English-speaking International Novitiate Community (Back Row): Maria Cimperman, RSCJ; Mary Bernstein, RSCJ; Mary Frohlich, RSCJ; Ellen Collesano, RSCJ; Sangmin Lee, RSCJ (Front Row) Ruth Cunnings, NSCJ; Magda Mikhail, RSCJ; Deasy Hartanto.
Ruth Cunnings, NSCJ, is a second-year novice who spent her three-month ministry experience in Washington, D.C in the fall of 2020. Ruth shares a glimpse into her time and ministry in the district:
News from our novices By Deasy Hartanto and Ruth Cunnings, NSCJ
Deasy Hartanto, a first-year novice from the Province of Australia – New Zealand, arrived at the English-speaking International Novitiate (Cornell – Novitiate) located in Chicago, Illinois, in early December 2020. She will be in the novitiate for two years. Deasy reflects on her travels and welcoming into the novitiate:
I feel grateful for how God has been journeying with me and how he has been faithful to me. In my long wait for my visa in order to come to the United States and enter into the noviceship, I learned more about myself and about God. Each day, I learn to trust him in these times of uncertainty. My journey from Sydney, Australia, to Chicago (with a stopover in San Francisco, California) was safe. After some days of quarantine, I had my COVID test, which came back negative, thankfully. I feel immense gratitude to God for all his goodness to me. My entrance ceremony was touching. We had it by Zoom on December 12 (the birthday of Saint Madeleine Sophie Barat and the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe), and it included members of the United States – Canada Provincial Team and the Cornell – Novitiate community. The opening song “The Bread of Life” touched me with the refrain, “I am who am and I am for you: come and follow me.” He is with me and he will always be with me. The psalm, which was read in the Indonesian language (the language of my home country of Indonesia), expressed my longing for him, “like the deer that yearns for running streams.” The ceremony reminded me of the support I have from the sisters in the novitiate community and my home Province of Australia – New Zealand. Ruth Cunnings, NSCJ, (left) and Deasy Hartanto in the novitiate chapel.
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Heart
2021 | Vol. 18, No. 1
I was blessed to go to Washington, D.C. for my three-month ministry experience. I lived at Anne Montgomery House, one of the United States – Canada Province’s welcoming communities, which at the time included three young women experiencing community life with the Religious of the Sacred Heart (RSCJ). While there, I worked for Catholic Mobilizing Network (CMN), which advocates for restorative justice and the abolition of the death penalty. I assisted with a number of projects, including prayer vigils for federal executions and creating materials on forgiveness for CMN. In addition, I worked with the Conference of Sacred Heart Education on social justice lesson plans for the Network of Sacred Heart Schools, focusing on anti-racism and addressing the history of enslavement in the Society. N
