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Holy habits: what school sisters bring to the classroom

February 2, 2018 CNA Daily News 0

Denver, Colo., Feb 2, 2018 / 05:00 am (CNA/EWTN News).- In Lincoln, Nebraska, you can tell the seasons by the habits of the School Sisters of Christ the King.

It’s not really summer until you spot a “CK Sister”, as they are affectionately known, walking around in her lighter blue summer habit.

But when a CK sister is donning her dark blue habit, that means the months are turning colder. And when the dark blue habits come out, you can find almost every CK sister in a classroom, teaching in one of the 27 Catholic elementary schools in the diocese.

Religious school sisters are a fairly common sight in the Diocese of Lincoln, which has two diocesan orders of women religious – the Christ the King Sisters as well as the grey-habited Marian sisters, many of whom can also be found teaching in the local Catholic schools.

In much of the rest of the country, however, religious sisters are something of a rare novelty – though they used to be a much more common sight in the United States.

In 1965, there were nearly 180,000 women religious in the United States, many of them school teachers, according to data from the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate out of Georgetown University.

By 2014, there were less than 50,000 religious sisters, the numbers having steadily declined over the past half-century in the post-Vatican II upheaval that was felt in many parts of the Church around the world.

It was in the midst of this upheaval and decline that Bishop Glennon Patrick Flavin, then of Lincoln, decided to found the Christ the King Sisters as a religious order dedicated specifically to teaching children.

“He noticed that there were a good number of sisters in our schools in the 50’s and 60’s, but by the 70’s the sisters were starting to pull out of our classrooms,” Sr. Mary Cecilia, a Christ the King Sister, told CNA.

Bishop Flavin had difficulty finding already-established religious orders that were able to come to the Diocese of Lincoln, and eventually felt called to found a diocesan order dedicated specifically to teaching, Sr. Mary Cecilia said.

“He knew that our seminaries were growing and increasing in number, and he thought if the Lord was calling this many young men to serve as priests then he was probably calling young women to serve as sisters also,” she said.

Sr. Mary Cecilia, who now serves as principal of St. Joseph’s Catholic School in Lincoln, said that Bishop Flavin founded the order with the idea that a good religious education would strengthen the faith of much of the laity in the diocese.

“He wanted to extend Christ’s reign in whatever place possible…and he realized what was so important to make that happen was Catholic education. Because if we can reach the young people in the diocese, we not only reach the young people but we also reach their parents and families,” she said.

“He realized that one of the best ways to really nurture their faith in the lives of these children is through the consecrated life, through having sisters present in the schools, the value of the witness of a religious – their life totally dedicated to God, their gift of self-sacrifice, being a spiritual mother to every single student in the school,” she added.

For herself, Sr. Mary Cecilia said she knew from a young age she wanted to teach.

“I have a brother who’s a priest – he often talks about how I used to play school so everything he knows about teaching came from me when he was little,” she joked.

In college in the early 1990s, she studied high school math education and dreamed of teaching calculus and algebra to older students. But that’s also when she met the Christ the King Sisters, who only teach at the elementary level.

“I realized oh they’re joyful, they’re young, vibrant, I like that,” Sr. Mary Cecilia said.

Even though she was drawn to religious life as a CK Sister, she was still hesitant about teaching at the younger level – “that was something that I had to take to the Lord,” she said.

Ultimately, though, the spirit of the CK Sisters, their depth of prayer, their warmth, and their dedication to education were what drew Sr. Mary Cecilia to them.

“We are extending the kingdom of God in Catholic schools, and Catholic schools are so important to me primarily because of my own education in Catholic schools,” she said.

Sr. Mary Agnes belongs to another religious order, the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in Wichita, Kansas, that is also primarily dedicated to the education and formation of young people.

A veteran teacher of 10 years, Sr. Mary Agnes said she believes that religious sisters bring something unique to the classroom that other teachers cannot, even though at a basic level, they perform the same functions.

“Our vocation is to be a more radical, vivid sign of the presence of Christ in the world, and then hopefully through that witness draw people to an encounter with Christ,” she told CNA.

“We do really similar things that other people do who are not sisters,” she said. “So (the value of) religious life is not about doing, it’s about witness and the being of the person. Our vocation is to be a more radical, vivid sign of the presence of Christ in the world, and then hopefully through that witness draw people to an encounter with Christ.”

Perhaps some of the most well-recognized teaching sisters in the Catholic Church in the U.S. today are the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia based in Nashville, Tennessee and the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist, based in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Both orders, primarily dedicated to education, have sisters teaching on Catholic campuses throughout the country.

“We belong to the Dominican Order and our charism is preaching and teaching.
Women religious have been an integral part of the history of Catholic education in the United States,” Sr. John Dominic with the Dominican Sisters of Mary Mother of the Eucharist told CNA.

