The FLAME
EASTERN Region ACS Newsletter
Contents
1 Letter from Jo
2 Clusters
3 Regional 2001
4 News of our Members
5 Sharing
My Dear Sisters!
As I write this, summer is half over. The weather here in New
Jersey for July was glorious. I got to enjoy it for a few moments
in the morning and evening on my way to and from work and
generally admire it from the window throughout the day!
We have been very concerned with the state of health of our own
Sr. Rosalie Bertell and a couple of bouts of hospitalization. At
latest news, she is recovering slowly but surely and will
probably spend some time in recupe-ration back at her Motherhouse
in Yardley, PA. All this hasn't stopped her from finalizing plans
for next year's International Assembly, though and all is
proceeding well. (A special thanks to Deb Gephardt who stepped in
to assist with some loose ends while Rosalie was ill).
I have been in touch with ACS sisters mostly through email and an
occasional phone call. We had one cluster here in Mahwah where it
was a lot of fun just to be together planning the regional
meeting for September.
Speaking of the regional, this will most likely be my last letter
to you as Coordinator, and editor of the Flame. Hopefully the
torch will be passed to more capable hands at our elections in
September. It has been an honor to serve, though I regret not
having been able to do a better job. My life changed in ways I
didn't expect over the past year and my availability and
expendable energy suddenly became very curtailed. I know you all
are most loving and understanding and that has helped assuage my
feeling of inadequacy. But there are others in the wings who I am
sure will serve with their gifts and talents and bring our region
forward another two years.
The main tasks of the next coordinator will be to continue
planning for the National 2002 Assembly and begin the process of
preparing for the next National of 2004 that will be hosted in
our Region. A theme and presenter needs to be decided, and a
place obtained. Those elected as delegates will be assisting.
Please give the matter thought and prayer. If you wish to name
someone as Coordinator or Delegate, they need not be present at
the meeting, but you should contact them ahead of time to ask if
they are able and willing to serve.
Our current delegates are
Sr. Jo-Ann Stanley
Sr. Paula Schmidt
Therese Haughey
Sr. Eleanor Berret
Sr. Johannah Currier
Sr. Eleanor and Sr. Jo-Ann have both served two terms. We will
determine our total number of delegates needed based on our
membership.
The new coordinator will name her new treasurer. Sr. Aletha, so
many thanks are due to you for the many years of loving and
faithful service you have given us in that post!
Also needed are newsletter writer; newsletter mailer; keeping of
member list; welcome outreach to new members; etc.
I hope to see many of you in September. PLEASE come if you are at
all able. Our Regional is important for reinforcing our common
bond and giving one another support for the journey. I am
grateful for the support I have received these many years in ACS.
In union of prayer,
Jo
Clusters
A planning meeting was held in Mahwah, NJ June 23, 2001 at the
home of Liz and Jo. Present were Sr. Joan Bourne, Sr. Jo-Ann
Stanley, Sr. Paula Schmidt; Therese Haughey. The group met to
finalize plans for the September Regional meeting.
Other "Clusters on the Move"
Peggy Maillett stopped by Sr. Joan Bourne's Monastery at Elysburg
on her way up to Niagra Falls Carmel retreat house where Jane
Lytle Veiera was giving a workshop on Bl. Titus Brandsma.
Clusters are the heart of our ACS sisterhood!
Regional 2001
There is still time to contact Aletha Maher
and register for the September regional.
Here are some of the "services" we will need volunteers
for:
Greeting arrivals and assigning rooms
Setting up snack room and keeping it tidy.
Setting up Book Swap Table
Preparing handouts
Bell ringer / time keeper (if needed)
Note taker for our business meeting
Narrative writer for the meeting
See! So many ways to be of service!
Sr. Jo-Ann Stanley will be taking us to Jerusalem as we unfold
and reflect on our own spiritual pilgrimage. She has a wealth of
personal and first hand experience of the holy land and a special
insight into the true issues that are ravaging that region. She
will offer us an opportunity to explore our own journey in
reference to the scriptural references and history of the area.
Liz Niedermeyer will be offering her service as Reiki
practitioner and will have a number of private Reiki sessions if
requested throughout the weekend.
Time will be allotted in the day to spend in solitude and enjoy the beauty of the site.
News of our Members
Sr. Eleanor Berret, has completed a
discernment process and has transitioned to living at the Ritiro,
a contemplative community within her own Franciscan congregation.
