Sign up for Educational/Family Services bowling fundraiser June 23 for fun, door prizes and to support educational efforts in West Terre Haute.

Bowl your way to an afternoon of fun and prizes while promoting education and literacy for people in West Terre Haute and surrounding communities.

Keep the Ball Rolling bowling fundraiser is being planned for Sunday, June 23, 2013 at 1 p.m. at the Terre Haute Bowling Center, 600 E. Springhill Drive in Terre Haute. The fundraiser will benefit Educational/Family Services (EFS) in West Terre Haute, a ministry of the Sisters of Providence which provides free tutoring to children and free basic education and GED preparation for adults.

Cost for the event is $15 per person which includes two games of bowling and shoe rental. Groups may sign up in teams of six or as individuals who will be assigned a team. Drawings for door prizes and raffles will take place throughout the afternoon.

All proceeds will benefit Educational/Family Services.

Educational/Family Services is one of the only places in the West Terre Haute area where people can turn for help with literacy, one-on-one homework help and tutoring. Educational/Family Services assistance is offered free of charge, and so we are always in need of volunteers and funding to be able to continue to meet the very real educational needs of the community, EFS Director Penny Sullivan said.

For more information about the bowling fundraiser or to register to bowl, contact Penny Sullivan at 812-535-4206 or efspenny@frontier.com.

Download a flyer and registration form here.

Sister Linda Neil, CSJ, will lead a reflective workshop, “Encountering Earth: Reclaiming the Human in the Web of Life” from July 11-14 at White Violet Center for Eco-Justice at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods.

A reflective workshop titled “Encountering Earth: Reclaiming the Human in the Web of Life” will take place from 5 p.m. (EDT) Thursday to 11 a.m. Sunday at White Violet Center for Eco-Justice at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, a ministry of the Sisters of Providence.

“The workshop will open peoples’ awareness about Earth issues and sustainability and challenge people to respond to those needs,” said Sister Maureen Freeman, director of White Violet Center for Eco-Justice.

Open to people of all faith traditions, the workshop will incorporate art, literature, music and personal and group reflection to lead participants to a deeper awareness of Earth issues and how they can be addressed in our time.

The program will explore our place in creation, the common story of all humans and environmental issues in today’s world. It will also explore how participants can respond, from living sustainably to bringing about an era of ecological concern.

“The program will move into, once we know about the problems in the environment, how as people of faith do we respond?” Sister Maureen said.

The workshop will be led by Sister Linda Neil, CSJ, who holds a master’s degree in Earth Literacy from Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College.

Cost for the workshop is $350 which includes room and meals or $230 for those choosing to commutes. Saint Mary-of-the-Woods is located 10 minutes northwest of Terre Haute, Ind.

Contact 812-535-2932 or rmorton@spsmw.org to register or visit www.WhiteViolet.org for more information.

A wake will be held Thursday, June 20, 2013 starting at 2:30 p.m. with wake service at 4:30 p.m. The Mass of Christian Burial will be Friday, June 21, 2013 at 11 a.m. Both will be held in the Church of the Immaculate Conception at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods.

We invite you to share your memories  on Sister Dorothy or the ways she touched your life in the comments section below.

Sister Pat Mahoney with Kyle Meadors with Saint Mother Theodore Guerin statue in background.

Kyle Meadors, a Providence Associate who lives in Chicago, has a special place in his heart for his father, and for Saint Mother Theodore Guerin. He and his associate-companion, Sister Pat Mahoney, went to All Saints Cemetery in Des Plaines, Ill., recently to honor Kyle’s relationship with his father and the foundress of the Sisters of Providence.

Kyle’s father was a hard-working man, who demonstrated his love by the way he lived his life. After his father’s massive heart attack, Kyle and his father drew very close.

“My father worked for 36 years at Gerber. He worked long hours, starting around 5 a.m. He would come home from work exhausted, but from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. he would watch my favorite TV show with me, ‘The Golden Girls,’ Kyle said. He had a massive heart attack in 2002. We did become close after that. Although my father was not the hugging, ‘I love you’ type, there was never a moment that I doubted that he loved me. He showed it through his hard work to take care of our family.”

On June 8, 2006, at age 54, Kyle’s father took his own life. Kyle was 21 at the time.

