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| CHRISTINE AND PATRICK PURDY, LMSCs |
After lunch, Fr. John Fahnestock, MSC, well-known and loved local pastor, with good humor welcomed us all to the convocation, and then we broke into three groups to discuss four topics: “How did I get here?” (not mode of transportation), “A moment when I knew I was called to be and MSC.”, “How I share my spirituality of the Sacred Heart.” and “A dream I have for the MSC, both professed and lay.”
After the reports of the three groups, Ana introduced one of her “kids”, twenty-one-year-old Audrey Rangel, who told us about her family of nine and her journey to the spirituality of the Sacred Heart. As for her future, she knows, “Wherever love inspires you, there is your ministry.” A panel of her peers also spoke of their trials as they progressed in spirituality of the heart, to eventually “make their promises” as lay MSC. They were all attracted by the acceptance, love and example of youth ministry directors, including the Gmeiners and Sandy Griego, and by the generosity, care and lightheartedness of MSC priests in their parishes. For most of these kids the annual mission to a poor village in Mexico was the spark that ignited the charism of radical love. With the support of their MSC family, a spiritual oasis in a degraded social scene, and confident in God’s love for them, they now feel unstoppable.
Day 2 June 20
The day began in the sanctuary of Our Lady of Solitude at 7:30 with mass, celebrated with Fr. John, and the commitment ceremony of the young local marine, Carlos “Charlie” Tellez, tag-a-long friend of Luc and Jackie Rangel, and honorary uncle to their four-month-old son, Luc, Jr., who, by the way, has attended every event so far. Charlie finds “love every day in the daily readings.”
After a continental breakfast, we mixed and mingled and chatted as even more MSC arrived, lay and professed, young and old, swelling our number to five dozen during the course of the day. Sr. Lorraine Molchanow, MSC, from Reading, PA explained several items of “swag” in our tote bags, one being a depiction of the five sisters martyred in Papua, New Guinea in 1904.
Paul Pulver, of St. Thomas More Parish in Irvine, father of grown children, witnessed to us his triumphs and tragedies, his falls from grace and his rebirths in the spiral of his journey to faith and love in the Sacred Heart. He now works closely with the Southern California MSC groups and does fundraising for the oldest charity in Los Angeles, where he can attend mass daily and pray with the community at work.
David Apodaca, young Vice-principal at a local public intermediate school, also shared his testimony with us and told us he became an MSC early because, “They have something we want – the spirituality of the heart. It’s like a drug. You want more.” He and his young family are deeply united to the local MSC groups, so much so that one day one of his young sons looked up at his MSC medallion and asked when he would get one, too. David replied, “When you are an MSC.” Young Joseph paused and then said, “I thought I was a MSC.” The accounts of both of these men went deep and were personal and moving, and now we are all one family in the Sacred Heart.
We also heard from Fr. Ben Alforque, MSC, of the Phillipines, who told us the story of the evolution of his personal theology. When he was a child, his mother told him a good boy helps carry the baskets of the old women, and his father said that a good boy is firm and defends the truth, his family and the country. From them he learned to seek “personal holiness and the sanctification of the other”. At seminary, and prompted by the Dutch catechism, he added “social awareness of the system and social action” to help the poor and thus prevent social eruptions. After Vatican II and his imprisonment by the regime of Ferdinand Marcos, where he was able to rise to a level of love that allowed him to serve communion to his torturers, he learned to “transform unjust systems through liberation movements”. He then challenged us to uproot the ideas we hold about ourselves that separate us from the other and that prevent “intercultural dialogue, to create a new heart for a new world” in this impersonal postmodern age.
We heard from Graciela Delgado, an indigenous Zapotec from Oaxaca, who migrated with her family to Chicago at the age of ten. She now leads Life’s Healing Journey, MSC programs of outreach to heal the wounds we all suffer. Her husband, Mario, director of vocations for another religious community, challenged us to envision and organize leadership formation, and outreach, vocation and social justice ministries.
Group discussion considered three questions: 1. Who is your “significant Catholic”? 2. What is the block to living and expressing the love of the Sacred Heart? 3. What have you heard here that has touched you, inspired you, enlightened you?
