Reconnecting

I'm here at east coast groovy sister hq for a community meeting.  This is also where I spent the majority of my novitiate years.  It's been great to reconnect with the Sisters, such amazing women who have faithfully lived through the renewal of religious life and given life to our charism of peace in so very many ways.  Stories, laughter, engaging conversation.

On Thursday evening I was at a nearby parish here in New Jersey giving a presentation on human trafficking.  Afterwards, a number of folks came up to speak with me.  More than one asked if I was in the same community as Sister ____.  In each case, I was able to say yes.  When I did, the person's eyes would light up and a smile would cross their face.  It was clear that the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace have made a lasting impression on the people they taught, worked with, and served over the years here in Bergen County.

Today I also had the chance to walk the grounds of our property here on the banks of the Hudson river.  It was a glorious day, and while I spent most of the day inside it was nice to have this time to enjoy the beauty of God's creation.

As I was walking, I thought how interesting it was to come home again.  No, this is not my home now.  But it was at one point, and it has been one of the centers of CSJP life since Margaret Anna Cusack first bought this property more than 125 years ago to provide a place of rest and respite for working women from the city.  Later, this became an orphanage for boys, the novitiate for a growing community, and in time both a center of prayer and to care for our elder Sisters.

While the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace have a long standing presence here in Bergen County, NJ, we also are part of the present, history and future of Jersey City, NJ.  This week's Jersey Journal has a great story about one of our ministries there, the York Street Project, and the ministry of Sister Maureen D'Auria, CSJP in particular.  Here's a snippet, but you can read the whole article here:

“I love uniting with the women and children around natal health and health care issues,” said D’Auria, a Brooklyn native, whose high school teachers attracted her to the Peace Sisters. Back in 1891 her religious community built an orphanage, which is now St. Joseph Home, and a residence for single working women, still St. Mary’s Residence, at York and Washington Streets. Most were closed for a long time until the religious community refurbished and reopened them with a new vision and new missions reflecting reforms these Sisters embraced.
These new ventures are replicated all over the U.S. by nearly 2,000 religious communities of women. D’Auria mentioned that one of the former residents said about her stay at St. Joseph Home, “This is the holy ground where I began my life.” I think this can be said about the ministry of any of the 57,000 Sisters in this country.

Jersey Girl

For the next week, I will be in the great state of New Jersey.  No, I'm not a Jersey Girl, although I did live there for a time during my novitiate.  However, we do have oodles of CSJP community there so I head back from time to time.  I leave early in the am to travel across the continent via the wonders of air travel.

I am going to be staying at east coast groovy sister hq for the week, the same property in fact where I lived during my novitiate.  I'm looking forward to catching up with some of my favorite wisdom women, walking the grounds, catching sight perhaps of the turkeys and groundhogs, joking with the staff, checking out the color du jour of the lights on the empire state building (this picture is the view from a nearby park--our house is right on the Hudson across from NYC), and other assorted things.

My main reason for heading back is for our CSJP Care of Creation and Climate Change committee (I've written about the committee before).  We do most of our work long distance via conference call and email, but find that it helps to actually get all the committee members, from the UK, East & West Coast of US, together in one room every once in a while!

I'll also be giving two Human Trafficking presentations while I am in New Jersey.  Thursday night I will be at St. John the Baptist Parish in Hillsdale.  Monday night I will be at Holy Trinity Parish in Westfield (co- hosted by St Helen's Catholic Community).  I got my start working on this important issue during my novitiate in New Jersey, so it will be interesting to come back to where my own passion was ignited to end human trafficking.

I'm sure I will check in a bit over the next week, but if not you know where I am!

love beyond words

Picture from the Stella Maris Retreat Center Chapel. It says it all I think.

