Sister Helen Prejean was born on April 21, 1939, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She joined the Sisters of St. Joseph of Medaille in 1957 (now know as the Congregation of St. Joseph) and received a B.A. in English and Education from St. Mary’s Dominican College, New Orleans in 1962. In 1973, she earned an M.A. in Religious Education from St. Paul’s University in Ottawa, Canada. She has been the Religious Education Director at St. Frances Cabrini Parish in New Orleans, the Formation Director for her religious community, and has taught junior and senior high school students.

S. Helen’s second book, The Death of Innocents: An Eyewitness Account of Wrongful Executions, was published in December 2004. In it, she tells the story of two men, Dobie Gillis Williams and Joseph O’Dell, whom she accompanied to their executions. She believes both of them were innocent. In The Death of Innocents she takes the reader through all the evidence, including evidence the juries never heard either due to the incompetence of the defense lawyers or the rigid formalities of court procedure. S. Helen examines how flaws inextricably entwined in the death penalty system inevitably lead to innocent people being executed and render the system unworkable.

-Sister Helen Prejean, C.S.J. http://www.prejean.org/

http://www.facebook.com/#!/sisterhelen?ref=ts

Sister John Minetta, SHF -RIP

April 22, 1918 — August 31, 2010
Entered the Sisters of the Holy Family July 2, 1936
Final Profession of Vows August 8, 1941

Sitting in the Motherhouse dining room after the notice was posted that Sister John Minetta was declining in health, I heard the compliments from every side:

“She was a pioneer…”

“She was a prophet…”

“She was a wonderful sister, a great lady…”

“She was ahead of her time…”

She was, and of course she still is, all of those things, but her frail body and failing mind masked the greatness of one who was the first executive director of the National Apostolate for the Mentally Retarded and truly a pioneer in special religious education.

Sister John, born Cecilia Minetta on April 22, 1918 in Ferndale, California, died on August 31, 2010, after a long illness. The family moved to San Francisco, and as a young girl, Cecilia helped out at Holy Family Day home, where she “got a great feeling of attraction to the charism just by being around the Sisters.” She entered the community in 1936 and made her final vows on August 8, 1941.

During her early years of ministry in San Francisco, Martinez, Burlingame, San Jose and Los Angeles, Sister John moved more and more toward special religious education with developmentally disabled children. She worked with the children and with their teachers and families to welcome them into the full life of the church. She was named the supervisor of Special Education for the Los Angeles Archdiocese, and in 1969-70 served in New Jersey as the executive director of the national office of the Apostolate for the Mentally Retarded.

She returned west to Reno from 1971-75, and in 1972 was seriously injured in a hit-and-run auto accident. Her car was struck from behind and went over a guard rail and down a 150-foot cliff into a river. When she was rescued from the sinking vehicle by passersby, she was found to have four fractured vertebrae in addition to other injuries, but her service to her beloved “Holy Innocents” was not finished yet, and she made a recovery and returned to her ministry.

From 1976-1985 she served in Jersey City, New Jersey, as Director of the Apostolate for the Mentally Retarded, after which she returned to California to work in parishes of the Archdiocese of San Francisco.

She is the author of “Christ Our Light” for developmentally disabled children, a teachers manual for special religious education, and “Discovering God’s Love,” a manual for teachers and a companion child’s text for religious education for the developmentally disabled. She was a well-known presenter at lectures, courses, workshops and teacher-training sessions for the developmentally disabled and other handicapped children. Sister John was also a registered social worker.

Inspired by another Holy Family pioneer, Sister Miriam Auxilium O’Gara, Sister John in turn inspired another Holy Family pioneer, Sister Aurora Perez, who is currently Director of SPRED, the special religious education office for the Diocese of Oakland. With other sisters who have also served the developmentally and physically disabled through many years, these three have been but one expression of our mission “to seek out and advocate for the poor and needy, especially families, for the Kingdom of God.”

– Sister Carol J. Crater, SHF

They insist, however, that the church has a role to play by reducing its own potentially polluting practices and educating the faithful and public at large and helping those who might be negatively affected by a changing climate.

The Mexican bishops’ social ministry secretariat met for five days in mid-August to learn more on the subject from scholars, government experts and other concerned Catholics as the Mexican church formulates its position for the U.N. Climate Change Conference Nov. 29-Dec. 10 in Cancun, Mexico.

