January’s search into the archives follows the SHCJ’s observance of this important feast.
Six of the Epiphany letters written by Cornelia herself survive in the European Province Archives, with the text of a seventh preserved in a notebook of copies made by Mother St John McMaster. The earliest letter does not carry an original date but was dated by the Cause Historical Commission at 1851-1852. Cornelia opens by referring to the community’s wish for her to tell them ‘what I desire to see you most grow and excel in’ and reflects that:
This day being the Feast of Epiphany, our great Feast of year when we renew our vows, it may perhaps be well for me to comply with your request and give you a little remembrance of the year
Cornelia firstly refers them to the Saints whose advice is ‘far above any I could give you’ but does go on to tell them to be ‘united with God in prayer’ and how to conduct themselves. She warns against ‘inordinate affections’ but wishes the sisters ‘to learn how to interchange severity and firmness with mildness and mercy’. The latter principle is reminiscent of Cornelia’s ideal of a nurturing form of education, as expressed in the Book of Studies where she instructs ‘let not the mistresses be too hasty in punishing nor too eager in seeking faults’. In a later Epiphany letter of 1854, she writes a poetic and often quoted phrase:
As you step through the muddy streets, love God with your feet and when your hands toil love him with your hands & when you teach the children love Him with His little ones
With such words Cornelia could raise the morale of her order as they worked hard to educate children and care for them as well as each other, fighting to establish the Society with scarce funds and in often difficult conditions.
These general letters give less of a sense of Cornelia’s specific relationships or interior life as that given by other correspondence. Nonetheless, they do offer an interesting account of the development of her ideas and her hopes for the Society.
A look through the house diaries from later years shows how Epiphany was celebrated after Mass and the renewal of vows. At Layton Hill a hundred years ago, the sisters had tea with Father Garner and then enjoyed a whist drive and presents. A brief diary note for the 1924 Epiphany at St Leonards states they ‘had competition for nuns’. Whatever this involved it must have been fun as they continued ‘after dinner’. The Winckley Square diarist describes an idyllic Epiphany in 1928 with a visit from Father Davis who was ‘chatty and kind’, games with prizes from 4:30pm until 6pm and time after supper when the community ‘sat round the fire & talked & sang’. The Stanmullen house diary for 1937 remarks upon a ‘beautiful Epiphany letter’ received from Revd Mother General, showing how this tradition continued to encourage the work of the Society, especially for this house established during the previous autumn.
All that remains is to wish everyone a Happy New Year from the European Province archives!
The Board of Trustees of Rosemont College has announced the appointment of Jayson Boyers, EdD as the College’s 14th President.
Jayson Boyers, EdD
Currently the President of Cleary University in Howell, Michigan, Dr. Boyers will assume office on July 1st, following the May 31st retirement of President Sharon Latchaw Hirsh, PhD. Provost Lisa M. Dolling, PhD, will serve as Interim President for the month of June.
“By a unanimous vote, the Board of Trustees has elected Dr. Jayson Boyers as Rosemont College’s 14th President,” said Maria Feeley, Esq., Chair of the Board of Trustees and an alumna of the Class of 1993. “Already an experienced college president, Dr. Boyers is an inspiring, innovative, and accomplished leader with an impressive track record of success in higher education. His appreciation for Rosemont’s mission, enthusiasm for the POWER of small and its many benefits, deep understanding of the landscape of higher education, experience as a proven leader, and his excitement for the College’s future make him the ideal person to continue the trajectory forged by President Hirsh and to ensure that Rosemont flourishes for generations to come.”
Before serving as President of Cleary University, Dr. Boyers was the Vice President and Managing Director of Continuing Professional Studies (National Online Division) for Champlain College in Vermont. In 2017, he earned a Doctor of Education in Interdisciplinary Leadership at Creighton University. He has a Master of Leadership Development degree in Organizational Leadership from Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College and a Bachelor of Science in Liberal Studies from the University of Indianapolis.
The College partnered with Storbeck/Pimentel & Associates a national search firm based in Media, Pennsylvania that specializes in higher education, to assist with the search through an inclusive process that included input from students, faculty, staff, alumni, and friends of Rosemont College. Storbeck/Pimentel & Associates worked with a diverse Presidential Search Committee which included: Maria Feeley, Esq. ’93, Chair of the Board of Trustees; Marcia Sichol, SHCJ, PhD, Trustee and Former Provincial Leader of the Society of the Holy Child Jesus; Ann Marshall ’66, Secretary of the Board of Trustees and Co-chair of the College’s recent $40 million Campaign; Kathy Trainor ‘70, Vice Chairman of the Board of Trustees and Retired CEO and Founder of Instructional Technology Group, Inc.; Robert Massa, EdD, Former Member of the Board of Trustees and Honorary Trustee; Tina Bizzarro, PhD, Undergraduate College Faculty Member; Adam Lusk, PhD, Undergraduate College Faculty Member & Faculty Council Co-chair; Karen L. Geiger, Director of Student Services for the School of Graduate and Professional Studies; and Julianna Capece ‘20, President of the Student Government Association.
After receiving interest from more than 75 impressive candidates, including numerous sitting presidents and provosts, with varied backgrounds and from a range of institutions, the Committee vetted and narrowed the pool of candidates with the assistance of the Storbeck firm. The Committee invited four finalist candidates to confidential on-campus meetings with faculty members, administrators, staff members, students, the President and President Elect of the Alumni Association, the Provincial Leader of the Society of the Holy Child Jesus, members of the Board of Trustees, and President Hirsh. Following the on-campus visits, and after review of the feedback from those who met the candidates, the Committee recommended that the Board of Trustees interview three candidates. After interviewing the three remaining candidates, the Board of Trustees unanimously elected Dr. Boyers as the College’s 14th President.
Dr. Boyers’ selection by the Board was rooted in the Trustees’ appreciation for the success that he has achieved at Cleary University during his tenure as its President, and his commitment to Rosemont’s mission. In his time as President, Dr. Boyers transformed Cleary’s physical campus, rebuilt its aging technology infrastructure to enrich the student experience, restructured debt, strengthened Cleary’s engagement with the local community, strengthened institutional advancement and development initiatives, and rebuilt the admissions systems to recruit traditional, adult, and corporate students resulting in a 24% increase in enrollment over two years.
Ms. Feeley also offered that, “The Board is confident that Dr. Boyers’ commitment to Catholic educational values and Rosemont’s Cornelian heritage will help to guide the College community and ensure that the College continues to fulfill its mission. The Board is also enthusiastic about the fundraising success that Dr. Boyers has enjoyed and is excited about the energy he will bring to his relationships with alumni and members of the greater Rosemont College community. The Board set out to find a proven leader with enthusiasm for the College’s future who will work tirelessly with the faculty, students, staff, alumni, and the Rosemont community members to ensure that the College continues to flourish. We are confident we found just that in President Elect Boyers.”
