Celebrating the Feast of St. Francis on October 4th each year has been a long-time tradition for Franciscans worldwide. Francis, who was known for a life of poverty and love for all of God’s creatures, has become one of the most venerated saints.
St. Cabrini Nursing Home in Dobbs Ferry gathered all the Franciscan residents, Sisters, Brothers and Third Order Secular Franciscans for a special Mass honoring them for their years of ministerial service and inviting them to renew their lifetime commitment as Franciscan women and men. As residents of Cabrini, they now minister to one another and to the other residents with whom they live, as well as to staff, spreading joy and peace.
The members of the Franciscan Sisters of Peace Leadership Team were delighted to participate in the liturgy and luncheon that followed, providing the opportunity to spend the day with our sisters Mary Daniel Bauer, Georgeanne Farrell, Constance Gaynor, Cecelia Hall, Francine Kavanah, and Ann Smith. May they be blessed with a life of gratitude for all that has been and for all that is yet to come!
As Laudato Si Week concluded on May 25, a new project focused on religious communities was launched- the Creation Care Prayer Network! This project is a world-wide effort of the Catholic Church to unite religious and lay communities who will commit to pray for the healing of our common home. Major sponsors include:
Our congregation has joined the Creation Care Prayer Network as a means of living up to our Chapter Direction Statement in two ways: “to be in solidarity with those who suffer” and to make “intentional choices to steward the gift of creation and respond to the threat of climate change”. By joining the Prayer Network we are giving public witness to our commitment, along with more than 200 congregations in over 35 countries on 5 continents.
For more information and to join the network - www.laudatosipray.org
Please join us in praying for the following intention during the month of December:
For the success of UN Climate Conference in Dubai in securing the commitment of 198 member nations to provide loss and damage funding for poor people in countries vulnerable to, or already suffering the worst impacts of climate change. |
We, the Franciscan Sisters of Peace, continually respond to the call to be servants and to enter into solidarity with the “Minores” of our time - called to make the concerns of the poor and powerless our own. The most recent grant from the Minores Fund was for support of Seafarers & International House in New York city. Since 1873, Seafarers, operating under the auspices of the Lutheran Church, has responded to the urgent needs of vulnerable seafarers and immigrants. Funds were sent to the organization in support of the annual ‘Christmas At Sea’ program, which provides satchels of warm clothing to seafarers who are confined to ships due to long term contracts, and more so this year due to the lengthy delays in getting ships into port. We view these seafarers as “unseen essential workers” during the current pandemic, which keeps them separated from family during the holidays. |
Sr. Carlita Volmer was born on January 19, 1922 in Paterson, NJ. Her parents, Charles J. Vollmer and Marie (Byrne) baptized her Catherine but she was always known as Kathleen. She had four sisters, Bernadette, Alice, Marie and Julia. Another girl, who was baptized Carlita, died as an infant.
Kathleen, as she was known, attended St. Agnes Grammar School in Paterson, NJ but knew the Franciscan Sisters from St. Bonaventure’s Parish in Paterson. She attended St. Mary’s High School, also in Paterson, graduating in 1939. On September 8th of the same year she entered the novitiate of the Franciscan Sisters in Peekskill, NY at the age of seventeen. After her religious profession in 1941, Sr. Carlita attended Ladycliff College, Highland Falls, NY earning her B.A. in History in 1952. She was assigned to the field of education and began her teaching career at St. Joseph’s school in Bogota, NJ. Through her early years, she taught at various elementary schools in New Jersey, Philadelphia, and New York. (READ MORE...)