“This issue we’re addressing at the conference is a subject of enormous worry for the Catholic Church,” said an Aug. 11 statement from the social secretariat.

The climate change issue ranks high for the bishops’ conference and is listed as one of four key areas of attention — along with promoting peace and reconciliation, promoting democracy and serving the poor — for the social ministry secretariat over the next two years.

Some in the church acknowledge the subject has not been considered a pressing issue, however.

“”This is an issue that will be important for us over the medium term,” said Alejandro de Hoyos, director of Caritas Quintana Roo, which serves Cancun and the Mayan Riviera, an area he expects “will be increasingly affected (by climate change) in the future.”

The conference followed the release of a study by researchers at Princeton University predicting a changing climate would force up to 6.7 million Mexicans from rural areas to abandon the land and leave the country over the next 70 years. The study’s authors based their findings on climate statistics and migration patterns from 1995 to 2005.

Studies presented at the conference showed other worrisome trends. For example, Luis Munozcano, director for monitoring climate change at Mexico’s Agriculture Secretariat, showed figures in his presentation that more Category 5 hurricanes — 18 — battered Mexico over the past 10 years than were registered 1970-2000.

Another study presented by Lourdes Romo Aguilar of the College of the Northern Border in Tijuana predicted climate change would aggravate existing problems of flooding and disasters in four northern cities, wiping out poor neighborhoods built in an irregular fashion.

One prominent Mexican scientist who did not appear at the conference has expressed some skepticism, however. Victor Manuel Velasco Herrera of the geophysics department at the National Autonomous University of Mexico said in a February report that the country was about to enter a “mini-Ice Age” due to a “reduction in solar activity.”

Other environmental and development factors not linked to climate change vex Mexico, too, such as rampant deforestation and the overexploitation of aquifers.

The organizers of the church conference expressed no doubts of the science of climate change, however, predicting it would provoke long-term problems in Mexico. Inaction, they added, is not an option.

“It is necessary to act now. In facing this problem, we can’t and we won’t remain with our arms crossed believing that nothing is going to happen,” they said in the Aug. 11 statement, obtained by Catholic News Service.

http://satodayscatholic.wordpress.com/2010/08/17/mexican-catholic-officials-study-effects-of-climate-change-on-country/

Take The Pledge

All across our country, Catholics are taking the St. Francis Pledge to Care for Creation and the Poor and joining the Catholic Climate Covenant. The St. Francis Pledge is a promise and a commitment by Catholic individuals, families, parishes, organizations and institutions to live our faith by protecting God’s Creation and advocating on behalf of people in poverty who face the harshest impacts of global climate change. To join the Covenant, you commit to act on each of the five elements of the St. Francis Pledge.

The St. Francis Pledge

I/We Pledge to:

• PRAY and reflect on the duty to care for God’s Creation and protect the poor and vulnerable.
• LEARN about and educate others on the causes and moral dimensions of climate change.
• ASSESS how we-as individuals and in our families, parishes and other affiliations-contribute to climate change by our own energy use, consumption, waste, etc.
• ACT to change our choices and behaviors to reduce the ways we contribute to climate change.
• ADVOCATE for Catholic principles and priorities in climate change discussions and decisions, especially as they impact those who are poor and vulnerable.

Monica, a saint especially revered by mothers because of her tireless prayers for the conversion of her wayward son, Augustine, was born of Christian parents in Tagaste, North Africa in 333, and died in Ostia, near Rome, in 387. She was married young to a government official, Patricius, who was not a Christian, and had a bad temper, though she bore her burdens patiently, and their life together was relatively peaceful. Three children were born to, Augustine, Navigius, and a daughter, Perpetua.

Augustine, the eldest son, though brilliant, was, according to his own account, a lazy and dissolute youth whose bad behavior caused his mother much grief  especially so after he went away to school at Madaura and to Carthage. Although Patricius became a Christian not long before he died, Augustine persisted in his pursuit of pleasure, and, as a nineteen-year-old student, joined the heretical Manichaean sect. When he began to spout heresies, Monica became alarmed, and intensified her efforts to bring him to Christ. In the Confessions, Augustine recounts Monica’s dream which consoled and encouraged her:

“In her dream she saw herself standing on a sort of wooden rule, and saw a bright youth approaching her, joyous and smiling at her, while she was grieving and bowed down with sorrow. But when he inquired of her the cause of her sorrow and daily weeping (not to learn from her, but to teach her, as is customary in visions), and when she answered that it was my soul’s doom she was lamenting, he bade her rest content and told her to look and see that where she was there I was also. And when she looked she saw me standing near her on the same rule.” (Confessions, Book III, 9.14).