We wish Eleanor much peace and blessings, and know we will all
benefit from the fruit of her prayer.
The Carmelites from Beacon have moved back (from Graymoore) to
their monastery as the new community of the Carmelite Communion.
We wish them many blessings!
Our Redemptoristine Sisters in Esopus likewise have completed
their move into their newly built monastery.
Sr. Martin Dominic will be coming to the Regional along with
Johannah Currier and her husband as she has had to give up
driving. Sr. Martin Dominic has also had to give up her prison
ministry.
Ann McDonald in NE Cluster relies on our prayer support. She has
had major surgery.
Joan Markey continues with her Dominican membership and attends
the meetings with Johannah each month.
Skye Faris has written:
"This note comes to you with very loving greetings from the
Valley of the Ottawa River!
After much thought and prayerful reflection, I'm writing to ask
you to take my name and address off the physical lists of the
Association of Contemplative Sisters while leaving the heart
connection on the `non physical' levels, in an effortless way.
I feel called to focus more and more in the beloved bioregion of
this Ottawa Valley - at least for the present.
Thank you for your kind communications over the past several
years."
Skye Faris
Dear Skye:
On behalf of your sisters in the ACS, we wish you many blessings.
We will always be united in prayer.
Love, Jo Balsamo
Dr. Phyllis Zagano has initiated a very interesting program
called "Adopt a Bishop".
Through the efforts of the Christian Meditation Center, Roselle,
Ill, you can purchase a copy of her book: Holy Saturday: An
Argument for the Restoration of the Female Diaconate in the
Catholic Church (Crossroad Herder, 2000) which will be sent to a
U.S. Bishop in your name.
You will receive the name and address of the Bishop with who will
receive the book, and with whom you may wish to correspond. Send
your $15.00 to
Christian Meditation Center
1080 W. Irving Park Rd
Roselle, Illinois 60172
Member List:
Sr. Aletha is cleaning up our Eastern
Region member list. The new one will be either given out at the
Regional, and/or mailed out to the membership. If you wish to
remain on the list and have not sent in dues for 2001, it is
important that you contact Sr. Aletha.
National News
This is to let you know we have a new Mideast coordinator,
Shirley
Wishoski. Shirley lives with Ginny Manss, ACS president from 1992-96,
and she is a
busy chaplain in a nursing home in Indy. She has been in ACS
since 1970.
The new Western Region Coordin-ator is Mary
Killeen Lyons.
Thank you both for taking on the next two years of service to ACS!
Book Swap
Do you have any books which you have read and don't need any
more? Bring them to the Regional Meeting in September. We are
going to set up a BOOK SWAP TABLE where you can deposit your
"donations" and pick up something new from someone else!
Authors in Our Midst
Sr. Pat Marks has written a work "A Retreat with Edith Stein
and it is due to be published in September.
Sr. Rosalie Bertell's new book is Planet
Earth: The Latest Weapon of War.
* "The most powerful and compre-hensive contributor to
popularizing the scientific case against the nuclear industry"
Joan Smith, New Statesman
* "Sincere, intelligent, dedicated and independent.
Brilliantly written." Sir Alan Cottrell, Nature
Sharing
Sr. Pat Marks writes:
Eileen is 72. She has PSP (Progressive Supranuclear Palsy). This
is referred to as the "Dudley Moore Disease". It
affects a part of the brain which brings gradual deterioration of
mobility, swallowing and sight, among other things. There is no
known cure and diagnosis is difficult. I met Eileen in August of
2000 when she had just moved into assisted living from her Long
Island home. This was difficult for her. New and unfamiliar
surroundings, a very uncertain health picture, and worries about
financing her care. Eileen has since moved to a nursing home
because she needed a higher level of care.
She can no longer walk or see very well. It has been another
adjustment. Her sense of humor and inner strength are, however,
still intact. `Your head has to be where your body is', she told
me with a laugh. Yes, indeed.
There is always something to learn. Lessons at the beginning of
life and in the years of work and parenting, in her case, and
wisdom towards the end of life. God is in all of it. I don't
think Eileen realizes how much she does for me, even though I am
a designated helper.
I want to thank so many who have kept me in their prayers over
the past year or so. I have been greatly encouraged by them and
by the lessons Eileen teaches me. I am where I am, and in the
middle of cutting back on work and involvements, God is there as
God has been everywhere in my life. Every day affords us the
opportunity to do God's will in the ordinary and mundane tasks of
life. One learns to focus not on volume of work, but on what God
shows each step of the way.