“Shortly after his death, he was enrolled in the Blessed Sacrament Association of the Sisters of Providence. Along with the enrollment card was a holy card of then Blessed Mother Theodore Guerin. I couldn’t believe there was an American “Blessed” that I had never heard about. I wrote to the SPs to request more information on Mother Theodore and Sister Marie Kevin Tighe wrote me a very moving letter,” Kyle recalled.

“About a week after I received her letter, UPS came to my front door with a box from her. In the box were all of the Congregational history books along with a hardbound copy of Mother Theodore’s ‘Journals and Letters.’ This all happened during a very dark period of my life as I was having a hard time coping with my father’s suicide, but Providence sent Mother Theodore to help me along the way.

Kyle grew up in Arkansas with his family, and moved to Springfield, Mo., shortly after his father’s death. Kyle said it’s customary for local cemeteries to sponsor Decoration Day, a day when families of those buried in cemeteries can gather for fellowship, food and music. For years, Kyle returned to Vaught Cemetery in the Arkansas mountains for Decoration Day, and on his father’s death anniversary. Now living in Chicago, travel is harder, although he plans to make a trip there soon.

So, recently, he and Sister Pat were lunching in Des Plaines when they decided to visit All Saints Cemetery. Neither had ever seen the statue of Saint Mother Theodore that is placed at the cemetery.

“I thought the statue was extraordinary. Sister Pat loved that the statue wasn’t stiff. Mother Theodore is in motion. Looking around the cemetery at all of the other statues, they were just that; stiff and cold. This statue showed Mother Theodore involved with educating children. I thought it was very beautiful,” Kyle said.

“Sister Pat created a prayer that we read together celebrating my father’s life. We offered prayer and meditation standing in front of Mother Theodore’s status. The rest of our conversation was about losing my father and how difficult it was. Sister Pat talked about losing her best friend, Sister Mary Alice Zander (first director of Providence Associates). There were some very beautiful things that were said,” Kyle added.

“Mother Theodore is a great model and friend of mine. During this last year of my own declining health, Mother Theodore has been there to help me climb the difficult mountains that I have encountered along the way. My friend, Michael, told me once that ‘Faith can move mountains, but bring a shovel.’ That was something he learned from his dear friend, Rue McClanahan,” Kyle said.

Any coincidence that Rue McClanahan was a member of “The Golden Girls” cast?

Sister Denise Wilkinson, the Congregation’s general superior, made the announcement during the annual Saint Mother Theodore Guerin Dinner on Saturday, June 1. The annual dinner recognizes donors, patrons and friends of the Congregation for their support.

Renovation of current facilities to make way for the Shrine’s new home is expected to begin during the autumn of this year and is expected to be completed by autumn, 2014. The museum-like area, complete with educational displays, will be located below the Blessed Sacrament Chapel in the hallway adjacent to the Church of the Immaculate Conception. Currently, the area is used for office and work space. Previously, it was used as housing.

Saint Mother Theodore came to Indiana from France in 1840 with five traveling companions to provide education to the state’s pioneer children. Within a few months, the sisters founded a school now known as Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College. Saint Mother Theodore was canonized in Rome on Oct. 15, 2006, by Pope Benedict XVI. The decision to pursue a fund-raising campaign to create the shrine for the Congregation’s foundress was made with intense discernment, said Sister Denise.

“We were very careful to plan wisely and to create a sacred space for our sisters and for our many visitors from throughout the world. We have had visitors from all 50 states and from nearly as many foreign nations. Daily, we receive requests for prayers, favors or just information about our foundress,” Sister Denise said.

Shrines in the United States do not attract the same high-level interest in comparison to shrines that attract pilgrimages in Europe and other countries.

“In their permanent location, Saint Mother Theodore’s remains will rest in a simple wooden coffin in a quiet place conducive to reflection and prayer,” Sister Denise added. “As visitors and pilgrims return to their homes, families, churches and jobs, our hope is that they will share the blessings of Providence in their lives. In that way, the sisters feel that the shrine will be a living ministry.”