During this anguished period of prayer for her son, Monica consulted a bishop who had himself been a Manichaean before he became a Christian. He declined to intervene with Augustine, whom, the bishop correctly observed, was not open to hearing the truth. She persisted tearfully, but he refused to intervene. Nevertheless, the bishop consoled Monica that “the child of those tears shall never perish”, which she took as a sign from God. Though he continued in his heresies for nine years, Monica followed Augustine to Rome and then to Milan.in an effort to rescue her son from his errors. In Milan she met Ambrose, who helped lead Augustine into the true faith.

A few months after his conversion, Augustine, Monica and Adeodatus, set out to return to Africa, but Monica died at Ostia, the ancient port city of Rome, and she was buried there. Augustine was so deeply moved by his mother’s death that he was inspired to write his Confessions, “So be fulfilled what my mother desired of me–more richly in the prayers of so many gained for her through these confessions of mine than by my prayers alone” (Book IX.13.37)

An account of Monica’s early life, her childhood, marriage, her final days and her death, is given in Confessions Book IX, 8-12. He expresses his gratitude for her life:

“I will not speak of her gifts, but of thy gift in her; for she neither made herself nor trained herself. Thou didst create her, and neither her father nor her mother knew what kind of being was to come forth from them. And it was the rod of thy Christ, the discipline of thy only Son, that trained her in thy fear, in the house of one of thy faithful ones who was a sound member of thy Church” (IX.8.7).

Centuries later, Monica’s body was reburied in Rome, and eventually her relics were interred in a chapel left of the high altar of the Church of St. Augustine in Rome.

Please contact Sr. Gladys Guenther at gladys@holyfamilysisters.org if you are interested in attending.

September 25
Feast of Dolors
San Luis Obispo

October 16
Earth Charter and Justice
Santa Cruz

November 6
Foundation Day
Fremont Ca

December 4 or 10th
Advent Reflection
Sacramento

January 8
TBA
Hawaiian Gardens/ Anaheim

January 16
Covenant Renewal
Fremont Ca

“We have taken pride in the ongoing ‘Women & Spirit’ exhibits, supported the efforts of the CHA [Catholic Health Association] and Network for health care reform, [and] hailed the courage of Bishop Kevin Dowling in South Africa,” said Sister Weisenbeck.

Calling upon women religious to undergo a “massive renewal and re-imagining,” she added:

Some call it deconstruction. Now we are in the time of the Resurrection Waltz of re-integration. This still point of the turning world is where the dance is. We must shore up the foundations that make hope possible, live in hope and not just wait or look for it – “fierce faithfulness,” this is called.

Source(s): these links will take you to other sites, in a new window.

• ‘We wait in stubborn hope’: outgoing LCWR president (National Catholic Reporter)

This article was originally published here: http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=7242

Source: Catholic News Service
Published: Tuesday, August 17, 2010

DALLAS (CNS)—Contrasting events of the last year that have both spotlighted the accomplishments of women religious and focused broad attention on challenges facing the Catholic Church, the outgoing president of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious urged the organization to maintain hope that the Gospel will guide members to articulate their mission with “inclusive love.”

Sister Marlene Weisenbeck, a Franciscan Sister of Perpetual Adoration, called upon the gathering of 750 women religious at the organization’s annual assembly in Dallas Aug. 13 to let the world know that “Jesus Christ is the center of our lives.”

She cited several events since the organization’s 2009 gathering in New Orleans that she considered positive: the traveling “Women & Spirit: Catholic Sisters in America” exhibit that highlights the accomplishments of women religious in the United States; the passage of health care reform legislation by Congress in March after women religious supported the bill; and the “courage” of Bishop Kevin Dowling of Rustenburg, South Africa, for his recent questioning of the growing centralization of the church’s power structure.

Sister Marlene contrasted those events with the public disagreement that arose between the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and women religious over the health care legislation, the clergy sexual abuse scandal that expanded around the world and the continuing apostolic visitation of U.S. women religious and the doctrinal assessment of the LCWR.

