Religious sisters from two congregations in the diocese began sharing space last week, which they describe as a win-win situation. On March 17 Sisters of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary finished moving from Presentation Convent behind St. Leo Church and School on Main Street in Leominster. They moved into the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur unit at Notre Dame du Lac assisted living residence on Plantation Street in Worcester. The consolidation helps the sisters continue living in community as their congregations face healthcare needs for their dwindling numbers. It also offers the opportunity for expanded interaction between sisters in the two congregations. “We’re just responding to how religious life is evolving,” said Sister Patricia Dowler, who was administrator of Presentation Convent. She also moved to Notre Dame and remains a contact person with the PBVM leadership team in New York. “We don’t have a lot of people coming in” to join the congregation, but the sisters and their associates carry on the mission to serve women, children, immigrants and the poor, she said. “We have to become creative. We have to have something that’s life-sustaining for us.” She said there were 13 sisters living in the Presentation Convent retirement community, their only convent in the Worcester Diocese. It could house about 21 sisters. Recently, the cost of maintaining it became more difficult and some sisters needed care not offered there, Sister Patricia said. St. Leo Parish archivist Daniel Crowley said the building, built around 1935, originally belonged to the parish and housed the PBVMs, who staffed St. Leo School. In 1987 the sisters bought St. Leo’s Convent for their motherhouse. Besides the 13 sisters who moved to Notre Dame, there are nine other PBVMs in New England, all living in nursing homes in Massachusetts, Sister Patricia said. Three of these sisters are at Notre Dame Long Term Care next to Notre Dame du Lac. The PBVM leadership team and other active sisters in the Northeast Province live in New York and New Jersey, she said. “I think we are responding again to the signs of the times” in welcoming the PBVMs, said Sister Elaine Bain of Windsor, Connecticut, a leadership team member for the Sisters of Notre Dame East-West Province. The Notre Dame Sisters purchased the Plantation Street property in 1900 and named it Notre Dame du Lac (Our Lady of the Lake), she said. There they established a place for sick and elderly sisters. In 2000 they renovated the building and invited in lay people needing assisted living. The residence has a unit for Sisters of Notre Dame, 26 of whom live there, Sister Elaine said. But since Notre Dame Health Care Corporation now owns the facility, the sisters pay rent for the studio apartments, even empty ones, in their unit, she said. Now the Presentation Sisters will pay rent for their own apartments. Karen Laganelli, CEO of Notre Dame Health Care, said the apartments, recently renovated, are “dignified,” appropriate for women serving God. “We’re thrilled to have them here,” she said. “They will add a lot to the community and to the lives of the other residents that are living here.” “The Notre Dame Sisters have been very warm and welcoming,” said Presentation Sister Dorothy Scesny, one of the PBVM leadership team members who looked into sending sisters there. In January, the Presentation Convent residents went to the assisted living facility for a tour, Mass and lunch, Sister Dorothy said. “When we walked into the activity room, on each table was a lantern,” said Sister Patricia. She said she asked Virginia Lehr, sales and marketing director for the assisted living residence, about these decorations. Ms. Lehr said this was “a last-minute decision to make the atmosphere more inviting.” She did not know that the lantern is a symbol of PBVM foundress Venerable Nano Nagle, called “the lady of the lantern” because of the light she carried when reaching out to the needy. “We really felt it was a sign from Nano Nagle, saying, ‘Welcome home, sisters,’” Sister Dorothy said. The PBVMs carried lanterns out of their chapel at Presentation Convent at the end of a closing ritual they held there March 12. Sisters, associates, family and friends packed the chapel for the service, which included prayer, songs, reflections about undergoing change, and blessings by and for the sisters. The sisters at Presentation Convent unanimously decided they wanted to move, said Sister Patricia. It allows them to remain together as a community, in a Catholic facility with liturgies, where their physical and spiritual needs will be met, she said. “Our prayer ministry will be the same,” Sister Patricia said. “Some of us are able to go out and do ministry.” “I’m delighted to go back to Worcester, because I’ve maintained my volunteer ministry at Christopher House,” leading Communion services and devotions, Sister Charlene O’Leary, PBVM, said before moving. Sister Linda LeBlanc, health care coordinator at Presentation Convent, said that, at Notre Dame, other nurses will help her serve her fellow Presentation Sisters. Sister Paula Cormier, another Presentation Convent resident, said she was holding on to advice she received years ago: “Never tire of new beginnings.”