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November 21, 2024By Tanya Connor | The Catholic Free Press
FITCHBURG - The legacy of the Sisters of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary was celebrated at a 150th anniversary Mass and reception Sunday, and hope was expressed for their ongoing influence, despite changes in religious life.
Bishop McManus praised the sisters at the Mass at St. Bernard Parish at St. Camillus de Lellis Church. St. Bernard Parish was where the sisters first came in 1886 when arriving in what is now the Worcester diocese. (It used a different church building then and in 2010 was merged with St. Camillus to form the present parish.)
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Over the years the sisters staffed schools and served in other capacities. Now the 15 sisters living in the Worcester diocese year-round are in assisted living or long-term care facilities, according to Sister Mary Catherine Redmond, PBVM president, who serves in New York.
She said they continue their prayer and meeting with their lay associates, and minister through partnerships with various outside agencies. The congregation still supports St. Bernard Elementary School in Fitchburg and St. Leo Elementary in Leominster and would like to resume connections with St. Bernard’s High School in Fitchburg.
The PBVM leadership team and other active sisters in the New Windsor congregation live and serve in New York, she said.
At Sunday’s Mass Bishop McManus blessed medals for the sisters’ new lay associates - Charlene Duddy of Our Lady of the Lake Parish in Leominster and Peggy Griswold - who made their commitment to the congregation while present associates renewed their commitment. The sisters renewed their vows.
In a post-Christian culture, we desperately need to hear God’s word, Bishop McManus said, adding that actions, not just words, are needed, as the sisters’ foundress, Venerable Nano Nagle, noted. “Only God knows the effect your sisters had,” he said, speaking of the importance of Catholic education.
Also praising the sisters’ ministry was Father Joseph M. Dolan, St. Bernard’s pastor, one of the concelebrants and the homilist.
At the reception at St. Bernard Elementary School, Deborah Welch Wright, principal, spoke about the sisters’ effect on her and the school.
In a welcome at Mass, Sister Mary Catherine told how they got here.
In 1885, Father Philip J. Garrigan, St. Bernard Parish’s pastor, built a school, “desiring that both boys and girls should share equally the advantages of a Catholic education.” He asked the Presentation Sisters to staff it, since he knew their “excellent reputation in education in Ireland,” and that some had come to New York City in 1874. (Sunday’s celebration marked 150 years since their arrival in the United States, as well as the Nov. 21 feast of the Presentation of Blessed Virgin Mary in the temple.)
“Our school community thrives today because Presentation Sisters said yes – when they were called from Ireland to New York in 1874 and then called again to Fitchburg in 1886,” Ms. Wright said in her welcome at the reception.
“I am proud to say that I am Presentation educated,” she said, praising “the power of the sisters’ teaching, their leadership by example and their friendship. ...
“I have carried the gifts of my Presentation teachers with me in my career as an educator,” Ms. Wright continued. “At St. Bernard’s ... we strive to live the legacy and mission of Nano Nagle as our school meets the educational and spiritual needs of our students, their families and our entire Bernardian community.”
Father Dolan preached about Nano Nagle, who founded the congregation in Cork, Ireland, in 1775. Carrying a lantern by night, she secretly educated children when the English government forbade Catholic education. In effect, the government was saying, “You are not allowed to love these children by teaching them,” he said. He said that, when you teach people, you show that they are loved and worthy of participating in society.
He recalled Presentation Sister Mary T. Naccarato, who now serves in New York, once telling students at St. Bernard’s High School that her congregation has the charism of hospitality.
Students could feel safe and loved at the sisters’ schools, he said. He talked about receiving and giving love - from and to God and others - as something that does not pass away like the sun will, something to take into eternity with you.
Education was the sisters’ main ministry until the Second Vatican Council, when religious congregations were urged to return to their founders’ and foundresses’ intentions, Sister Mary Catherine said in her welcome. Recalling Nano Nagle’s wish that the sisters “spend themselves for the poor,” the sisters cared for the poor in health care, social outreach, pastoral ministry, faith formation and Hispanic ministry.
“Today, our founding mission continues through our sisters, associate ministers, staff and you, our partners in mission, who carry the light of the lantern to those most in need,” Sister Mary Catherine said, after noting that the associate program, in which lay men and women join the sisters in their mission, was initiated in 1984.
Seven new associates were received in New York Nov. 16 and four in Louisiana Nov. 10, bringing the total number associates in the New Windsor congregation to 121, she told The Catholic Free Press. It is one of four PBVM congregations in the United States, which are connected with congregations throughout the world.
“The landscape of religious life is changing,” she acknowledged in her welcome. “Like the end time references in our readings today as we end our liturgical year, we too are looking at a moment of letting go. To human eyes it could appear to be death; however ... we too, like Daniel, proclaim, ‘The wise shall shine brightly...and those who lead the many to justice shall be like the stars forever.’
“Today, we celebrate who we have been and even more excitedly say yes to who we are becoming as we live the Gospel values of hope, justice, freedom and human dignity and ... care for the earth,” she continued.
She told The Catholic Free Press, “The mission certainly will continue in who we are and our commitment to women and children, especially those” who experience inequity economically, environmentally and racially.
At Mass Sisters and associates sang a song reminiscent of Nano Nagle’s outreach. The song included the question, “Who will light the lantern, and go one step beyond?”
As the singing ceased, a child broke the silence with, “Me!”