“Amidst all the systemic unrest that these explosive events engender, we have called ourselves to hope in the midst of darkness,” Sister Marlene said. “We dare to articulate how our ecclesial role as women religious is calling us to mission.

“We do not have to mimic our founders to find the answer about how to do this. St. Francis said, ‘I have done what is mine to do. May Christ show you what is yours.’ In other words, the Gospel will show us what to do, how we must act with the attitude of Jesus who emphasized an inclusive love of all in right relationships,” she said.

Sister Marlene encouraged the women to “get the word out … that generosity and goodness are what the world thirsts for, that difference, diversity and dialogue are not dirty words but central to Trinitarian life at the heart of human relationships in community.”

She also called upon the women in their role as artists, ministers and healers to remember that the Holy Spirit works in “mystical exhortation to move people forward in a prophetic way.”

“The prophetic call is an individual quest for the holy that must lead to a communal quest for justice,” she said.

“As prophets for the future who move beyond pessimism and a culture of guilt and blame, we are prompted to see possibilities for healing, forgiveness, and to re-enact the actions of Christ as he witnessed to God’s tenderness. We bring our grain of sand in the wisdom of small steps that give imagination to charity,” she added.

Concluding, Sister Marlene said women religious remain grounded in the Second Vatican Council and “wait in stubborn hope for truth to impose itself by virtue of its essence as it wins over the mind with both gentleness and power.”

Before the close of the assembly, Dominican Sister Mary Hughes assumed the office of LCWR president for 2010-11.

Immaculate Heart of Mary Sister Margaret Brennan was awarded the Leadership Conference of Women Religious’ highest honor, its Outstanding Leadership Award, on the last day of its annual assembly, Aug. 10-13.

Brennan, an IHM from Monroe, Michigan, is a theologian and former LCWR president; she played a key role in the renewal of religious life following the Second Vatican Council.

Accepting the award, the 86-year-old Brennan spoke of the origins of LCWR as she thanked the assembly for the honor.

Brennan (left) with Mercy Sister Theresa Kane

“In retrospect I thought that perhaps how I could best respond as one of the ‘elders’ of the LCWR,” she said, “and in this time of Vatican Investigation, is to testify once again to the wonder of the beginning years when the conference was first invited into existence by Pius XII in 1952. As we know, and maybe need to remember, it was not a grass-roots organization.”

Recalled Brennan: “It startles us a bit today when we reflect that our major superiors of a past time, were somewhat reluctant to take up the mandate of Pius XII … content as we were with the individuality and charisms of their (and our) own congregations, the cut and color of our 2 habits and head-pieces, the burgeoning ministries in schools, hospitals and social agencies, the full novitiates, the construction of juniorates. We had the NCEA (The National Catholic Education Association), the NHA (the National Health Association) the Sister Formation Movement. What more did we need?”

She said it took five years for the women religious to respond to Pius’ call. That was when some 250 heads of American communities gathered in Chicago in 1956 to discuss once more the mandate of Pius XII.Brennan surrounded by other Monroe IHMs.

Brennan surrounded by other Monroe IHMs

“A simple intervention of one of the participants ended the doubt and the debate. Mother Marie of the Ursulines took the floor and with the simple statement ‘Rome wishes it, and, as obedient children of the church, there should be no hesitancy.’ The Conference was born.”

Brennan then spoke about the influence Loretto Sister Mary Luke Tobin had had on her life – and on women religious at the time of the council. She said she first met Tobin in 1966 at her first Conference of Major Superiors of Women Religious meeting.

“As an auditor and the only American Woman Religious at the Council, [Tobin] had been assigned to the commission in charge of drafting the [council document], The Church in the Modern World. Cardinal John Dearden of Detroit, the convener, allowed the auditors to speak and Luke joined fully in the struggle to word its prophetic message.

“As Mary Daniel and Lora Ann point out in their book, The Transformation of American Catholic Sisters, Luke, on her return from these last sessions of the council, became literally, “a roving cheerleader for its themes … She crisscrossed the country bringing its themes to congregation after congregation.”

The Conference of Major Superiors of Women Religious grew into the Leadership Conference of Women Religious. Brennan went on to say that in the immediate post-Vatican years she met many LCWR members who would forever influence and energize her thinking, Tobin among them.

“I do believe that the LCWR is gift,” she said, “a gift not of our own making … but given to us… and entrusted to us. And I do believe, as well, that this time of Apostolic Visitation may be one of its finest hours.”