Dr. Boyers plans to visit campus in the coming months to meet with members of the College community. When asked for his thoughts on joining the Rosemont College community, Dr. Boyers stated, “It has been a deep desire of mine to lead a college rooted in the tradition of a Catholic education that brings together vocation, mission, and compassioned reason. I am excited to continue the College’s recent focus on increasing academic quality and developing new academic programs, utilizing the newly dedicated $15 million Sharon Latchaw Hirsh Community Center as a recruitment tool, and continuing the momentum of the College’s recent successful $40 million fundraising Campaign.”
Board Chair Maria Feeley, Esq. shared news of Dr. Boyers’ appointment as President with the College’s students, faculty, staff, and alumni on Tuesday, January 14th.
Ashes; bush fires; Amazon ablaze; burning fossil fuels. Can’t you hear the cry of the Earth? As you are Cross-marked with the blessed ashes today, what will you commit to for the healing of our common home?
FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT
Do you like being labelled a consumer with algorithms controlling your appetites and desires? What secret idols are you worshipping? “Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil”. So are we! It’s time to journey afresh with Jesus, time for metanoia, time for change!
SECOND SUNDAY OF LENT
“The earth, our home, is beginning to look more and more like an immense pile of filth” (Laudato Si 21). Today, when you hear the gospel story of the Transfiguration and the call to “Listen to him”(Matthew 17), let it invite you to that transformation, that ecological conversion we need to make in our own lives to care for our common home.
THIRD SUNDAY OF LENT
Today we meet the thirsty Jesus: “Give me a drink” (John 4:7) It was only a drink of water. So basic. So simple. Yet in this amazingly developed world of ours, of instant global communication, commerce, trade, economic and political negotiations, 2.2 billion people still lack access to safe drinking water whilst 2.5 billion gallons of water are used daily on golf courses! Such thirst! Such injustice! “Give me a drink” indeed.
FOURTH SUNDAY OF LENT
“I am the light of the world” (John 9: 5) Ask today for our blind eyes to be opened so that we can share the Gaze of Jesus? (Laudato Si 76) “Look at the birds in the sky…the flowers growing in the fields…” (Matthew 6:26) Let’s experience the Gift of Creation, so that we can then see what we are failing to see or even deny, how “our common home is falling into serious disrepair.” (Laudato Si 61)
FIFTH SUNDAY OF LENT
Honey bees, butterflies, tigers, puffins, turtle doves, dolphins, gorillas, corals, juniper, whitebeam, lady orchid. So many living creatures whose lives are in danger of extinction! So many of our unknown brothers and sisters, women, children and men, whose lives are forfeit because of the way we are living now! Does this disturb you? Is it any wonder that when faced with death and decay “Jesus wept.” (John 11:35)
The World Health Assembly, the governing body of the World Health Organization (WHO), designated 2020 as the Year of the Nurse and the Midwife to advance nurses’ and midwives’ vital position in transforming healthcare around the world. Pope Francis has applauded the designation, suggesting that “midwives carry out perhaps the noblest of the professions.” And nurses, he said, are not only the most numerous of health care workers, but also those “closest to the sick,” reports Aleteia.
There are numerous members of the Society of the Holy Child Jesus who currently work or have worked as nurses and midwives. In the African Province, there are 10 registered nurse/midwives, six of whom are practicing in hospitals and healthcare centres in Nigeria.
History
Sr. Rose Uchenna Nwosu joined the Society as a Registered Nurse in 1974, after some hesitation by the then Superior General, as at that time the Society of the Holy Child Jesus was an educational order. Since all the sisters were working in schools, Sr. Rose was asked to find a job in a hospital where she could practice as a nurse. The first hospital she applied to for a job required that she must be a professional midwife before they can offer her employment. The demand for midwives was in high demand that period because there was a very high rate of maternal and child deaths at that time in Nigeria and more midwives were need who will professionally conduct antenatal clinics for pregnant women and delivery in a more hygienic way and suitable environment to reduce mother and infant deaths.
The society sent Sr. Rose to Ireland to study midwifery 1977-78 to return and practice midwifery in Nigeria. When she returned from her midwifery studies, she convinced the SHCJ Superior General at the time that she could do health education as part of teaching. The sisters then realized that a midwife was really needed to plan for the health education in a clinic managed by the SHCJs at that time at Cardoso Catholic Project, Lagos. So, Sr. Rose went into learning how to manage a primary healthcare facility where she did mainly health education on nutrition, personal and environmental hygiene, antenatal care, immunization of babies, child care, treatment of malaria, diarrhea, and other prevalent diseases, and community mobilization. The work was mainly prevention of diseases through education and demonstrations, mobilization of the people, and treatment of prevalent diseases.
All the nurse/midwives who joined the Society in the African Province worked mainly in primary healthcare to prevent diseases and improve the health status of the communities in which they worked. The SHCJ midwives conducting delivery of babies was a later development in the society.
In September 1990, Sr. Lena Nwaenyi was missioned to Agwatashi, Plateau State, Nigeria to be a matron of a 34 bedded Rural Maternity Hospital. This was the first hospital managed by SHCJ in the African Province. She took delivery of over 100 babies between September 1990 and April 1994; this was the beginning of SHCJs practicing real midwifery in the real sense of it. Since then, other SHCJ midwives have worked in the labour ward taking delivery of babies. Right now, our two healthcare facilities in Abuja have our sisters who are practicing midwifery.
Holy Child Sister Philomena Grimley was recently asked to contribute an article on vocation for the Lancaster (UK) Diocesan News, The Voice. Below is what she submitted.
If you look up the word VOCATION on Google, you find several explanations of the way it is used these days, for example to describe how someone who feels drawn to a particular profession. But they all agree that it comes from Christianity, from the Latin word that means a calling. The Old Testament offers us so many powerful and unforgettable stories of God calling people to speak and act for God. The Gospels reveal to us how Jesus himself responds to the call of God’s Spirit and how he in turn called his first disciples to follow him and share his mission of love. This is what all Christians are called to be and do through their Baptism. For most people their call, their vocation, is lived out day by day as they go about their lives in their homes, at work, and in the local community. For some, however, the call that comes from Baptism draws them to a particular way of life which might be priesthood for some, or consecrated or religious life for others. I want to tell you a little about my call and response.
Philomena Grimley and Marie Quayle
On March 30th 2019, with another sister, Marie Quayle, I celebrated the Diamond Jubilee, 60 years of our religious profession as members of the Society of the Holy Child Jesus. We had both been in the same class for seven years at Layton Hill Convent School, Blackpool, now St Mary’s, and together we literally left our families and our homes in Blackpool and Fleetwood in September 1956 to join the Society. Why? Because, in spite of all other possibilities open to us, we knew in our hearts that love was inspiring us to follow where God seemed to be calling us.
