Franciscan Sisters of the Poor

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SFP VOICES SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2011 Vol. VII, No. 5 ©

Table of Contents

Introduction
The Gift and Challenge of Sharing our Charism with the Community of Life in Senegal
A Large Extended Family: Our Lady of the Woods in Cincinnati
Photo Essay: Our Ministry with Groups in Italy
Congadas: Group Prayer, Ritual and Celebration in Brazil

Creativity: Vital Energy for the Community of Life

I walk along the subway tracks in New York, waiting for my train. I am physically located deep within the earth, surrounded by many different people: I have the impression that all the ethnic groups of our planet are gathered here – Asian, South American, blacks, whites. I wonder . . . Where is the center of the Community of Life?

I try to connect with the souls of those who are foreigners like me. While drums or guitars play unique tunes and sounds, and the air underground is heavy and warm, I imagine the life stories of the people around me. We are one people, who travels underground. We are one people led by different motivations and dreams.
Among the vibrations of sounds and deafening noises, I observe the warmth of specific acts, while new and unique scents reach me, giving a touch of a fantastic world to the lives of those around me, their love, hopes, feelings.

I feel that the heart of the Community of Life is here, in the feelings and uncertainties of these people, who are travelers with me. I see someone going through the garbage pails looking for recyclable bottles and cans to sell. I feel that the mystery of the Community of Life is hidden in this searching and unsettledness.

My gaze goes out to the whole planet . . . I see migrations of people, devastating tsunamis; international human trafficking; organs and weapons trade; money laundering; financial and political instability; the struggle for freedom and justice paid for with people’s blood; new forms of slavery which force children, women, and men to live in inhuman conditions or to sell their bodies.

I wonder, where is the Holy Spirit today, who renews the face of the earth? Where are the hopes of healing and transformation? I feel in a powerful way that they are hidden in many of our creative actions, that can go beyond known ways of thinking and behaving. They are hidden in the simplicity of our daily actions and in the energy of our bodies. They are hidden in the dialogue that opens us to new understandings of reality. They are hidden in the courage of daring choices. They are hidden in so many smiles and tears gathered and wiped away...

I get off the subway and walk until I can contemplate the sun setting on the East River among brushstrokes of lights, sprouting of colors, scents, laughter of tourists and deafening traffic. While the water draws its own waves and the skyscrapers of Manhattan seem to challenge infinity, I wonder what challenges we are called to in order to share our charism with the people today.

We live in different geographic, cultural, and social environments; and I feel that wherever we are, we are challenged to share inspirations and insights, to understand differences and unify hearts, establish relationships and reach out to others, and to bind broken lives.

We can create new healing paths and open a door to hope. In the difficult balancing act of the sacred and profane, I see the call to gather desires, dreams, perspectives, disillusions, anger, frustration, questions, anxiety, that are in the hearts of women and men.

As pilgrims, attentive to the transformation of existence, bodies, nature, the cosmos, we walk in the mystery of the Community of Life where God dwells, seeking God’s presence in the wonder or in the nakedness of faith.

The life we express through our experiences is hidden between boundaries and infinity, time and eternity, possibility and absurdity. It is laden with mystery, just like all our daily eucharistic actions! The life we express is creativity: creativity which engenders healing and hope among women exploring new paths, immigrants filled with longings, the elderly inhabited by memories and ancient flavors, unsettled young people looking for meaning, families challenged by instability, children playing with bubbles.
While the sun sets over the water, I realize that our creativity can flow freely in the circle of life, just as the water flows in rivers and the lymph in the veins of trees. Our creativity can be a source of energy, a vital and lively power for the Community of Life.

Sr. Licia Mazzia, sfp
Congregational Councilor
[photos by Sr.Licia Mazzia]
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The Gift and Challenge of Sharing our Charism with the Community of Life in Senegal

Etienne Ndong, Associate

In working with the Franciscan Sisters of the Poor, I have many experiences that move me toward a deeper love of my neighbor. Working with groups and families makes me want to share our SFP spirituality of mission and service. These are at the very essence of expressing the charism of the Sisters.

I am privileged to live moments that bring me closer to Christ: caring for the patients, helping them, staying with them during very difficult moments, and teaching them how to protect themselves against diseases like malaria, STD, and AIDS.