She finished her remarks by quoting a poem entitled “Gift” by W.S. Merwin, the 2009 U.S. Poet Laureate.

“Surely the author of this poem was not thinking of LCWR when he crafted his thought. Very likely, he may not have even have heard of us. But then, good poetry, more often than not, escapes its author in the end, becoming instead the property of whoever and to whomever it speaks … resonating with deep feelings, opening minds and hearts with its message and meaning as it touches and speaks to others.”

“The gift of LCWR for me is just that … a Gift …and the ‘I’ can easily become a ‘we.’”

We must trust what was given to us … if we are to trust anything
What did it not begin what will it not end …
We have to hold it up in our hands as our ribs hold up our hearts
We must be led by what was given to us …
We have to let it open its wings and fly among the gifts of the unknown …
And in the mountain … on this mountain
We must turn again to the morning …
and to be led by what was given to us …
as streams are led by it
and braiding flights of birds
the grouping of veins the learning of plants
the thankful days
breath by breath.

Originally Published in the National Catholic Reporter

In the column, Haberman points out “If ever the corporate world could use a healthy infusion of responsibility, this would seem to be the time.” The piece not only affirms the relevance of our members’ work during this proxy season, but it honors the genuine spirit of our mission over our 40-year history of corporate engagement.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/04/nyregion/04nyc.html

http://www.iccr.org/

Submitted by:

Justice Organizers Leadership Treasurers (JOLT)

JOLT is a coalition of religious-based congregations ministering in California, whose purpose is to act out Gospel values for economic justice through: (1) education related to the responsible use of economic resources and (2) action / implementation on the congregational level. Activities include alternative investments, shareholder resolutions and corporate social accountability.

Humanitarian Principles represent the foundation of humanitarian action. Key humanitarian principles include:

Humanity: Human suffering must be addressed wherever it is found. The purpose of humanitarian action is to protect life and health and ensure respect for human beings.

Neutrality: Humanitarian actors must not take sides in hostilities or engage in controversies of a political, racial, religious or ideological nature.

Impartiality: Humanitarian action must be carried out on the basis of need alone, giving priority to the most urgent cases of distress and making no distinctions on the basis of nationality, race, gender, religious belief, class or political opinion.

Operational Independence: Humanitarian action must be autonomous from the political, economic, military or other objectives that any actor may hold with regard to areas where humanitarian action is being implemented”.

The 2010 World Humanitarian Day project is a collaborative film shot in over 40 countries in under 9 weeks, on a shoestring budget – with the goal of showing the enormous diversity of places, faces and endeavors of humanitarian aid workers in 2010.

It was filmed by humanitarian staff and freelance filmmakers from around the globe (over 50 contributors in total) with all time donated.

“Please help us by linking, embedding, tweeting and sharing this message with your friends, colleagues and contacts. Our sincere thanks to all those who contributed to the film, and to it’s dissemination.”

Credits:
Music by Krister Linder (www.kristerlinder.com)
2D animation by Anu Nagaraj @ Massmarket (www.massmarket.tv)
Title design by David Rasura

Produced by David Ohana/AVMU @ UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)

www.worldhumanitarianday.info

I believe that seeing the loving, caring nature and generosity of the Sisters and having such loving, caring and generous parents instilled in me to live my life the same way. I didn’t realize that I was living out the charism of the Holy Family Sisters until I came to work for the Sisters. At which time I began reading ‘The Holy Family Sisters 1872-1922. I also read the Legacy of Caring and realized that I wanted to do more to live out the Holy Family charism. I began to seek out more ways to help the needy in my community.

Assumption of Blessed Virgin Mary

On this great feast day the Church commemorates the happy departure from mortal life of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and Her translation into the kingdom of Her Son, where He crowned Her with immortal glory and enthroned Her above all the other Saints and heavenly spirits.

After the triumphant Conqueror of hell and death ascended into heaven, His blessed Mother had remained at Jerusalem, persevering in prayer with the disciples, until She received with them the Holy Ghost. She desired to assist the Church in its beginnings, and Her prayer was granted. It is generally believed that She lived for a good many years, until the age of 72 or 73. This supposition is based on the fact that Saint Dennis the Areopagite, who was converted by Saint Paul in the year 54, visited Her not long afterward, according to his own narration. That account is judged authentic by reliable authorities, among them Saint Thomas Aquinas. Finally She paid voluntarily the debt of fallen human nature to God, although like Adam at his creation, She was entirely innocent and exempt from the penalty of the painful separation of soul and body incurred by death. She might have been transported alive to Heaven, but chose instead to die, as Her Son also had chosen to die. If the death of the Saints is called a sweet sleep, how much more does the Dormition of the Queen of Saints, exempt from all sin, merit that name?