How did this “call” happen? Well, I remember vividly when I was about 13, we had a day retreat in school, led by Father Vincent Whelan. We were in the school chapel and he read to us a short passage from Matthew’s gospel how Jesus was deeply moved, was heart- broken when he saw the crowds of people “harried and abject, like sheep without a shepherd.” It was as if I could see what Jesus saw, hear him speaking, feel what he felt and I wanted to be with him and to share his life and his way. That experience has never left me and has strengthened me over many years since, as I came to discover more and more how to share the life, the love and the mission of Jesus is possible as a religious sister.
Philomena Grimley (at right)
Of course any vocation has to be carefully considered and tried out, so wisely there were three stages over seven and a half years in our initial training for us to experience religious life fully before we made our perpetual vows. Both we and the Society we were joining needed to be sure that this was God’s will for us. I remember an older sister telling me that a sure sign would be if I felt “at home”, and I did! So the Society became my religious family where I lived and prayed and worked in community and was thoroughly trained to share in the mission of education.
One huge event has affected my religious life profoundly in the sixty years since my profession of vows: the Second Vatican Council and all that has been emerging in the Catholic Church since then as it responds to “the signs of the times”. For us religious it was a powerful call to renewal, to return to the Gospel, to the inspiration of our Foundress. It opened up for women religious wonderful opportunities to deepen our faith, our understanding of scripture and theology, learning how more far-reaching and diverse our call was to education beyond the more formal setting of schools. Outwardly people would have seen changes in our dress to make it more appropriate for changed times. Inwardly we were responding anew to the call of the Gospel, as we still are.
Sixty years as a Holy Child sister! I can never thank God enough for this call that never leaves me and the love he gives me to respond.
Tonight, for so many of us, there will be no ceremonial washing of the feet, no solemn proclamation of the gospel. But in hospitals, homes, hostels and shelters, all over the world, washing, anointing, consoling, supporting, giving tender and urgent care is happening. We are celebrating the liturgy of Life as we do what we can to put into practice the lessons of love from the One who loved us to the uttermost. John 13:1
GOOD FRIDAY
Today we cannot gather in our churches to take part in the solemn Reading of the Passion. We will not be going in procession to venerate the unveiled Crucifix. But each of us can take some quiet time to “survey the wondrous cross”. As Mary stood steadfastly beneath it, at one in love with her Son, so may we continue to share in the world’s passion, so much suffering and death, and pray for the world’s healing.
HOLY SATURDAY
That’s where we find ourselves in our liturgy of life these days: waiting, simply waiting. But without answers or direction as yet. That’s how it was for His mother and His frightened, runaway friends. But, because of who we are and Whose we are, we can wait in trust: “Love WILL come again like wheat that springeth green.”
EASTER SUNDAY
With the Risen Jesus there is no “social distancing”! How he loves to meet us in unexpected times and places: dawning sun in the garden; through the locked doors of our fearful hearts; on the runaway road; on the shore after a night of failure. We simply must draw near. So, in the strength of our renewed baptismal promises, we pray for our suffering human family: “May the Light of Christ, rising in glory, dispel the darkness of our hearts and minds.”
In February 1853, five Holy Child Sisters were sent to Preston, England to answer the call of the Jesuit fathers to take charge of their schools. The fathers had originally requested the SHCJ to come to Preston as the small community prepared to leave Derby in 1848. M. Emily Bowles related to John Henry Newman in 1851 that the SHCJ were offered ‘the beautiful schools & small Convent at Preston’ as well as St Leonards-on-Sea. M. Emily identifies the ‘very pressing wishes and presentations’ of Bishop Wiseman, given ‘more weight than was necessary by Dr Asperti’ who was ‘naturally anxious to serve a mission alone’ as the cause for the choice of St Leonards. Her letter goes on to lament the trials endured by the sisters and Cornelia as she confides in Newman:
The Staff of St Walburge’s in 1902 including teachers who were old girls of Winckley Square in the centre and current pupil teachers in the rows above and below.
Are we to uproot ourselves again, & be driven a second time from our flourishing work just as it is putting forth its strength & vigour – why did we come here & not go to Preston? […] Oh! If you knew how Revd Mother has been tried and what it is to see her so tried
Despite the difficulties faced in their second convent, Cornelia was eventually able to fulfil the Jesuit fathers’ wishes. With M. Lucy Woolley as their superior, five sisters started the SHCJ’s work in Preston at St Ignatius’ School. From the earliest days of their presence in Preston, the SHCJ’s work bore fruit. In addition to St Ignatius’, the sisters went to manage more day schools and Sunday schools: St Wilfrid’s in 1854, St Walburge’s in 1857 as well as the English Martyrs’ and St Mary’s in 1871. On 13th February 1871, M. Lucy writes with enthusiasm and pride in the sisters under her supervision. She describes the taking on of the English Martyrs’ schools as a ‘brilliant and energetic opening’ and ‘the crowning work of the year’ which enabled the Preston Sisters ‘to pursue our labours in the town in peace and union’.
M. Lucy’s 1871 letter to Cornelia.
Their efforts were rewarded with praise and respect from school inspectors and other organisations. The SHCJ Annals quote the Catholic Truth Society’s statement in their report that the success of Catholic education in Preston was ‘owe[d] in great measure to the untiring energy, devotion and great teaching ability of the sisters of the Holy Child Jesus’. As early as March 1855, Mr Stokes in the Journal of the London Poor School Committee refers to St Ignatius as ‘this fine school’ and remarks that it has ‘made marked progress during the last year’ with pupil teachers teaching ‘without help from monitors’. Stokes also comments that the night school’s ‘value is very highly estimated’.
From 1853 the SHCJ in Preston were dressed as seculars, wearing light grey silk bonnets and veils, which were replaced in 1854 by ‘the large black poke bonnet with a black silk curtain and crepe or gauze veil’ as the Annals record. As M. Theophila was compiling the SHCJ Annals 1846 – 1876 in 1904, she notes that the Preston sisters still wear their poke bonnets in winter ‘finding them a better protection from the wind & cold than their veils’.
SHCJ education in Preston expanded further after the Society purchased number 23 Winckley Square in the Spring of 1875 while renting and later purchasing number 22.
This was to become the High School. It started as the premises for the SHCJ’s private school for children aged from 3 – 18 and for the pupil teachers. By 1906 the high school and pupil teacher numbers reached 105 and 66 respectively.
The Preston papers within the Provincialate archive contain several letters and accounts recording precious memories of SHCJ sisters and Winckley Square old girls. An anonymous, undated set of notes –probably a response to a request for information made by M. M. Austin in 1924 – describes the achievements alongside the idiosyncrasies of Preston SHCJ. M. Maria is remembered to have been keen to save the gas used to heat the school, ‘I once heard her say that she would haunt us if we wasted it’. Her calm management of the children is celebrated by the writer:
The parents of the children were so satisfied with the teaching of the little ones. Her control was wonderful – a tap on the window-pane with her thimble (she nearly always had sewing in her hand) was all sufficient to bring them in from the Park to the Class room.
