Mission Magazine Winter 2015

Called by the Spirit ~ Embracing the World Holy Spirit Missionary Sisters Paraclete Province — USA and Caribbean 2015 Volume I

In This Issue Focus on Mission Sharing in the Power of Jesus The Catholic Church’s Response to HIV/AIDs in PNG Our Missionary Vocation — Year of Consecrated Life Stitching Threads of Hope in Jamaica Life Is Truly A Mystery

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Focus on Mission

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elcome to our 2015 editions of SSpS Mission! We Holy Spirit Missionary Sisters throughout the world celebrated our 125th jubilee year of foundation on Dec. 8, 2014.

With this issue, we continue our journey of life and mission in union with you, our companions in missions. In the four issues of this year’s Magazine, we plan to share stories of mission from our international missions and from our more local missions of the Paraclete Province (United States and Caribbean). We hope you will enjoy the stories and our journey together in mission!

What does it mean to be a missionary?

Missionary is rooted in our very being! We (you and I) are created in the image of God’s love; created to reflect (image) God in our very being!

Baptism gifts us and empowers us with the Spirit to “be” who we were created to be. The mission of Christ was to reveal the compassionate love and mercy of the Father to all humanity. Our mission is to continue the work of Christ in our world today. “Mission” is to be the hands, the heart, the face of Christ/God in our world, in the circumstances of our daily life. Mission is not about “where we are”, but “how we are”!

Those called to a “missionary vocation” in a religious community of women or men express a public willingness and availability to leave that which is comfortable and familiar and enter into the other’s world of reality to minister to their needs, to share one’s giftedness, and to be open to receive of the other’s giftedness.

Leaving one’s comfort level in many ways means leaving one’s homeland, culture and customs, support systems, family and friends, language, and security. However, it also means being aware of one’s own frailties and limitations and accepting, entering into the “dependency” of the other in order to understand and accept their frailties and limitations. In that relationship, togetherness, life for all is changed and transformed; respect and dignity of all people is promoted; life-giving relationships are nurtured.

The missionary is one who through his/her way of being, brings comfort to the sorrowing; companionship to the lonely; understanding to the anxious; a healing touch to the sick and wounded; guidance to the confused; knowledge to the unlearned; strength to the weak; trust to the doubtful; and peace to the war-torn. The missionary reflects an image of God to the poor, the marginalized, the ignored and forgotten of our world, as well as to those whose lives are empty and barren of the presence of God.

As we celebrate the Year of Consecrated Life, may each of us (laity and religious women and men) renew our baptismal call to service in the Church that is rooted in God, for the purpose of transforming lives and helping all to discover, to recognize, and to accept the presence of God among us! It’s not “where we are”, but “how we are”!

Does that describe YOU? The person YOU were created to be?

The person YOU were empowered to be through your baptism?

Sr. Mary Miller, SSpS

The Missionary is not the light, but reveals the Light — CHRIST. St. Arnold Janssen, Founder 2

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Sharing in the Power of Jesus: Making Violence Bear Fruit in Love and Forgiveness n September 2012, Regina shared in the Passion of Christ. Regina is a former student of an SSpS-run school in Papua New Guinea. She is married and has one child.

and asking: “What is our missionary call in this context?” The “Reginas” of this country have something to teach us. There are amazing stories about victims of violence who have the courage and the power to forgive the almost unforgiveable. Men and women who were robbed of their dignity, mutilated, raped, burnt and beaten almost to death – yet they say “no” to retaliation; they accept what happened and carry on with their lives. What they do is the only way.

They leave their role of victim behind and take the powerful position of the one who forgives; the one who cuts the spiral of violence by the power of love.

When her husband’s cousin died, Regina and her sister-in-law were accused of being witches and responsible for his death. At a family gathering, the two women were placed in the center and forced to admit their guilt. Each time they denied it, people slashed their backs and breasts with knives until they collapsed unconscious. Regina’s husband tried to protect her and convince the family of her innocence. Nevertheless, he was beaten and dragged out of the house.