It is a traditional belief of the Holy Church that the body of the Blessed Virgin was raised up by God on the third day, and introduced at once into glory by a singular privilege. The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary is the consummation of the other great mysteries by which Her life was supremely admirable; it is Her true birthday and the crowning of all Her incomparable virtues which we admire singly in Her other festivals.

Afghan Women and the Return of the Taliban

By Aryn Baker

____________________________________________________

The following is an abridged version of an article that appears in the Aug. 9, 2010, print and iPad editions of TIME magazine.

+++++++

The Taliban pounded on the door just before midnight, demanding that Aisha, 18, be punished for running away from her husband’s house. Her in-laws treated her like a slave, Aisha pleaded. They beat her. If she hadn’t run away, she would have died. Her judge, a local Taliban commander, was unmoved. Aisha’s brother-in-law held her down while her husband pulled out a knife. First he sliced off her ears. Then he started on her nose. (See managing editor Richard Stengel’s message to readers about this week’s cover.)

This didn’t happen 10 years ago, when the Taliban ruled Afghanistan. It happened last year. Now hidden in a secret women’s shelter in Kabul, Aisha listens obsessively to the news. Talk that the Afghan government is considering some kind of political accommodation with the Taliban frightens her. “They are the people that did this to me,” she says, touching her damaged face. “How can we reconcile with them?”(See pictures of Afghan women and the return of the Taliban.)

In June, Afghan President Hamid Karzai established a peace council tasked with exploring negotiations with the Taliban. A month later, Tom Malinowski from Human Rights Watch met Karzai. During their conversation, Karzai mused on the cost of the conflict in human lives and wondered aloud if he had any right to talk about human rights when so many were dying. “He essentially asked me,” says Malinowski, “What is more important, protecting the right of a girl to go to school or saving her life?” How Karzai and his international allies answer that question will have far-reaching consequences, not only for Afghanistan’s women, but the country as a whole.(Watch TIME’s video on photographing Aisha for the cover.)

As the war in Afghanistan enters its ninth year, the need for an exit strategy weighs on the minds of U.S. policymakers. Such an outcome, it is assumed, would involve reconciliation with the Taliban. But Afghan women fear that in the quest for a quick peace, their progress may be sidelined. “Women’s rights must not be the sacrifice by which peace is achieved,” says parliamentarian Fawzia Koofi.(Comment on this story.)

Yet that may be where negotiations are heading. The Taliban will be advocating a version of an Afghan state in line with their own conservative views, particularly on the issue of women’s rights. Already there is a growing acceptance that some concessions to the Taliban are inevitable if there is to be genuine reconciliation. “You have to be realistic,” says a diplomat in Kabul. “We are not going to be sending troops and spending money forever. There will have to be a compromise, and sacrifices will have to be made.”(Watch TIME’s video “Portraits of the Women of Afghanistan.”)

For Afghanistan’s women, an early withdrawal of international forces could be disastrous. An Afghan refugee who grew up in Canada, Mozhdah Jamalzadah recently returned home to launch an Oprah-style talk show in which she has been able to subtly introduce questions of women’s rights without provoking the ire of religious conservatives. On a recent episode, a male guest told a joke about a foreign human-rights team in Afghanistan. In the cities, the team noticed that women walked six paces behind their husbands. But in rural Helmand, where the Taliban is strongest, they saw a woman six steps ahead. The foreigners rushed to congratulate the husband on his enlightenment — only to be told that he stuck his wife in front because they were walking through a minefield. As the audience roared with laughter, Jamalzadah reflected that it may take about 10 to 15 years before Afghan women can truly walk alongside men. But once they do, she believes, all Afghans will benefit. “When we talk about women’s rights,” Jamalzadah says, “we are talking about things that are important to men as well — men who want to see Afghanistan move forward. If you sacrifice women to make peace, you are also sacrificing the men who support them and abandoning the country to the fundamentalists that caused all the problems in the first place.”