The same account credits M. St Rita for her work introducing drawing classes and higher-level certificates. In her own reminiscences within a 1924 letter to M.M. Austin., M. St Rita humbly describes the work of her generation as ‘just throwing in rubble for the foundation of what was to come later’.
A 1946 Winckley Square production of the Pirates of Penzance.
An old girl of 1909 – 1910 recalls dancing being held each morning interval in the school hall. One sister who came to Preston in 1943 remembers the ‘vitality’ of the girls she taught English to and spirited lessons performing Shakespeare. She recounts Sister Mary Fidelis being reassured that ‘the scholastic standards of Winckley Square were being maintained’ as she checked on the class and found ‘a convincing rendering of an enraged Cleopatra’. The sister also remembers a production of the Pirates of Penzance with ‘such a lively chorus that the tunes resounded around the school’. A Winckley Square alumnus recalls the hard work and fun enjoyed around the Mid-Lent play in the 1950s which was ‘a tremendous occasion preceded by months of rehearsals’. She creates an evocative image of the work of ‘patient Mother Mary Dismas’ who ‘mouth bristling with pins, coaxed playclothes into wonderful shape around one’.
Sadly, both Emily Bowles and Lucy Woolley were to leave the Society over actions taken with property and finance in M. Emily’s case and M. Lucy’s grave disagreement with Cornelia over the Rule. Nevertheless, it is inspiring to see how the dream of an SHCJ foundation in Preston became a reality. The roots planted by M. Lucy and the early Preston sisters flourished into successful, creative and warm spirited schools.
This year I celebrate my 25th year of association with Casa Cornelia Law Center. It has been a profound journey of hard work, accomplishment, and adversity. I cherish what has become my life’s work. I remain always grateful to the Sisters of the Holy Child Jesus and everyone who has enriched my life and supported Casa Cornelia. Like many, I started my journey as a volunteer, and then became an attorney and now Executive Director. Although much has changed both at Casa Cornelia and in the world at large since I started as a volunteer, Casa Cornelia’s mission and purpose has not – we serve every day with the focus on the people.
Carmen giving a present to a client during 2019 Cornelia’s Children Toy Shop.
As I reflect on my years at Casa Cornelia, I think back to my first clients, an indigenous family from Central America. They had fled their country due to violence based on their ethnic background and perceived political opinion. Their strength and hope empowered me to prevail in their case and continue to inspire my work to this day.
In my 25 years, Casa Cornelia has grown in both size and capability. As demand and challenges continue to mount, our vision is to continue zealously answering the needs of the most vulnerable and champion their human rights. We are confident that the work we do helps make the world a better place. On behalf of all our staff and supporters, I ask your blessings and prayers for this good work to continue.
The Church and the whole global community will celebrate the 5th anniversary of Laudato Si’ from May 16-24, 2020. As part of the American Province’s celebration, a special prayer and video has been prepared for Sisters, Associates, staff, and friends, with the hope that we will all mark this anniversary and listen again to Pope Francis’ urgent call to care for Earth as our common home.
Click here to download the prayer in PDF format. Give some thought to how you will use it, on your own, or with others, perhaps virtually, as the current situation allows. You may prefer to pray it all at once (taking about 30 minutes), or spread it throughout the anniversary week. Below, you will find the video.
There is a nobility in the duty to care for creation through little daily actions.
The Society responded to Laudato Si’, Pope Francis’ encyclical on the environment and human ecology, in a number of ways. Six Sisters and two Associates wrote responses to the encyclical. You canread them here.
As part of the Society’s American Province’s celebration, a special prayer and video has been prepared for Sisters, Associates, staff, and friends, with the hope that we will all mark this anniversary and listen again to Pope Francis’ urgent call to care for Earth as our common home. You canfind that prayer here.
Also, you can bring solidarity to our world in a shared moment of prayer at noon your local time on 24 May. Click here to download the prayer.
Suzanne Glover Lindsay, historian and curator at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Philadelphia where Society of the Holy Child Jesus founder Cornelia Connelly was baptized in 1831, has written a reflection on Cornelia.
“She … accomplished enormously, teaching 20,000 in her first 2 decades, including new teachers who spread her program. Cornelia also reformed women’s education with a unique vision. She shaped a nurturing and stimulating learning world modeled on a loving home. She rejected narrow job skill training for workers and “polished” accomplishments for the privileged to instead provide for all a solid, multi-faceted education, adapting myriad sources (including Jesuit teaching) through her experience as a mother and teacher. She combined the liberal and creative arts and physical, occupational, and religious education for all social classes, customizing for practical needs and individual potential …
A form of incarnational spirituality that adapted Ignatius of Loyola’s “contemplation in action,” her vision fused the secular and sacred, body and soul, the contemplative and the active. She taught that a loving God lives and acts in us, in our world. Action, then, is prayer. The Society’s motto: Actions Not Words. Service of conscience, with respect, hope, and joy.”
Despite current circumstances, the 75th anniversary of VE day was still honoured and enjoyed this month as we reflected on the bravery of those involved in the war effort then and those tackling the pandemic now. It has been a privilege to hear in person sisters’ experiences of the Second World War from Pamela Hussey’s hazardous voyage from Argentina and role transcribing German communications to Oona Mohan’s memories of working the land. This article gives other examples of the SHCJ sisters’ war effort as well as accounts of how they cared for their pupils and each other as life became very different.
Some SHCJ, such as Laura Charlton at St Leonards and Marie Cecile Bouffandeau at Mayfield, were trained as Air Raid Precaution wardens for their schools and communities. They would help arrange adequate shelters within convent buildings, ensure gas masks were available and sound the whistle to warn of an oncoming raid. At the SHCJ Generalate in Rome, the wardens were Genevieve, Aloysius, St Luke and Amadeo. The four wardens ‘on hearing bombing or anti-aircraft guns, went to the terrazza to cope with any incendiary bombs on the roof’.
In 1995, Jane Davies recollected the air attacks on Mayfield she experienced after starting as a pupil at the Old Palace in May 1939. Initially, the passage under the concert hall was used as a night shelter for the pupils, but after October 1940 the seniors slept in the gym while the juniors were in rooms nearby. After a bomb had hit a nearby farm, ‘a group woke to find the ceiling down on top of them and windows blown in’. Jane witnessed a dramatic sight while on a walk as ‘a doodlebug [a V1] came over pursued by one of our fighter planes which was trying to shoot it down – so flat in the field we went.’
The ‘God Save the King Concert’ at the Old Palace, Mayfield, 1939.