He then rushed to the hospital to seek help for his wife; but it was too late.

Before the ambulance arrived, people inserted a hot iron rod into her anus, while the other woman was burnt alive in her own house.

A surgery saved Regina’s life. On one of her regular hospital visits, Sr. Cecilia, SSpS, found the young woman. Ever since then, the SSpS community has been taking care of her. They procured medical treatment for Regina that was not possible in PNG. Every day she comes for a hot bath in the convent. Because Regina cannot go back to her husband’s family, the Sisters found a small house for her and a job as a secretary.

Regina’s physical recovery is slow; more so her emotional recovery. The Sisters will be there for her as long as she needs them.

As SSpS Sisters, we are called to stand by the side of the victims, especially the women. We do this from our relatively safe position as religious. But some women have taught us by their example that there is a mission beyond taking care of the victims.

Jesus invites us to learn the transformative power of forgiveness. We cannot learn that without ourselves being weak and vulnerable.

There are many “Reginas” in Papua New Guinea.

The belief in witchcraft and sorcery, once controlled by the laws of traditional society, is now spreading like wildfire in a society that is deeply shaken by cultural and economic changes. In a country where the vast majority live in poverty, violence has become a strategy to secure a share of success, money, power, and a desperate attempt to control the uncontrollable.

Everyone is caught up in the spiral of violence – as victim or as perpetrator, or most of the time, as both.

From our Sisters in Papua New Guinea

The SSpS are part of this society. While our status as Sisters protects us to a certain extent, we too fall victim to verbal abuses and threats, sometimes physical assaults and armed robberies. We are praying 3

The Catholic Church’s Response to HIV/AIDS in Papua New Guinea

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apua New Guinea has the highest prevalence of HIV/AIDS among the Pacific Island Nations. The estimated number of people living with HIV is 34,000. Recognizing the severe impact that HIV could have in PNG, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands established the Catholic HIV/AIDS Services in 2004, which merged into the normal health services later. This means that HIV disease is seen as any other sickness such as cancer, TB, or malaria. The Bishops believed that a dedicated Commission responsible for the coordination and management of HIV activities within the Catholic network was of great importance. Catholic Health Services oversees a range of services including: voluntary counseling and testing, prevention of parent to child transmission of HIV, anti-retroviral therapy, testing of antenatal mothers, provider initiated counseling and testing, support of men and youth clinics, confirmatory testing, public awareness and education, policy and governance, quality control, and training. The CHS has been widely recognized as one of the leaders in managing the spread and impact of HIV/AIDS in Papua New Guinea.

Papua New Guinea Location:

Eastern half of the Island of New Guinea in the South Pacific Ocean north of Australia Capital: Port Moresby Population: ~7.3 million Government: Constitutional parliamentary democracy and a Commonwealth Realm Languages: Tok Pisin, Hiri Motu, English (official) + 836 indigenous languages Religions: Roman Catholic (27%), Protestant Christian (69.4%) Other and indigenous beliefs (3.6%) Literacy: 62.4% Poverty: 37%

I am currently in the United States for Cross-cultural Mission Experience and studies to better equip me for the ministry I carry out in PNG. I worked in the field of HIV for five years in both implementation and coordination at the local and national levels, especially with Sr. Tarcisia Hunhoff, SSpS, Sr. Gaudentia Meier (Franciscan Sister of the Sacred Heart) and Sr. Rose Bernard (Notre Dame Sister). These women were the pioneers of selfless love and dedicated service to the HIV response in the country at a time when the government did not consider it important. These women taught me to be a voice for the voiceless and to work for what you believe is right and of Gospel value.

The area is rich in natural resources and agricultural products. However, the deforestation of the rain forest as a result of growing commercial demand for tropical timber, pollution from mining projects, and severe draught are serious environmental issues.

