A Day of Commitment and Celebration
The Cabrini Lay Missionaries (CLMs), Guadalupe Province, shared a beautiful Feast of the Sacred Heart and the celebration continued until June 13th.
On the Feast Day, we had a special prayer service, via Zoom. During the service, Adela Jarquin and Marianne McGowan, renewed their commitment to the CLMs for 3 more years. We are so grateful for their continued presence and their work toward the Cabrinian mission. Following the renewals, five new CLMs made their initial commitment for one year. We are blessed to have Digna Merchan, Sheny Hinestroza, Susan Pierson, Veronica Hernandez-Perez and Victoria Ortiz-Perez begin their new journey as CLMs. Digna lives in New York, Susan in Pennsylvania and Sheny, Veronica and Victoria are from Guatemala. Each person received a certificate, their CLM handbook and a symbol, which is worn as a sign of being a CLM. They will be sharing more about themselves in the coming weeks in our CLM Corner in The Update.
We certainly did not let distance or a pandemic stop us from celebrating the gift of our new CLMs. On June 13th, we met again on Zoom. The Cabrini Sisters were invited to join us so they could meet our new members. We had Sisters from Colorado, Guatemala, New York, Pennsylvania and Nicaragua. It was a beautiful gathering as our new CLMs spoke about themselves and the amazing work that they are doing. A special blessing was prayed by all for our new CLMs. We pray that they will continue to bring the love of Christ to the world.
Thank you to everyone who helped to make this such a special time for all our CLMs.
~ submitted by: Lorraine Campanelli, Director
Feast Day Events and Observances
This past Friday, June 11th, the National Shrine of Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini celebrated the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
With the Sacred Heart at the center of their mission, the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart here in Chicago celebrated by renewing their vows.
Continued thank you for the thoughts, prayers, & patronage.
Many thanks to all who were able to join the in-person Mass to celebrate this Blessed Solemnity!
Sr. Christine Marie Baltas, MSC and Sr. Diane Olmstead, MSC share this link of a broadcast video of the Feast Day celebration at the Sacred Hearts and St. Stephen Parish in Brooklyn, New York where the Missionary Sisters served and taught for many years in the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary School. Please see the story on the following page. To view the video, please click here
New Mother Cabrini Statue Stands Proud and Tall
Outside Brooklyn Parish Where She Worked
CARROLL GARDENS — It was a long time coming for the Diocese of Brooklyn to have its own Mother Cabrini statue, but the faithful finally got to see the final figure.
Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio unveiled and blessed the statue and shrine of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini — also known as Mother Cabrini — outside her Brooklyn parish, Sacred Hearts & St. Stephen Church on June 11.
Members of Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, founded in 1880 by Mother Cabrini, were also in attendance. Once the sisters removed the red fabric from the monument, applause, Italian music, and red, white, and green confetti filled the air.
The statue features Mother Cabrini standing on a cobblestone street with two young children on either side of her. She is depicted at the age she was when she arrived in Brooklyn — approximately 40 years old — and wearing the habit of her order.
The design of the statue includes a variety of historical references, including on the brick base on which the statue will stand. The base also contains the cornerstone of the original church.
Mother Cabrini worked in Brooklyn after she and six other Cabrini Sisters arrived in the U.S. from her native Italy in 1889 and tended to immigrants in the original Carroll Gardens church, which is now the site of Mother Cabrini Park.
“The decision was that the statue should be placed in the parish where she worked here in Brooklyn first,” said John Heyer II, pastoral associate at Sacred Hearts & St. Stephen Parish. “She founded the first school for Italian immigrants here on all of Long Island, quite frankly, and the first for the Diocese of Brooklyn.”
Sister Antonina Avitabile, MSC was a member of the committee that helped bring the diocese’s statue to fruition.
“I think the parish and the Italians in the Brooklyn diocese will love it,” she said before the unveiling. “We put a lot of work into choosing it.”
Msgr. Guy Massie, pastor of Sacred Hearts & St. Stephen, noted the important messages the monument sends.
“It makes a statement to all immigrants that the church is with them and for them, particularly at this time in the history of the United States where there are such anti-immigrant feelings,” he explained. “And it is a great statement of the devotion that people have to FrancesCabrini, who lived right here in our parish.”
Thanks to Guadalupe province newsletter for these articles