Call to Religious Life: Sr. Sheila Langton, SP
A favourite question people have for a Sister is, “Why did you become a nun?” For many years I would go blank when anyone asked me that. I didn’t know how to answer. It is a mystery to me. How did such an ordinary and very young person as I was, know that I had a vocation to religious life? I would ask myself, “Why am I so sure this is my way of life?” I should tell you that another favourite question for a Sister is, “How long have you been a...
Sr. Frances O’Brien’s story
When I think of my call to religious life, I must admit that the process I went through to make my decision falls far short of the standards for discernment that we know today. Nevertheless, Providence was undergirding all the mundane experiences in my decision to join the Sisters of Providence of St. Vincent de Paul in 1964. The years have continually confirmed that choice. I was born into a faith-filled Catholic family and was educated by the...
Sr. Anne Hudec, SP
I grew up on a farm in southern Saskatchewan in a family of eleven children. Prayers were an important part of our daily lives. Sunday Mass, the rosary, prayers at meals and even the Way of the Cross during Lent were a regular thing. During the summer we went to catechism classes taught by the Ursuline Sisters or the pastor. We also had correspondence courses from the Sisters of Service from Regina. I enjoyed these courses. But, like most...
A Change of Headdress
Sr. M. Melanie Coligan in the “Peak” and the “Round” headdress.BY VERONICA STIENBURG, ARCHIVIST Excerpt from Congregational Annals of the Sisters of Providence of St. Vincent de Paul April 15, 1954 - Holy Thursday. At last the day appointed for changing our headdress has arrived. During the afternoon one Sister after another appeared in the new headdress. The "peak" of former days is no longer in evidence, the points have more of a collar...
The 400 ‘Home Children’ who passed through the House of Providence
Members of the Kingston branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society Kingston undertook the significant job of transcribing the Congregation’s records of the home children. Here, OGS representatives present Sisters of Providence archivist Veronica Steinburg (left) with the published copy of the recordsBetween 1870 and the late 1930s over 100,000 “home children” were sent to Canada from Great Britain. Due to the industrial revolution, cities in...
Renewal and Celebration Series: Founders of the Kingston Congregation
The Associates formation program continued in March with a day focused on the Kingston founders of the Congregation.BY SISTER IRENE WILSON These founders and the issues of the day were dramatized for the gathering. Kingston Bishop Horan was performed by Sr. Catherine Cannon, in cassock and mitre. Providence Associate Sheila Burchart, dressed in a habit and modified veil, presented the life of Catherine McKinley (known as Mother Mary Edward),...
Celebrating St. Louise de Marillac
BY VERONICA STIENBURG, ARCHIVIST March 15 is Saint Louise de Marillac’s feast day! Louise de Marillac was born on August 12, 1591, near Meux in France. In 1613, at the behest of her family, she married Antony LeGras, the secretary to the Queen Mother, Marie de Medici. Vincent de Paul became her spiritual guide and when her husband died in 1625 she devoted herself to charitable works. Louise de Marillac and Vincent de Paul co-founded the...
Celebrating our Associates
Thirty years ago, in reading the signs of the times, the Sisters of Providence created a new form of relationship. They created an Associate process, with a commitment of one year at a time, that drew women and men eager to live out their baptismal call to service. Providence Associates in Canada, Guatemala and Peru are drawn to the same charism as the Sisters: serving with compassion, trusting in Providence and walking in hope. The 30th...
Why Sister Mary Angel Guardian is considered the Pioneer of the West
Left to right: Sr. M. Teresa (Margaret Mangan); Sr. M. of the Rosary (Kate Mangan); Sr. M. Angel Guardian (Bridget Mangan)BY VERONICA STIENBURG, ARCHIVIST One of the many things I love about being an archivist is “getting to know” the individuals who helped make the Congregation what it is today. One of these individuals that I’ve heard mentioned numerous times is Sr. M. Angel Guardian (M. stands for Mary). She is often referred to as the...
History relived in two-year renewal process
The spirits of founders Catherine McKinley and Bishop EJ Horan were rekindled by Associate Sheila Burchart (left) and Sister Catherine Cannon.BY SISTER IRENE WILSON The Associates’ formation process, titled Renewal and Celebration, was held from September 2012 to September 2014. As the title indicates, it was to be a source of initial formation for new members as well as a renewal and celebration of the charism, mission and spirituality of the...
