An environmental tour many years in the making
BY SISTER JEANNETTE FILTHAUT This year, my dream came true when my brother and his wife decided to take their family of three children, their spouses and their eight grandchildren to Costa Rica to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary. My sister-in-law’s sister, brother and I were also invited to be guests for this occasion. Even though I broke the fibula in my right ankle just before Christmas, my cast was off and I managed to travel to...
Gaining the skills to lead ourselves
Providence Associate co-director Barbara BakerBY ASSOCIATES CO-DIRECTOR BARBARA BAKER A year ago, while the Sisters of Providence of St. Vincent de Paul were at Chapter, the Providence Associates gathered to talk about their future. The Sisters were looking at the decisions they had to make and the Providence Associates knew that they had to be proactive and consider their future as well. At the spring gathering, they challenged themselves to...
The ‘mission history’ of Apple Hill, Pincher Creek, San Cristobal, Edmonton, Moose Jaw…
Outdoor Mass in Batawa, Ontario. (SPSVPA 014-202.3.4-S-4)BY ARCHIVIST VERONICA STIENBURG Did you know the Sisters of Providence of St. Vincent de Paul served in La Loche and Ile-a-la-Crosse, Saskatchewan? In Lancaster, Ontario? In Pincher Creek, Alberta? In Entebbe, Uganda? Over the course of their history, Sisters have served in six Canadian provinces and five countries. The Archives is currently in the process of researching and writing...
Year of Mercy: Taking a wide view of the works of mercy
BY SISTER TERRI MACKENZIE, SHCJ Reprinted from her blog EcoSpiritualityResources.com Last March Pope Francis declared an extraordinary Jubilee, a Holy Year of Mercy. No question that the world needs compassion, forgiveness, and mercy! But I found myself a bit concerned: wouldn’t highlighting mercy lead to the Spiritual and Corporal Works of Mercy — all 14 of which focus on people? Might this not reinforce a tendency to the anthropocentrism that...
A Kingston motion is paving the way towards a more equal Canada
Canada’s minister of families, children and social development, Jean-Yves Duclos, with provincial counterparts discussing policy. A Laval University economics professor, Duclos has studied basic income -- and is responsible for a Canada Poverty Reduction Strategy. Photo courtesy of HRSDC.BY JAMIE SWIFT Just before Christmas, Kingston’s city council became Canada’s first elected body to put its stamp of approval on the need for a guaranteed...
Seedy Saturday 2016 was record-breaking
Photo: Andreas FrantzeskosEvery year Seedy Saturday gets bigger but this March, it got huge. More than 600 took part in the one-day seedfest that is sponsored in part by the Sisters of Providence — and held at the perfect time, as winter is still hanging on and the hunger for spring is at its peak.
April 2016 news and volunteer opportunity
The Heirloom Seed Sanctuary is busy on Facebook and occasionally sends email updates too. Here is the latest. You can read this one here. You can sign up, here, if you want to be on the mailing list.
St. Patrick’s Day celebrations through the years
St. Patrick’s Day, 1997 . Left to Right: Sr. Mary Fitzpatrick, Sr. Mary Gertrude, Sr. May Joseph O’Brien, Sr. Anna Marie Willer, Sr. Rita Hanson, Sr. Mary Laboure, Sr. Rita Dimberline, Sr. Bernice Boyle, Sr. Rita Killeen and Sr. Margaret Mary. BY VERONICA STIENBURG, ARCHIVIST From the Congregational Annals of the Sisters of Providence of St. Vincent de Paul: March 17, 1916 - St. Patrick's Day. Masses as usual. Singing. High Mass at the...
Are the seeds contemplating their future, as I am?
BY CATE HENDERSON We are coming to realize that plants do have an organ similar to our mammal brain. This organ is connected to a nervous system of sorts and capable of sending out signals that cause action in other parts of the plant. In plants, this central organ is located within the roots – underground. Of the immature parts found in a plant embryo, within a seed, the root is what emerges first, at germination. Of course, in that case we...
January, a hundred years ago
Margaret Irene Connolly (Sr. Mary Roberta) and Irene Carter (Sr. Mary Lenore) as postulants in 1916 with an unidentified novice.BY VERONICA STIENBURG, ARCHIVIST Most people start the New Year looking forward; however, let’s look back 100 years in the Congregational Annals to see what life was like at the House of Providence in Kingston in January, 1916. A new year brings fresh hope January 4 – The New Year 1916 opens – a clean page is now...