Margaret Anna Fridays

Every Friday, I’m going to share a quote from the founder of my groovy sisters, Margaret Anna Cusack, known in religion as Mother Francis Clare. This week’s installment …

Jesus is coming as the Sun of justice. Oh, let us beseech Him to ripen the fruits of grace in our souls: alas! perhaps the little plants of grace have hardly yet commenced to germinate. But, beneath the rays of his powerful Sun, they will shoot forth and muliply rapidly. Let us beseech our sweet Infant King to come quickly, and illuminate us 'sitting in darkness and the shadow of death.' Let us beseech Him to enable us to reflect His light onothers, like the great Apostle of today. Let us beseech Him to enable us to overcome our doubts and unbelief, and in our measure to evangelize even until death.
-Meditations for Advent & Easter

Vows Pictures

One of our Sisters (thanks Regina!) sent me some pictures from yesterday's big event. Here's a picture of Dorothy and yours truly before our procession into the Chapel.

And here's a great picture of Dorothy being blessed after she's professed her vows!

I had a great day today catching up with some old friends. Headed back to Seattle in the wee hours of the morning.

Old Stomping Grounds

After a lovely transcontinental flight (I had an empty seat next to me on an otherwise full plane!) I'm now in my old stomping grounds in New Jersey. I'm back at East Coast Groovy Sister HQ for the weekend. Some community meetings tomorrow. And .... Dorothy's first vows on Saturday!!!! What a happy reason to be back. I also get to visit with our novice Sukyi and many of the Sisters and Associates I know and love here.

Should be a great weekend!

Leavin' on a Jet Plane

Well, almost 2 years to the day that I arrived here at the Novitiate house in New Jersey, I'm headed back to Seattle. I'll still be a novice until Vows on October 11th, but I'll be transitioning from the Novitiate to active ministry. I start work on Monday! I'm sure I'll check in sometime tomorrow.

Peace,
Susan

Last Weekend in Jersey

I’m back from vacation, getting ready to head back to Seattle on Tuesday night! As I prepare to transition from the novitiate experience to full time ministry, I’m of course wondering how I’ll manage the transition. Will I find time for the prayer and contemplation I’ve come to value so much? That’s my main question, although there are others that have to do with a new ministry situation, new living situation, new town, etc ….

I have to admit that when I was reading The Book of the Blessed Ones, written by our founder in 1874, I was struck by the fact that she felt it necessary to address the busyness of her time!

It is impossible to have God’s peace unless we obey God’s law, unless we meditate on it. This great truth is easily forgotten in all the hurry and excitement of the age in which we live. It is an age which not only loves excitement, but which can gratify its desire. …

How can people who are perpetually changing from place to place have time to meditate? How can people who are living in a constant state of excitement have inclination to meditate? …

And yet one will sometimes hear such persons exclaiming with the air of victims that they are so tired of all this change, or that they really are so sorry they have not more time to think of serious things. ...

Yet, as we have said, through and because of this very self-deceit, persons are persuaded that they “cannot help” a course of conduct which is threatening their spiritual life with ruin, they are not indeed without some dim misgivings. But they do not look to them; self-deceit quickly clouds their thoughts; or their very restlessness, the incessant change, actually prevents them from discovering the danger to which it is driving them.

They say they have not time to think, but it is precisely this misuse of time which may be so fatal. We never hear people saying they have not time for any pursuit or occupation on which they have set their hearts.

~ M.F. Cusack, The Book of the Blessed Ones, 1874

So, in the end, I suppose it does really come down to intention. Good to remember. My guess is Margaret Anna knew that of which she wrote.

Vacation

I’m actually on vacation this week at our retreat house on the Jersey Shore. I know, wasn’t I on retreat last week?? Yes, I was! And thanks to my wonderful over-planning personality, I planned my annual vacation for the week after my annual retreat. It seemed like a brilliant idea when I planned this two week Susan extravaganza back in January. I suppose I was looking back to when I moved East 2 years ago. I did not give myself much time for the transition, and basically was thrust from the frantic pace of quitting work and packing up my apartment of 12 years into the novitiate experience. This time, I thought it wise to give myself some time to wind down, reflect, and relax before I transition back into full time ministry. I still think it was a great idea – but we’ll see what I think after two weeks of hanging out with myself!