SSpS Ministries in Papua New Guinea Education: primary, secondary, and university Health Care: hospitals, maternity clinics, dispensaries, mobile clinics; ministry with persons living with HIV/AIDS, testing and counseling; health administration at local, diocesan, & national levels

In my role as counselor and doing HIV testing in different regions, namely, Momase, the Highlands, and Papua, I became aware of the issues that contribute to HIV: family stress because of money issues, alcohol, drugs, multiple partners, and the role of men and women in a changing culture. The population of these regions varies significantly with a wide range of backgrounds and ages.

Socio-pastoral: women empowerment; sociodevelopment projects, village skills training Pastoral: Catechesis / faith formation and catechist training; Biblical, Family Life, Retreat / Spiritual Accompaniment, and Prayer Apostolates; and Parish Ministry.

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The Catholic Church’s Response… cont’d Although there are many differences among the peoples in terms of culture and socio-economic background, there are also many similarities, including the stresses that people experience and what motivates their behavior as far as HIV/AIDS is concerned. In the Papuan Region, for example, I came in contact with educated people who have professions. It became apparent that even though all of those who came for Voluntary Counseling and Testing were aware of HIV and how to protect themselves, they still put themselves at risk of HIV infection.

In the five year tenure of working in HIV ministry in PNG, I held a variety of positions that helped to ensure that Catholic Health Services complied with all the requirements stipulated by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of PNG and Solomon Islands, PNG law, and other donor requirements that CHS had agreed to in terms of providing service. I feel honored to have had a part in this very necessary ministry. Through it, I have been able to contribute to the Catholic Church assuming a leading role in the fight against this epidemic. It has helped me to become a more compassionate, understanding and empathetic person as I worked with people infected and affected by HIV/AIDS. The work also consisted in collaborating with government agencies, donor groups, and faith-filled organizations. The people served and serving are aware of the genuine dedication to the welfare and protection of all people that is observed in this ministry of service. It is through the supportive help of many that we can implement these programs and services.

Sr. Arnolda Kavanamur, SSpS Papua New Guinea

Sr. Arnolda Kavanamur, SSpS (second from right) with members of the Catholic Health Services HIV team.

100 Congratulations to Sister Margaret Simon

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r. Margaret Simon celebrated her 100th birthday in December 2014. We wish her many blessings for the years to come and we express our deep gratitude for her many years of missionary service in education and pastoral ministry in Papua New Guinea and in the United States.

Sr. Margaret was missioned to Papua New Guinea after World War II and helped to rebuild the devastated Catholic Mission there. Today, 64 Sisters (29 Papuan Sisters and 35 Sisters from 12 other nationalities) minister in the Province in the areas of education, healthcare, socio-pastoral and pastoral ministries.

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Our Missionary Vocation This year’s theme on Consecrated Life with the motto “Wake up the World!” is an invitation to think anew about our vocation as missionaries in and of our Church and of the World. God’s love has no limits, no boundaries; it embraces all of humanity and all of creation. That is huge! When we say: “Wake up the World” as a cry of encouragement and renewed fervor in the service of God, do we mean to address the whole of God’s creation? Yes we do!

be the most important part in all discernment: the example of faithful response. No savvy use of digital media can replace that. Vocation ministers are called upon to give that witness, but not only they, the whole community is responsible for portraying God’s work in us as missionaries, bearers of Good News. And that again can only grow from prayer.

Vocation ministers are called to talk about the reality of vocations, we are also called upon to help discover, sort out, and affirm God’s call in individual believers. We seek actively to get in contact with and to invite seekers for weekends of prayer, of inquiry, of envisioning what the real thing might look like.

