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Ursuline Newsletter4045 Indian Road, Toledo, OH • Vol. 43 No. 9 • October 2019

“Living in holy relationship, a contemplative presence in an ever changing world.”

Reflections from Sr. Sandy

Feast of St. Ursula, Missioning, Renewal of Vows & Commitment

Sunday, October 20, 201911:00 a.m. Liturgy followed by Dinner

If you plan to stay for Dinner, please RSVP to Val by Friday, October 11.

Sisters and Associates are Invited

We all know what it is like to go away while leaving much unfinished behind, and to return to home to a week or more of playing catch up. I am at the end of one of those weeks having been away in retreat, but when I sat down to prayer this morning, the first words that moved from my heart to my mind and outward were “Thank you.” Thank you, God, for all those who take up where I leave off and help me fill in the gaps when I return. Thank you for my faith that allows me to trust and to know deep down that nothing depends totally upon me alone and that all depends ultimately upon you. And thank you for keeping me going at full speed this past Monday through Thursday but giving me the grace to take time out of Friday to join in an interfaith, non-violent, non-partisan gathering at a Peace Pole and a march around the Courthouse with particular focus on climate consciousness. This solidarity action got me out of the office long enough to broaden my focus and surprisingly cleared my mind to return to my desk and finish the tasks needed for a week of meetings and gatherings ahead.

I find the descriptive phrase, “in retreat,” interesting because in my own experience, no one and no thing close to my heart is ever very far away. Rather, I place them in a pocket of my heart so that my every heartbeat gently rocks them while I am away. My director wisely picked that up when she read my pre-retreat response to her email asking me what I wanted to focus on during the time away. Not having to even think about it, I immediately responded with, “Well, let me tell you what is going on…” So in our very first session the day of my arrival, she presented me with a copy of Christopher Pramuk’s Hope Sings, So Beautiful: Graced Encounters Across the Color Line. Interestingly enough, I chose to bring with me for bedtime and in-between reading, the most recent Kindle book I downloaded, Helen Prejean’s eightieth birthday memoir, River of Fire.

I expected Pramuk’s writing to be theological, artistic, and soul-inspiring. He did not disappoint me. I did not expect Prejean’s memoir to be relatively light, at times

downright funny, and a trip down memory lane. It took me back through my own journey of personal and spiritual struggle and growth in consecrated life, to the present, a place which I never expected and yet embrace. The intersection of the two books was neither my director’s nor my doing. It was God’s, as often happens in both times of retreat and daily lived reality.

Now that the Sisters in Port Huron no longer had a house in which we can stay, Maria and I had been renting a darling lighthouse bungalow, one block from the lighthouse beach, the Coast Guard, and Homeland Security. Across Lake Huron, connected to Port Huron by a bridge is Sarnia, Canada. I spent the first hour of every morning on the beach in the presence of the sunrise which for two days was present but not visible, just like God. On one of those days, the lake seemed almost angry, as did the wind. The next day was more calm, but just as bleak and gray. On those days there were no seagulls that usually

Reflections from Sr. Sandy, continued

arrive with first light, no fishing boats, and no apparent police boats. Even the lighthouse remained unlit, knocked out by a storm which passed

through overnight. On those days, I felt utterly alone, except for the light on my phone with which I took photos and the glimmer of God within. I was also present to those back home who are going through dark times. On the days when the sun peeked over Sarnia, the seagulls arrived, the fishermen threw out their lines, and the police boat covered its checkpoints, I felt accompanied and surrounded by life awakening. But I could not help but wonder who, in desperation, might be hiding from the police boat and the many checkpoints on the border crossing bridges visible across the horizon.

One of Pramuk’s first crossings came when he took his mostly white, all-boys’ choir from the Jesuit high school where he taught into the central city to practice with the all-girl African American choir at the church where he was the music minister. And for one night, the spell-binding performance the ONE choir gave made all the parents and families present ONE as well. His predominate and life-changing crossing came when he and his wife, with two children of their own, adopted two children from Haiti. One particular moment that struck him was when his adopted son was playing on the beach and noticed the sunset over the water. The child turned toward it, sippy cup in hand, and began to joyously sway and circle around, chanting either in childhood babble or as Pramuk described it, perhaps a forgotten “mother tongue.” Deep inside each of us is a mother tongue that speaks the language of our Creator, the language of a love that loves all equally. Too often today, we forget it when we hear and speak the language of fear, anger, hate, and difference across the aisles and borders we encounter.

