Recently I was asked what the difference is between the IHM Sisters of Monroe, Michigan, and the IHM Sisters of Immaculata, Pennsylvania. There’s no easy answer to this, especially since there’s also a third IHM community, the IHM Sisters of Scranton, Pennsylvania, plus the Oblate Sisters of Providence, the original community of one of our IHM founders. So I’m throwing them all into the mix here too!

A little historical context first though — check out an earlier post OSP IHM: Nuns Who Rock in which I wrote about how our co-Founder Mother Theresa Maxis Duchemin was originally an OSP Sister and how the IHM congregation became 3 separate communities.

I find it difficult to characterize how we are different because as an IHM Sister, I am overwhelmed (in the good sense) by our shared charism and our connections to one another and to our founders. The 3 IHM communities are like three siblings who were separated when they were young — their early, foundational years were shared, but then they each were in different places and so lived and expressed their original shared experience in different ways. Some of those ways were based on the geography and the Catholic culture in the area, the needs of the people and of the Church in that area, and of course the women whom the Spirit led to be part of that particular community.

So we have both similarities and differences. Honestly, the best way to get a sense of what we are like (similarities and differences) is to be with us. The facts (e.g. this one is in Monroe, this one Philadelphia, etc.) cannot come close to telling the whole story, and ultimately (especially if one is discerning religious life) you can tell which one “fits” you when your heart leaps for joy when you are with them.

The OSP IHM Timeline, a narrative of our histories, can tell the story way better than I can. In it, each community expresses who they are through the various periods (early history, Vatican II period, tody). The OSPIHM Timeline was made back in 2005 by an inter-congregational team that I was blessed to be part of. It’s pretty cool. Just click on the link below!

OSP IHM Timeline

A happy and blessed Monday of Holy Week to you! And, happy NUNDAY! Today’s photo of a Catholic sister comes from Discerninglife25. Here’s what she wrote:

This is Sister Laura Downing, a Sister, Servant of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in Immaculata, Pennsylvania. This is a picture of her taken at my Catholic High School in the Diocese of Raleigh, NC. Sister Laura teaches theology to freshman and sophomores, and she always has a vibrant joy, enthusiasm for teaching, and an attractive personality (not to mention a great sense of humor!).

My relation to Sister Laura is that though she is not my teacher, she is still my friend. She is always there to talk, even when she has flocks of kids sitting in her room (she is a very popular nun!). She even took me to her motherhouse, which was a very fun trip indeed. Overall, I say that Sister Laura is very down to Earth and knows how to have fun. She has certainly defined today’s nun very well indeed!

Thanks, Discerninglife25! What a wonderful portrait of Sister Laura.

Now since we’re talking about IHM, I wanted also to address a question from an earlier post about Immaculata IHMs and Monroe IHMs. But that will have to wait till tomorrow. Stay tuned!

Today is November 10, 2008, the 163rd anniversary of the founding of the IHM Congregations — Monroe IHMs from Monroe, Michigan (my community); Scranton IHMs; and Immaculata IHMs (both of Pennsylvania). Our congregations were begun by Mother Theresa Maxis Duchemin and Father Louis Florent Gillet, CSsR (Redemptorist priest). Mother Theresa was originally a member of the Oblate Sisters of Providence but she left to found a new community in Michigan with Father Gillet. Though the Oblate Sisters of Providence celebrate their founding by Mother Mary Lange and Father James Hector Nicholas Joubert, SS (Sulpician priest) on July 2, 1829, I can’t help but remember them on our Founders Day because without them, we would not be.

So today on Founders Day, which also happens to be Nunday, I want to share with you photos of my nuns, the Immaculata and Scranton IHMs and the OSPs. Though each of us lives our charism in unique ways and have different stories, we are bound together by a common heart.

First is a photo of the OSPIHM Governing Board which is made up of the Major Superior, the assistant to the Major Superior, and one member selected at large from the membership of the Oblate Sisters of Providence and the three congregations of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

The 2006 – 2010 members are (back row) Julie Vieira, IHM (M), Rose Yeager, IHM (I); Lorraine McGrew, IHM (I), Mary Persico, IHM (S), Mary Fran Gilleran, IHM (M); (middle row) Mary Ricardo Maddox, OSP, Mary Jo Gallagher, IHM (S), Mary Annette Beecham, OSP; Mary Anne Bolger, IHM (I) (front row) Fran Fasolka, IHM (S), Ana Jovita Hidalgo, OSP, Joan Mumaw, IHM (M)

Next is a photo of the OSP and IHM Major Superiors in 2005 at a gathering of our 4 communities in Immaculata.

The 2005 Major Superiors were Virginia Pfau, IHM (M), Annette Beecham, OSP, Mary Persico, IHM (S), Rose Marie DeCarlo, IHM (I)

Finally a photo of OSP and IHM Sisters whooping it up with the Mummers at our 2005 gathering of all four communities.

Previous posts on Founders Day at A Nun’s Life.

Sister Maria Loyola, IHM, whom I first came to know via photographs of her “surfing”, died on Sunday. Her niece Janet wrote to let me know because of the blog post I had written about her and the Nun’s Beach Surf Invitational.

My condolences to Janet, Andrea and their family, to the IHM Sisters of Immaculata, to David the photographer and all who were touched by Sister Loyola’s life and love of life.

I received an email from a reader about the Mighty Macs, one of the most famous women’s basketball teams this side of God. ESPN recently published this article: “Where did it all begin? Just ask Immaculata’s Mighty Macs” (March 26, 2008) by Greg Garber.

“Mighty Macs” was the name give to the team of women who played for Immaculata College (now Immaculata University) in Pennsylvania, a school that was founded by the Immaculata IHM Sisters, cousins to my own Monroe IHMs.

Here are some awesome stats gleaned from the article:

• Cathy Rush, the first basketball coach at Immaculata was hired for $450 a year beginning in 1970.
• Title IX guaranteed women an equal footing with men in collegiate athletics in 1972.
• The Mighty Macs won the first national championship in women’s basketball in 1972. They won again the following two years.
• Immaculata was the first college women’s team to play outside of the United States, traveling to Australia in 1974.
• In January 1975, Immaculata versus Maryland was the first women’s game to appear on national television.
• One month later, Immaculata and Queen’s College were the first women’s teams to play at Madison Square Garden.
• In 1978, when the first women’s collegiate doubleheader was played at Philadelphia’s Spectrum, all four coaches were Immaculata graduates — Vicki Harrington, Class of 1967 (Immaculata); Marianne Crawford Stanley, Class of 1976 (Old Dominion); Theresa Shank Grentz, Class of 1974 (Rutgers); and Rene Muth Portland, Class of 1975 (St. Joseph’s).
• Immaculata University is known as the Birthplace of Women’s Basketball.

The Immaculata IHM nuns were most supportive of their Mighty Macs. The caption of this picture (from the article) reads: “The nuns were primary teachers at Immaculata, and primary fans at the women’s basketball games. Without an organized pep band, they organized a Bucket Brigade to cheer for the Mighty Macs.”

As a proud product of Catholic school athletic programs and CYO basketball, I am thrilled that these women (nuns, coaches, and players) are getting the recognition they deserve.

Stay tuned for the movie “Our Lady of Victory“, a feature film about the true story of the Mighty Macs of Immaculata University winning the first national championship in women’s basketball in 1972.