The St Leonards-on-Sea and Combe Bank Holy Child schools hoped to find a safe haven in Torquay, Devon away from the heavily targeted South East. Hotels and houses provided accommodation and classrooms for the St Leonards girls in June 1940. The Combe Bank evacuees found buildings there in January 1941. However, by 1942, the town was subject to ‘tip and run’ raids by the Luftwaffe. In 1942 girls walking between the SHCJ’s rented buildings were caught in machine gun fire. Fortunately, they were left uninjured. On another occasion, Colette Dwyer sat admiring the sea view with her superior, when a plane fired bullets over the area. The superior ‘with great presence of mind dived with Colette under the bench’.
The sisters and girls of Combe Bank were moved to Coughton Court where they had a good relationship with the owner Lady Throckmorton. The annalist praised Coughton village which ‘stretched out its little motherly arms towards us’. Other evacuated SHCJ schools were less lucky. The owner of Hedsor proved difficult, refusing at one point to renew the lease. Girls from the Holy Rosary Parish School, Homer Row, Marylebone were taken by M Dunstan and M Hilda to Lanner, Cornwall in 1939. In this mainly Methodist area, there was some hostility to the arrival of the Catholic sisters and children. The local Catholic Church was three miles away in Redruth and the premises used to teach the girls did not permit denominational religious teaching.
Northern SHCJ communities were involved in receiving evacuated children. In preparation for 65,000 evacuees that were to arrive in Blackpool, SHCJ from Layton Hill, Talbot Road and St Kentigern’s helped organise suitable houses to billet them. When the children arrived, the nuns mostly worked by arranging them into groups to be taken to their billets with some joining the teachers and VIth Form girls who took groups of fifty to their temporary homes. As Preston received refugee families from Belgium, HCJ schools collected toys and clothes for the children.
Despite food shortages, lack of winter fuel and the continuing threat of air raids, customs of SHCJ school life went on. Woollens made for servicemen were presented at Reverend Mother’s Feasts, concerts were organised and plays performed. The Tempest, put on by the St Leonards girls, raised £50 for the Red Cross and St John’s War Organisation. Communities continued to look out for one another. The American Province sent parcels to England and Rome with sardines, tea, sugar and other treasures in short supply. When the Combe Bank children at Vane Tower in Torquay suffered a terrifying bomb attack – none were injured but glass shards fell on juniors lying in bed – the nearby St Leonards girls sent cakes and ice creams to lift their spirits.
Once Rome was liberated by the allies, the plaster over the Generalate’s SHCJ sign was removed. Servicemen and women with Holy Child connections recognised it and came to visit the community. The annalist described how the happiness of this time was like nothing else experienced because ‘what we have been through is different from anything we have known before’.
Juniors at Layton Hill in 1948
When VE Day came, SHCJ Sisters and pupils celebrated across Britain. At Cavendish Square the sisters watched from their roof ‘the peace-time rockets and bonfires, while the students sallied forth to join the crowds outside the palace’. At Mayfield the school sang and danced around a bonfire after Benediction with Te Deum in the chapel. Even the curmudgeonly landlord of Hedsor Park allowed the St Leonards community to have their own victory bonfire.
One especially meaningful contribution made by the SHCJ was their attentive support for children during and after the war. In 1995, Maureen Crook shared her memories of being a boarder at Layton Hill where she started as an 11-year-old in 1942. She remembered the kindness shown by S M Frideswide Helm to pupils separated from both parents:
The headmistress, busy with a school of some 500 girls (100 of them boarders) and the responsibility of providing for them in war-time, still found time to take under her own wing those girls, both of whose parents were involved in war-work. She took them shopping for clothes and herself adjusted the purchases.
A report of 1949 by the SHCJ Convent School in Cavendish Square describes the education given during and after the war. Most children were taken out of London during the war years, but the prep school reopened in 1942 after requests from parents. M. Ignatius and Audrey Hemelryk ran the school and there was no second closure. The report reflects upon the work required of the SHCJ as the war ended and more pupils returned to Cavendish Square:
Meeting the wants of the post-war London child has proved no easy exercise in educational practice. The most important task has seemed to us the education of happy stable persons because so many obstacles to this normal state seem to face our children.
This emphasis on children’s happiness is also evidenced by Laura Davies’ observation that the nuns at Mayfield ‘communicated to us that life was to be enjoyed as well as taken seriously’. In the hardest of times, the importance of this simple goal is brought into even sharper relief.
Ghana, West Africa – The National Union of the Holy Child Past Students Association (NUHOPSA) has done the SHCJ proud, in supporting the poor and the vulnerable in society to cushion the economic hardship brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic.
In the heat of the prolonged lockdown (April & May, 2020), brought about by the pandemic, and aware of the economic hardship some categories of families and establishments might face, the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference (GCBC) came up with a “Covid -19 Response Package Plan” and appealed to good spirited groups for support – in aid to the poor and the vulnerable in society.
In response, women proved themselves incredibly generous! They came in their various groups and among the groups was NUHOPSA – the national umbrella body of the regional branches of the Holy Child Past Students Association (HOPSA). The made their donations in materials and in cash and sang the SHCJ Anthem to the admiration of all.
Officials of NUHOPSA with cartons upon cartons of goods at the background; arrived in front of the St. Pauline’s Clinic, National Catholic Secretariat, (NCS) Accra, Ghana, Friday 22nd May, 2020.
Gabriel Charles Palmer Buckle – Archbishop of Cape Coast and Vice President of the GCBC and the NCS Secretary General, Rev. Fr. Lazarus Anondee were on hand to receive them.
NUHOPSA National President, Mrs. Ekua Asor Anyimadu-Antwi making a brief speech before the donation.
Archbishop Buckle acknowledges receipt of the goods while the Secretary General looks on.
Hand-washing apparatus popularly known as Veronica Buckets.
A television program on AIT African Independent Television recently featured Sr. Dr. Chika Eze, SHCJ. Click on the 28 minute mark in the video below to watch her.
She is a senior lecturer in Veritas University, Abuja, Nigeria.
The Season of Creation then begins on September 1 to October 4, the Feast of St Francis of Assisi. 2.2 billion Christians are united for this worldwide celebration of prayer and action to protect our common home. You, too, can join them! As followers of Christ from around the globe, we share a common responsibility as caretakers of God’s creation. Our human wellbeing is interwoven with the wellbeing of our planet. This year, the theme for the season is “Jubilee for the Earth”.
