared. It was a beautiful day, a day of great thanksgiving for the 50 years in which Sr. Jean has lived as a bride of Christ.

On May 5th, we had our annual Open House and May Crowning. It was a joy to welcome between 250 -300 people among our family, friends, and neighbors. The day started at 1:00 PM and included many different types of activities: tours of the monastery and Father of Mercy Chapel, face painting, outdoor games, making religious articles, storytelling for the little ones, a vocation program, T-shirt and religious articles available for purchase, and just hanging out with the Sisters. It was a very enjoyable day ending with the greatest act of thanksgiving, the Holy Mass, offered in Father of Mercy Chapel. During Mass our postulants crowned our Lady.  More pictures can be found on our Facebook page.

Sr. Mary Rose and Sr. Rita Clare presented a parish retreat on “Life in the Spirit” in Columbus, Ohio in April, 2012.  With teaching, testimonies, prayer ministry, and evangelization, the sisters served parishioners at St. John Neuman Parish, encouraging them to more fully embrace their baptismal inheritance.  The sisters spoke of the gifts and charisms of the Holy Spirit that God bestows on His people in order to strengthen, empower, and anoint us to live and to proclaim the Lordship of Christ and bring the good news of salvation to others.