Time in Peru
BY SISTER UNA BYRNE Although I had been to Peru a few times before this past fall, I had never stayed for very long. So to spend three months among such a welcoming and faithfilled people was indeed a privilege and a gift! Living with our Sisters Rosemarie and Sarah in a house where flowers bloom all year inside and out due to Sister Sarah’s careful tending, was pleasant and inspiring. These two Sisters dedicated to serving the poor, are also...
Meeting Jesus in Fray Martin de Porres, Peru
A game of CuyBY CARMEN ALOMÍA GUÍA, PROVIDENCE ASSOCIATE Let us love God, my brothers (and sisters); let us love God but let it be with the strength of our arms and with the sweat of our brows. – St. Vincent de Paul We had planned everything with care and dedication. It was September 20 and the Providence Associates of our area of Peru, with the Sisters of Providence, were heading to a small and very poor community for the day. The truck...
The story of the congregation, one life at a time
BY ARCHIVIST VERONICA STIENBURG The history of the Sisters of Providence of St. Vincent de Paul has often been written about in terms of the missions, institutions and ministries of the congregation. The focus has been on the works of the whole instead of the individual; yet the whole would be nothing without the women who have served since 1861. The archives and the communications department have been hard at work over the past few months to...
Vigil closing / retrospective
2011: To mark their 150th anniversary, the Sisters of Providence rented a bus to bring Sisters, Associates, staff, partners and special guests together for a vigil. A provincial election was underway. With a federal election campaign taking place, those attending the concluding event for the social justice vigil carried Vote for a Poverty-Free Canada signs.This Vigil began 20 years ago…so what exactly do you remember about 1995? That was the...
Healing the Church 2015
Healing the Kingston church The invitation to heal the church by addressing the crisis in clergy sexual abuse was accepted by more than 320 people who participated in conferences at the Providence Motherhouse September 11-12. The response was a heartwarming surprise for the organizing committee who responded in turn by extending the conference for an extra day to meet the demand. People came from all over the archdiocese – from...
Reviewing the legacy
BY ARCHIVIST VERONICA STIENBURG The Catholic Archivist Group conference was held in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan a week before the unveiling of the “Called to Serve” monument in Regina. In light of that upcoming event, Sr. Teresita Kambeitz, OSU, gave a fantastic presentation at the conference about the history of the 61 congregations of women religious who have served in Saskatchewan since 1860. Sr. Teresita is a professor of religious education...
Saskatchewan recognizes Sisters’ contribution
On October 1, a bronze monument was unveiled in Regina’s Wascana Park in front of more than 500 guests and dignitaries. Those guests included Canada’s papal nuncio, the bishops of Saskatchewan, officials from Catholic health and education, and representatives of the founding religious orders in the province. In their midst were Sisters of Providence leadership team members Sandra Shannon and Diane Brennen. The monument, “Called to Serve,”...
Weather issues more abundant than crops
BY GARDENER CATE HENDERSON This year’s growing season brought far more climatic challenges than we like to see, although it’s easy to forget that fact when enjoying such ideal conditions at the moment. It’s easy to forget that what we actually experienced was as follows (backed up by the Environment Canada stats): Drought during planting-time! We had only 23.8 mm of rain in the whole month of May, more than half of which came all at once on the...
A closing celebration … and one final vigil
It was fitting that the weather was so beautiful on September 17 and 18 when, after 20 years of fidelity, the silent vigil in solidarity with the poor and so many others, came to an end. On the Thursday evening, hundreds gathered outside Kingston City Hall where the day was proclaimed Social Justice Vigil Recognition Day amid singing, gentle Aboriginal chanting and silence. Then inside all went for speeches, remembrances and more song. The...
The gift of security for one Syrian family
Earlier this year, before the federal government announced it was bringing 25,000 Syrian refugees to Canada, even before the child, Alan Kurdi, ended up shocking the world with the plight of the Syrians, the Sisters of Providence made a strong act of solidarity to the cause. The congregation donated significant funds to make possible the private sponsorship of one Syrian family. Leadership team member Sister Frances O’Brien gets great...