Standing in vigil at Kingston’s City Hall
Vigil keeper Lynda Dowdle, in red, is surrounded by four Sisters of Providence at an August vigil. From left, Ellen Murray, SP; Lynda Dowdle; Una Byrne, SP; sitting, Peggy Flanagan, SP; and Catherine Cannon, SP.BY UNA BYRNE, SP For 19 years, the Sisters of Providence of St. Vincent de Paul have held a vigil in front of City Hall in Kingston on Fridays between 12:15 and 12:45. Many others have joined that vigil over the years, as regular...
Prayers for Peace During World Wars
BY VERONICA STIENBURG, ARCHIVIST As this month of remembrance closes, let’s look back through the congregational annals of the Sisters of Providence of St. Vincent de Paul and acknowledge the congregation’s many prayers for peace during both World Wars. March 21, 1915 - The day of Public Reparation to God, in atonement for sin ordered by His Holiness Pope Benedict to be observed throughout America…The object of devotion is that God in His Mercy...
Thanksgiving Means
Thanksgiving dinner at Cassidy Street Group Home in Kingston, 1973. From centre left to Right: Sister M. Bernadette, Sister Diane McNamara and Sister Muriel Gallagher.BY VERONICA STIENBURG, ARCHIVIST Visiting friends and family…1905, October 26 – The holiday Thanksgiving brings many of the Sisters friends to the city. The house resembles a busy bee hive for a few hours in the afternoon. A holiday…1920, October 18 – Thanksgiving, holiday for...
Sisters look to future plans
Sr. Sandra Shannon, being shown plans for the new St. Mary’s hospital. The current hospital is on land owned by the Sisters of Providence. Photo courtesy Providence Care.For the congregation that has ministered in health care, education and social work, and spent years advocating for society’s most vulnerable members, the coming years will carry new challenges. The Sisters of Providence of St. Vincent de Paul have led lives of compassionate...
Sr. Mary Mathews’ Science Class
BY VERONICA STIENBURG, ARCHIVIST The Sisters of Providence of St. Vincent de Paul taught at St. Michael’s High School in Belleville from 1930 to 1960. The congregation served the community in Belleville through various ministries from 1900 to 2013. Sr. Mary Matthew entered the Sisters of Providence at age 16 in 1911. She completed high school at Maryvale Abbey in Glen Nevis. After graduating from Ontario Teachers’ College in Ottawa, she taught...
Look to the seed – a spirits-up ecology story
BY CATE HENDERSON Those of you who were in attendance at the spring equinox celebration may remember our meditation on the seed – that through kindness alone plants grow from one seed to produce many, many seeds. There is no selfish reason for this, and economists and financial planners would be appalled to see so much energy expended on seeds which are then freely given – many are eaten by humans, animals, insects, fungi etc, with no immediate...
Telling a different story about war
Richard Jack. The Second Battle of Ypres, 22 April to 25 May 1915. CWM 19710261-0161. Beaverbrook Collection of War Art. copyright Canadian War MuseumBY JAMIE SWIFT Two oil paintings. Two artists who painted battlefield scenes. Two dramatically different ways of telling a story. In 1915, the English artist Richard Jack received a commission to paint a recent battle in Belgium. His immense canvas, The Second Battle of Ypres, showed heroic...
Sister Sheila Langton: CHAC lifetime achievement award
Sr. Sheila Langton receives the Catholic Health Alliance of Canada 2014 Lifetime Achievement Award from Daniel Lussier, Chair of the Governing CouncilBY LOUISE SLOBODIAN “At the heart of all her efforts there is a central vision: to serve the needs of the most vulnerable.”That’s how Sr. Sheila Langton was described as she was bestowed the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Catholic Health Alliance of Canada (CHAC). At a ceremony April 30, Sr....
30 years of Changing Together
From left: Speaker Elexis Schloss, executive director Sonia Bitar and temporary board chair, Sr. Diane BrennenBY SISTER DIANE BRENNEN On Friday, May 30, Changing Together – the Centre for Immigrant Women in Edmonton, Alberta – celebrated its 30th anniversary with a dinner and silent auction. Thirty years ago a small group of immigrant women who were studying at the University of Alberta decided to meet together in order to provide each other...
For the child taken, for the parent left behind
Sister Mary Clare Stack OSU, Sister Jeannette Filthaut SP and Dr. Bob McKeon walking in the closing march of Truth and Reconciliation on a very cold March 30th day in EdmontonBY SISTER JEANNETTE FILTHAUT Listen to your heart * Listen to the Creator * As leaders, as women, we have to be strong to stand alone and we have to move forward * Go beyond the evil dark energy * Put your children close to your heart * If you don't have an elder adopt one...