One of Prejean’s first crossings came early in life with the servants who worked for her family in New Orleans. It was not a complete crossing, however, for she grew up thinking that the differences that separated her family from the servants were as they were supposed to be. Her predominate change came when she naively proposed to establish a camp in the country for predominately white middle class teenagers for the purpose of teaching them social justice and skills of encounter for service in

the inner city. Her well-meant but unrealistic proposal was shot down even by her best friend in community. Instead, it was suggested that she move to the inner city herself, and taking on the role of “student,” encounter the residents in person. Her books Dead Man Walking and The Death of Innocents tell the rest of the story.

I can name many points of encounter from my childhood through early adulthood where my reach across the border excluded my feet. I was not ready to stand there. My predominate point of crossing began with one dark time of my own, but it took me on a journey of unwrapping Mary’s words to Gabriel, “Be it done to me according to your word.” When we land in places not of our own choosing and the world around us appears sunless and angry, it is not God’s anger that has brought us to that place, but the glimmer of God within that can use that darkness and that place to help us step over to a side of life and deep encounter with persons we may otherwise never have met.

If you ever watch CBS Evening News, you may now and then catch Steve Hartman’s “On the Road” series with stories that warm your heart. Nearing the end of writing this, I caught one about the friendship between Arletha, a bus driver in Jacksonville, FL and Anna, a 5-year-old girl with a progressive neurological disorder. “I mean, I may have a bad morning, but once I see her, it’s different,” Arletha said. Anna’s parents noticed the deep connection between their daughter and her bus driver when during one of Anna’s hospital stays, Arletha stopped by on her route to ask how Anna was doing. She honored Anna by throwing her a princess birthday on the bus and, most recently, asked her to be the flower girl in her wedding. By doing so, she also fulfilled a mother’s dream to one day see her daughter go down the aisle at a wedding and a father’s dream to dance with his daughter. Steve Hartman’s telling of the story placed two unlikely friends in the heart pockets of many. His weekly stories have a way of inviting us to complete our own border crossings by placing our feet on the other side.

If you want to be inspired by music, poetry, and a deep theology of crossing borders, read Christopher Pramuk’s book. If you want to lightly and sometimes humorously tread the story of the transformation of a child who grew up thinking she had to know and excel in everything into a woman who, knowing her God, works diligently to free the unjustly incarcerated and accompanies those whom society condemns to death, read Helen Prejean’s. Then, to quote Walter Burghardt, SJ, in an available moment of contemplation, “take a long and loving look at the real” boundaries in your own life, in both the darkness and the light times. And give thanks to God.

Holding the World in Prayer

Holding the World in Prayer will take place Monday, October 7, at 1:15 p.m. in the Ursuline Center Chapel. Sr. M. Helaine Ehrman and Sr. Mary Ellen Nagle are planning the Holy Hour and the theme is “Prayer and Creation.”

Please come pray with us. All are welcome.

Litany of Gratitude (Please respond: “We thank you, Lord”)

h For science that searches the depths of matter...

h For the humanities that ennoble our understanding...

h For theology that gives us insight into God... h For worship that situates us rightly in God’s

presence...

Piano Lab Introduced at St. Ursula Academy

The Chair of the Music Department, Kristina Perna, has introduced a new program into the Music Curriculum at St. Ursula Academy. The class is called Class Piano and it takes place in a new Piano Lab.

The lab consists of ten Yamaha digital student pianos and one digital teacher piano, each with a headset and microphone. Students who have never played before may be in the lab with students who have had some experience. The teacher can assign students to play or practice individually, with a partner or in small groups – all at the same time. The students can also be in contact with each other.

Amazingly, with the headsets, much can be going on in the lab without ever hearing a note played aloud. Mrs. Perna taught this program at Bowling Green State University as part of her Graduate program and her Master’s thesis had to do with researching high schools that have used this program. She found that this was not very common among larger schools as an orchestra was more in line. So, this seems appropriate for St. Ursula Academy. With the piano lab, students could be assigned to follow a trumpet line or a flute line of a musical piece and make it all blend together like an orchestra with a musical beat or background to the piece.

The Piano Lab is popular and well liked by the students. Funding came from ASP (Auxiliary Services Program).

Reminder: If you need greeting cards there are many located in the Convent Offices work room that you are free to use.

Trasma or Frost

I took the road less traveled and that made the difference.

