A sacred past, a new beginning

by Anna Marie Sopko Administrator of CUSA from 1976 to 2007

As we look forward to new life—new leadership—in CUSA, I think back to our early days. I joined CUSA in 1954, when it was about seven years old. Mrs. Laure Brunner, our foundress, and her husband, Robert, were living in New York City at the time. Shortly after joining CUSA, I was looking for something to do during the day, and so I volunteered to do home typing with CUSA. After a few months, my volunteer work turned into a job. It was really a blessing for me. Not only did I get to know several of our members, but I also got a deeper insight into the spirituality of CUSA and of our founder, as well as the spirituality of our early members.

Mrs. Brunner was eager that CUSA become more than a “pen pal” club. In fact, many of the very early CUSANs called Mrs. Brunner our “mother abbess”—one who helped us remember the spiritual purpose of CUSA. The Brunners did not have any children, but Mrs. Brunner referred to CUSANs as family. We were all her children whom she nourished with her prayers. She very often focused on our role as CUSANs as part of the Mystical Body of Christ—that our lives, with our limitations, are needed for the growth of the Church in the same way as Christ’s sufferings were needed for our spiritual growth.

CUSA was also meant to be a spiritual lifeline for the physically disabled and chronically ill. We help each other in offering our frustrations and sufferings to God for the intentions of our CUSA group, as well as the intentions of

those who ask for our prayers. “We suffer for a purpose” was and still is the capital purpose of CUSA.

As we got to know each other through our CUSA group letters (GLs), we discovered many talented writers and future authors, and so, our magazine began. As CUSA progressed, we discovered new ways to grow. We had Braille group letters for the blind and tape group letters for those who could not physically write. In the New York area, days of recollection were held for our members, conducted by one of our CUSA priests. Similar days were held in Chicago, Cleveland, Minnesota, California, and wherever we had CUSANs who wanted to organize the days. I was fortunate to attend several of these days, in Massachusetts and in Ohio, giving me the pleasure of meeting some of our group members.

Of course, we are very much human as well as spiritual. This is why, in our group letters, we talk about our ups and downs. Here on earth life is not all spiritual. Very often we need to talk about the “nitty gritty.” For me, I had the additional benefit of meeting many of our members during my vacation travel with family or friends. My sister and my brother lived in states outside of New Jersey, and so when I traveled to visit them, I also sometimes spent time visiting CUSANs in the area. There were times when some members, who were visiting in the New York area, found their way into Bayonne. What more could I have asked for?

As you will read in this issue, we are beginning under new leadership that becomes official on January 1. (Mare Ernesto of RENEW International will be our new administrator.) This will be a learning experience for all who are going to assist us in the future as well as those of us who have been

fortunate enough to have experienced CUSA’s past. Father Joseph Lamontagne, SSS, who was administrator of CUSA in the early 1970s, often stressed our role as part of the priesthood of the laity by sharing with one another in the group letter and encouraging one another. We do hope that our new leadership, which we welcome, will see this in our group letters and general sharing and caring.

The Word of the Lord

Thus says the Lord, who makes a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters, who brings out chariot and horse, army and warrior; they lie down, they cannot rise, they are extinguished, quenched like a wick: Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old. I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. The wild animals will honor me, the jackals and the ostriches; for I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people, the people whom I formed for myself so that they might declare my praise.

Isaiah 43:16-21