This week is an important one in the church calendar. We celebrate Ash Wednesday and the beginning of the season of Lent in two days. A wonderful Catholic tradition is to celebrate Mardi Gras or Shrove Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday. So in light of the advent of Mardi Gras, I’m sharing a picture from a gathering of IHM Sisters from Monroe, Scranton, and Immaculata, and Oblate Sisters of Providence. In true Philly style we had the Mummers join us for one of our celebrations. The Mummers remind me of the art, performance, and regalia that we often see during Mardi Gras parades in New Orleans.

In honor of Mardi Gras and the beginning of Lent, A Nun’s Life will be hosting a special Community Podcast tomorrow at 6:30 p.m. CST (your timezone). For more information, please see our blog post on Mardi Gras Podcast.

This past weekend I was home in Monroe at our IHM Motherhouse for a gathering of sisters from the Oblate Sisters of Providence and the 3 Immaculate Heart of Mary communities (Immaculata, Scranton, and my community of Monroe). This is the fourth year that I have been part of this group. I’ve written in the past about what the group is like (see posts from 2006 and 2007) so today on Nunday I thought I’d share some photos of our weekend gathering in Monroe, Michigan, at our IHM Motherhouse. Many thanks to Sister Fran Fasolka, IHM (Scranton) for the beautiful photos.

Sister Mary Anne Bolger, IHM (Immaculata) enjoying desert in the Ice Cream Room. Independent Dairy ice cream is a big-time local favorite!

The OSP IHM Sisters of the Round Table

Sister Jill Kress, IHM (Monroe) Novice, Sister Clarice Proctor, OSP, Sister Fran Fasolka, IHM (Scranton) visiting "the Barn", the IHM House of Prayer

OSP IHM Board of Directors 2009 at the IHM Motherhouse, Monroe, Michigan

Be sure to check out our new OSP IHM Website created by Sister Fran Fasolka, IHM (Scranton), and Sister Kathy Burns, IHM (Scranton).

And don’t forget to join Sister Maxine and I today — and every weekday — at anunslife.org/live for a live podcast. There’s a link in the top menu labeled LIVE SHOWS.

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.

This past weekend I had the honor of being part of a gathering of the Oblate Sisters of Providence and the 3 Immaculate Heart of Mary congregations (Monroe, Scranton, Immaculata). We met at the Immaculata Motherhouse in Pennsylvania. From Chicago this should be a mere 2 hour flight. But due to mechanical problems, our plane was delayed 7 hours (yes, 7 hours). It was pretty bad, but I actually got along quite well as I had Teresa of Avila’s Life with me. So aside from the increasingly irate grumblings of fellow passengers, I had a rather nice time. It was like spending the day with a dear friend. We conversed, shared our experiences of prayer and of God, and had nasty airport food. Good times! (Well, except for the last thing … and fyi, Teresa may be a Doctor of the Church, but not so great at helping me with Sudoku.)

When I finally made it into Philadelphia, my dear friend Mary Anne (Immaculata IHM) picked me up and we headed to the motherhouse. Most of the other nuns we were meeting with had already gone to bed after cheering on the Phillies to victory over the Nationals. But they saved dinner for us and we chatted with a couple sisters before heading to bed. In the morning I went for a walk. Our founder Mother Theresa Maxis Duchemin is buried at Immaculata, and so I went to the cemetery to spend some time at her grave and at the grave of a dear IHM. When I returned to the motherhouse, I got ready for Mass and was thrilled to see the sisters from my Monroe congregation and the other 3 congregations. This is a group that I met with last year (here’s my post about that gathering and the history that binds our 4 congregations together). As with the last gathering, this one was joyful, prayerful, and so thoughtful. These women are just amazing. I am in awe as I experience the Spirit moving among us.

After being out and about in the world and being involved in my ministry, it was so nice to be “home” among sisters. There is a certain energy, a certain spirit that exists “whenever two or more are gathered” (to be biblical). These women are truly family to me and just being with them lifts my spirit, encourages me on the journey, and helps me be present to God who is always with us. I wish I could better articulate what this experience is like but words ellude me.

Teresa of Avila seemed to be with us that weekend too. I ran into some beautiful paintings of her at the motherhouse. I’ll have to share with you some of her writing especially on religious life. Stay tuned!

Yesterday marked the 11th annual Nun’s Beach Community Day and Surf Invitational in Stone Harbor, New Jersey. Nun’s Beach is located in front of Villa Maria, the Immaculata IHM’s convent. I had the privilege of staying at Villa Maria for a long weekend. The sisters that live at Villa Maria told me about the Surf Invitational on the beach. They seem to enjoy the fact that surfers use the stretch of beach and surf in front of their convent. Surfline.com describes surfing at Nun’s Beach:

Decent, lined-up surf, both lefts and rights. Nun’s is located in front of the convent on 114th Street* and is especially fun on a good, head-high northeast swell. Surfing is restricted during the day in the summer, but the north side of the jetty is open to surfing all day. Beach tags are required. The surf is shared by enthusiastic longboarders and young wave-warriors. Lots of surf moms and dads teach their kids to surf here. (*Note: correct address is 111st and First)

Every year a new logo for the surf invitational is designed. These are highly-coveted collectible items. When I was there, the logo had a nun in full habit surfing the waves. At a sidewalk sale downtown Stone Harbor, there was a booth full of people (including nuns) selling the awesome t-shirts et al.

While I was looking up Nun’s Beach on the Internet, I came across some beautiful pictures by the talented photographer David McCarty. He was kind enough to let me use them for A Nun’s Life (for which I am most grateful). The top picture is stunning. It shows some boards up against a fence with Villa Maria in the background (note the bird on the top of the cross). A great shot. The other two pictures are of Sister Maria Loyola* at the 2005 invitational (*Note: originally incorrectly identified as Sister James).

According to David, Sister Loyola was 80 at the time and the head of the convent. David notes that Sister Loyola claimed to have a lifelong dream to be able to surf. This is pretty close! Visit the Immaculata IHM Web site. Also, check out the David McCarty Photography Web site.

UPDATE: 8/15/8 – normally I don’t edit my posts, but given that the mixup in names continues to cause confusion, I’ve changed references from Sister James to Sister Maria Loyola … see comments below for the whole story.