The Associate's life has changed me deeply -- both spiritually and socially
I try each day to heal Christ's wounds through the people I meet at work and in my everyday life. Patience is a tool for us who work in the clinic because we are often confronted with a lack of understanding due to language differences. Some of our patients don't understand our national language of Wolof -- the one that most Senegalese people use. Consequently, it is necessary to perform some “theatrics” to communicate with many.

People are very happy with the presence and the work of the Sisters. In our clinic, patients are welcomed and well treated though they often have no money. When difficult cases occur, we use our clinic vehicle to transfer sick people to the hospital in Koungheul. This sense of free service doesn't make our patients become indifferent. They often bring us many generous gifts such as corn and peanuts, and occasionally the babies who are born in our centers receive our names.

The prenatal consultations have a good follow up. We teach pregnant women everything they need to know about their visits, how to sleep under the mosquito nets, etc. The talks we have with them can become very lively! The other day, the Bishop told a Sister that he was very thankful for the clinic of Missira because he hears the echoes of happiness from the patients.

A story that I cannot forget. . . .
I had a dispute with a woman in my Parish. We stopped speaking with each other for months. I didn't want to take the first step: to visit her to ask for forgiveness. Nevertheless, the voice of the Lord recalled in me the words of the Lord's Prayer. I went to see this lady and asked for her forgiveness even though I was the one who had felt offended. And from that day on, we became very close friends.

I am thankful from deep within my heart for the Franciscan Sisters of the Poor. Without them, my life would not be what it is today. Let’s be united and take care of Christ's wounds according to the teachings of Blessed Frances Schervier.

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A Large, Extended Family…

[Our Lady of the Woods is a senior independent living community for those living on limited incomes in Cincinnati, OH and is a sponsored ministry of the Franciscan Sisters of the Poor in the U.S. Area. Click: http://www.ourladyofthewoods.net/Home_Page.html to learn more about OLW. Tonie Lynn, Executive Director, has given considerable thought to ‘ministering to a group.’ And she knows that she ministers to each group member! Here are Tonie’s thoughts . . . ]

An OLW resident watches TV in her room

Chapel for Mass on Sundays and Holy Days

Family style meals around the table

Home

Tonie Lynn, OLW Executive Director

The most important thing to remember about ministering to groups is that you do not minister to a group! We may speak about ‘residents’ as a group – but the word group is a composite, an abstraction. A group is made up of individuals who share certain characteristics (e.g., being over 55) but who have unique needs. Consider one of our more recent residents . . .

One Resident’s Sacred Story
This person’s house is only six blocks away, but she is making her home at Our Lady of the Woods (OLW)! After caring for her parents until they died, she lived alone in her big house for 12 years. She has no other family. When she suffered an accident at home, her doctor referred her to OLW for a four-week recovery period, but she wanted to stay on...at least for a little while. She enjoys being with other people, she needs companionship, and she loves the meals! At home she often had nothing to eat but a McDonald’s chicken sandwich all day long. At Christmas, she was so happy that we all were moved to tears and laughter just watching her. Once she recovered from her accident, her greatest need was ‘socialization.’ Such a cold word for such a warm, human need!

You learn to love and care for each resident as you get to know them as individuals, and when you love and care about somebody, it’s not like work. Sometimes at night, I will come to Our Lady of the Woods just to sit and visit with the residents. And I’m not the only one! For example, our new cook, Jenny, has only been here for a short time, and she said ‘It’s like I’m coming to cook for my family.’ The people who work here do more than is expected of them because each one wants to ‘do good’ for their elderly family members.

Ministering to the individuals who are members of this particular group – elderly residents of Our Lady of the Woods -- runs in my DNA. I came to OLW when I was a girl: my mother, Pauline McCane, worked with Sr. Antonita Mettert when Our Lady of the Woods first opened. Sr. Antonita wanted to create a safe place for the elderly to live – the ones who fall between the cracks in the social system. Our residents can take care of themselves, and they have a little money, but they either cannot afford to, or they are physically and emotionally unsafe to, live alone.

Our staff does everything possible to help residents feel that they are treated like individuals. We have made OLW homey and comfortable. Residents can bring their own furniture to put in their bedrooms. And our family style dining room provides a place to eat, and greet (or meet) friends. We also have a library, music room, and perhaps most important, a chapel where residents can attend Sunday Mass if they wish. However, people of all religions and races are welcome. We also have an Activities Room where residents can participate in a variety of projects, and our Activities Director arranges for outings.

