Teaching in Lancaster
BY VERONICA STIENBURG, ARCHIVIST The Sisters of Providence taught in Lancaster Ontario from 1923 to 1937. They lived in a cement house, known as St. Joseph’s Convent. The Sisters found it very cold in winter, telling of how they had to wear cloak and gloves to Morning Prayer. There were usually five Sisters in the mission: a housekeeper, a music teacher and three teachers. The Sisters taught in St. Joseph’s School. It had outdoor facilities and...
Making a Commitment
From left: Ann Boniferro, Helen Driver and Mary Olenick.BY ANN BONIFERRO, PROVIDENCE ASSOCIATE On April 7th the weather outside was cold and dreary, yet inside the Chapel of Mary, Mother of Compassion, the joy of the Easter season was evident as the Providence Associates celebrated Evening Prayer. The sanctuary was decorated with spring flowers, and a graceful drape of rainbow fabric reflected the covenant between God and all of creation which...
Echoing the Providence of Peace in an intercultural World
Our Sisters and Associates who attended this year. Back row: (from left) Sister Gayle Desarmia, Sister Pauline Lally, Associates Barbara Baker and Carol Groten. Front row: Sisters Diane Brennen, Sandra Shannon, Barbara Thiffault and Frances O’Brien. Missing from photo: Sister Lucy BethelBY SISTER PAULINE LALLY In mid-June, three carloads of Sisters and Associates drove in beautiful weather through scenic countryside to attend the 14th event of...
Kingston Seedy Saturday says ‘Thank you!’
From left: Sister Diane Brennen, Cate Henderson, and Pat Joslin, KSS planning committee chair.BY CATE HENDERSON, SEED SAVER AND GARDENER Sister of Providence Kay Morrell attended Kingston Seedy Saturday for the first time this year, bringing along Sister Elise Nikiema who is a Sister of the Immaculate Conception of Ouagadougou visiting from Burkina Faso, in Africa. She wanted to share with Sister Elise an original Canadian phenomenon, Seedy...
The World Remembers
BY JAMIE SWIFT, JPIC DIRECTOR AND CO-FOUNDER OF PEACEQUEST Just as the schools let out, marking the real start of summer, PeaceQuest held an event in front of City Hall. It was the official announcement of our November Gathering and concert. We got the news out moments before the skies opened up. City Councillor Jeff McLaren, whose Meadowbrook-Strathcona district includes the Providence Motherhouse, was there in support of PeaceQuest. And, in...
Grieving the tragedy of war – Committed to the promise of peace
Photo courtesy: Jolene Simko. Back Row: (from left) Bronek Korczynski, Barbara Linds, Jamie Swift. Middle Row: Ann Boniferro, Pauline Lally, SP, Judy Wyatt. Front Row: Elaine Berman, Michael Cooke. Missing: Laurie Davey-Quantick, Jolene Simko, Administrative CoordinatorBY SISTER PAULINE LALLY, CO-FOUNDER OF PEACEQUEST PeaceQuest was founded in late 2013 as a grassroots organization dedicated to creating conversations about WWI. Our idea was to...
Breaking ground in a historic way
BY VERONICA STIENBURG, ARCHIVIST On Friday, May 4th the groundbreaking for Hospice Kingston, the first partner in Providence Village, took place on the Motherhouse grounds. There have been numerous groundbreakings on the property before this, as the congregation built and added onto the Motherhouse itself. The first groundbreaking occurred on July 2, 1931, when Archbishop Spratt broke ground for the construction of the Motherhouse. The...
Healing Violence Committee Comes to Completion
The final year committee members were (from left): Sister Marie Dundon, Sister Catherine Casey, Providence Associate Carol Groten, Providence Associate Barbara Baker, Sister Margo Shafer, Friar Ed Debono, and Sister Frances O’Brien with Sister Dianne McNamara (pray–er).BY SISTER FRANCES O'BRIEN, MEMBER OF THE HEALING VIOLENCE COMMITTEE On June 2nd, 2018, the Healing Violence Committee commemorated 20 years of work guided by their mandate. We...
Annual Congress on Basic Income
Technological Unemployment as Thought Experiment presenters Jason Burke Murphy (United States), Sergey Zolotov (Russia), and David Goutor (Canada).BY TARA KAINER, JPIC TEAM The 17th Annual North American Basic Income Guarantee (NABIG) Congress was held this year in Hamilton from May 24 to May 27. The assembly, jointly-sponsored by the Basic Income Canada Network (BICN), USBIG, the Hamilton Roundtable for Poverty Reduction, and McMaster...