Associate News by Chrissy Rode

The 2019-2020 school year started off with construction - this time around the perimeter of the building. In order to separate completely the softball diamond from the soccer field, what had once been a parking lot was broken up to make way for a new field and dugouts. To compensate for the lost parking spots, new spaces were created beside the Iott wing and behind the field house. Fresh landscaping accented by deep black mulch frames the walkways, creating a welcoming atmosphere for the hundreds of visitors who joined students and faculty for conferences, sporting events, and the all-important eighth grade Visitation.

September 25th and 26th brought excitement to Indian Road in the form of young girls from the Diocese of Toledo seeking to finalize their decisions regarding high school. Over 200 young ladies toured the school, interacted with teachers, and observed a spirited pep assembly showcasing our sports and clubs. The lively week is designed to convey the essence of our 165-year-old institution to the Toledo community and has been dubbed the academy’s students “the second funnest week of the year” - after Intramurals, of course.

Naturally, the opening of every school year ushers in the most jam-packed sports season, as St. Ursula soccer and volleyball continue to

dominate their leagues. In addition, the golf, tennis, and cross country teams - not to mention the crew - provide ample opportunity to see the Arrows in action. In fact, one Friday night soccer game was played at St. Francis de Sales in front of a packed stadium, a roaring crowd which proved the increasing significance of women’s athletics, all the way down to the high school level.

Finally, every autumn at St. Ursula culminates in the school’s most elegant evening: Serata di Gala.

This year’s event will be held on Saturday, November 2nd at the Pinnacle in Maumee. A silent auction, a raffle, and a paddle drive for scholarships will take place, but this year the spotlight will, once again, be cast upon a host of honorees. Anne-Marie Nachtrab Ainsworth, our outgoing Board Chair, will receive the Alumna Achievement Award; John Szuch, an esteemed Toledo business leader, will be presented with the Sr. Kathleen Padden Leadership Award; and St. Ursula’s very own theology teacher, Mark Dubielak, will receive the Humanitas Award, along with his daughter, Katherine Dubielak ‘13, and Abigail Dudek ‘13 in honor of their bringing the Labre Project to the Toledo community. For tickets please contact Val @ vmyers@ursulinecenter.org or 419-536-9587. The cost is $85 per person.

News from the UNOctober 2 - International Day of Nonviolence marks the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi. The day is an opportunity to reaffirm the universal relevance of the principle of nonviolence and the desire to secure a culture of peace, tolerance, understanding, and nonviolence.

October 11 - International Day of the Girl Child is celebrated annually to highlight issues concerning the gender inequality facing young girls.

October 16 - World Food Day will focus on achieving #ZeroHunger by 2030.

October 17 - International Day for the Eradication of Poverty celebrates the 30th anniversary of the adoption of the Convention of the Rights of the Child.

From the LCWR Update - October 2019

Upcoming Associate Events

Cider and Donuts Social - Saturday, October 5, 2 - 3 p.m., Ursuline Center Dining Room.

TAANG Sewing Day in Tiffin - Saturday, October 19.

Feast of St. Ursula, Missioning, Renewal of Vows & Commitment - Sunday, October 20, 11 a.m. followed by dinner, Ursuline Center.

Elf Party - Saturday, December 14, Ursuline Center.

TAANG Retreat - March 21, 2020.

Associate Commitment CeremonySr. Claudia has mentored two people who are ready

to become Associates. Anne Sandalls and Rebecca Mehring will make their commitment to be Ursuline Associates on Monday, October 14 at the 11:15 a.m. daily Mass. Sisters and Associates are encouraged to attend to welcome them. Anyone wishing to stay for lunch afterward in the Ursuline Center dining room should send RSVP to Val Myers in the Ursuline Convent offices by Thursday, October 3.

September 14, 2019 All Associates Meeting Notes

Our meeting began with a prayer used at the Ursuline Convocation in St. Louis in July. Sister Carol Reamer and five Associates were present at the Convocation.

Since we have been attending the Saturday morning Reflections in the Ursuline Center chapel this year, we discussed how we like them. Joining the Ursulines in prayer and spiritual growth is a vital part of our mission, so we agreed that we want to continue to attend. Some comments on the current presentation format: Having a visual of some kind, whether something on a screen or a paper handout would be very helpful in focusing our attention. Suggestions for future programs:

1) listening/viewing the speakers from the LCWR meeting this summer 2) DVD resources in the Ursuline office

3) Spiritual presentations on YouTube4) Resources from the Diocese. We agreed to contact Sr. Mary Jo Szpila about this.

Mary Obert asked for advice on making calls to those who do not read the email Communications Tape. The group suggested that she call soon with the news of the first 3 events listed above, and then call again the second week in October with news of the rest of October’s events. Sarah asked Mary to report at each meeting on how calls are going.

