Jubilee Farm staff has begun to study permaculture and engage consultants to establish permaculture gardens at the farm, through a Nature-Based Climate Solutions grant from Faith in Place, an Illinois-based nonprofit. “Since the establishment of Jubilee Farm in 1999, the staff has worked diligently, with the help of volunteers, to plan and execute restoration projects,” […]
Regenerating the Land Read More »
February 2 Event Celebrates 150 Years of Dominican Consecrated Life in Central Illinois Springfield, Ill.—Those seeking an oasis for prayerful contemplation can find it at Sacred Heart Convent on February 2, 2023, when the Dominican Sisters open their luminescent chapel for Sacred is the Call: A Taizé Prayer in Celebration of Consecrated Religious Life. It
Sacred Is the Call: Taizé Prayer at Sacred Heart Convent Chapel Read More »
By Carolyn White God placed Sister Cecilianne Duello in my life in such a subtle way that I cannot remember the first time I met her…it just seems like she was always a part of my life. As I reflect on the blessing of her presence in my life, I’m in awe of God’s amazing
Relationships that Matter: Sister Cecilianne Duello was always a part of my life Read More »
The Winter issue of the JUST Words publication is here. Click the link below to see more. JW Template 1 23
JUST Words Winter 2023 Read More »
By Sister M. Clare Fichtner, OP From the time I first knew Catholic sisters, I knew I was called to be one. They all impressed me one way or another. Sister Philomena, OP, my sixth- grade teacher, helped me decide which community to enter. She was one of the twelve sisters who traveled 500 miles
Relationships that matter: Sister Philomena was with and for us Read More »
By Father Joseph Brown, SJ The Covenant by which we are bound was completed—from its proclamation, in Exodus: “You shall not wrong a stranger or oppress him, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. You shall not afflict any widow or orphan…”—by the rendering spoken by Jesus, as He reordered our very identities:
Relationships that matter: Sister M. Rose Schleeper a covenant of liberation Read More »
By Sister Kathleen Anne Tait, OP Director of Mission Advancement This quote from St. Catherine graces a beautiful new recognition wall, recently installed at the door of Sacred Heart Convent chapel, where every day our sisters remember in their prayer our friends and benefactors, who, having been our companions on the journey in this life,
Partners in Mission: New recognition wall honors donors Read More »
By Alexis Williams LCSW As a licensed clinical social worker, I provide treatment services to people experiencing difficult life situations. Some reasons for seeking psychotherapy services include dealing with effects from childhood physical or sexual abuse or domestic violence or coping with cancer, chronic pain, or other serious health conditions. One may be struggling with
TOOLS FOR RESILENCE Read More »
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 »
