Venerini Sisters to discuss future in America

By Tanya Connor
The Catholic Free Press

WORCESTER - Will Religious Venerini Sisters die out in the United States – their first mission country? Or will they bring in more sisters from abroad?
Venerini Sisters in the Worcester Diocese are to discuss this during their international meeting in Rome this month.
There are 13 Venerini Sisters in the United States, 10 living in the Worcester Diocese and three in New York, said Sister Carmen Capriole, a nurse who is currently provincial of the United States Province and lives in Worcester. She said the American sisters, and an Italian sister who has served in the U.S. for decades, are between the ages of 72 and 97.
The youngest sisters – in their 30s and 40s – are natives of India and came to the U.S. within the last 10 years, Sister Carmen said.
The 13 sisters gathered in Rutland June 10 for Sister Hilda Ponte’s 90th birthday and her 70th jubilee. Sister Hilda, a former United States provincial, lives at Notre Dame Long Term Care Center in Worcester.
Sister Carmen said that more than 10 years ago the U.S. sisters asked their leaders in Rome for sisters from abroad to help with ministry here. But when the Indian sisters arrived, they were needed to help care for aging sisters.  
“They cook for us, they clean for us, without complaining,” said Sister Carol Skehan. “We are very lucky.”
Though retired, Sister Carol works with the congregation’s archives and tries to still be “a presence” at Venerini Academy, which the sisters established and for which they still serve on the board. They also taught at other schools in the Worcester Diocese.
Having the Indian sisters, especially those with nursing backgrounds, help aging sisters is an alternative to assisted living residences the congregation can’t afford, Sister Carmen said.
Sisters Angela Kavil and Lincy Sebastian - who live with retired Venerini Sisters in Rutland – also teach religious education at St. Thomas Syro-Malabar Catholic Church in Framingham, a predominately Indian parish, and have full-time jobs. Sister Angela, a certified nursing assistant, teaches religion at Venerini Academy, and Sister Lincy is a registered nurse at Notre Dame Long Term Care Center.
Also still working in the diocese are Sister Irene Moran, who oversees religious education at Our Lady of the Rosary Parish, and Sister Rosemarie Borzi, who teaches at St. Mary Elementary School in Shrewsbury.
In Schenectady, New York, two sisters who came from India work in nursing and parish ministry and live with a semi-retired sister who does parish work, Sister Carmen said.
“We don’t know how many more will come” from India to the United States, Sister Lincy said. Some are sick or elderly. And there are not as many new vocations in India as at the peak in 1997, when there were 19 postulants, she said.
Sister Angela said sisters are in demand in India; people want religious, not lay people, to teach their children.
Also, it is difficult and expensive to get government documents for sisters from abroad to come work here, Sister Carmen noted. She said the topic of whether to send sisters from abroad to the United States to start new ministries is expected to be discussed at the meeting in Rome that she and Sister Angela are to attend. Another option is to phase out the sisters’ presence in America, as the aging sisters die, she said.
The sisters said their foundress, Rosa Venerini, didn’t plan on founding a religious congregation when she started teaching women and girls in her home in Italy. She established her first official school there in 1685.
She and women who joined her lived and prayed together, but the Venerini Sisters did not become an official congregation until 1933, Sister Carmen said.
They had already begun their first mission outside of Italy; in 1909 they arrived in Lawrence to teach Italian immigrants, Sister Angela said.
In 1974 they started serving in a third country – India – thanks to an Italian bishop there who invited Indian women to receive formation with Venerini Sisters in Italy, Sister Carmen said.
Later, other bishops asked for sisters, and now there are nearly 400 Venerini Sisters in 11 countries on five continents, mostly teaching but some in nursing or other ministries, she said.
“We keep getting groups coming (into the congregation) from Africa and India,” and individuals from Brazil and Italy - “any place but here” - Sister Carmen said.
Asked why, she replied, “I don’t know; it’s the same as any of the orders. It has something to do with New England.” Other congregations get some new vocations in the South and Midwest, where more people attend Mass, she said.
“I think there are so many other opportunities for women” besides teaching and nursing, she said.
Sister Carol said she thinks some young people today are searching for spirituality, but not finding it in the institutional Church and religious congregations.
“I don’t think they’re looking for the (sisters’) lifestyle,” she said.
“I personally feel I’ve done my job,” Sister Carol said. “If we don’t get vocations, it’s up to the next generation to figure it out for themselves. And they will.”
Congregations are getting more lay associates than religious sisters, Sister Carmen said; there are 16 Venerini associates in the Worcester Diocese and 24 in New York. But there are not many newcomers.
Potential sisters do not have contact with Venerini Sisters, she said.
“We’re not on college campuses,” she noted. “Before, you’d go into a place,” such as a hospital, and you’d always see sisters.
Sister Angela spoke of seeking to recover what has been lost in religious congregations and bring about a revival, like the National Eucharistic Revival aims to rekindle Catholics’ awareness of Christ’s presence in the Eucharist.
Besides praying, “we are trying to visit the families,” be more visible and be with the people where they are, she said.
Sister Angela said that out of the 10-15 students in each of her six classes at Venerini Academy, only one or two say they attended Sunday Mass, and most of those go with grandparents.
She teaches students prayers and organizes monthly school-wide Masses, trying to impart what she learned in her Catholic family and schools in India, she said.
In India, priests and religious hold prayer meetings in people’s homes, where children see them and want to pursue a vocation, she said.