“If you can’t breathe nothing else matters” says a friend of the Dominican Sisters who is a respiratory therapist. Other physiological needs are equally important. If you can’t breathe, if you are physically hungry, if you are cold, tired, and without shelter, there is little else you can be attentive to.
When needs for safety, belonging, and self esteem are not met, how can individuals learn, grow, and contribute to the well-being of the whole?
For all these reasons and more, Catholic Sisters have been feeding the world’s hungers for hundreds of years.
During Catholic Sisters Week we invite you to reflect on how your hungers have been fed, perhaps through the work of Catholic Sisters or the institutions they founded. Then join us in our never-ending mission to assuage the world’s hungers today. Thank you for joining us!
Feeding the hunger for nourishment
Sister M. Dominic Joerger was the founding director of St. Martin de Porres Center in Springfield. The center still meets the need for food and household goods for dozens of Springfield residents every year.
Our sisters collaborate with the Springfield Immigrant Advocacy Network to advocate for the protection, dignity, and human rights of immigrants.
Join us in support of the dignity and rights of immigrants in Springfield or in a place near you.
Feeding the hunger for shelter
In 1994 we affirmed our first-ever corporate stance in favor of housing justice in Springfield. Since then we have continued to advocate for safe, affordable housing and to cooperate with organizations that provide housing and the wrap around services needed to help people who are impoverished live in safety and dignity.
Our sisters often partner with other faith groups to provide meals for women and men who use homeless shelters in Springfield and in other communities where we serve.
Join us by considering sharing your time or treasure with a housing organization near you like Helping Hands of Springfield.
Feeding the hunger for dignity
Our sisters often encounter immigrants in our ministries throughout the United States and Peru. The Bible is replete with messages about the importance of welcoming the stranger and looking after their needs. For that reason, we have affirmed a corporate stance in support of the rights of people to migrate for the purposes of providing for their families’ needs for safety, shelter, work, and human dignity.
Join us by volunteering for or contributing to an immigrant advocacy organization near you, or to the Springfield Immigrant Advocacy Network.
Feeding the hunger for a voice
Faith communities multiply their impact when they combine forces to address pressing issues in their civic communities. Our sisters often accompany and support community organizing efforts in their local communities.
Join us in this effort by volunteering for or donating to a faith-based community organizing effort in your region. In Springfield that is the Faith Coalition for the Common Good.
Feeding the hungers of the spirit
So many of the Springfield Dominican ministries feed the hungers of the human spirit! Our sisters are counselors and spiritual guides, teachers, pastoral leaders, artists, and musicians. We walk with people wherever we are to support, encourage, and bring to fulfillment their highest potential.
Our newest such ministry is Cor Unum, an outreach for young adult women who find with each other and the sisters who accompany them, the spiritual grounding and support of friendship they need.
Join us in your support for Cor Unum, or a similar ministry in your area.
The hunger to serve
For almost 150 years Dominican Sisters of Springfield have served God and God’s people in ministries across the globe. We’ve answered God’s call to stand in solidarity with people who hunger. We’ve joined forces with women and men who stand in the broken places and cry for the dignity and peace for our brothers and sisters.
Through all of our ministries and our preaching, we continue to respond to a hunger deep within to be useful to our neighbors.
You can join us. The world needs your voice, your hands, your feet. Consider how God may be calling you to life as a Springfield Dominican Sister or associate.
Earth, our origin, support, and sustenance
Earth’s ecosystem is the origin, support, and sustenance of all life. Earth feeds us: bodies, minds, and spirits. We recognize our interdependence with the whole Earth community and have affirmed several corporate stances that acknowledge this: recognizing global climate change, calling for nuclear disarmament, seeking right relationship with all creation and limiting the genetically modified organisms.
At Jubilee Farm, our center for ecology and spirituality, we endeavor to model the care required for the sustainability of Earth.
Join us at Jubilee Farm to enjoy the gifts of Earth, or donate to help sustain and restore this 160-acre patch of Earth that is ours to steward and love.
Learn more about how YOU can help feed hungers in your community on our Catholic Sisters Week page here.
You can also help feed the hungers of our elderly sisters by making a donation through our secure online portal here.