With the announcement that work will begin later this year, Sister Denise also said that fundraising will continue for renovations to Providence Spirituality and Conference Center and to create a sense of Mother Theodore’s journey and spiritual legacy as one enters the facility.
Creating the shrine brings the need to relocate some offices and modify several of the venues at Providence Center and to expand The Gift Shop at Providence Center. Those projects will not begin until funds have been raised.

People who make a donation by Aug. 31 to complete phase one of the project will be considered a “founder” of the shrine and their names will be inscribed in a special journal to be displayed in the shrine area. Anyone interested in making a donation to any of these projects should call the Sisters of Providence Office of Congregational Advancement at 812-535-2801, or visit the Congregation’s website at www.SistersofProvidence.org.

First, tuck in “Uncommon Gratitude: Alleluia for All that is,” by Joan Chittister, OSB, and Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams (Liturgical Press, Collegeville, 2010). The key word in the title is Alleluia!

Each essay challenged me to wake up in a contemplative way to the graces God offers each of us daily in both the challenges and blessings that fill life. Using story and contemporary realities as jumping off spots, the authors engage our imaginations and our souls in discovering the presence of God. This is soul food that stimulates the spirit.

Then, consider adding “Between Heaven and Mirth: Why Joy , Humor and Laughter are at the Heart of the Spiritual Life,” by James Martin, SJ, (HarperOne, imprint of Jossey-Bass, 2012). In this delightful book, Martin teaches us that humor and joy are integral dimensions to the spiritual life, contrary to popular belief emphasized by many spiritual writers that seriousness, worries about sin and doctrine, and concern about salvation are the core components.

Often I found myself laughing out loud as I read examples provided by Martin from the lives of the saints and the scriptures that in my previous days I had overlooked. Amid the complexity and seriousness of the world around us, this book offers food for the soul that is enlivening and rejuvenating.

Finally, Franciscan Father Richard Rohr gives us two volumes on the spirituality of aging to tuck in – “Falling Upward: A Spirituality of the Two Halves of Life” (Jossey-Bass, 2011) and “Immortal Diamond: The Search for our True Self” (Jossey-Bass, 2013).

Aimed at those in midlife and beyond, these volumes encourage us to spend more time with God contemplating the essence of who we are and are becoming. In “Falling Upward,” Rohr challenges us to look at our lives as an ongoing journey in which we struggle with issues of False Self, that part of us that focuses on externals, and the quest to connect with our True Self, the deep essence that enables us to know God more deeply.

Rohr guides us to ways of grasping how our experiences, both failures and successes, shape our human and spiritual identity and prepare us to mature and to embrace the soul work that is ours to do in the second half of life. In “Immortal Diamond,” which can be read independently of “Falling Upwards,” but is a good complement to it, Rohr uses reflections on the meaning of grace, death and resurrection to engage the reader in seeking the True Self and pondering the call to transformation in one’s own life.

These two books provide the meat and potatoes of nourishment for those seeking solid food for deepening their spiritual lives. Devouring one or both of them, however, will require a good bit of chewing.

Since February Diaz has been receiving counseling at Providence Family Services with Counselor and Director Sister Patty Fillenwarth. Diaz is learning to cope with the effects of domestic abuse in her life.

“I’m dealing with issues I haven’t dealt with in years. It’s like for years there’s been this high brick fence around me. Now I can actually feel. Because before I didn’t allow myself to feel. It was like that was a weakness. But now I see that what I thought were my weaknesses are actually strengths,” Diaz said.

Sister Patty Fillenwarth ministers as a counselor at Providence Family Services (PFS) in Chicago.

Living with the effects of abuse “you kind of feel trapped, like there’s no way out,” Diaz said.

But the past several months of therapy have made a very real positive impact on her life.

“Life has become life again. Before it was hopeless dark, dark, dark. I’ve been in darkness for 26 years, and just now I’m starting to see the light,” Diaz said.

The Helen V. Brach Foundation of Chicago, funded by the late heiress to the candy company, recently offered support to Diaz and other PFS clients like her by awarding Providence Family Services a grant for $5000.

Providence Family Services, at 1540 North Monticello Avenue in Chicago, is a ministry of the Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, Ind., and a program of Guerin Outreach Ministries. It was founded in 1994 by Sister Patty, who had previously ministered as principal of the nearby Maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary School in the same West Humboldt Park neighborhood. Sister Patty noticed a need among the struggling population for affordable, bi-lingual counseling services, and so, already bi-lingual, she returned to school at age 52 to get a second master’s degree in counseling and so began PFS.

