Women religious honored for ministry
Women Religious of San Mateo County’s Deanery 10 were honored at St. Matthew Parish in San Mateo Dec. 13, a date coinciding with the annual second collection for retired religious taken at most parishes across the nation.
The celebration began with Mass with St. Matthew pastor, Father Tony McGuire, presiding. “This is an opportunity for all of us to thank the many women religious for their ministry in our local church,” Father McGuire said, noting the number of women religious serving in Deanery 10 at 150. “Besides sisters working in parishes,” he said, “there are many who minister at Notre Dame University and at the Notre Dame Provincial headquarters in Belmont and at Mercy Center in Burlingame.”
The Bishops of California have recently made a statement supporting the work of women religious as the Vatican investigates the sisters in the U.S., Father McGuire noted. “Everyone should give the sisters support and encouragement,” he said.
Mercy Sister Marilyn Lacey gave the reflection at the Mass, posing the question, “Where have all the sisters gone?” Sister Marilyn acknowledged that there are fewer women entering religious life today for a number of reasons. Since Vatican II, the laity has been taking “their rightful place in the Church,” she said, resulting in the realization that women don’t need to enter religious life to serve God. In addition, smaller families mean that parents aren’t encouraging their daughters as much to enter the convent. And “God just might be creating something new, a new form of dedicated service in the church that will not look like the group convent living we have known for the past few centuries,” she said.
Sister Marilyn pointed out that sisters have focused on a return to their original purposes or charisms of direct service. As a result, they are found working in prisons, building affordable housing, standing up for the rights of immigrants, and offering spiritual direction, among other ministries. After working with refugees for many years, Sister Lacey has begun “Mercy Beyond Borders,” a non-profit which offers displaced women and girls in Southern Sudan hope for survival through education and micro-loans.
Approximately 50 sisters from the 10 parishes of the deanery attended the Mass and the reception. The parishes of Deanery 10 include St. Catherine of Sienna and Our Lady of Angels in Burlingame; St. Bartholomew, St. Gregory, St. Matthew, and St. Timothy in San Mateo; Immaculate Heart of Mary and St. Mark in Belmont; St. Luke in Foster City; and Our Lady of the Pillar in Half Moon Bay.
From January 8, 2010 issue of Catholic San Francisco.
