By the time this edition of JUST Words is off the press, it is anticipated that the Nuns of the Monastery of Mary the Queen will have vacated Siena Hall, their residence for the past eight years, and moved to their new monastery in Girard, Ill. In an interview Sister Ann Marie Pierre gave to Catholic Times, she spoke of the […]
By Dave Sanders Our nation and world are divided, deeply split on issues that include the environment, race, immigration, crime, gender, women’s rights and abortion, guns, COVID, and even faith. Volumes have been written about our divisions and spread through social media. As people of faith, the intensity of these divisions trouble us for many
Empathy: A Bridge to Unity Read More »
By Sister Rose Miriam Schulte, OP In our Prayer for the Life of the World, we daily ask that our hearts might be freed “to recognize and attend to Christ in hidden and unexpected places.” Some of these hidden places are lodged in our congregational past. Not unlike any organic process, a congregation’s earlier plantings
Seeing the Work of the Spirit: East St. Louis and Peru Read More »
By Cynthia Callan Three years ago, my husband and I began walking at the park before work. At that time, I did not realize the many graces which would be received each day. The graces received went beyond the natural landscape and changing seasons; it also included the faces of God in the people I
Finding Christ in Unexpected Places Read More »
By Sister Kathleen Anne Tait Where do you find God in hidden and unexpected places? For many of us it means peering through the lenses of the ordinary to recognize the blessings hidden there. For Teresa and Leahy Bennet, the ordinary is a farm tucked away in Pleasant Plains, Ill., that has been home for
Partners in Mission: Teresa and Leahy Bennet Read More »
By Sister Kathlyn Mulcahy, OP The Holy Family Knocking at Our Door “Do you have a room available?” The call may come from a social worker, child advocate, pastor, or even the police. Someone has arrived on a bus or maybe she is aging out of an Office of Refugee Resettlement center for unaccompanied child
Bethany House of Hospitality Read More »
If it hadn’t been for Charles Routt, there might not be any Springfield Dominicans. Time and again, he came to the community’s aid. Like the sisters, Routt was a Kentuckian by birth. His family moved to the Jacksonville area in 1834 when Routt was nine years old. They belonged to the Christian Church, now known
A legacy of giving: Charles L. Routt Read More »
Father Andrzej carries a mattress to an apartment for refugee families. Each family has its own kitchen, bathroom, and washing machine. All maintenance costs are covered by the Dominicans. by Fr. Andrzej Mońka, OP. This article originally appeared in the Summer 2022 issue of JUSTWords. View online copy here. It was obvious to us from
“Deeply Dramatic”—Dominicans in Krakow Welcome Ukrainian Refugees Read More »
This article was originally published in JUST Words Vol. 22 No. 2 Summer Issue. Exquisite! Magnificent! These words describe the rich beauty of a “planetary tapestry” woven through the global synod convoked by Pope Francis in October 2021. Stories, concerns, critiques, and dreams of Catholics the world over are due in Rome by August 15,
Walking Together: An Update on the Synodal Process Read More »
This article originally appeared in JUSTWords Volume 22, Number 2, written by Cathy Becker. Cathy is a Springfield Dominican associate, a member of the JUST Words editorial board, and youth minister at St. Agnes Parish, Springfield, Ill. Just days before the massacre of 19 children and two teachers at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, the
The Youth Hope Project Read More »
Note: This post accompanies content in the January 2022 issue of JUST Words. For more context, read the magazine here. For generations, people of faith have sought ways of prayer to guide their hearts toward the wisdom of God. One of those methods, lectio divina—or “holy reading—has withstood the test of time. By quieting oneself
Lectio Divina, Visio Divina: A Way of Prayer Read More »
Elizabeth Garnier-Little, right, with her sister Wanda Garnier and Sister Barbara Ann Bogenschutz, OP, at Our Lady of the Sioux Parish, Oglala, S.D., in 2017. Elizabeth Garnier-Little is an 80 years-wise Lakota woman born and raised on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in Oglala, South Dakota. A teacher of all grades K-12 for 52 years,
Lakota Wisdom: An Interview with Elizabeth Garnier-Little Read More »
The seemingly unending pandemic, climate change, natural disasters, discrimination, inequality, injustices, and violence of every kind—all the “-isms” we can think of (racism, ageism, sexism, etc.), ideological, political, and religious conflicts—impact and shape our lives in ways we might never imagine. They can spawn deep-seated, contagious anger, embed themselves in the lives of family, friends,
Holy Listening, Sacred Compassion: Paths to a Healing Communion Read More »
Catherine Benincasa was born in mid-14th century Tuscany, a plague-ridden, economically and politically unstable time—much like our own. She and her twin sister were the 23rd and 24th children in a prosperous family of 25 children of Lapa and Jacopo di Benincasa, wool dealers. By the time Catherine died at the age of 33 in
How St. Catherine of Siena Healed the World Read More »
This article originally appeared in the July 2021 Issue of JUST Words. I measure every Grief I meet With narrow, probing, eyes – I wonder if it weights like Mine – or has an Easier size.[i] –Emily Dickinson From the beginning of the pandemic, up to the time of this writing, fourteen of our sisters,
Trial & Grace: Loss, Grief and Hope in a Time of the Pandemic Read More »