Biodegradable caskets as spiritual practice
BY SISTER SHIRLEY MORRIS Going Green has become a passion for many people. However, the hardest time to adopt environmentally friendly practices has been at the end of life itself. Death is as sacred as life, and we need to transform how we die. A funeral becomes a rite of passage. Diarmuid O’Murchu speaks of death as a transformative reconnection with the great energy fields of God’s creation. For some people, who are looking to limit their...
Sister Mary Angelica was a Home Child
BY VERONICA STIENBURG Lillian Blanchfield, her two sisters and her two brothers, were “rescued” from the Shaw Street Workhouse in Liverpool, England by the Catholic Children’s Protection Society of Liverpool. They crossed the Atlantic in 11 days aboard the Parisian steamship in the company of Mrs. Lacey and 60 other home children. On June 11, 1889, Mrs. Lacey delivered the children to the House of Providence in Kingston. Lillian stayed...
Poverty dolls: Silent vigil’s 18th anniversary
To mark the 18th anniversary of the Sisters of Providence's silent vigil held over noon hour on Fridays, Sisters and friends created a display of 6000 paper dolls to represent the 6000 children who live in poverty in the greater Kingston area. Acknowledgements for the many hands involved run down the side of the front panel depicted here.
But I’m Hungry
Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation staff member Tara Kainer's first book of poetry was published in 2011 by Hidden Brook Press. She read this poem at the Put Food in the Budget inquiry into poverty in Ontario in September.Poverty, Mahatma Gandhi said,is the worst form of violence.Not many get that. She didn't eitheruntil tight in its grip her world shrunkto this tiny, dark box where she's crushedtogether with her two small...
‘Energy poverty’ – when it costs too much to stay warm
BY BRIDGET DOHERTY Imagine you have two children. You work full time at the store down the road. Your husband is a cook at the local restaurant. When the bill for heating and lighting your home arrives, you receive quite a shock. The utilities cost more than the rent. You have to make a tough decision. Do you heat the home or feed the family? Not heating the home may result in child services knocking on your door. Or you're a senior citizen who...
Precariat: A new word for an old and growing problem
BY JAMIE SWIFT The precariat? What's that? The funny-sounding word has recently been creeping from university seminar rooms into public discussion. Precarious work + the proletariat = the "precariat." It refers to the decline of reliable, decently-paid work and the rise of part-time, temporary jobs that pay minimum wages. thebigpush.net Just before Christmas, veteran journalist Michael Valpy described the brave new world of work as a "fearsome...
My Providence Path
Earlier this year, Providence Associate Jan Kehoe retired from the chaplaincy team at St. Joseph’s Auxiliary Hospital, which had been founded by the Sisters of Providence. She used that opportunity to look back at her long association with the Congregation. The Sisters of Providence held a role in my life and a place in my heart since first moving to Camrose, Alberta from Manitoba in 1981. In 2000, Sister Bernadine Bokenfohr invited me to...
Blessed Émilie Gamelin and Bishop Ignace Bourget
As Associates and Sisters began the second stage of the renewal and celebration of the historical roots of the Sisters of Providence of St. Vincent de Paul, we felt a certain excitement moving from 16c France to 19c Montreal, Canada. Associate Marie McCartney, and Sister Shirley Morris brought to light the lives of Bishop Ignace Bourget and Sister Émilie Gamelin. BY SISTER IRENE WILSON Shirley set the context for the inception of the first...
A Red Letter Day
BY VERONICA STIENBURG In these times of mass media coverage we take for granted seeing and hearing Pope Francis on television, radio and online. This access was not always the case…what if you had never heard the voice of the Pope? What would the first time you heard his voice mean to you? The pope addressed the world’s Catholics via radio for the first time on February 12, 1931, during the inaugural broadcast of Vatican Radio. Pope Pius XI...
The perfect garden plan
Cate Henderson works up the Heirloom Seed Sanctuary's annual garden planBY CATE HENDERSON Many gardeners enjoy planning their gardens over the winter time, as it means dreaming of all the beautiful flowers and delicious, perfect veggies they can grow. In the planning stage, no pests come to chew on leaves, no drought makes plants droopy, and no worries of poor pollination need apply. The perfect garden of the imagination is all there is! When a...