To say “Yes” to God, even when we do it in a small and timid and tentative voice, God’s grace is at work and can transform that timidity into boldness and any “maybe” into affirmation. When God offers a gift — and any vocation to consecrated life is a gift, unearned and undeserved — God also gives the Spirit of enterprising love to examine that gift, learn to appreciate it and then to respond to it. Let me quote an experienced religious writer and see what he has to say about that process:

Since this is the year of consecrated life, we all can expect that the theme of vocations to the religious life

“Discovering vocation does not mean scrambling toward some prize just beyond my reach but accepting the treasure of true self I already possess. Vocation does not come from a voice ‘out there’ calling me to be something I am not. It comes from a voice ‘in here’ calling me to be the person I was born to be: to fulfill the original selfhood given me at birth by God.” — Thomas Merton Vocations in the Church therefore are as varied as there are believers and bearers of God’s gift. As missionaries, we are gifted by the Holy Spirit with our founders, who earnestly and fervently sought to respond to God’s invitation to be bearers of Good News. Their acceptance of that call opened up the world for them in faith and trust that the Good News of God’s love must be told far and wide. The Spirit opened their imagination and widened their horizons to finally include the whole world.

How did those simple beginnings ignite a fire that is still burning around the world? And how do we, and all those still being called, keep that fire alive? Truth is, we don’t, but the Holy Spirit does in us.

will be dealt with in the Church’s liturgies, sermons, bulletins, parish retreats and more. We invite all members of the community to actively use these opportunities to speak about our missionary vocation.

Every community is a spot of vocation promotion.

Every parish has the potential to raise awareness of religious vocations in the Church and of the utter importance of these gifts of the Holy Spirit to the individual believers. We are most ready to contact any person referred to us; we are eager to visit, to be a companion on this journey of faith.

All efforts made to discover God’s invitation to religious life, and particularly to missionary life in seekers, making use of any and all technological and media tools, must be accompanied by personal witness of a life that is dedicated to God. Witness, the Holy Father says, is expected of us. This seems to

We must remember, too, that God is not looking for or calling perfect women to our congregation. But God calls women who dare to love, and want to grow in that love in order to “set the world on fire”.

Sr. Agathe Bramkamp, SSpS 6

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Stitching Threads of Hope in Jamaica

distinctly remember the first time I visited the Bamboo River village in Morant Bay, Jamaica. I saw many women sitting on the street, chatting, playing dominos and many children running around. Their life was very poor.

Their small houses were made of plywood. Old zinc was propped up around the house as a fence, so the residents could have a little privacy. They wore tattered clothes; the children were without shoes.

I wondered how they could live that way.

Later, I came to understand that their way of life – doing nothing – is the result of their desperation.

Their daily struggle is wondering what they will feed their children that day; how they can get money to pay for electricity; how they will send their children to school that day.

Building a Better Life I walked through the village and began looking for a way to help the villagers build a better life. I asked the women if I could start a Bible class with their children. They gave me permission, so I sat down on the grass with the children and that very day we started our weekly classes in a very simple way. We began with songs, simple prayer, telling them short Bible stories and giving them some activity to do – usually a coloring page. The children loved it!

Crayons Bring Joy Now every Thursday I go to Bamboo River for Bible class with the children. I carry with me a box filled with cardboard that my little students use as personal tables when we sit on the grass. I also take some crayons, so when they get a coloring page they can do their work well. Many of the children don’t have any crayons at home. Sometimes the mothers who are sitting close to us ask for a coloring page for themselves. I think they never had the chance to do coloring when they were young, so they like it.

Then, one day I arrived at the village and I knew that something was wrong. Suddenly during our Bible class, we heard screaming and loud voices. A dozen women with knives and machetes in their hands came marching in front of us. The only words that I could understand indicated that they were going to kill somebody. In my life, I never saw so much anger in women’s faces like on that day. And they were the mothers of the children who were sitting with me. I couldn’t continue the class at that time; even though the children wanted to hear the end of the Bible story. The noise and atmosphere there scared me. I thought that I would never go back to that place, because I was afraid. But deep in my heart, I also heard the call for change in me, in the society, in the village, in their lives. I felt that I should go back… to see the situation, to listen to their stories, to talk with them, and to do something with them.