See pictures of Muslim women leading a soft revolution. Read more: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2007238,00.html#ixzz0wQsieTFP
Read more: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2007238,00.html#ixzz0wQsfMhNj

To read this article in its entirety, pick up a copy of TIME magazine at your local newsstand or download the TIME iPad app. Or, to have TIME magazine delivered to your door every week, subscribe.

Saint Vincent's Day Home

VINCENT ACADEMY received 100% approval by Oakland Unified School District last night, with the option to revisit our preference for SVDH students in two years … the option cannot be in place the first two years because of Federal Funds that we will receive to get the school started … we all are very excited.

Now the work at Saint Vincent’s Day Home will be carried forward … our children will have a quality school experience – year round — from 7am -5:30 Monday through Friday — serving the needs of the community and the families that have called SVDH “home” for 99 years …. The model for this Charter School follows the Day Home model … our next 100 years of excellence has now extended to the 5th grade!

More pictures are located in our Flickr account!

The “27th Annual National Night Out” (NNO), a unique crime/drug prevention event sponsored by the National Association of Town Watch (NATW), was Tuesday, August 3, 2010. National Night Out campaign involved citizens, law enforcement agencies, civic groups, businesses, neighborhood organizations and local officials from over 15,000communities from all 50 states, U.S. territories, Canadian cities and military bases worldwide. In all, over 36 million people participated in National Night Out 2009.

NNO has proven to be an effective, inexpensive and enjoyable program to promote neighborhood spirit and police-community partnerships in our fight for a safer nation. Plus, the benefits your community will derive from NNO will most certainly extend well beyond the one night.

Location: Sisters of the Holy Family Motherhouse, Fremont, CA

If you were a member of this amazing community, as a child, a parent, or a family member, we urge you to contact them, and continue to be a part of the family.

Children gathered for festivities in the traditional art arbors built in every Day Home, circa 1940

St. Elizabeth’s Day Home
950 St. Elizabeth Drive
San Jose, CA 95126
MAP

Phone: 408.295.3456
Fax: 408.295.5917

www.sedh.org
info@sedh.org

Click here to contact the Alumni Program of the Holy Family Day Home

If you send us information about you or your family member’s experience at the Day Home, we’ll send you a Holy Family Day Home memento to thank you for contacting us.

Dr. Kevin Starr
(Attended the Day Home 1945-1947)

Dr. Kevin Starr (Attended the Day Home 1945-1947)

A half century and more ago, I would awaken after my nap at the Holy Family Day Home at 16th and Dolores Streets in San Francisco. I would look up to the great windows through which streamed the California sunshine. The windows seemed vast and distant, as if they were the windows of a great cathedral.

I later learned that the famous architect Willis Polk had designed the building; but even then, as a boy of five and six, I recognized that I was spending my days in distinguished surroundings, watched over by kindly women wearing the habit of the Sisters of the Holy Family. I remember the order and dignity of those days — and the serene stability that meant much to a child of divorced parents whose mother worked each day at a nearby bank in the Mission District.

The Sisters of the Holy Family treated us with dignity and respect. I can never remember anything even vaguely approaching punishment, although all of us, boys and girls together, were well behaved. We quite naturally fell into the dignity of our surroundings, and the gracious care of the Sisters seemed to elicit our best behavior….

The simplicity of spirit, the flexibility, the emphasis upon charity and service that characterized those first formative years has remained with the Holy Family Sisters throughout their 125 year existence.

Excerpt from the Introduction of A Legacy of Caring: The Impassioned Mission of Sisters of the Holy Family, by Charolette M. Hall and James Wolfe Hall. Pleasanton, CA, Hall Media Group, 1997.

“It is the right decision,” Bishop Wester said.  “Any law that provides legal cover to profiling affects all members of our communities, including legal residents and citizens.  It is a very slippery slope. What is needed now is for Congress and the Administration to live up to their responsibilities and address this issue by passing immigration reform.”

The U.S. Catholic bishops believe that any comprehensive immigration reform bill should contain the following elements: a legalization program that gives migrant workers and their families an opportunity to earn legal permanent residency and eventual citizenship;  a new worker visa program that protects the labor rights of both U.S. and foreign workers and gives participants the option to earn permanent residency; reform of the U.S. family-based immigration system to reduce waiting times for family reunification; and restoration of due process protections for immigrants, including asylum-seekers. In the longer term, policies that address the root causes of migration, such as the lack of sustainable development in sending nations, should also be part of the equation.