St Francis of Assisi reminds us that our common home is like a sister with whom we share our life, and a beautiful mother who opens her arms to embrace us…..This sister now cries out to us because of the harm we have inflicted on her by our irresponsible use and abuse of the goods with which God has endowed her….The violence present in our hearts, wounded by sin, is also reflected in the symptoms of sickness evident in the soil, in the water, in the air and in all forms of life. This is why the earth herself, burdened and laid waste, is among the most abandoned and maltreated of our poor….We have forgotten that we ourselves are dust of the earth; our very bodies are made up of her elements, we breathe her air and we receive life and refreshment from her waters. Pope Francis Laudato Si 1 and 2
SEASON OF CREATION SEPTEMBER 2
St Francis is the example par excellence of care for the vulnerable and of an integral ecology lived out joyfully and authentically. He is the patron saint of all who study and work in the area of ecology and he is also much loved by non-Christians. He was particularly concerned for God’s creation and for the poor and outcast. He loved and was deeply loved for his joy, his generous self- giving, his openheartedness. He was a mystic and a pilgrim who lived in simplicity and in wonderful harmony with God, with others, with nature and with himself. He shows us just how inseparable the bond is between concern for nature, justice for the poor, commitment to society and interior peace. Pope Francis Laudato Si 10
SEASON OF CREATION SEPTEMBER 3
The urgent challenge to protect our common home includes a concern to bring the whole human family together to seek a sustainable and integral development, for we know that things can change. The Creator does not abandon us ; he never forsakes his loving plan or repents of having created us. Humanity still has the ability to work together in building our common home. Pope Francis Laudato Si 13
SEASON OF CREATION SEPTEMBER 4
Access to safe drinkable water is a basic and universal human right, since it is essential to human survival, and, as such, is a condition for the exercise of other human rights. Our world has a grave social debt towards the poor who lack access to drinking water because they are denied the right to a life consistent with their inalienable dignity…..Acute water shortages may occur within a few decades unless urgent action is taken. The environmental repercussions could affect billions of people; it is also conceivable that the control of water by large multinational businesses may become a major source of conflict in this century. Pope Francis Laudato Si 30
SEASON OF CREATION SEPTEMBER 5
The earth’s resources are being plundered because of short-[sighted approaches to the economy, commerce and production…….Each year sees the disappearance of thousands of plant and animals species which we will never know, which our children will never see, because they have been lost forever. The great majority become extinct for reasons related to human activity. Because of us thousands of species will no longer give glory to God by their very existence, nor convey their message to us. We have no such right. Pope Francis Laudato Si 33
SEASON OF CREATION SEPTEMBER 6
The deterioration of the environment and of society affects the most vulnerable people on the planet…..yet they are the majority of the planet’s population, billions of people… they frequently remain at the bottom of the pile. This is due partly to the fact that many professionals, opinion makers, communications media and centres of power, being located in affluent urban areas, are far removed from the poor with little direct contact with their problems….Today we have to realise that a true ecological approach always becomes a social approach…so as to hear both the cry of earth and the cry of the poor. Pope Francis Laudato Si 49
SEASON OF CREATION SEPTEMBER 7
The creation accounts in the book of Genesis contain, in their own symbolic and narrative language, profound teachings about human existence and its historical reality. They suggest that human life is grounded in three fundamental and closely intertwined relationships: with God, with our neighbour and with earth itself. According to the Bible, these three vital relationships have been broken both outwardly and within us. This rupture is sin. ….today sin is manifest in all its destructive power in wars, the various forms of violence and abuse, the abandonment of the most vulnerable and attacks on nature. Pope Francis Laudato Si 66
SEASON OF CREATION SEPTEMBER 8
A sense of deep communion with the rest of nature cannot be real if our hearts lack tenderness, compassion and concern for our fellow human beings. ….Everything is connected. Concern for the environment thus needs to be joined to a sincere love for our fellow human beings and an unwavering commitment to resolving the problems of society…Everything is related and we human beings are united as brothers and sisters on a wonderful pilgrimage, woven together by the love God has for each of his creatures and which also unites us in fond affection with brother sun, sister moon, brother river and mother earth. Pope Francis Laudato Si 91
SEASON OF CREATION SEPTEMBER 9
In talking to his disciples Jesus would invite them to recognise the paternal relationship God has with all his creatures. With moving tenderness he would remind them that each one of them is important in God’s eyes. …The Lord was able to invite others to be attentive to the beauty that there is in the world because he himself was in constant touch with nature, lending it an attention full of fondness and wonder. As he made his way throughout the land, he often stopped to contemplate the beauty sown by his Father and invited his disciples to perceive a divine message in things: “Lift up your eyes and see how the fields are already white for harvest…”
Pope Francis Laudato Si 97
SEASON OF CREATION SEPTEMBER 10
A certain way of understanding human life and activity has gone awry….Humanity has entered a new era in which our technical prowess has brought us to a crossroads….our immense technological development has not been accompanied by a development in human responsibility, values and conscience….Human beings and material objects no longer extend a friendly hand to one another; the relationship has become confrontational. This has made it easy to accept the idea of unlimited growth which proves so attractive to economists, financiers and experts in technology. It is based on the lie that there is an infinite supply of earth’s goods and this leads to the planet being squeezed dry beyond limit. Pope Francis Laudato Si 106
SEASON OF CREATION SEPTEMBER 11
When we fail to acknowledge as part of reality the worth of a poor person, a human embryo, a person with disabilities – to offer just a few examples – it becomes difficult to hear the cry of nature itself; everything is connected. Once the human being declares independence from reality and behaves with absolute dominion, the very foundations of our life begin to crumble…There can be no renewal of our relationship with nature without a renewal of humanity itself.
Pope Francis Laudato Si 117
SEASON OF CREATION SEPTEMBER 12
We should not be surprised to find… the rise of a relativism which sees everything as irrelevant unless it serves one’s own immediate interests…. Relativism is the same disorder which drives one person to take advantage of another, to treat others as mere objects, imposing forced labour on them or enslaving them to pay their debts. The same kind of thinking leads to the sexual exploitation of children and abandonment of the elderly who no longer serve our interests….justifies buying the organs of the poor for resale or use in experimentation, or eliminating children because they are not what their parents wanted. This same “use and throw away” logic generates so much waste because of the disordered desire to consume more than what is really necessary. Pope Francis Laudato Si 123
SEASON OF CREATION SEPTEMBER 13
When we speak of the “environment” what we really mean is a relationship existing between nature and the society which lives in it. Nature cannot be regarded as something separate from ourselves or as a mere setting in which we live. We are part of nature…We are not faced with two separate crises, one environmental and the other social, but rather one complex crisis which is both social and environmental. Strategies for a solution demand an integral approach to combating poverty, restoring dignity to the excluded and at the same time protecting nature.
Pope Francis Laudato Si 139
SEASON OF CREATION SEPTEMBER 14
It is essential to show special care for indigenous communities and their cultural traditions. …For them, land is not a commodity but a gift from God and from their ancestors who rest there, a sacred space with which they need to interact if they are to maintain their identity and values. When they remain on their land they themselves care for it best. Nevertheless in various part so the world, pressure is being put upon them to abandon their homelands to make room for agricultural or mining projects which are undertaken without regard for the degradation of nature and culture. Pope Francis Laudato Si 146
SEASON OF CREATION SEPTEMBER 15
Lack of housing is a grave problem in many parts of the world, both in rural areas and in large cities…Not only the poor, but many other members of society as well, find it difficult to own a home. Having a home has much to do with a sense of personal dignity and the growth of families. This is a major issue for human ecology.