The Bible classes give me a way to reach the children’s mothers. Many of them are single mothers who face a lot of challenges every day. Almost every week I hear different stories from their lives.

Living in Bamboo River, the children have to fight to stay in their own group and to be accepted by others.

They have their own rules in the village and if you do not follow them, you are out of the group. This is why it is so hard to have peace, love and forgiveness among the groups.

That was in 2012, when the Holy Spirit Missionary Sisters started a new mission in Jamaica. We religious women, in our unique way, try to reach the children, women, outcasts and marginalized. This is why we are here in St. Thomas Parish (county) – one of the poorest places in Jamaica – and I am so grateful that I am a part of this new beginning.

I believe that the way to show love is to simply be with them. Maybe I will never see the change, but I believe transformation is going on.

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Stitching Threads of Hope… Cont’d In Search of Hope Every time I accompany people I hear their stories, their joy and their challenges. I want to do whatever I can to help them. When I give food to the hungry, clothes to the poor, fix their homes, it all helps; but I wonder, how I can change the situation?

Then came the idea of sewing classes for the women.

The children of Bamboo River, St. Thomas Parish, Jamaica share their artwork during Bible class.

Another day a mother, Joanna, came to me asking for help. Joanna is a single parent of three boys.

They live in one of the houses built by Food for the Poor in our area. She is not getting any help from the boys’ father. She also has no work. Sometimes she sells vegetables in front of a store, but this is not enough to earn money for food and the children’s needs. Many times, Joanna comes looking for any possibility of support, especially for psychological support. She is one of the women who tries so hard to create a better life, to escape the desperation and helplessness.

The idea was great, but there were challenges. Where to hold the classes? How to get sewing machines and fabric? Is there someone who can teach? How to organize it? Sr. Monica Mabel Balbuena, Provincial Leader of the SSpS USA Paraclete Province, offered to help. She flew in from Chicago to teach the sewing classes. My fellow Sisters from the U.S. Province financially supported us in this project.

We were able to buy the necessary supplies for the classes. I communicated with Food for the Poor, requesting sewing machines and fabric. We received 12 sewing machines. They also sent us tables and chairs. We set up the sewing classroom in one of the parish buildings.

We chose six women from different villages to participate in the classes. We were interested in choosing women who were single mothers and unemployed.

The island, discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1494, was settled by the Spanish early in the 16th century. The indigenous people, the Taino, called the island Xaymaca in Arawakan, meaning the “Land of the Wood and Water” or the “Land of Springs”. The native Taino were gradually exterminated and replaced with African slaves who supported with their labor the plantation economy of the island based on sugar, cocoa and coffee. Although the country obtained full independence in 1962, its deteriorating economic conditions led to violence and extreme poverty. Although there is a substantial tourist industry in some areas of the country, St. Thomas Parish (county), Morant Bay and Bamboo River Village are among the poorest areas.

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Stitching Threads of Hope… Cont’d The idea was to help the women learn the skills and be ready to share the knowledge they received with others. This would ensure that when Sr. Monica left, the women would be able to continue the sewing project.

Sewing Project Tranformations Continue We started our project on Oct. 14, 2014. On the day of their first class, some of the women who came never used a sewing machine before. The daily classes were held from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.; but this was not enough for them. They stayed until 4 p.m. or even 4:30 p.m. During the eight days, the women made dish towels, aprons, curtains, shorts and uniforms. This was not easy work! However, the joy and happiness on their faces at the end of the day expressed the satisfaction and hard work they achieved.

“My name is Julia Christie and I am so grateful for the opportunity that you have given to me. I know how to sew pants, shorts, curtains, aprons and uniforms. You have changed my life in a big way. Now I will have self-confidence knowing that I can use this skill that I am learning to benefit not only myself but to help others. …Adults like myself need more people like you to help our selfesteem and to let us know that we can be anything we want to be and to know all hope is not lost. So special thanks to all who made the project possible for me.”

