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

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.