My basic plan for this week is to swim, go on long walks, and read fun books. There is internet access here, but it’s in a public area so I won’t be on it much. However, thanks to the magic of blogger’s scheduling function, I’ll be posting all week – mostly with reflections from my retreat.

third times the charm

My two years in the Novitiate are almost up, which means my two year stay in New Jersey is almost up as well. Those of you who know me or who have followed my journey here may have noticed that I came here with a bit of "east coast angst." You see, I was raised on the east coast (Maryland to be exact), but ran away to the Pacific Northwest for college and never looked back. I believe I may have actually said something like I'd "NEVER" live on the east coast again. You know what they say about never saying never!!

Well, many things have happened during my two years of novitiate. One of those things, is the lessening of my east coast angst. Don't get me wrong. I am very much looking forward to heading back to the Pacific Northwest in September. I've missed the rain (which only a northwesterner could say with a straight face!). I've missed my friends. I've missed the way of life that is particularly "left coast." But, shocking as this may be to some of you who know me and have experienced my east coast angst first hand, I think I might actually miss this place. I'll definitely miss the people. Hence, I'm thinking of it more as a "see you later" than a "goodbye."

This is all a preamble to my updated score on the quiz, "How New Jersey Are You?". This is my third time taking the quiz. The first time I scored 31%. Six months after my arrival I scored 51%. And now?

You Are 59% New Jersey!

You've definitely got some Jersey in you. Congratulations, it's a great thing to be. However you're score could certainly be a lot higher!

How New Jersey Are You?
Make Your Own Quiz

simple pleasures

Ever since I arrived in this patch of New Jersey, I've wanted to play mini golf. Well, not exactly since I've arrived but ever since I drove past this mini golf course on my way to the local target. It has a view of Manhattan!

You see .... even though I'm horrible at mini golf - I have really bad hand eye coordination in general - I love it. I grew up as part of a mini-golfing family. Most of our outings were limited to our one or two weeks at Ocean City, Maryland each summer. OC is heaven for mini golf fans, with themed mini-golf parks around every bend: dinosaur golf, pirate golf, safari golf, and outer space golf to name a few. But closer to home there was a tamer mini golf course which we'd often enjoy in the summer.

During my many years in the beautiful pacific northwest, I lamented more than once the dearth of mini-golf courses. I think it has to do with the rain. That said, I did manage to find one and on my 30th birthday dragged my closest girl friends to the kiddie park for a round of mini-golf and fun on the bumper boats. Good times!

Why do I share the random fact of my love of mini-golf???? You can probably guess ... I finally got to play a round at the course with a view of NYC. At our last house meeting we were talking about possible fun things to do this summer. I can't tell you how thrilled I was when mini-golf was floated as an option!

And so, even though I came in last place as a life time mini golfer, while my novice friend who had never played mini golf before came in second place, I'm still very happy to have exercised my silly side. You have to do that every once in a while. Plus, I now have one more thing I can cross of my list of things I want to do while in NJ!

baby turkeys, a deer (and chipmunks) ... oh my!

Our schedule here at the Novitiate House this week is fairly un-programmed, so I'm taking advantage of the opportunity for a few quiet prayer days. This afternoon I went on a hike in a nearby nature preserve. On my walk I saw more chipmunks, a deer, and baby turkeys!

We have wild turkeys on the grounds of east coast groovy hq as well. I still hear the gobbling of the male from time to time, and last week I kept seeing him following two female turkeys around. He was perpetually showing his fancy feathers, and they were pretty much ignoring him.

Today at the nature preserve, I came across a little turkey family with the cutest little baby turkeys in tow! This is not an actual picture of the turkeys in question - it's a random internet picture - but it's pretty close in terms of cuteness.

Back in Portland I used to take regular rambling hikes in Tryon Creek State Park. Walking amongst the beautiful trees on the well maintained trails, I usually found myself drawn to peace and quiet through the rhythm of my footsteps. My meditative hikes were a regular part of my prayer practice. I didn't make it there very day, but a few days a week when the weather cooperated. I've missed that.

