Our USA Province, comprised of a small group of Sisters, spans
four States: West Virginia, Illinois, Michigan and Texas - each with its
own distinctive spiritual, material and social needs. In 1997, Wheeling, West
Virginia, welcomed the return of Marist Sisters after an absence of twelve
years. This time the call came to teach In Chicago, Illinois, besides Pastoral Ministry, we teach inner city children and we are also engaged in Hospital Chaplaincy. The Directors and Staff of Mundelein Seminary, Illinois, consider themselves enriched by the presence of a Marist Sister as Director of Field Education - a ministry which involves teaching and formation of future priests for many USA Dioceses.
Our numbers are small, our possibilities are many. Here nobody feels the need to retire or to fall in to the category of retirees. We continue on the journey, faithful to our commitment to do the Work of Mary wherever we find ourselves - becoming, in the process, wise and gracious women in the Reign of God.
|
elementary school children,
and to take special care of the most marginalized in our society - namely
persons who for one reason for another find themselves homeless. This
ministry was initiated in an effort to give those unfortunate ones a sense of
belonging and of dignity so grossly denied them in our consumer society.
The outcome of this, our latest commitment, proves to be very rewarding.
Michigan's communities - in the Archdiocese of Detroit -
continue to minister in different ways: pastoral ministry, hospital chaplaincy,
substitute teaching, Justice and Peace related issues, visits to the sick in
hospitals, homes and extended care facilities. Lives are also touched by
Sisters who work in Literacy Programmes and an inner city soup kitchen.
Sisters take an active role in the McCrest Programme - a short term residential
programme which houses and feeds sixty to eighty persons who are homeless.
Workshops in personal growth continue to help people in their personal, marital
and work-related problems.
Another
Sister resides and ministers from the Mexican/USA border - Eagle Pass - in
Texas. From there comes the continual 'call to action', to renewed
vitality in meeting the needs of today's Church and world. The outreach of
the border towns touches various fields of ministry throughout the Diocese and
beyond: skilled physical therapy to mentally and physically impaired
children in isolated rural areas, religious education to adults and children -
mostly Hispanics - local Church activities, Justice and
Pace issues around border immigrant populations and solidarity with lay missionaries
who minister to the materially poor in the Rio Grande Valley.