Eileen and I talk about death sometimes. I am privileged to hear
her thoughts and feelings about the past, the present and the
future. I keep thinking of "Rosalie's vision" of the
countless numbers of good people moving towards God in their
lives. ACS members are spread far and wide. This makes any kind
of community quite difficult. But it is there! Our journeys are
solitary, yet we are walking and praying and working together in
ways deep and satisfying. Such treasures in the midst of
struggles!"
Pat Marks
Sr. Gail Worcelo writes:
Dear Friends,
You have journeyed with us since our beginnings at St. Gabriel's
Monastery; when we were welcomed into the Diocese of Vermont you
blessed us and sent us on our way. /you were with us in prayer
and spirit as we moved our library, greenhouse and vision of a
new `Ecozoic Monastery' to the beautiful Green Mountain state and
many of you have become part of that vision since our arrival
here.
We have great news and want to share our joy and excitement with
you! After a two year search for land, we have found a
magnificent parcel on which to build our dream!
A dream that many of you have shared with us of a monastery where
spirituality and care for creation come together. A place where
we are no longer blind to Earth's suffering and the connection it
has to human suffering; where the human and the natural world go
into the future as a single sacred community.
Now that we have found the land we are asking all our friends for
financial assistance to help secure it. "
Blessings,
Srs. Gail and Bernadette
Sisters of the Earth Community
PO Box 146
Weston, VT 05161
Deceased
Fr. Gregory Ray SJ a beloved friend of Elysburg Carmel and a dear
friend to many of our ACS sisters, died on July 16th from an
accident. He will be missed.
From Sr. Jean Bird
"It was about 3 weeks ago that I last heard Kay's voice as
we spoke of meeting around Christmas in Georgia. A few weeks
before, she had called me for prayers. They had found a mass in
her lung and it was to be removed at Emery Hospital in Atlanta.
Her daughter Cindy called me the day of the operation to say that
1/3 of the lung was taken out and Kay was doing well. It was a
day later when Kay called and we spoke of our reunion. She was
going home on that Wednesday and she would drive down in December
to see me at the Monastery.
On Friday she had a massive stroke and died Sunday morning as I
was on my way to Mass.
Kay Deloach was a very strtong woman. I mean this in many ways. I
will miss this friend of many years, first as my boss and then as
a long lasting friend. Good bye, Kay. Remember me before the Lord."
A Hopi Prayer
Do not stand at my grave and weep
I am not there, I do not sleep
I am a thousand winds that blow
I am the diamond glints on snow
I am the sunlight on the ripened grain
I am the gentle autumn's rain
When you awaken in the morning hush
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight
I am the soft stars that shine at night
Do not stand at my grave and cry
I am not there. I did not die.
Poetry
In the Silence,
Listen
There is a whisper
Fills the universe
Only in silence.
For it is the voice of silence
Echoing within
The emptiness that waits
In silence
For the whisper
Of the Word.
by: Sr. Martin Dominic Austen
The Humor Corner
For those of us who enjoy the companionship of a furry canine,
some of this might ring true.
Things I must remember as a dog:
1.The garbage man is not stealing our stuff
2.I do not need to suddenly stand straight up when I am lying
under the coffee table
3.I will not roll my toys behind the fridge, behind the sofa or
under the bed
4.I must shake the rainwater out of my fur before entering the
house
5.I will not eat the cat's food before they eat it, or after they
throw it up
6.I will stop trying to find the few remaining pieces of clean
carpet in the house when I am about to get sick
7."Kitty box crunchies", although they are tasty, are
not food.
8.I will not chew my human's toothbrush and not tell them
9.We do not have a doorbell. I will not bark each time I hear one
on TV
10.The sofa is not a face towel
11.My head does not belong in the refrigerator
12.I will not eat mint flavored dental floss out of the bathroom
garbage to avoid having a string hanging out of my butt
13.Sticking my nose into some-one's crotch is not an acceptable
way of saying hello
14.The cat is not a squeaky toy so when I play with him and he
makes that noise, it is not a good thing.
15.I will not chew crayons or pens, especially not the red ones,
or my people will think I am hemorrhaging
16.I will not eat any more Kleenex or napkins and then re-deposit
them in the back yard after processing
17.I will not throw up in the car
18.The toilet bowl is not a never ending supply of water, and
just because it is blue, that doesn't mean it is cleaner