I discovered Flat Rock Brook (the local nature preserve) towards the end of last summer. The trees are beautiful and green this time of year and the trails fairly well maintained. There are also cars in the parking lot and people around for safety - always important! And, there's certainly more wild life than Tryon. After my walk, my spirit feels freer and more tuned in than it has in a while. Part of that may just be the endorphins from the exercise, but I also think there's something about walking amongst the trees. I think it would be good if I tried to get there once or twice a week this summer.

Helen Prejean at York Street

Back when I was first telling people I knew that I was leaving my life as a bureaucrat to become a nun, I'd often say something like "More Dead Man Walking than Sister Act" - just to clarify what sort of Sister I was becoming.

Well, tonight I will have the priviledge of hearing the woman who gave me that analogy by virtue of her life of love and service that somehow made it to the big screen. Sr. Helen Prejean is the special guest at a benefit for one of our ministries here in Jersey Ciy - the York Street Project. It's a pricey event, but I was lucky in that somebody gave me a ticket!

The York Street project is located on a City block where our Sisters have ministered since 1885. Over the years the building has been a home for orphaned children, a methadone treatment center, and offices and printing presses for our magazine. Since 1989 its been home to the York Street Project, which consists of four programs: Kenmare Alternative High School, St Mary's Residence for Women, St Joseph's Home for Families, and the Nurturing Place. Each year, these programs provide education, housing, counseling, early childhood development care, and job-readiness and life skills training to more than 250 women and children of Jersey City and surrounding Hudson County.

It should be a great evening. But for now, off to mass and then work. Happy Ascension Thursday!

spring

This morning as I was walking to the train, I passed by many trees and flowers in bloom lining my local city street. Jersey City certainly seems brighter and more cheerful in the springtime!

I spotted some irises in one front yard – a beautiful purple, tall and reaching towards the sky. I was reminded of the irises that would bloom along the wooden walkway that goes over the koi pond at the Japanese Gardens in Portland. They never lasted very long, but they were always a sight to behold!

Gardens in general are sacred space for me. I must admit that I’m not much of a gardener myself – my old roommate Kathy used to comment on my “slackidaisical” gardening style. But there is something about the bright colors and new life blooming all around that opens and warms my heart.

Today's Horoscope

I'm not really a believer in horoscopes, but sometimes you read your horoscope and it just fits. Like today's:

Leo: Where you are is the perfect place for you - now.

I've got a little over a month left of my spring ministry experience in Jersey City. I can't believe how quickly the time has gone! I've really enjoyed my community living experience - getting to know the Sisters I'm living with and the Sisters next door. It's been so much more fun than I ever could have anticipated! They are really great women. My ministries have been enlightening and challenging, for both my head and my heart. Great experiences.

So yes, where I am is the perfect place for me - now. It's good to feel that, because it helps me to be more present to the experience rather than living in/obsessing about the future. To not miss out on the here and now. The future will come. I'll head back to the Novitiate in the middle of May. This summer is full with more novitiate house stuff (classes/workshops). Preparing for vows. We have our General Chapter this summer. Then retreat. Then before I know it, it will be time to move back to the Pacific Northwest and begin full time ministry. There are lots of unknowns, things to be decided and figured out, but for now, it's good to know and feel that where I am is the perfect place for me - now.

music in the neighborhood

I invited some of the Sisters to join me tonight to hear some live music. You see, last month I discovered that there's a once a month folk music series next door in the historic courthouse (not the much uglier newer courthouse where I work two days a week). If there's one thing I love, it's live music. Sadly, these days I don't get to hear much live music so when I heard there was a reasonably priced show so close to home, I jumped at the chance. I'm happy to report that not only was I not disappointed, I discovered a new to me singer songwriter ... Amy Speace, who it turns out lives in Jersey City. I also loved her very apt description of the neighborhood where I live.

This neighborhood has always kind of scared me ... it's all the bail bond places.

(So true ... but it's home. And while the proximity to the courthouse = all the bail bond places, it also means I can walk to work two days a week! And to the concert tonight!)