The best Saturday in the year?!
BY CATE HENDERSON Kingston Seedy Saturday is upon us, and for those of us who grow at least some of our own food, March 14 is a very exciting day! Seedy Saturday, this year held at LCVI High School, is the place to go to trade seeds, find out what seeds your neighbours have grown (if they haven’t already been bragging about them since fall), learn more about vegetable varieties you may never have heard of, and swap stories of gardens past,...
Helping people, helping groups: companion ministries
Sister Kay Taylor (right), Provincial of the Canossian Daughters of Charity, presents Providence Sister Jeannette Filthaut with a pewter carving of the creation story as a gift for facilitating their 2014 Provincial Chapter.BY SISTER JEANNETTE FILTHAUT Spiritual direction and process facilitation might seem like strange bedfellows, yet I have found them each to be enriching and collaborative. As a spiritual director I am called to listen...
It’s time for basic income guarantee
BY JAMIE SWIFT The world’s richest man is a chubby sort of chap by the name of Slim. If he spent his money at the rate of a million dollars a day, it would take Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim 220 years to spend his $80-billion fortune. In January, an Oxfam report revealed that the world’s 85 top billionaires had the same wealth as the poorest half of the world’s people. The international charity also pointed out that at least a million women have...
Climate change in Ontario?
Bridget Doherty takes a little rest during the People's Climate Change March in New York City in October.BY BRIDGET DOHERTY As part of a regular update to the Sisters of Service, who co-fund the Integrity of Creation position of the Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation team, Bridget Doherty gives an update on the work of energy poverty: I have some exciting news! You may remember from previous reports that I'm on the Low-Income Energy...
A whole new take on local, when it comes to food
BY TARA KAINER From Toronto to Vancouver, Chicago to California, Seoul, South Korea to Havana, Cuba and points in between, Jennifer Cockrall-King explores the future of food in Food and the City: Urban Agriculture and the New Food Revolution (Prometheus Books, 2012). Speaking to an appreciative crowd at Writers' Fest in Kingston this fall, the Edmonton-based writer used glorious photographs to demonstrate how food can be found growing in cities...
Shining a light in St. Mary’s Hospital, Camrose
Original chapel, St. Mary’s Hospital, Camrose, Alberta ca. 1925. Photo: 203.2.1-92, Archives, Sisters of Providence of St. Vincent de Paul.BY VERONICA STIENBURG Ninety years ago, Sister Mary Angel Guardian Mangan supervised the building of St. Mary’s Hospital in Camrose, Alberta. The hospital opened in October 1924 and was staffed by eight Sisters. While, according to the annals, the Sisters’ days were “spent opening boxes, unpacking furniture,...
Serving the very poor
BY SISTER GAYLE DESARMIA This year the Providence Associates in Peru have undertaken an important ministry to the very poor in their area. After evaluating their own ministries and the needs present in the area of Carabayllo, they have decided to focus their ministry this year in Fray Martin de Porres. Fray Martin de Porres is a remote and very needy village further up in the mountains than El Progreso, where the Sisters of Providence live....
A Winter Adventure
BY VERONICA STIENBURG, ARCHIVIST From the Congregational Annals of the Sisters of Providence of St. Vincent de Paul: On the 15th [of January 1879] Sr. M. Edward [arrived] accompanied by her sister Miss B. McKinley who had been visiting in Holyoke. They preferred coming by way of Cape Vincent and were obliged to make the journey from Watertown to the Cape in a sleigh. The snow lay in such great quantities that the driver was unable to keep the...
Behind the peace pole: truth
BY SISTER PAULINE LALLY In the midst of global tragedies and conflicts, we, Sisters of Providence, erected a simple white peace pole in front of the entrance to our Motherhouse this summer. It has black lettering. And there it stands in simple juxtaposition to the sufferings of the world. The pole reads May Peace Prevail on Earth in four different languages. French is for our origins in France and Montreal. The Spanish is for our missions in...
Christmas Prayer Cards From the Sisters of Providence of St. Vincent de Paul Archives
BY VERONICA STIENBURG, ARCHIVISTHandwritten on the verso: “To dear Sr. M. Ruth with best wishes for a happy, holy Christmas and New Year, from Sr. M. Scholastica. 1941.”