Sisters’ joy brings ‘countercultural witness,’ says pastor

continued. “The disposition that we have is ‘always ready to be sent’ — wherever the church and the Lord may need us.”

Eager to serve

The Sisters were filled with joyful anticipation when they arrived in Kansas.

“I’m excited for everything that the Lord has in store and everything the Lord will reveal and develop with us here,” said Sister Lucia.

Sister Kelly Grace agreed.

“I’m excited to evangelize through our catechesis — to be able to reach all the young hearts that come into our program,” she said, “so that they truly encounter the Lord and his love, and that that changes their lives like it did for me.”

Sister Monica Bernadette looks forward to working with couples, including those in the Hispanic community, to show them “the splendor, the beauty, the dignity of the sacrament of marriage.”

“Everything is at the heart of the family,” she said. “The family is the domestic church — it’s where it all starts.”

‘God’s

Parishioners at St. Michael played a key role in welcoming the Sisters to the archdiocese.

“The parish has acquired a home in a neighborhood less than a mile from the church to serve as a convent for the Sisters,” said Father Schieber.

“This convent has been placed under the patronage of St. Jacinta,” he added, “one of the saintly children who Mary appeared to in her apparitions in Fatima, Portugal.”

Father Schieber anticipates a whole host of benefits as a result of the arrival of the Sisters at his parish.

“There is unique power to the witness of consecrated poverty, chastity and obedience in the time and place in which we live,” he said.

The Sisters’ presence, he added, “offers a very joyful, peaceful and loving countercultural witness and reminder for all of us — myself included — that it is God’s love and our response to it that matters above all.”