| |
NEWS ITEMS
| |
 |
| |
Kathy White, OSB, Prioress and Jacinta Fernandes, OSB |
Jacinta Fernandes was honored in October by SOAR! (Support Our Aging Religious) for her outstanding work as “activist, social worker and light for the poorest of Elizabeth’s poor” and received the 2007 Father Yanitelli, SJ award at a special dinner held at the Tavern on the Green in Central Park, NY. Kathy White, Prioress, attended the event. The annual fundraiser dinner and raffle for St. Joseph Social Service Center in Elizabeth, NJ, of which Jacinta is the director, was held in October. Kathy White, Ellie Noll, Rosalie Desmond and Tricia Kirk attended the event.
“See, I am doing something new. Even now it comes to light;
can you not see it?”
(Isaiah 43:18-19)
In so many ways, it seems that this prophecy is coming to light around us. Religious communities today are experiencing much loss and diminishment. Our reality is very different than it was some 30 or 40 years ago. Our elders form the majority of our communities, and our younger members are few or non-existent. That reality projects a bleak future, to say the least.
 |
|
| Sisters Martina Revak, OSB; Josepha Meyer, OSB; and Germaine Hartle, OSB. |
|
At the same time, there are very different phenomena at work in both monastic and apostolic communities. Unlike dying institutions which exhibit low morale, growing disengagement and lack of committed service, the experience in religious communities is quite the opposite. In our monastic community’s creative outreach, responding to the many changing needs in society is flourishing. There is no waning of commitment and dedication to the whole enterprise of religious life. More and more people of all faiths and walks of life are coming to monasteries to connect with a faith community in their search for God, and are actively exploring the 1500 year old Rule of Benedict for its wisdom as it speaks to us today. We at Emmanuel are in our second year of providing such a study of the Rule in a co-sponsored program with Well for the Journey, an ecumenical spirituality network in our area. Lay association with our communities, in a variety of ways, is abounding. One cannot help but hear the echoes of Isaiah’s prophecy.
There are several other exciting ways in which we at Emmanuel Monastery are experiencing this newness. For the past year, we have been in dialogue with the sisters of Transfiguration Monastery in Emmaus PA, a community of three monastics who are a foundation from St. Mary’s PA. In June, these sisters began a 3 year canonical process of transfer into our community. This small but mighty band of women have built up a fruitful and extensive ministry among the people of Emmaus and the surrounding area, and will continue their outreach there as a mission of our community. Sisters Josepha Meyer, Germaine Hartle and Martina Revak have each brought their gift to us at Emmanuel as well. Our conversations, shared retreat and liturgical experiences, picnics, Easter –egg dying and just plain fun times are enabling us to get to know one another as sisters as we together continue this journey into God’s future.
| |
 |
| |
Karen Brown, Artist in Residence. |
In August, the community welcomed Karen Brown into our midst as “artist in residence,” soul friend and fellow seeker of God. We have a long association with Karen and have been beneficiaries of her many talents through the years. Paintings, calligraphy work, life scrolls, our Vision Weaving and Donor Weaving are among her many works of art that beautify our monastery walls. Karen’s desire to live more fully the Benedictine charism and the common life led her to approach us several months ago with the possibility of living with us. As we welcomed her into our midst in August, we reconnected with an ancient monastic custom of lay members sharing our life in the monastery. Though our space remains limited for such an endeavor on a broad scale, new seeds are being planted that may surprise us as they grow!
We have been part of a Tri Community project with the monasteries in Bristow, VA and Ridgely MD for several years now. That endeavor has grown to include St. Benedict’s Monastery in Pittsburgh, PA as well. We continue to seek ways to share our resources with one another and God’s people in our shared geographic area.
Over the past year, the community has been participating in a process of “Transfiguring Our Reality,” an outgrowth of the 2006 Chapter of the Federation of St. Scholastica. The process has enabled us to “think outside the box” as we look creatively at the future, live with outrageous hope, and embrace our present reality through the lens of Paschal mystery – new life coming forth from our many dyings. We sense that the way we see and experience monastic life today is in the process of major change and transition, and desire to be faithful stewards of the monastic gifts we have been given.
In words attributed to both Bishop Oscar Romero and Bishop Kenneth Untener:
“This is what we are about: We plant seeds that one day will grow. We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise. We lay foundations that will need further development. We provide yeast that produces effects beyond our capabilities. We may never see the end results; we are workers, not master builders, ministers not messiahs. We are prophets of a future not our own.”
|
|
