Talking Circle reflection
Photo: sideroadsofmuskoka.wordpress.comOjibwe Medicine Wheel. Participants of the Talking Circle all received a tiny brooch made of red, white, black, and yellow beads on a circle of leather illustrating the Four Directions of the Medicine Wheel.BY TARA KAINER I am the granddaughter of settlers. In the 1880s my paternal grandfather arrived from the Austrian-Hungarian Empire, settling on land in southeastern Saskatchewan. While he purchased his...
This Lent: Give it up for the Earth
From left, Josef Cihlar, Mike Bossio, Paula Walker, Bruce Walker, Mary Raddon, Don Raddon Bridget DohertyBY BRIDGET DOHERTY The day before this photo was taken with Liberal MP for Hastings-Lennox and Addington, Mike Bossio, US President Donald Trump signed executive orders to allow construction of Keystone XL oil pipelines which could carry more than 800,000 barrels of Alberta oil a day to refineries in Texas. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau...
Encouraged by the passion of seed people
BY ANNIE RICHARD Recently, I had the opportunity to attend the Northeast Organic Farmers Association’s first Seed Conference, in Saratoga Springs, New York. I met many new people doing great work in the world of seed, many of them well known and respected for their long-time commitment to seeds. And I had a chance to reconnect with seedy friends whom I had not seen in a while. I attended workshops on practical topics like the economics of seed...
Resting in God at the Motherhouse
The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity was observed January 18-25, 2017. The Motherhouse Community hosted a celebration of prayer in the style of the Taizé Community on January 24 with invitations extended to St. Luke’s Anglican Church, Crossroads United Church and St. Matthew Evangelical Lutheran Church as well as three neighbouring Catholic Parishes – St. Joseph, Holy Family and St. John.This prayer is the creation of a monastic community in...
A fruitful week facilitating in Prince Albert
BY SISTER JEANNETTE FILTHAUT, SP From January 8 – 13 I was privileged to facilitate the Provincial Chapter of the Presentation Sisters of Mary in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. The theme for the General Chapter to be held in Rome Aug. 12 – Sept. 12, 2017 provided us with excellent material for our dialogue process: Gathered by Jesus Christ, Fashioned by the Word of God, Let us move forward in Hope! We began each morning with Eucharist at 7:15...
The Love of Christ Compels Us
A sermon for the week of Christian Unity St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church January 29, 2017 BY SISTER PAULINE LALLY, SP Good Morning. Thank you for your invitation. I am delighted to be with you. As I was walking over his morning I wondered if Jesus came to earth in Kingston some Sunday, where would he worship? With whom? Where would he feel most at home? Would he come to St. Andrew’s? Would he go to St. Mary’s? Would he attend the service at...
Piano recital comes from a good place
Piano students of Sister Rita Gleason (back row, far right) and Genevieve Shih (left)On Saturday, piano students held a concert at St. Joseph's Auxiliary Hospital Auditorium in Edmonton. Sister Rita Gleason reports: It proved to be a very good concert as all the students performed really well. The auditorium was packed with parents and family members as well as some of St. Joseph's residents who were helped down to the concert by generous...
Sharing the Mission Trip
Today members of the three Congregations of Sisters at Providence Motherhouse were treated to an enthusiastic presentation by Holy Cross School students about their mission trip to Jamaica last year. Chaplain Chris Forster introduced the students who had been and are planning to travel together. Many of the Sisters of Providence, Congregation of Notre Dame and Religious Hospitaller of St. Joseph Sisters in attendance worked in the Global...
Memories of my first one hundred years as a Sisters of Providence
Memories of my first one hundred years as a Sisters of Providence Since I am now one hundred years old, and still sturdy and strongYou, my life companions, might like to listen with me to the words of my songAnd discover in them the secret of my weathering times hard and roughAnd of standing now before you still sturdy and tough “Just write it all down” said Sandra to me“Let us all know what real hardship can be”So to work I went, day after day...
Dianne Dutcher, Providence Associate
For 37 and a half years, Dianne Dutcher worked at Providence Manor, the long-term care home founded by the Sisters of Providence in their foundation building in Kingston. For most of that time she was the director of nursing. In her last years there, she became the manager of volunteer services. It was at Providence Manor that she met the Sisters and came to embrace their mission. She became a Providence Associate in 1997. Diane was born June...
