Pilgrimage from James Bay
The Moosonee group, including Sister Una Byrne, at the Native parish in Toronto by the teepee.BY SISTER UNA BYRNE World Youth Day, who can describe such a experience? It is best described by the Holy Father’s dream, as expressed in his Evening Vigil, that it would be “a powerful moment in which the young people of the world could meet Christ, who is eternally young, and could learn from him how to be bearers of the Gospel to other young...
Religious Archivists Gather
Photo by Rob Mooy, Kingston This WeekReligious archivists from across Canada gathered at Providence Spirituality Centre to discuss ongoing efforts to preserve a vital piece of Canadian history. Too often the importance of preserving our past is overlooked until it is too late, noted keynote speaker Roy Bonisteel as he addressed the conference theme of Wisdom For Today And Tomorrow. “Often it is not just lack of vision, it is sheer...
New Book Focuses On Justice
The Sisters of Providence of St. Vincent de Paul hosted a launch for the latest book by a well-known Kingston author and social justice advocate. The congregation’s Office of Justice and Peace sponsored the launch of Faith and Freedom: The Life and Times of Bill Ryan SJ, co-written by Kingston writer Jamie Swift. Swift and co-author Bob Chodas spent more than a year researching this detailed biography of a Jesuit priest working for a better...
Sister Celebrates Milestone
By Peter DeWolfARNPRIOR, ONT/The Chronicle Guide The following article and photographs originally appeared in the Arnprior Chronicle-Guide on Sept 18, 2002. They are reprinted here with permission. Over 300 parishioners and well-wishers were present at the parish hall in Arnprior on Sunday Sept. 15, as Sister Nancy Wilson celebrated 50 years of service to the Sisters of Providence and to the church community. “I have enjoyed every year of my...
Solidarity With The Earth
"We desire and commit ourselves individually and corporately to consciously live non-violently our present reality. This will be manifested in our relationships of mutuality and solidarity with God, ourselves and all creation." - From Chapter'99 Outcome StatementSisters of Providence of St. Vincent de Paul While the Chapter '99 Outcome Statement gives "new life" to each person associated with the Sisters of Providence of St. Vincent de...
A Visionary Leader
Sister Irene Forrester is being remembered as a compassionate and visionary leader who inspired others to work for the dignity of all humanity. A Sister of Providence of St. Vincent de Paul, Irene Mary Forrester died on February 16, 2001, after a difficult battle with cancer. She was in her 45th year of religious life. Sr. Irene spent a decade in congregational leadership, serving as general superior from 1989 to 1994. Her approach to...
A Call To Service
BY SISTER SHEILA LANGTON The following is an excerpt from an address Sister Sheila Langton made this February to members of Holy Family Parish during Vocation Week in the archdiocese of Kingston. A favourite question people have for a Sister is “Why did you become a nun?” For many years I would go blank when anyone asked me that. I didn’t know how to answer. It was a mystery to me. How did such an ordinary and very young person as I was, know...
Archives Preserve Past
The Sisters of Providence have long made a commitment to preparing for the future by preserving their past. Nowhere is that more evident than at Providence Motherhouse, the Kingston, Ont., home base of the congregation, where an archival program has been in place since the 1970s.For the past decade, the Motherhouse archives staff has been offering expertise and support to the congregation’s sponsored health care institutions as they began...
What Is Poverty?
BY SISTER PAULING LALLY It’s interesting, you know, that as a Roman Catholic Sister I take vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. Why would anyone want to take a vow of poverty? Poverty is an evil to be eradicated, or at least struggled against. I don’t particularly like that word for our vow. People can easily say, “It sure doesn’t look like you live in poverty to me.” And I don’t. I live the “the common life.” A lay person I know once said,...
Nourishing The Spirit
BY PEGGY FLANAGAN Walking down Kingston’s Brock Street, the wind penetrating her thin jacket and dead leaves swirling around her ankles, a young woman looks up to see the simple sign: Martha’s Table. Jessie has been here before. She remembers how difficult it was to pass through that door the first time. “The people who work here think they are good,” she reflects. “What do they give? Some time. Some donated food. I give more. I give up my...
Preserving A Taste Of The Past
BY JC KENNY The following article, which originally appeared in the September 1999 edition of AgriNews, is reproduced here with the permission of the author. Most drivers passing by the pristine Sisters of Providence buildings on Kingston's Princess Street here would never guess that important horticultural history is being made on the premises. In behind the buildings where the Sisters make their home, gardening wizards Carol and Robert Mouck...
A Journey Of Self Discovery
Preparing oneself for service to God involves a long journey of self-discovery, according to a vibrant young woman exploring life as a Sister of Providence of St. Vincent de Paul. In the summer of 1999, after an intensive period of self-growth, Charlene Thacker made her first vows as a professed Sister in the Kingston, Ont., congregation. Sr. Patricia Amyot notes that the Sisters of Providence perceive membership as a lifelong process, one of...
40 Years Of Selfless Service
BY RYLAND COYNESmith Falls, Ont./The Record News The following article originally appeared in the Smith Falls Record News. It is posted here with permission. For 40 years — 17 in the picturesque Ontario community of Smiths Falls — Sister Marlene Schuster has been tending to the needs of the less fortunate, in relative anonymity. But while the greater population may not have heard her name spoken often, those fortunate enough to be touched by...
An Incredible Journey
Those who make the decision to become an Associate of the Sisters of Providence of St. Vincent de Paul often find that the profound changes which occur in their lives are invisible to the outside world. While an incredible inner journey is taking place, there are few outward manifestations to the casual observer. “It’s not a change of lifestyle,” notes Dianne Dutcher, a Providence Associate since 1997. “It’s a deeper exploration of how you live...
Helping The Healing Begin
Sister Marilyn Kearns was intensely moved by the letter from the woman who had escaped a life of domestic violence. “Thank you,” the woman wrote to Sister Marilyn and her co-workers at a Montreal shelter for battered women. “Thank you for listening, for caring, for understanding, for helping me take control of my life. “I’ve realized I’m not running away, but that I have made a positive and wise decision — I have indeed found myself again.”...
We Speak To The Poor By Our Lives
BY JAMIE SWIFT The following remembrance of Sister Mary Hamilton appeared in the Toronto Globe and Mail on October 23, 1998. It is reprinted here with permission of the author. In the 1930s, whenever Sister Mary Hamilton managed a few days off from her nursing duties as night supervisor at St. Vincent de Paul hospital in Brockville, Ont., she would visit the family farm in nearby Elgin. She was one of nine children, so family gatherings were...
A return to Peru
Artisans like this weaver work at home. Photo: Sister Jeannette FilthautBY SISTER SHIRLEY MORRIS When Sister Shirley Morris SP returned to Peru after an absence of 25 years, she found many wonderful changes — and many things regrettably unchanged. One of the original Sisters of Providence of St. Vincent de Paul at the Carabayllo mission in 1967, she was delighted to see that some physical conditions had improved over the years. But her...
Sister Patricia Kelly: The ability to love
Sister Patricia Kelly arrives at Kingston Penitentiary early on a Friday morning. Photo by Sabrina DesranleauDuring her three-year ministry at Kingston Penitentiary, Sister Patricia Kelly has quietly made her presence felt among the administration as well as the men she counsels. “Sister Patricia Kelly S.P. has been an outstanding presence at the Regional Treatment Centre in the Kingston Penitentiary,” says Father David Hale, director of...