Barb Torio sent news of networking growing out of the Convocation.

We discussed offering more All Associate Meetings at alternate times since some cannot attend on Saturday morning. The potluck on a Monday at 4 p.m. in June was well attended. It seems best to let those who can’t come on Saturday plan these meetings, or at least choose the time and place. Please contact Sarah or Barb with plans or suggestions.

Before we adjourned to attend the Reflection in the chapel, our meeting ended with another prayer used at the Convocation:

O God, Lover of us all, open our hearts to the vision and inspiration we need today.May we be grounded in Angela as we continue to enflesh her spirit in our world.

Respectfully submitted by Sarah Abts

October 24 - United Nations Day marks the 74th anniversary of the entry into force in 1945 of the United Nations Charter. With the ratification of this founding document by the majority of its signatories, including the five permanent members of the Security Council, the United Nations officially came into being.

Greetings from Bakersfield

HOPE. Hoping for Fall weather as I sit here drinking my pumpkin spice latte. Hoping for peace in the world. Hoping for peace in our cities, homes and schools. Somedays hope can elude me if I focus on all the problems in the world. Then Jesus reminds me to focus on what I can do for my little part of the world.

We had our first Associates meeting after our summer break and we were given a large dose of hope. Our speakers gave us an update on a project called Casa Esperanza, a transitional home for women with children. It is being based in a home in Los Angeles called Alexandria House. This home has been successfully helping homeless women and children for 22 years. The goal of both homes is “homelessness to sustainability.” They house six to seven families per year. It is not a drug or alcohol rehab program. They provide a large daycare for the children so women can go back to school or get a job and reenter society with the support of all the women in the home. They all have chores to keep the house clean, and they cook for all the people in the home and learn the skills to manage a home of their own. The transitional process provides basic needs, a safe family environment, an accepting and affirming environment, and accountability and on-going support. In every aspect of its operation is the concept of recognition of the inherent dignity and personal worth of the resident’s women and children. Casa Esperanza is designed to facilitate in residents an awareness of their own abilities and to acquire the relational and job readiness skills necessary for employment with sustainable wage and accompanying benefits. Breaking the cycle of homelessness not only benefits the women but also their children.

This whole concept for the transitional home in Bakersfield was the idea of two of our own Ursulines, Joan Keavy and Alice Reis. Several years of planning have gone into this project and the hope is to have a home by 2020. The Board of Directors will be happy to share this plan with any town or community to help them start their own transitional home.

Our Associates will take up a collection at each of our meetings to help in our own small way.

HOPE. One small idea or action at a time done with great love. I think St. Angela would be proud.

Blessings,Mary Richard

With Gratitude

Dear Associates,

Thank you, thank you for the wonderful “inside” picnic on August 10. Food and friends are a great combination. All the service was absolutely wonderful, too.

God’s blessings are on all you generous people.

Sr. Liz Brell

Thank you for helping us celebrate 65 years as an Ursuline Sister and letting us be a part of your lives. We are grateful to all of you. May we continue living the charism of Angela and go on holding each other in prayer.

Sister Regina and Sister Beth

Catholic Leaders Demand an End to Child and Family Detention

A coalition of 14 Catholic national organizations has launched a campaign to pressure the Trump administration and Congress to end the policies and practices that routinely traumatize immigrant children, particularly the policy of child and family detention.

LCWR executive director Carol Zinn, SSJ, says, “The long history Catholic Sisters have had as immigrant communities themselves to this country and the two centuries of presence and ministry to the most vulnerable of God’s People prompt us to act now - to stand here and stay here until our faith and our values are respected and reverenced.”

Barbara Decker Fedynich, MMC ’73; wife of Deacon Robert Fedynich, Blessed Sacrament Parish ~ August 26

Peter Mattera, father of Mary Gay Deiger, SUA ’64; MMC ’68 ~ August 26

Mervin Russell, husband of Marlene Toth Russell, SUA ’66 ~ August 30

Debra Hill, mother of Shawna, SUA ’96 ~ September 1

Sr. Helen Smith, Ursuline Sister of Mount Saint Joseph ~ September 2

Alfred Cave, father of Elizabeth Kanous, SUA ’83; Rachel Cave, SUA ’87 ~ September 8

Dave Minuse, traveling companion of Associates Larry & Kitty Meyers who passed away in Florida ~ September 8

Rest In Peace

Mark Hayes, President of Tiffin City Council. His wife Patty teaches Religion at Calvert High School; John, his father, was the military commander at Nazareth Hall ~ September 10