“As Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist, we seek to continue the tradition of educating generations of young people in their faith and most of all, to bring youth into a deeper relationship with Christ,” she said.

Despite the general decline in religious life that has been happening over the past few decades, both Dominican orders have seen a boom in young vocations in recent years. The Dominican Sisters of Mary recently opened a new priory in Texas in order to accommodate all of the young women discerning religious life in their order.

When asked what is drawing so many young women to their order, Sr. John Dominic responded: “The young people are responding to God’s invitation to ‘come and follow Him’.”

Sr. John Dominic said the depth of the prayer life of the sisters and the close relationship with the Lord that their way of life allows lets them bring the fruits of their spiritual life to their students.

“Pope Saint John Paul II once described women religious as being a ‘sign of tenderness’ in the world. From my experience in working with Sisters in schools, this is precisely what many of them bring – tenderness and an intuitive heart,” she said.

Sr. Mary Agnes said she is always humbled when parents and students recognize the unique gifts and witness that religious sisters bring to the classroom.

“…that to me is the most striking, when the students come back after they graduate and they’re so excited to express: ‘Thank you what you’ve done for me.’ Many times they don’t recognize it at the time but then they do say thank you I’m glad that you taught me, I’m glad you were there for me, and it’s so humbling,” she said.

Sr. Mary Cecilia said that she would encourage young women considering religious life not to be afraid, and to encounter sisters up-close before believing some of the misconceptions about religious sisters that exist.  

“When I was younger I thought that all sisters instantly became like 70 once they put that habit on, and that’s not true!” she said. “None of our sisters are 70 yet.”

On a more serious note, she added, “I think one of the misconceptions out there is that you have to give up everything that you hold dear, that you have dreams of, in order to do this. And in reality you do but it’s not the giving up that you focus on,” she said.

“It’s what takes its place – your relationship with the Lord, and being able to be filled with an intense and immense love for him, and therefore an immense love for the people you’re asked to serve.”

 

 

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An Astros rosary for Pope Francis

February 1, 2018 CNA Daily News 1

Houston, Texas, Feb 1, 2018 / 03:00 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- A Catholic parish in Houston is encouraging sports fans to pray with handmade rosaries in the colors of their favorite professional teams. They’re encouraging the Pope to pray with one too…. […]

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‘God had his hand on us’- An interview with the real-life heroes of ‘15:17 to Paris’

February 1, 2018 CNA Daily News 0

Denver, Colo., Feb 1, 2018 / 12:04 pm (CNA).- On August 21, 2015, childhood friends Anthony Sadler, Alek Skarlatos and Spencer Stone were just three Americans enjoying a European adventure.

They had planned to stay in Amsterdam an extra day, but changed their minds last minute and boarded the express train to Paris. They didn’t expect to come face-to-face with an armed man who would open-fire in their cabin, which was carrying 554 passengers. But they did.

They didn’t have much time. Stone tackled the gunman first, and worked together with Sadler and Skarlatos to overpower the man and effectively thwart the attack.

The gunman, who was identified as Ayoub El-Khazzani, was a Moroccan national who had been on the radar of several European counterterrorism agencies. He was carrying several weapons, including a Kalashnikov, automatic pistol and razor blades.

However, the three American men – plus one British man named Chris Norman – were able to successfully stop El-Khazzani before the attack turned fatal. Stone sustained serious injuries which required surgery. But they prevented something far worse.

At the time, Sadler was just a senior in college at Sacramento State University, while Skarlatos and Stone were in the military. The three had been friends since middle-school.

Now, the heroic trio are starring in the latest Clint Eastwood film, “15:17 to Paris.” They play themselves and recount the entire event on the big screen.

The film’s will be released in theaters nationwide on Feb. 9.

CNA recently interviewed Sadler, Skarlatos and Stone. Below is the full interview, edited for clarity.

Can you share a little about your faith and the impact it has had on your lives?

STONE:    I was raised in a Christian home, my entire life. Went to church every Sunday with my mom and brother and sister and Wednesday night church, too. I believed [in God] my entire life. God for me is someone that is always there and always will have my back, whether it’s a good or bad situation. And it’s in the Bible, He’s not going to put you through anything that you can’t handle.  And, I think that’s what I fell back on in the moment on the train. I didn’t necessarily at that second think ‘God’s got my back,’ but I knew it. There was an opportunity to do something good. I believe those are the times where we’re vessels to be used by Him, to do His work. And it was an honor to do something that good. 

SADLER:  I’ve been going to church all my life. My dad is a pastor. He became a pastor when I was older. We were a strong Baptist household. We went to church every Sunday, all the services. My family is Christian, faith-believing and I’ve grown up that way. And as far as on the train that day, God had His hand on us, because so many things could’ve went the other way for us.  And the fact that they went the way they did, it’s divine intervention. It’s that by definition. We knew He had His hand on us, because of the calm that we had as we were falling into our different roles that day – looking back on it in hindsight. That calm, I know where that comes from now that I’ve had a chance to evaluate that day. And I’m thankful that He had His hand on us that day. 

