In the Psalms God shows delight in people. That special “lift” that is delight occurs in the events of life. The joy, surprise, and awe that accompanies delight energizes for life’s journey.
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Be sure to check out a new blog at Windows on Ursuline Life written as a further opportunity to share with our friends and others more about our community, our ministries, how we live, and what’s important to us.
The stark figures of the family fleeing persecution appear in the ancient Scripture text of Matthew, a Christmas image that does not warm our hearts as do the images of Joseph and Mary and the Child at Bethlehem.
In our day, the issue of immigration has been thrust onto the national scene. The political perspective often turns to legal standards to measure the dimension of the question. Economics looks at the cost/benefit impact that immigrants have on communities. The cultural effects reach into local communities and their customs. These, however, are only a few of the ways such a complex issue impacts us. And for the Catholic community, guidance as to the moral and humane dimensions that can inform our consciences regarding immigration is highly desirable. Each of these approaches is enlightened by a variety of factors such as implications and consequences.
For U.S. citizens the tension between the necessity of orderly assimilation of immigrant populations and our tradition of welcoming immigrants—our concern for both justice and humanity—adds to the confusion.
Recognizing that “Our American ideals call us to participate in the public debate, our Catholic faith urges us to do so with charity,” leaders of the Maryland Catholic Conference (consisting of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, the Archdiocese of Washington, and the Diocese of Wilmington), have created a Web site that examines the dimensions of immigration: www.mdcathcon.org/Immigration. In 2007 they issued a formal statement on the subject. Entitled “Where All Find a Home: A Catholic Response to Immigration,” the two-page statement brings moral reflection to the debate. Their statement, offered as guiding norms, can be accessed at that Web site.
For multifaceted presentation on some of the current information and facets of immigration, the Immigration Policy Center is a resource. One of its papers, for example, is entitled “Undocumented Immigrants as Taxpayers.” Drawing on government documents, the paper is enlightening on the contribution of immigrants to the economy. The paper can be accessed at the non-partisan Immigration Policy Center, a division of the American Immigration Council, at immigrationpolicy.org.
The Gospel story offers an incentive to seek a many-sided consideration to the question of immigration. The fate of many people depends on wisdom to inform national policy—and to influence individual attitudes. The question of immigration deserves no less.
God’s eternal Word leaped down from heaven in the silent watches of the night, and now we are filled with wonder at the nearness of our God.
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With the season of Advent and the changes in nature at this season, a look at the meaning in what surrounds us as we prepare for the coming of the Lord.
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The U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution that pays tribute to the works of the women religious of the United States who by their works of mercy helped build the country from 1727, when the Ursulines arrived in New Orleans.
Click Here to view the full text of the resolution.
Bringing the long traditions of Lenten practices into the contemporary environment enables us to sustain our Lenten desires to enter into the spirit of Jesus’ saving acts.
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Sister Dorothy Ann Kelly, provincial superior of the Ursulines of the Eastern Province of the United States and former president of the College of New Rochelle, NY, died on March 27, 2009. The death was unexpected, since she had been actively engaged in the work of the province beforehand.
Dorothy Ann brought honed leadership knowledge and skills to the office of Ursuline provincial in 2003 as the province adapted religious life to changing demographics, new ministries, and involvement in civic life. On May 31, 2009, she would have completed her second three-year term as provincial.
She had the saving grace of a rich sense of humor. Her outstanding commitment to the common good, particularly the local civic and interreligious community, was matched by a willingness to serve those organizations in the tasks needed. Her twenty-five-year tenure as president of the College of New Rochelle saw her taking initiatives that broadened the mission and the student body of the college to include three new schools—New Resources, Graduate School, Nursing School—and a population of adult undergraduates, racially diverse, men and women.
Over the years, her many memberships as board member, included Georgetown University, the Catholic University of America, St. Aloysius School in Harlem; she was a commissioner on Higher Education of the Middle States Association of Schools and Colleges; on the Board of Directors of the American Council on Education. She was part of the U.S. delegation to the Fourth UN World Conference on Women, member of Bridges to Peace (formerly Northern Ireland peace People), and a member of the National Museum for Women in the Arts. A member of the Board of the Interreligious Council of New Rochelle, she was also on the board of Sound Shore Hospital Medical Center.
Born in New York in 1929 to Sarah and Walter Kelly, she graduated from the College of New Rochelle in 1951. She entered the Order of St. Ursula in 1952, making her first vows in 1954 and her final vows in 1957. She earned a master’s degree in American Church History at the Catholic University of America in 1958, and a doctorate in American Intellectual History at the University of Notre Dame in 1970.
The sisters of the province, her family and friends, her colleagues and alumnae of the College of New Rochelle, those who shared in her service memberships, as well as Ursulines throughout the world, both mourn her untimely passing and celebrate the life of service she represented to so many.
Click here to view Sr. Dorothy Ann’s obituary.
The Feast of All Saints impels us to look at those who have put a blessing on our lives. It is fitting to recall some of the great Ursuline women who blessed us over the years.
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