She had some great songs - many of which are on her new album coming out in the fall. In the meantime, you can hear some of her music on her website and or buy music from her Songs for Bright Street Album on itunes.

She also had a great new song, that's so sad it's funny, about her recent run ins with the Jersey City Parking Violation Authority. As a former bureaucrat, I felt bad that her experience was so awful. But it certainly made for a very funny song (you can read her blog version of the story on her myspace page - I have to say though the written form can't touch the song which I hope she records).

Monday Odd Shots

It's Monday morning. I should be at work - in fact I was at work. But the building where I have my ministry on Monday's was evacuated for a bit. Since I live right around the corner, I came home for a coffee break. Which means I have time to post my contribution to Odd Shots Monday! (rules are here.)

I took this picture just around another corner from my humble jersey city abode. The two signs are actually placed one in front of the other, but from this angle it looks like they're almost next to each other. Read that way, it seems like a political message from the anti development crowd!

Continuing the ministry

I'm living next door to one of our Sponsored ministries - St. Joseph's Home for the Blind and the Cusack Care Center. We have another convent located in the home itself, so we have our own little community on the block. We've been invited over for Sunday dinner a few times since I've been here. I've also given a few computer lessons to our Sisters who live next door. And on Sundays, our house usually heads next door for liturgy in the Center's chapel with the residents - it's quite nice.

It's also cool to be living in the midst of our early history in this Province. Our founder Margaret Anna Cusack (who the center is named after) came to NJ from the UK in 1884 to help Irish immigrant women. She also had a desire to help the blind, who in those days were ostracized from society; either cast out onto the streets or living in isolation. She believed that the Blind were just like everyone else, deserving full and productive lives.

Our first Sisters set up services for the blind on this very block soon after their arrival in Jersey City. Their goal was to teach blind men, women and children how to be independent. The Sisters sought out occupations that would enable the Blind to achieve financial independence and build self-esteem. The Sisters' travels took them from Boston's Perkins Institute (where they learned broom and mattress making, caning and embroidery) and to the prison in Trenton (where they learned mat-making and hemp weaving.) The Sisters then set up workshops in the Home, where the Blind could learn and practice these skills to not only receive the financial rewards, but also the increased self-esteem that arises from feeling self-sufficient. Soon they opened the School for the Blind on the same block to care for the large numbers of children. The school is still in operation a few blocks from here in a brand new state of the art facility. According to our 75th Anniversary book published in the 1960's, one of our Sisters (Sr. M. Winifride) is credited with the invention of a code for Greek in Braille!

Here's a picture of the Home for the Blind in 1915. The building still stands, although it was renovated and added onto a few years ago. By the 1970's, the needs of the blind were different in society and those in the home were aging. Rather than split up their "family" in the home by transferring them to nursing homes, our Sisters decided to convert the facility to a licensed skilled care nursing facility. The home thrived as word spread that the heritage of providing love, dignity and respect was now available to all. St. Joseph's Home for the Blind quickly grew to become one of the top non-profit facilities in NJ. When the newly renovated buidling was dedicated in 2002, it was dedicated as the Margaret Anna Cusack Care Center at the Historic St. Joseph's Home for the Blind.

As I said, on Sundays we head over for Liturgy in the chapel with the residents and our Sisters that live and minister there. I've already been enlisted to lector at mass, be a eucharistic minister and help get the residents situated in the chapel in their wheel chairs. I must admit there is something special about participating in these very small ways in a ministry that our Sisters have been continuing on that very site since shortly after our founding.

"Now you know how we feel"

Sister Housemate: How was work?

Me: Good ... I'm still in training mode. I had the supervisor training me today.

Housemate: How was that?

Me: Good ... but she's really young.

Housemate: (Looking at me with a wee bit of a smirk in her eye).

Me: The woman who was training me last week was 25, but this woman is 22. They're qualified and know a lot, but they seem so young.

Housemate: Now you know how we feel!

snow bells

We're having a bit of a snow storm here in Jersey City today, and so I give you an actual picture of the aforementioned church bells (or rather the tower that I presume holds said bells) as seen from my bedroom window.