The Other Chair

To develop an intimate relationship with another takes time, many risks and complete trust. As a Sister of Saint Joseph for 60 years, I believe I have begun to develop that intimate relationship with Jesus. What has produced this moment?

As a 17-year-old, my entrance into the community entailed trust. I had no concept of the days, the years ahead. When I began teaching, I had my first wonderful experience of racial diversity through my 83 African American students in my second grade class. Each day, as I remember it now, was a learning experience – for me! During my teaching years, I met so many people with different backgrounds from mine. They each taught me the value of praying, the beauty of diverse hymns, and the trust that God would provide no matter the circumstances. They taught me to try again, that God had a reason for my being there.

Later, my ministry at the SSJ Welcome Center also opened a new world for me. Sometimes I had to check the map to locate the country from which a student was coming! Their acceptance and love for me energized my quiet self. The sacrifice of home, family and country of origin to come to the United States to create a better life for their children told the immigrant story to its depth. They were trusting of God’s directing them and I imbibed that trust each day. My own education was given to me freely; theirs was a trustful place of learning a new language in our hands, the hands of the Sisters of Saint Joseph. We walked with them as they learned to speak English, to read, to communicate, to love the United States, to become citizens.

It is through the people with whom I have ministered that my relationship with Jesus has responded. Now, I sit down and I ask Jesus to take the other chair and we sit together. As a Sister of Saint Joseph, I recognize the trust, the intimacy of my life with Him, as he gently calls me, “Marie.”

There are no outstanding or miraculous moments in my life. There were no events of adventure. There were simply the people who touched my soul, who brought me to my relationship with Jesus who sits with me each day on the other chair.

Sister Marie Lewis SSJ

Sister Marie is a resident of St. Joseph's Villa in Flourtown PA.  She recently celebrated her 60th Jubilee as a Sister of St. Joseph.  After spending her life and ministry in the city, she now enjoys the quiet and relaxing life at the Villa.  

Serving the “Dear Neighbor” in the Last Frontier

As the Diocesan Director of Religious Education in the missionary diocese of Fairbanks, Alaska, I encounter the Lord in my ministry in many ways. The place I most experience God is with the native people in our village missions. Recently, I had the joy and the blessing of assisting the parents in the preparation of their children for the Sacraments of Reconciliation and First Eucharist. It was a wonderful day on Sunday when five of the children received their First Communion and a baby was baptized. I went to another village mission for Mother’s Day weekend for First Communion as well.

I fly to the villages in small planes that land on airstrips outside the village. My ministry involves flying to 13 native village missions including Barrow on the Arctic Ocean and Little Diomede Island, 25 miles from Russia in the Bering Sea and driving to our nine parishes on the road system. I assist in preparing the people for the sacraments. I am, also, responsible for Catechist Formation, Adult Faith Formation and Religious Education.

There 46 parishes in the diocese, 36 are in native villages in the bush (access by plane only) and nine are on the “road system.” Fairbanks is the largest diocese, geographically, in the United States and the only all mission diocese. Because of the shortage of priests here (16 priests and one Bishop), the missions in the bush have Mass only every two to three months depending on the weather. Communion services are the norm in these villages. We also have only seven Sisters and two Brothers.

Sister Maggie Butler is the other Philly SSJ in our diocese. She is in Tok, which is on the road system about four hours from Fairbanks and 80 miles from the Canadian border.  

So although my ministry is challenging at times (for example: being snowed-in for several days in a village, being in one of our missions without running water, limited food options, difficult travel conditions with the temperature -30 or less), I feel I am making a difference in serving our “dear neighbor” with the remarkable, resilient, faith-filled missionaries and people of our diocese. To learn more about the Fairbanks Diocese go to www.dioceseoffairbanks.org

Sister Dorothy Giloley SSJ 

 

Sister Dorothy was born and raised in Philadelphia. She has ministered in elementary school, youth ministry, campus ministry, and religious education, as a pastoral associate and in adult faith formation. She served in the inner city in Philadelphia for 18 years, and in New Jersey, Maryland, and West Virginia. She has been serving in Alaska for the past 14 years

Lessons from My Students

In the musical The King and I, Anna becomes the teacher of the King’s many children. After getting to know them, she explains in song that “When you become a teacher, by your pupils you’ll be taught.” I have learned the wisdom of Anna’s words over and over in 35 years of teaching.

Early in my teaching career, I was assigned to first grade, and unexpectedly had 55 six-year-olds in what was supposed to be two classes with a master teacher and me. There was just me. One of the bible stories in the first-grade religion book was the story of Abraham and Isaac. This was, I thought, my first test. I told the story, and the children seemed to be hanging on my every word. Success!

The next day I asked, “Do you remember the name of the man who loved God so much that he was willing to give God his son, and then God said, “You don’t have to do that?” All the children raised their hands, eager to respond. I called on Justine, and this is what she said, “I remember, that was Lincoln.”  

I love that story, and I loved learning from Justine. I learned from her that I know what I’m saying, but I don’t necessarily know what you’re hearing. I learned that context is important, and that listening to my students is even more important.

Justine’s lesson helps me in working on a committee, in local community, in congregational meetings and in facilitating groups. I think of her when I realize that I’ve fallen into an “assumption trap,” assuming that I know about someone else and how s/he’ll respond.

I think of that lesson when I realize that my “issues” with another person arise because of the way I’m hearing what she’s saying. And I’m quite sure that sometimes God wants to say something to me, but I can’t hear because of my expectations and my limited context. I pray for openness and freedom. 

Relationships are at the heart of our mission as Sisters of Saint Joseph. My relationship with my then-first grader (now an accountant and a graduate of Chestnut Hill College) has taught me to cherish wisdom coming from unexpected sources.

Merilyn Ryan SSJ

Sister Merilyn grew up in Hudson County, NJ, where she met the Sisters of Saint Joseph at Holy Family Academy in Bayonne.  Much of her work has been in education. She especially loves teaching math, which “challenges us to face our unexamined assumptions.” (But that’s another blog…)

Showered with Blessings

Recently, I participated in the wondrous Jubilee celebration of 28 of our Sister Jubilarians. Five of the sisters were celebrating eighty years of religious life!  Yes, eighty years! How proud they were! How proud we were! Saint Joseph Villa’s chapel rocked with songs of praise and thanksgiving!  

The event touched me deeply. How graced I am to be a member of this wonderful Congregation of women who strive to live their lives witnessing to the great love of God!

Sixty-four years of my life have been lived as a Sister of Saint Joseph. These years spent in educational, parish, social and spirituality work, along with congregational administration, have taken me not only to the inner city and suburbs of my native Philadelphia but also to the gentle beauty of North Carolina, the political scene of Washington, DC, the stretching plains of Kansas, the stately mountains and coal fields of Appalachia and the hustling seaport of Bayonne, NJ. In addition, I have experienced brief, meaningful visits to the poverty of Guatemala and the Dominican Republic. In these sites I have lived and learned, have ministered to and been ministered to by God’s people of all ages, races and creeds. What graced gifted years!  What gratitude sings in my being!

In the book, Simple Ways, Gunilla Norris writes:

What a joyous task lies before us each day.

                                                     Showered with blessings,

                                                              it will take our

entire lifetime to learn to be nothing but a

LIVING THANKFULNESS.

These words strike an invitational note within me. I have indeed been showered with blessings!  May I continue to learn as I move into each day to be a “Living Thankfulness.” What a joyous task!   

Sister Anna Louis Schuck SSJ

Sister Anna Louise now lives at Nazareth House in Erdenheim, PA.  She serves as a Spiritual Director and in the Ministry of Presence.