SEASON OF CREATION SEPTEMBER 16
Society as a whole and the state in particular, are obliged to defend and promote the common good….In the present condition of global society, where injustices abound and growing numbers of people are deprived of basic human rights and considered expendable, the principle of the common good immediately becomes a summons to solidarity and a preferential option for the poorest of our brothers and sisters….This option is in fact an ethical imperative essential for attaining the common good. Pope Francis Laudato Si 158
SEASON OF CREATION SEPTEMBER 17
The common good also extends to future generations….Once we start to think about the kind of world we are leaving to future generations we look at things differently; we realise that the world is a gift which we have freely received and must share with others. …What kind of world do we want to leave to those who come after us, to children who are growing up now? When we ask ourselves what kind of world we want to leave behind we think in the first place of its general direction, its meaning and its values. Unless we struggle with these deeper issues I do not believe that our concern for ecology will produce significant results. Pope Francis Laudato Si 160
SEASON OF CREATION SEPTEMBER 18
What is the purpose of our life in this world? Why are we here? What is the goal of our work and all our efforts? What need does the earth have of us?….Leaving an inhabitable planet to future generations is first and foremost up to us…for it has to do with the ultimate meaning of our earthly sojourn. We may well be leaving to coming generations debris, desolation and filth. The pace of consumption, waste and environmental change has so stretched the planet’s capacity that our contemporary lifestyle, unsustainable as it is, can only precipitate catastrophes such as those which even now periodically occur in different areas of the world. Pope Francis Laudato Si 161
SEASON OF CREATION SEPTEMBER 19
Beginning in the last century…there has been a growing conviction that our planet is a homeland and that humanity is one people living in a common home. …A global consensus is essential for confronting the deeper problems which cannot be resolved by unilateral actions on the part of individual countries. Such a consensus could lead, for example to planning a sustainable and diversified agriculture, developing renewable and less polluting forms of energy, encouraging a more efficient use of energy, promoting a better management of marine and forest resources, and ensuring universal access to drinking water. Pope Francis Laudato Si 164
SEASON OF CREATION SEPTEMBER 20
Worldwide the ecological movement has made significant advances thanks to the efforts of many organizations of civil society…environmental questions have increasingly found a place on public agendas…This notwithstanding, recent World Summits on the environment have not lived up to expectations because, due to lack of political will, they were unable to reach truly meaningful and effective global agreements on the environment…International negotiations cannot make significant progress due to positions taken by countries which place their national interests above the global common good. Pope Francis Laudato Si 166
SEASON OF CREATION SEPTEMBER 21
The twenty-first century, whilst maintaining systems of governance inherited from the past, is witnessing a weakening of the power of nation states, chiefly because the economic and financial sectors, being transnational, tends to prevail over the political. ..To manage the global economy; to revive economies hit by the crisis; …to bring about integral and timely disarmament, food security and peace; to guarantee the protection of the environment and to regulate migration there is an urgent need of a true world political authority. Pope Francis Laudato Si 175
SEASON OF CREATION SEPTEMBER 22
Is it realistic to hope that those who are obsessed with maximising profits will stop to reflect on the environmental damage which they will leave behind for future generations? Where profits alone count, there can be no thinking about the rhythms of nature, its phases of decay and regeneration, or the complexity of ecosystems which may be gravely upset by human intervention. Moreover, biodiversity is considered at most a deposit of economic resources available for exploitation, with no serious thought for the real value of things, their significance for persons and cultures, or the concerns and needs of the poor. Pope Francis Laudato Si 190
SEASON OF CREATION SEPTEMBER 23
The majority of people living on our planet profess to be believers. This should spur religions to dialogue among themselves for the sake of protecting nature, defending the poor and building networks of respect and fraternity. Pope Francis Laudato Si 201
SEASON OF CREATION SEPTEMBER 24
Many things have to change course, but it is we human beings above all who need to change. We lack an awareness of our common origin, of our mutual belonging and of a future to be shared with everyone…. Since the market tends to promote extreme consumerism…people can easily get caught in a whirlwind of needless buying and spending…When people become self-centred and self-enclosed their greed increases. The emptier a person’s heart is, the more he or she needs things to buy, own and consume. ..a genuine sense of the common good also disappears…Obsession with a consumerist lifestyle, above all when few people are capable of maintaining it, can only lead to violence and mutual destruction. Pope Francis Laudato Si 204
SEASON OF CREATION SEPTEMBER 25
All is not lost. Human beings, while capable of the worst, are also capable of rising above themselves, choosing again what is good, and making a new start, despite their mental and social conditioning. We are able to take an honest look at ourselves, to acknowledge our deep dissatisfaction and to embark on new paths to authentic freedom. No system can completely suppress our openness to what is good, true and beautiful, or our God-given ability to respond to his grace at work deep in our hearts. I appeal to everyone throughout the world not to forget this dignity which is ours. Pope Francis Laudato Si 205
SEASON OF CREATION SEPTEMBER 26
It is wonderful how education can bring about real changes in lifestyle. Education in environmental responsibility can encourage ways of acting which directly and significantly affect the world around us, such as avoiding the use of plastic and paper, reducing water consumption, separating refuse, cooking only what can reasonably be consumed, showing care for other living beings, using public transport or car-pooling, planting trees, turning off unnecessary lights, or any number of other practices. Pope Francis Laudato Si 211
SEASON OF CREATION SEPTEMBER 27
I would like to offer Christians a few suggestions for an ecological spirituality grounded in the convictions of our faith….such a spirituality can motivate us to a more passionate concern for the protection of the world….this conversion calls for…gratitude, a recognition that the world is God’s loving gift….a loving awareness that we are not disconnected from the rest of creatures, but joined in a splendid universal communion… Pope Francis Laudato Si 220
SEASON OF CREATION SEPTEMBER 28
Those who enjoy more and live better each moment are those who have given up dipping here and there, always on the look -out for what they do not have. They experience what it means to appreciate each person and each thing, learning familiarity with the simplest things and how to enjoy them. So they are able to shed their unsatisfied needs, reducing their obsessiveness and weariness. Even living on little they can live a lot, above all when they cultivate other pleasures and find satisfaction in fraternal encounters, in service, in developing their gifts, in music and art, in contact with nature and in prayer. Pope Francis Laudato Si 223
SEASON OF CREATION SEPTEMBER 29
No one can cultivate a sober and satisfying life without being at peace with him or herself….Inner peace is closely related to care for ecology and for the common good because, lived out authentically, it is reflected in a balanced lifestyle together with a capacity for wonder which takes us to a deeper understanding of life. Nature is filled with words of love, but how can we listen to them amid constant noise, interminable and nerve-wracking distractions, or the cult of appearances. Pope Francis Laudato Si 225