Billion or bust! Visit to MPP Sophie Kiwala
MPP Sophie Kiwala (in red) meets with ISARC members, from left Cam Jay, Tara Kainer and Jamie Swift.Updates on basic income campaigns: Toronto Star May 25, 2017 - Basic income hailed as way to give people chance to chase their dreams The Independent May 27, 2017 - Mark Zuckerberg calls for a universal basic income amid rumours of presidential bid by Facebook founder Jamie Swift and Tara Kainer from the JPIC Office of the Sisters of Providence...
Cornerstones and time capsules
Construction of Providence Motherhouse, October 28, 1931. This photo was taken a month and a half after the cornerstone was laid.BY VERONICA STIENBURG, ARCHIVIST The finding of the 1956 cornerstone at St. Mary’s of the Lake got the Archives staff thinking about cornerstones and time capsules. Archives technician Tom McCarthy found a mention in the Congregational Annals of a time capsule that was laid in the cornerstone of the original wing of...
Staff visit to local MP on election reform and pipeline approval
JPIC staff Tara Kainer visited Kingston & the Islands MP Mark Gerretsen on December 9 to talk about recent developments in his government related to electoral reform and pipelines. Two concerns she brought forward were due to recent action by the federal government: Were the Liberals reneging on their promise to reform the electoral system? And, how do they justify their approval of two major pipelines carrying oil and bitumen from the tar...
Magdalena Atjún Zárate, Providence Associate
Magdalena Atjun was born on May 27 but the year was not recorded. She died in August in her home in Momostenago, Guatemala, surrounded by family and by her Providence Associate companions. Magdalena became an Associate in 1992, when the Sisters of Providence were still in mission in Guatemala. She had four children and, when her details were first recorded in 1994, 15 grandchildren. That’s 22 years ago so you have to imagine that there’s been...
Suna Smith, Providence Associate
Born in Turkey on April 23, 1936, Suna Smith left this world on July 8 in Camrose Alberta, where she had lived for more than half of her 80 years. An accomplished psychiatrist and professional woman, Suna held her family dear and met her first great-grandchild just hours before she died. Suna joined the Providence Associates in 2000. The following remembrance of her was written by Camrose Providence Associate Miriam Hanoski. Doctor Suna Smith...
Maryvale Abbey, then and now
BY VERONICA STIENBURG This July I immersed myself in the Sisters’ past, researching and writing the history of the Sisters of Providence as teachers at St. Margaret’s School and Maryvale Abbey in Glen Nevis, Ontario. Around that same time my husband and I decided to go to the Glengarry Highland Games in Maxville and stay the night in the area. I soon realized we could conveniently stay at Maryvale Abbey, which is now a bed and breakfast called...
A challenge to the myth of nationhood: Vimy was not the birth of Canada
BY JAMIE SWIFT Back in the mid-1950s, Uncle Eberts offered me the gift of a lifetime. At least for a five year old boy. He got me a ride on a big yellow bulldozer that he’d hired to do some road work. We lived next door to Eberts Macintyre on the Gatineau, just south of Wakefield. He was my grandfather’s brother-in-law, my honourary uncle. Aside from the bulldozer adventure, Uncle Eberts was impressive because he was a very energetic senior,...
Looking back at a dry hot summer of drought
BY CATE HENDERSON “In Kingston, weather stations in and around the city had never recorded an April and May as dry as they’ve seen this year, going back to at least 1960. The rain that fell over the city during those two months of 2016 was less than a quarter of the normal amount,” announced Scott Sutherland, meteorologist for the Weather Network. This situation continued through July and August, accompanied by record heat, including heat at...
Leaving a ministry close to my heart
Called the Toronto group, these Sisters live from Huntsville to Pickering. From left, Sisters Elaine Hogan, Karen Bennett, Margo Shafer and Joanne ColliganBY SISTER MARGO SHAFER As the Congregation moves forward in our plans for the future, I have been asked to replace a Sister who is going on a well-deserved sabbatical. I will be taking on the sacristy and hospitality duties that Sister Catherine Casey so generously has done for many years. To...
Providence and the Madawaska shoreline
St. Joseph Sister Betty Berrigan (left) listens to Providence Sister Pat Amyot describe how the planting of wildflowers will strengthen the shoreline.BY LOUISE SLOBODIAN A year ago, Denice Wilkins enjoyed a personal retreat at Stillpoint House of Prayer in the Calabogie area of Ontario. She’s a retired environmental educator and naturalist who was looking to spend time in quiet contemplation and mindfulness. While she was there she noticed the...