Of course this was not the end of the project. This was just the beginning! When Sr. Monica returned to the U.S., the women needed a few days for rest and relaxation. Then, they came back asking for more.

We hired a new teacher from Jamaica, and she is ready to share her skills and talents with the six women. Now they meet three times a week and continue to improve their sewing skills. For all of them, it is an opportunity for big changes in their lives.

One of the women in the sewing group shared the following thoughts about the program:

Sr. Barbara Miensopust, SSpS

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Life Is Truly A Mystery

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s we have lived through these last few weeks of Mary’s birthing Jesus; the wise men following a star they recognized as a special one; Jesus was baptized, the skies were torn open and a voice was heard while the Spirit, like a dove, came down; we see that our faith life is one mystery after another.

On Jan. 15, we celebrate the feast of our founder, St. Arnold Janssen, whose greatest devotion was to the Blessed Trinity.

This is one of the most important mysteries of our lives as Holy Spirit Missionary Sisters.

Different Expectations When I look at my own life, that too is a mystery.

Who would expect to have seen all the changes that have occurred in the world, the Church, our religious community and in my own life? If you are like me, you tend to think that the young generation should do as you did. So when I see my young friends and family members set off in different directions, I have trouble understanding. But the more I observe their lives, the more impressed I become. Going to church is not a priority, but going to help in a soup kitchen or a shelter is at the top of the list. Trying to be honest and faithful in their relationships is quite evident. Could these young people be prophets in my life?

people today. We are learning what it means to be intercultural by really trying to see the world from the perspective of people from different cultures, races and religions. This is how we are active today in our various ministries. We are ever aware that we are all one in the global community. Even in our religious community life, we may be blessed with people from three to eight different cultures. In the various communities, we may have people ranging in age from 25 to 75. There is the challenge of intergenerational living. In our Convent in Northfield, we have Sisters up to 100 years of age. This is a beautiful mystery which has come about in my life time and has changed me in many ways. The Spirit has truly blessed us with this challenge of becoming God’s family made up of many cultures, races and ages.

When I look at Jesus, he acted contrary to his followers’ expectations. He could not be fitted into a comfortable pattern of behavior. He went outside the norm. Knowing me, I probably would have had trouble with some of his actions too. He reached out to everyone, whether they conformed to his expectations or not. Maybe he didn’t have expectations for others!!!

These thoughts make me kind of excited. What does it mean to listen to the Spirit and be guided daily by the leading of the Holy Spirit? Somewhere in all these mysteries, the Holy Spirit is trying to help me. Could these mysteries be the “star” that I am supposed to follow?

I think that these challenges are for all of us, so that we can grow to be those people that Jesus and Pope Francis are calling us to be. We can be lights to those who just can’t see what God is doing in our world. We are all to be one, both in this world and in the next.

Intercultural and Intergenerational Now that we are coming into the Lenten season, there are two words that I would like to share with you to think about during these prayerful days before Easter. These two words have come to us from our General Chapter in Rome: intercultural and intergenerational. They characterize our lives as Holy Spirit Missionaries, but they also are very important for all

Sr. Pat Snider SSpS

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The Holy Spirit Missionary Sisters are an international community of 3,200 Catholic religious women serving in 49 countries. Missionary activities include pastoral work and catechesis, education, nursing and health care, social work, adult education, and many other services to uplift the vulnerable and promote human dignity.

SSpS Mission Magazine is published quarterly by: Holy Spirit Missionary Sisters ~ 319 Waukegan Road, Northfield, IL 60093 www.ssps-usa.org ~ (847) 441-0126 Editorial Staff: Sr. Mary Miller, SSpS ~ Colette Healey, Communications Specialist 12