This past July, the Daughters of Charity who are under ten years vocation gathered in Albany, New York to make their annual eight-day retreat together. This group is spread out all over the country and are representative of the five United States Provinces: Albany, NY; Emmitsburg, MD; Los Altos Hills, CA; St. Louis, MO; and Evansville, IN. As you can see, they are a very diverse group and bring many varied gifts and talents to the service of those who are poor.
These women are engaged in a wide variety of ministries as well: Sister Sharon is providing social services in rural Arkansas. Sister Elizabeth is now in Macon, Georgia, working in Mother and Child Ministry; Sister Judith teaches GED in an adult education program; Sister Pat is involved in parish religious education and both Judith and Pat are living and working in inner city Brooklyn, New York; Sisters Lisa and Catherine are teaching elementary school children in Los Angeles and Harlingen, Texas; Sisters Sylvia, Mi Hahn, Trinh and Margaret are involved in pastoral care and administrative work in hospitals; Sister Hoa ministers in a feeding and clothing program in Oakland; Sister Lela is now at an inner city Chicago multi-service center; Sister Judy is now working with senior citizens in St. Louis; and Sister An Tam is teaching high school science in San Francisco. There is great cultural diversity as well as varying life experience represented by this group: who would think that a chemical engineer, a widow, a French scholar, a campus minister, a manicurist and a corporate executive would follow their hearts to the Daughters of Charity?
We continue to hold them in prayer as they continue their ongoing formation, deepening their commitment to God, to the Company, and to those who are poor!