Mary S. Heffern Kwiatkowski, SUA ’58 ~ September 10

James White, Sr., father of Patricia Cabanski, SUA ’73; Linda Darah, SUA ’76; and Marcia Davis, SUA ‘78 ~ September 12

Raymond Whelan, brother of Joan VanAuken, SUA ’64, MMC ‘69; Mary Sue Estes, SUA ’67; Colleen McGregor, SUA ’70 ~ September 14

Nancy Marryott Schlageter, SUA ’43; MMC ’68, mother of Catherine (Kitty) Gallagher, SUA ’67; Marcia Grenesko, SUA ’69; Janet Prond, SUA ’72 and Judith Erdmann, SUA ’72 ~ September 15

Howard Wuest, brother of Associate Mary Obert ~ September 20

Edward Justen, brother of Judy Brancheau, SUA ’59; MMC ’63 ~ recent death

“Cider and Donuts Social”

Saturday, October 5, 20192 p.m., in the Ursuline Center

Dining Room

Friday, October 18 4 p.m.Saturday, October 19 11 a.m. and 4:00 p.m.Sunday, October 20 Liturgy 11 a.m.; 4 p.m.Monday, October 21 10 a.m.; Liturgy 11:15 a.m.

Fall Retreatat Ursuline Center

Rev. John J. Lehner, OSFS

“THE LORD BE WITH YOU” and other prayers of the Mass

Happy BirthdayCalendarOctober

1 Val Myers6 Suzie Stapleton8 Brigid O’Malley11 Milan Mihalek13 Amy Good14 Christina Rode Veronica DeLa Cerda17 Marge Johnson19 Janet Klocinski20 Sr. Nancy Mathias22 Edna Mae Trotter24 Dan Adams-Arman 25 Sr. Donna Frey31 Sr. Sandy Sherman Elaine Heyne

November6 Sr. Bernarda Breidenbach8 Sr. Margaret Ann Babione Carol Pruss Fr. James Risacher12 Dr. Richard O’Reilly Karen (Kitty) Meyers13 Sr. Regina Smith14 Jerry Folmar16 Joanne McGinnis20 Hilaire Daly21 Jess Gamby

October 20195 Musical Afternoon with Cider & Donuts, for Residents, Sisters and Associates, 2 p.m., Dining Room 6-7 LCWR Region 67 Holding the World in Prayer, 1:15 p.m., Chapel14 New Associate Commitment during 11:15 a.m. Mass18 LCWR Sub-region18-21 Fall Retreat with Rev. John Lehner, OSFS 20 Feast of St. Ursula - 11 a.m. Liturgy/Dinner (vows, commitment, missioning) Sisters and Associates21-22 Council Meetings

November 20199 November Reflection, 11 a.m., Chapel and TV in residents’ rooms20 Community Input/Update, 2:30 - 4:30 p.m., Supper at 5 p.m. (Sisters Only)20-21 Council Meetings22 OMA Art Show, 6 - 8 p.m., Dining Room27-29 Thanksgiving Break - Convent Offices closed

December 20197 December Reflection, 11 a.m., Chapel and TV in residents’ rooms11-12 Council Meetings12 Foundation Day celebrating 165 years - 4:15 p.m. Vespers followed by Special Reception (Sisters/Associates/Residents/ Staff/Board Members/SUA)14 Elf Party, 2 - 3:30 p.m., Dining Room16 Advent Penance Service - 1:15 p.m.24 Christmas Eve - Mass at 4 p.m. followed by Supper24-Jan. 2 Christmas/New Year Break - Convent Offices closed

January 20201-2 Convent Offices closed20 MLK Day - Convent Offices closed23-24 Council Meetings26 Feast of St. Angela, 11 a.m. Mass/Dinner/Presentation - details to follow (for Sisters and Associates)

May 20201-4 Spring Retreat with Sr. Mary Kathleen Glavich, SND, “Mary and Intimacy with Jesus”

October7 Sr. Beth Hemminger7 Sr. Rose Maria Moser, SND8 Sr. Kenwyn Steger16 Sr. Margaret Anne Carstensen16 Sr. Margaret Manion

November4 Sr. Carol Kronfield4 Sr. Carol Reamer16 Sr. Margaret Ann Babione17 Sr. Elizabeth Marie (Liz) Brell25 Sr. Kathleen Padden

Feast Day

Newsletter DeadlineThe deadline for the November newsletter is Thursday, October 24. Please send your stories to Michelle at mscazzero@ursulinecenter.org.