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

Thank you to those who have been sending in photos of Catholic Sisters and Nuns. Keep them coming! Today’s Nunday photo comes from the Oblate Sisters of Providence of Baltimore, Maryland.

The photo is of Sister Josella de los Rios, OSP. Sister Josella is originally from Cuba and lives at the Oblate Sisters of Providence Motherhouse in Baltimore. Her OSP Sister Marcia Hall sent in the photo noting, “Sister has been in the community nearly 50 years. In the past Sister Josella has worked with children, but now she ministers primarily to our sick Sisters.”

Learn more about the Oblate Sisters of Providence at their website. And be sure to check out their book, Oblate Sisters of Providence, A Pictorial History.

Today’s Nunday photo and story come from a recent visit of IHM Sisters to Haiti. The IHM Sisters of Monroe together with the Oblate Sisters of Providence, the Immaculata IHMs, and the Scranton IHMs, have a corporate commitment to care for the people of Haiti. Here is our corporate statement:

We, the Oblate Sisters of Providence and the IHM Sisters, impelled by the Gospel, stand in solidarity with the people of Haiti, the poorest nation in the Americas, in their struggle for dignity, life and human rights both in Haiti and the United States.

You can read more about the Haiti Project on our OSPIHM.org website.

Periodically sisters go to Haiti to help, some stay for a short time, others for a while. Sister Michele Denton, an IHM sister from Monroe, was recently in Haiti with The World Community for Christian Meditation, an organization founded and led by Benedictine monks.

You can read about Sister Michele’s experience in Haiti at our IHM website in the article Sister Bears Witness to Haitian Struggles.

Send in your photos of real Catholic sisters and nuns.

See more photos of sisters and nuns who have been featured on Nunday at A Nun’s Life.

Nunday is here! And we’ve got some cool stuff today. The Oblate Sisters of Providence are featured in the December 2008 issue of Ebony magazine! RUN, don’t walk, to your nearest convenience store and pick up a copy! The story and photos are fabulous.

The article is called “Walking with God” and was written by Kevin Chappell with photos by André F. Chung. The article starts with the single sentence paragraph: “At first, Virginie Fish ignored Him.” The story goes on to tell a bit about Sister Virginie’s vocation story, mentioning that she has now been a sister for 62+ years of which Virginie says, “It is a life of excitement, adventure, dedication.”

The article goes through some of the history of the Oblate Sisters of Providence and where they are ministering today. My friend Sister Marcia Hall, OSP, is also featured in the article. Sister Marcia is a former sociology professor who joined the Oblate Sisters 10 years ago. Says Sister Marcia, “I feel very strongly that I was called to be here, called to do the work that I am doing now.” Sister Marcia is now the vocation director for the Oblate Sisters of Providence.