Maybe God's plan for you is with the Franciscan Sisters of Chicago

Since we last reached out to all of you with news of our very active ministry, Sr. Lois Marie and I have been busy spreading to the good news of the Franciscan Sisters of Chicago and their lives of faith-filed community, spirituality and ministry to students, young adults, women and our many associates that work in our retirement/elder care facilities throughout the Midwest.

In March, we held our “Come and See” at Our Lady of Victory Convent in Lemont. We had four women in attendance and it was a weekend of fellowship, prayer, fun and discernment. Many of our Sisters joined in to help make it the wonderful weekend that it was – from sharing their knowledge of St. Francis to being prayer partners to just extending the warm, loving hospitality that the community is so renowned for to our visitors – the success of the event was truly a group effort! We are already busy planning the next “Come and See” which will be held at St. Anthony Convent in Crown Point, Indiana in October.

With new women from varied backgrounds considering their vocation to join the community, it seemed appropriate to explore just what it means to be “diverse” in today’s world. To that end, we invited Sr. Charlene and Fr. Luis Vera to share some thoughts with the community in a Multicultural Event entitled New Membership – Crossing Boundaries: A Prophetic Call, on April 10th. We had a great turn out and everyone left with “food for thought” about the invitation for the community to imagine a future for itself that is perhaps more culturally integrated and enriched by diversity than in the past.

This winter, Sr. Lois and I began working at the St. Stanislaus soup kitchen every Thursday –it has been a wonderful experience. It has taken us back to the community’s roots, presented us with an opportunity to do direct outreach to the poor and homeless and also provides us with a venue for engaging in ministry with inquirers.

We have several women that are in the process of discerning whether they are being called to religious life with the Franciscan Sisters of Chicago. We ask you to keep them and us in your prayers because we all need to be involved in the ministry of promoting religious vocations!

October 4 -- The Feast of St. Francis of Assisi

Peace and all good! Today, we offer the following quote from the Chronicle (journal) of our Community's Foundress, Mother Mary Theresa Dudzik: "I wondered how we could live as Community since we had no permanent home. No doubt, in this instance, we would be following the example of our Holy Father Francis, who also had no permanent home. This thought consoled me and brought me peace of mind."

Inquirers’ Get Together

The Vocation Team was excited to host an “Inquirers’ Get Together” at the Mother House in Lemont the weekend of August 7th and 8th. In attendance were four women that have been on the path of discernment with our Sisters for the last several months. One has in fact moved from “inquirer” to “affiliate” – the next step in the process of joining the Franciscan Sisters of Chicago.


We began the weekend with lunch with the Sisters and then paid a visit to Franciscan Village where we were treated to a tour of the various retirement living options. It is a beautiful facility and everywhere we looked, we saw tangible evidence of how the Sisters’ Franciscan values and charism of caring for the elderly are brought to life everyday by the dedicated associates lovingly going about their ministry.

After the tour, we had some time off before joining Sr. Diane Marie for a barbecue – for which she was gracious enough assume the role as “Head Chef”! The hamburgers and hotdogs were delicious – to say nothing of her own special potato salad prepared from one of her time tested recipes. The evening presented us with an opportunity to reflect on our discernment journeys – what it means to choose religious life and how we are called to be people of passion fit for the Kingdom of God. We ended our day with prayer – asking that we be mindful of God’s call.

Sunday, we shared Morning Prayers and Mass with the Sisters and breakfast. There was more time for visiting, laughing, and hearing stories from the Sisters about their own journeys – which are always blessed with joys and challenges. Some of our visitors stayed for lunch while others had to head home – but only after making plans to join us for our next “Come and See” that we are planning for October 15-16, at St. Anthony Convent, 201 Franciscan Drive, Crown Point, IN 46307. We will begin Friday evening at 6:30 p.m. and conclude at about 6 p.m. on Saturday. If you would like to join us to experience first hand and spirituality, ministry and community of our Sisters, we can be contacted at: lrossi@franciscancommunities.com (Sr. Lois Marie Rossi, Vocation Minister) or clackie@chicagofranciscans.com (Ms. Carol Lackie, Vocation Coordinator).



Carol M. Lackie

Vocation Coordinator

August 18, 2010

He is risen!

A happy and blessed Easter.

Welcome!

Hello and welcome to the new blog for the Franciscan Sisters of Chicago. Although our blog is aimed primarily toward women who are in discernment, we welcome all comments. Please visit us often.