SEASON OF CREATION SEPTEMBER 30
We are speaking of an attitude of heart, one which approaches life with serene attentiveness, which is capable of being fully present to someone…which accepts each moment as a gift from God to be lived to the full. Jesus taught us this attitude when he invited us to contemplate the lilies of the field and the birds of the air….He was completely present to everyone and to everything and in this way he showed us the way to overcome that unhealthy anxiety which makes us superficial, aggressive and compulsive consumers. Pope Francis Laudato Si 226
SEASON OF CREATION OCTOBER 1
One expression of this attitude (of heart) is when we stop and give thanks to God before and after meals. I ask all believers to return to this beautiful and meaningful custom. That moment of blessing, however brief, reminds us of our dependence on God for life; it strengthens our feeling of gratitude for the gifts of creation; it acknowledges those who by their labours provide us with these goods; and it affirms our solidarity with those in greatest need. Pope Francis Laudato Si 227
SEASON OF CREATION OCTOBER 2
It is in the Eucharist that all that has been created finds its greatest exaltation….Joined to the Incarnate Son, present in the Eucharist, the whole cosmos gives thanks to God. Indeed the Eucharist is itself an act of cosmic love….The world which came forth from God’s hands returns to him in blessed and undivided adoration….The Eucharist is also a source of light and motivation for our concerns for the environment, directing us to be stewards of all creation. Pope Francis Laudato Si 236
SEASON OF CREATION OCTOBER 3
We come together to take charge of this home which has been entrusted to us…Let us sing as we go. May our struggles and our concern for this planet never take away the joy of our hope. God, who calls us to generous commitment and to give him our all, offers us the light and strength needed to continue on our way. In the heart of this world the Lord of Life, who loves us so much, is always present. He does not abandon us, he does not leave us alone, for he has united himself definitively to our earth, and his love constantly impels us to find new ways forward. Praise be to him! Pope Francis Laudato Si 245
SEASON OF CREATION OCTOBER 4: FEAST OF ST FRANCIS OF ASSISI
We read in the Gospel that Jesus says of the birds of the air that “not one of them is forgotten before God.” How then can we possibly mistreat them or cause them harm? I ask all Christians to recognise and to live fully this dimension of their conversion. May the power and light of the graced we have received also be evident in our relationship to other creatures and to the world around us. In this way we will help nurture that sublime fraternity with all creation which St Francis of Assisi so radiantly embodied. Pope Francis Laudato Si 221
“A Long and Winding Road”: Excerpts from an interview with Rogerr Oliva by John Geis
Rogerr’s (CRSM ’13 NIU ’19) journey to graduation from Northern Illinois University (NIU) involved enough twists, turns to discourage any driver. But Rogerr (yes, two Rs) is not like most. The course of his academic career belies his abilities, much less his persistence.
You wanted to go to NIU even before high school, so it worked out as planned…
[smiling] Not exactly. My grades at CRSM were unimpressive. The fact is, I drifted through my first two years at CRSM. In my Junior year, I began to realize that my friends were doing great things, and that motivated me. Thanks to the Counseling Department, I got a break and was accepted through NIU’s Chance Program. In my first year, I received the Chance Award for a high GPA.
And the rest, as they say, is history.
[laughing] Well, it’s more complicated than that. I then worked really hard to get the grades needed to enter NIU’s College of Business. But soon after getting accepted, I realized I didn’t fit. I was disheartened. I had “wasted” all this time, money, and effort. That’s when I got my second break. The director of the Operations Management and Information Systems Department recognized my abilities in “tech” and offered me a spot. So, I started over. It was a perfect fit. It took me six years, but here I am, full-time at Discover Financial, teaching people how to function within a software development framework. I guess sometimes it’s ok to not know what to do because that means there’s something exciting out there waiting for you.
The “JAMAS” as we fondly call our predecessors, Josephine Asoloko, Anastasia Kommeh, Maureen Abadom, Angela Odoh and Sharon Iorapuu, radiated with celestial bliss as they processed to the altar of God on 14th September, 2020 to make temporary profession of vows to God. It was a long-awaited day for them and a dream fulfilled and so like King David, they danced amidst gladness and joy.
The newly professed and the Province Leader Sr. Helen Ebede.
They were the first to receive the “canonical blessing” of Sr. Helen Ebede, our Province Leader, who took over the leadership position on 14th August, 2020, exactly a month from the SHCJ African Province Leadership Team hand-over ceremony. Was it a coincidence? Was it planned that way? One would think that since it was Sr. Helen’s first time of receiving vows, there could be some hitches here and there. No! She did it so excellently as if she had been a province leader from childhood.
Prior to the D-Day, the night of 13th September, which we call, “parents’ night’, prayers were offered for the sisters to be professed and the parents were enlightened more about the life their daughters were embarking on, and they were given opportunity to ask questions about the religious life. We did not invite the children choir neither did we invite any other group nor individuals. Only three members from each family of the “JAMAS” were invited. However, three out of the five families were able to send in their representatives as they live closely. Some of the parents who came gladly stood in as parents for the other two as we now belong to one large family of God. The novices and the organist, Mr. Augustine Chibueze, prepared seriously for the singing.
The liturgical celebration was presided over by Msgr. Cletus Gotan, with nine co-celebrating priests; In fact, some were not invited but as they wore their wedding garments, they were welcomed to the banquet.
As the procession began, the “JAMAS” filled with gladness, matched majestically with dancing steps that rhyme to the rhythm of the processional and entrance hymns to the temple of God and closely accompanied by Sr. Helen Ebede, Sr. Veronica Ufomba; the Novice Director, and the priests. The master of ceremony, Sr. Chinyere Oliobi welcomed all and sundry whilst briefly explaining the history of the Society of the Holy Child Jesus. After the Liturgy of the Word, it felt so apt for Sr. Helen to perform her first canonical duty as the Province Leader by receiving the vows and investing them with the emblem of the Society. The heavenly hosts came down, joined us and sang with us, and we sang as melodiously as we never did before. The liturgical celebration came to an end and the vows were signed after the post communion hymn.
Sr. Margaret Ogunlade, coordinated the reception session. There were prayers and ushering in of the newly professed by the novices. The novices made a rendition of welcome songs, and all made merry. As it is customary to SHCJ, African Province, a fun-filled social night was organized where the families of the newly professed, the Sisters and the novices presented their various cultures, mostly with dance, riddles and jokes. There was light refreshment and this brought the ceremony of the profession to a successful and joyful end.
In all, the ceremony was fantastic and superb and we thank God for the good weather and for making the program a success. May God bless the newly professed and give them the graces they need in the journey they have begun.
Long live the Society of the Holy Child Jesus and congratulations to all!!!
The Newly Professed and their formators Srs Veronica Ufomba and Emelda Okolo.