Summer at Marillac Villa
BY VERONICA STIENBURG, ARCHIVIST Every summer the Sisters go to the cottage. Here are few fun images from the 1950s of Sisters of Providence at Marillac Villa on Howe Island:Shining shoes – July 1959Enjoying the shoreline – July 1957Catch of the DayAn afternoon on the water – July 1959The Cottage - July 1957A cat visits the picnic! – July 1959
Movies at the Motherhouse
BY VERONICA STIENBURG, ARCHIVIST The Congregational Annals document the major events in the congregation’s history, but they also document smaller happenings in the Sisters’ lives, including what movies the sisters watched. Here are some excerpts from the Annals: September 9, 1952 – Two nice pictures have been shown to the sisters here during the month, namely: “Angels in the Outfield” and “The Song of Bernadette” September 15, 1960 – Another...
Behind the Scenes in the Archives!
BY VERONICA STIENBURG, ARCHIVIST The first week of April is Archives Awareness Week in Ontario! With that in mind, here is a behind the scenes peak into the archives of the Sisters of Providence of St. Vincent de Paul. All the photographs used for the Throwback Thursday posts on Facebook and Twitter and all the photos used in the Providence Flashbacks are housed in the Archives. Here is a behind the scenes look at how and where archival...
A Procession and a Story
BY CARMEN ALOMÍA, PROVIDENCE ASSOCIATE The script for the procession with the gifts at the anniversary Mass gave an overview of the mission in Carabayllo, Peru. It was written and narrated by Providence Associate Carmen Alomía who was the emcee at the Mass. We present our work of the last 50 years to the Lord. It is represented by the different generations who have lived, worked and struggled together with the Sisters during all these years. It...
Visit to Peru for 50th Anniversary of Mission
BY SISTER GAYLE DESARMIA December 6-21, 2017 Sisters Sandra Shannon, Gayle Desarmia and Josephine Doiron experienced a wonderful two weeks in Carabayllo, Peru. The trip was a special one because it included celebrations to mark 50 years of ministry in Peru. Sister Gayle recalls highlights of the trip.The first evening in Peru we accompanied Sister Sara Jiménez to Las Lomas de Torre Blanca for Mass. This Mass was held outdoors on the...
50th Anniversary Celebration in Peru
BY SISTER SANDRA SHANNON Today is December 10, 2017 and the temperature is 24°C, hot and sunny. How can this be? It is possible as I am in Peru. Today has been a long anticipated day by the Sisters, Associates, people of El Progreso, Carabayllo and yes by Sisters Gayle Desarmia, Joey Doiron and myself, Sister Sandra. We are here to celebrate with everyone the 50th Anniversary of our Sisters coming to this area of Peru. Our Associates took...
Mission in Peru: Reflecting on the First Year
BY VERONICA STIENBURG, ARCHIVIST The Archives has some wonderful descriptions of the Sisters’ first years in Peru. The Annals of the first year of the mission in El Progreso, letters and reflections written by the Sisters at the time provide a glimpse into their lives and ministries. Here are a few excerpts: December 11, 1967 - A walk around the barriada with Father Duncan. A rather depressing experience. Our inability to converse well – very...
Solving a Small Mystery
BY VERONICA STIENBURG, ARCHIVIST We came across this photograph from St. John’s School, Gananoque in the Archives. It didn’t have a date, or a good explanation of what is going on in the photograph. Based on the clothes and the cars, it might be the 1920s, and the dignitary is clearly a high ranking church official. Let’s look at a few different sources for clues… According to Sr. Mary Faustina in her history of St. John the Evangelist Parish,...
Holy Family Hospital remembers its roots
Attendees of the November 29th event. Photo courtesy of Holy Family Hospital.BY VERONICA STIENBURG, ARCHIVIST In March 2000, the Sisters of Providence of St. Vincent de Paul transferred sponsorship of Holy Family Hospital in Vancouver, BC to Providence Health Care. Even though the Sisters haven’t been involved with the governance of Holy Family Hospital for 18 years, and the last Sister to live in British Columbia returned to Kingston five...
Commemorating 20 Years of Healing Violence
BY SISTER FRANCES O'BRIEN Sister Frances O’Brien, a member of the Healing Violence Committee, recalls the great works of the committee. For the past 20 years, a standing committee established by the Sisters of Providence has been working hard to raise awareness about violence and its underlying causes, and to move to concrete actions to eradicate violence especially against women and children. In the first 10 years, we held major conferences...
Alphonse (Al) Meloche, Providence Associate
BY SISTER IRENE WILSON Al Meloche was born in Windsor, Ontario. As a young man he worked for Broughton’s Religious Goods Store in Toronto. He became a married deacon and was very committed to this ministry in the Catholic Church. Al eventually moved to Kingston where he became involved in Prison Ministry. He initiated many workshops both for the deacons of this diocese and those involved in prison ministry. Al and his wife, Rollande became...