My days start early, especially when I am going down to the “Free” Food store each week. In the last year or so, there is much less food being donated, and more people needing what there is...So I go down early to try to get the best of what there is for our ‘family.’ You see, ministering to a ‘group’ is like ‘adopting’ a large, extended family!

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Photo Essay: Our Ministry with Groups in Italy

In the our community surroundings where we live, engaged and married couples and families gather.
We share a path of formation and share faith.

National Meeting of Families	Padua Couples Group
Caserta couples group	Engaged Couples group

Family Summer camp

There are so many occasions to meet and share with young adults: at the local and
national levels we promote weekends and days of fraternity.

Group of young adults from various regions present at the Beatification of John Paul II

With the adolescents at Casetta Nova

Summer camp with the young adults from Liguria

With the young adults at Assisi

Serving the poor - Caring attention towards poor people is expressed in many ways.

In Assisi with the Rays of Sun project guests

Sharing a meal with the guests

More moments with the guests

[photos by sr. Giannica Selmo]

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Group Prayer, Ritual and Celebration in Brazil: The African-Brazilian Marian Devotion of the Congadas

In October we celebrate a significant feast in our culture of Pires do Rio, Brazil. The Feast of Congadas is very popular and expresses devotion to our Blessed Mother as the Patronness of Black People. This celebration lasts for a month and has its roots in the harsh reality of the often violent colonial experience of the African-Brazilian peoples. It is held with support from City Hall, from the Confraternity of Our Lady of the Rosary, and from our Parish of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. We consider this to be a ministry. We coordinate the novenas and arrange transportation, accommodation and food for the visiting Congadas groups (who travel great distances). Praying and celebrating the entire cycle of the Rosary as part of The Congadas takes place every year in October when the Catholic Church celebrates the month of the Rosary.

What are the Congadas? Memory, Prayer and Ritual
The Confraternity of Our Lady of the Rosary in Brazil is the most clear and obvious confraternity created by black people as a unique way of expressing their love for the Holy Virgin. In Brazil, the practice of praying the Rosary was manifested by the groups of African slaves who performed and promoted the “Congadas” and are known to be linked to the preference of the African people who were brought to Brazil as slaves. These newly converted slaves preferred saints of their own color like St. Benedict the Moor, a son of slaves, and St. Ephigenia, an Ethiopian princess.

When the Africans disembarked from the slave ships, they entered into a life in the shadows of the slave quarters. Forbidden to worship their African deities, they began to create and display banners with images based on the tenets of the Catholic Church. Many of these Africans were comforted and inspired by Our Blessed Mother.

Their attraction to Mary as Queen resonated with these newly converted African people. These groups of slaves expressed their devotion to Mary through praying the Rosary, marching, dancing and walking in procession. These African slaves would wear colored cloth bands across their chest, and also the “rosary beads,” and singing about -- in tears -- their fight to freedom. This practice was influenced by the Dominicans who had carried the tradition of Our Lady of the Rosary to Africa as they imposed the ways of the Church.

Though they were isolated, these African slaves could choose their own community leaders. These leaders later formed a ritualized “royal family” served by a black court functioning as a military-type hierarchy. There was a “king,” “queen,” a “general” and a “captain” leading a “battalion” to the sound of rattles and drums. These battalions evolved into what we call confraternities today and these groups (Congadas) would walk through the streets in procession as a way to hope for freedom and to honor Mary.

The Congadas Today

And so through the years the African-Brazilian people went on to create other groups, which gave rise to the Brotherhood of Our Lady of the Rosary in Brazil. In Pires do Rio, it is the Catholic Parish of the Sacred Heart of Jesus that takes on the responsibility for this Fraternity. We sit on this board as members.

The “Ternos de Congo” [Congada Groups] is very festive and celebrated in the cities of Pires do Rio, Catalão and Goiânia, in the State of Goiás and the city of Araguari, in the State of Minas Gerais. In Pires do Rio rehearsals for the Congadas first began in 1958. In 1962, for the first time, the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary took place under a tent covered with bacuri tree leaves.

We are grateful to give renewed life to this group ritual of prayer and celebration!

Associates Aluísio Aguiar Pereira and
Maria do Carmo de Souza Pereira
Pires do Rio, Brazil

Click here to watch the Congadas in Brazil:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXEonQIcgm0&feature=related

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