Source- http://www.usccb.org/comm/archives/2010/10-144.shtml

Sister Suzanne Bart

Assumption: August 15

Sister Assumption Cueva

Sister Marion Castro

Sister Eleanor Rizzi

Sister Jacinta Fiebig

Sister Mary Eileen Peach

Sister Jeanne Creager

10-132
July 13, 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
En Español

World Youth Day 2011 in Madrid Opens Registration

U.S. Bishops Set Up Web Site to Facilitate Registration

WASHINGTON—Registration to participate in World Youth Day (WYD) Madrid 2011 is now open. Though the registration is done online with the WYD organization in the Spanish capital, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has updated its existing World Youth Day page (www.wydusa.org) to allow access to the registration process through its Web site. The site includes links to important information regarding the event. Content will be progressively built up as additional information becomes available.

Though entry to WYD main events is free, participants have options regarding meals, accommodations and transportation to Madrid. They also pay according to a fee scale according to the country.

Sister Eileen McCann, CSJ, coordinator for Youth and Young Adult Ministry at the USCCB encouraged early registration.

“In addition to the Vigil and Mass with the pope during the weekend, there are numerous catechetical and other cultural activities throughout the week. Many groups also stay at parishes, school gymnasiums, or with local families. Early registration allows organizers to plan for accommodations, meals and participation in activities accordingly,” she said.

WYD 2011 theme, which will be held August 16-21 in Madrid, is “Planted and Built Up in Jesus Christ, Firm in the Faith.” Organizers estimate that nearly 600,000 young people from countries other than Spain, about 25,000 of them from the United States, will participate in the events. Pope Benedict XVI officially opened the registration process on July 1, by becoming the first to register for the event.

WYD is a faith-filled encounter of young people from around the world with the pope to pray, learn, celebrate and strengthen one another in faith.

For information visit www.wydusa.org.

Gift of Prayer

Assists the Golden Gleaners Care Center

The Sisters of the Holy Family “Gift of Prayer” offers a thoughtful and special way to honor a friend or relative. Use a Gift of Prayer to remember the deceased, celebrate an anniversary, birthday, promotion, retirement or birth. Your contribution helps the Sisters continue their ministries, which originated in San Francisco, California in 1872.

This is your ongoing opportunity to make a meaningful remembrance through the “Gift of Prayer.” Upon receipt of your donation an acknowledgement card will be sent to the family or person indicated. The amount is kept confidential. The name of the person in whose honor or memory the contribution is made will be entered in our “Gift of Prayer” register or in the “Memorial Book” in our chapel.

You can make a request for a prayer here.

You can make a tax-deductible donation using your checking account or Visa/MasterCard. Click Below to make a secure contribution today, to the Sisters of the Holy Family through the our very own donation system. 

If you would like to make a secure, online contribution to the Sisters’ Ministries, click here. Thank you for your generosity.

If you would like to make a contribution with a check, please make it payable to: Sisters of the Holy Family  and mail to PO Box 3248 * Fremont, CA 94539

You can also call 510-624-4580 for more information.
Or email: mary.campos@holyfamilysisters.org.

At the Nuns house meeting, it was decided to have a special dinner and celebration for the many volunteers who had helped during the past year. Some had charge of table setting and flower decorations and others the food preparations, some the sending of invitations and receiving the responses of those who would attend.

Sister Marianne, the excellent chef, had charge of the food, so with the help of Nuns the menu was decided to be grilled salmon, steak, baked potato, stuffed squash, yeast rolls and butter, a salad and strawberry shortcake for dessert. Preceding the dinner there would be drinks and appetizers served in the spacious grounds. The date for the dinner was set for July 16.

The day came and the Nuns were happily busy and it was time to celebrate. July 16 was a beautiful summer day and the time was nearing 5:00 p.m. and not one of the guests showed up. Getting worried a call was made to one of the guests, and we found out that the invitation said July 26^th so all their preparation had to be postponed to that date.

Well, the desperate Nuns had their own celebration and it being the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, rejoiced in the festivities. After the meal, a car was packed with the leftover goodies and flower arrangements, but they kept the paper decorations for the next date Jul 26. Off they went to the dining room where the homeless were served meals.

The desperate situation became a surprise occasion which was definitely welcomed by the homeless group and the desperate Nuns as well.