SKARLATOS: I grew up next to Spencer’s family. We went to the same church for the longest time. We all met in a Christian school. I’ve been to church pretty much ever since I can remember.  If you look at the statistics of everything that happened, the odds of being in a terrorist attack are astronomical, the odds of surviving it, the odds of surviving it and being the ones that stopped it. There’s so many little circumstances. The odds of our exact situation happening to us are too astronomical to believe that it was purely chance, especially when you look at the fact that we were thinking about staying in Amsterdam another day and we didn’t. The fact that we moved seats from coach to first class. So many different little things that are hard for even us to remember – all the different circumstances that put us there in that exact time and place. But to me it’s too coincidental to be chance. God had a hand in it, because we shouldn’t be here today to be honest.

How did your faith influence your actions on the train? What prompted you to act so heroically in the face of eminent danger?

SADLER:    We were vessels being used. I don’t even know how I got the first aid kit, but somehow it was in my hands. Alek was doing his thing clearing the car. Spencer saw somebody was bleeding and crawled over there. When did we think of that? We didn’t think. We were just being used. 

STONE:    How well everything fell into place, you would think we rehearsed it. It was pretty much like we took over the train. I never felt more calm in my entire life. I knew exactly what we should do in that moment. It almost felt like someone pushed me towards it. I knew in my mind I had to go, and something greater stood me up. I think that’s why they’re still confused about how I got up so fast. I don’t know how I got up so fast either. I’m pretty slow!  

What was your experience like filming “15:17 to Paris,” and reliving those tense moments on the train?

STONE:   It was pretty crazy when we did the scene of Mark bleeding out. That was the only time I really felt like I had a true flashback, because everything was the same. It was the same amount of blood, same clothes. That was probably the most memorable part on the train for me. 

SKARLATOS: It definitely made it easier to get back into character. You have to remember how it was on the actual day. And, I don’t know about the other guys, but it would trigger an adrenaline rush in me and it make it easier to feel the same emotions that we actually felt the day on the train. 

SADLER:  It shows how much the details matter, like same clothes, same people, train attendants, everything. That made it all feel authentic. 

What do you hope viewers will take away from the film?

SADLER:   I want them to take exactly what it is. The fact that we’re three ordinary guys that were faced with an extraordinary, crazy situation. And the reason why we acted the way we did that day is because of our friendship – the back-story matters. And then take away that they can, as people, a regular person, do something great, too. To feel like things are possible that they previously didn’t think were possible. 

STONE:  I want them to take away that in our story, we thought we had no chance at all. I thought I was going to die. We’re all regular people. We’re very regular guys.

How has your experience on the train/filming the movie impacted your lives moving forward? Has it changed the way you live, or taught you any particular lessons?

SKARLATOS: I think making the film taught us a lot about ourselves. Then working through the process ourselves, we discovered a lot of things about ourselves, about our friendship, how we interact. And, for me I learned from the movie not to be afraid to try new things in life.

It cured a lot of my fears, even of public speaking. You know, if I can survive a terrorist attack, when the next challenge in life comes, it’s nothing in comparison.

STONE:    We definitely learned a lot about each other throughout the last two years in general. We’ve known each other our entire lives, but, we’ve spent most our lives apart, going off on our own paths and different avenues. We, in a sense, got to learn more about each other as adults and through this experience. We knew each other, but now we really know each other. And we’re bonded forever through all of our experiences.

SADLER:    For me it was the first time in my life I finally felt like I was on track. I was going to go into my senior year at college and I didn’t know after that year was over what I was going to do next.

And then once the attack happened and everything else that’s happened in the last two years, and the fact that the movie happened, the way it’s all lined up, I feel like I’m finally on the track that I’m supposed to be on. So, I don’t know what comes next, but I’m on the plan that’s been set for me. That’s a good feeling, I have confidence in knowing I’m going in the right direction.

 

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News Briefs

O’Malley and Chaput make a Super Bowl wager

January 31, 2018 CNA Daily News 2

Minneapolis, Minn., Jan 31, 2018 / 05:00 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- On Sunday, the New England Patriots and Philadelphia Eagles will go head-to-head in Super Bowl LII, facing off to claim the Lombardi Trophy at the U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, MN. &nbsp… […]

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How this app could steal your face to make porn

January 31, 2018 CNA Daily News 0

Denver, Colo., Jan 31, 2018 / 11:31 am (CNA).- A new app allows users to digitally alter pornography videos, placing the faces of celebrities onto the bodies of porn stars.  

Called FakeApp, the program uses neural network technology to replace t… […]