Lynn Ditlow of Pennsylvania told us of the tremendous needs of the poor and crippled and maimed of Kingston, Jamaica. With audio-visuals-support from her friend, Marie Pellish, she reported her experiences as an LMSC volunteer with the caring institutions of the Missionaries of the Poor.
Carol Allred spoke of the renewing retreats and meetings of the three Texas groups and of her work to bring to the International Coordinating Committee profiles of the disperse and diverse MSC lay groups of the United States. She believes we would do well as lay MSC to provide training for our formators and spiritual directors as our efforts on behalf of the Spirituality of the Heart increase in the face of declining numbers of professed religious. The world needs us. She told us of the need for social justice for the poor and underserved families in and around Harker Heights, where she and her husband, Robert, reside.
A couple of interesting things I learned today: 1.) the classes of the Chevalier Institute of Spirituality, run out of the Gmeiner home, are for everybody, not just those interested in commitment to the MSC lay life, and 2.) there is a four-member leadership team, led by Lay Superior Lisa Apodaca, whose job it is to analyze and improve the activities and programs of the local lay MSC.
Hard to believe that all of this was accomplished in one day. We finished at 7:30 that evening. Christine and I strolled, drained by the events of the day, through the crowds of a street fair, and then returned to the hotel to pack our bags and then “crash”. Tomorrow is the last day of the convocation. Mass at 7:30 and closure at 2:00.
Day 3 June 21, 2013
The longest day of the year, Summer Solstice, and our shortest convocation day.
Pastor John Kavcak, MSC, and Fr. Joe Jablonski, MSC and Fr. John Fahnestock, MSC, all of the U.S. Province, concelebrated Mass at 7:30 am.
Our faithful guitarist, Gabriel Reyes, led us in singing the Sacred Heart Song, so calming and inspiring, and Audrey again led us in morning prayer. Sr. Lorraine Molchanow, MSC, Sr. Mary Seibert, MSC, Joann Rivera and Lynn Ditlow sang the MSC version of “God Is Our Sunshine”, and we all joined in the chorus.
Rita Cleuren of the International Coordinating Committee (ICC) brought greetings from the committee and from the generalates of the three religious MSC congregations. She reminded us of the founder’s intention to have the laity work alongside the professed religious, and of the message of Fr. Dennis Murphy, MSC, that the role of the laity is at least as important as that of the religious. She described the origins, history, composition and activities of the ICC (see laymsc.org). The ICC foresees a lay branch that is fully autonomous in formation, organization and finances, but with a healthy connection to the congregations. The skills and knowledge of the professed members can be tapped to provide initial and ongoing formation for the laity. There will always be a need for cooperation among the lay groups and with the congregations. The ICC is onboard with the need to strengthen the digital technological capabilities of the lay branch, an international project being directed now by Fr. Ben Alforque, MSC.
The dynamic Hannie Jansen, also of the ICC, described a new model for lay social action, a flourishing organization of lay brothers in Europe. She presented a polychrome plaque of a sixth century icon, Christ and Friend, to Ana and Danny Gmeiner, and ended by humorously recounting an almost interminable trek in search of lodging last evening in Palm Springs.
Father John Fahnestock, MSC, who had welcomed us the first day, now sent us forth with the observation that we “are not ending something, but starting new things.” He encouraged us to share our stories and, in so doing, share our lives with others.
This three-day convocation for all MSC was the first in the United States. It was a good one, with deep and wide participation. There were tears and lots of laughter. A search for a site for the next convocation has already begun, not so much for organizational purposes, though that may come, but for sharing the Spirituality of the Heart with our MSC brothers and sisters.
Details:
With the $150 inscription fee, seven meals were provided, a name tag, a logo T-shirt and tote bag containing: a SH/OLSH medal on a red ribbon, a collection of prayers (A Chevalier Family Treasury from misacor-usa.org), a new spiral bound notebook and two ball-point pens, three pages of song lyrics, a questionnaire concerning origins, priorities and organizational vision, various odd items (refrigerator magnet, MSC calendar, book marks, etc..), and, of course, supplies, communications and organizational expenses.
A dozen or more titles of small books, booklets and pamphlets, all for free, were displayed on a table.
All presentations were recorded on video using a lap top computer.
Arrangements had been made for discounted prices on accommodations with a hotel a block away.The day started early with a Mass at 7:30. Morning and afternoon sessions were prefaced with song and prayer.
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