Since then PFS has expanded to further serve the needs of the community by also offering English as a second language classes, computer classes, citizenship classes and afterschool homework assistance for children.

Sister Patty has seen the demand for counseling help increase over the years. Between economic rough times and with it increasing joblessness and gang violence in the neighborhood and budget cuts in the city that have decreased other services available, the need for counseling in the area is great.

When Diaz first sought out help, she was bounced from organization to organization unwilling or unable to help. Finally she landed upon Providence Family Services.

“I’ve tried to do this without therapy, and I’ve learned you just can’t,” Diaz said.

But the problem is, therapy is often only available if you have the money to pay $150 an hour, she said.

Diaz, a single mother to a now-20-year-old-son, is thankful that PFS operates on a sliding-scale basis. She moved to the U.S. from Chile when she was six years old, but she had her residency card revoked late in 2012 due to a 2007 conviction. Without legal residency she is not able to work and thus not able to pay for counseling.

PFS never turns away clients for inability to pay, and all services are offered at nominal charge. That is why the not-for-profit center is dependent upon and ever grateful for contributions such as that of the Brach foundation, Sister Patty said.

“We always need the money. We are always happy to receive help. The support we receive confirms others think that what we do is great, and we appreciate that because we think that what we do is great, also,” Sister Patty said.

Diaz is grateful for support that allows her access to the help she needs to heal.

“When you are helping Providence Family Services, you are helping a whole community. You are making a difference in the lives of real people. It’s families – it’s people like you and me. Everybody knows somebody who has been through something. You help one person and you find yourself helping a whole community, because each person passes it on to the people around them. And that is how to build a better society,” Diaz said.

And for Diaz, in her journey from darkness to light, she now welcomes a hopeful future.

“Life is better now, even though I’m not working and I’m facing deportation. Before I always hoped that I would die before the age of 50. Now if God wills it, I could see myself living to be 100. I know that my journey has just started. I see some happiness in my future,” she said.

For more information about the services offered at Providence Family Services or for ways you can help, call 773-235-8264 or visit www.ProvidenceFamilyServices.org.

It would be a perfect day to think about unconditional love on this Father’s day. (This picture shows Mom, Tia, bonds with her first cria, Providence Vincennes or “Vinnie,” minutes after birth at White Violet Farm Alpacas, a ministry of the Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods.)

“A Pharisee invited Jesus to dine with him,
and he entered the Pharisee’s house and reclined at table. Now there was a sinful woman in the city
who learned that he was at table in the house of the Pharisee.
Bringing an alabaster flask of ointment,
she stood behind him at his feet weeping
and began to bathe his feet with her tears.
Then she wiped them with her hair,
kissed them, and anointed them with the ointment.
When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this he said to himself,
“If this man were a prophet,
he would know who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, that she is a sinner.”
Jesus said to him in reply,
“Simon, I have something to say to you.”
“Tell me, teacher, ” he said.
“Two people were in debt to a certain creditor; one owed five hundred days’ wages and the other owed fifty.
Since they were unable to repay the debt, he forgave it for both. Which of them will love him more?”
Simon said in reply, “The one, I suppose, whose larger debt was forgiven.”
He said to him, “You have judged rightly.”
Then he turned to the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman?
When I entered your house, you did not give me water for my feet, but she has bathed them with her tears
and wiped them with her hair.
You did not give me a kiss, but she has not ceased kissing my feet since the time I entered.
You did not anoint my head with oil, but she anointed my feet with ointment.
So I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven because she has shown great love.
But the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little.”
He said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”
The others at table said to themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?”
But he said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

Afterward he journeyed from one town and village to another, preaching and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God.
Accompanying him were the Twelve and some women who had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, Joanna, the wife of Herod’s steward Chuza, Susanna, and many others who provided for them out of their resources.” (Luke 7:36-8:3)

Action:

A particularly wise person once stated that “Only love changes [people and situations].” In today’s Good News, Jesus’ relationship with the penitent woman and those women who cared for Jesus out of their own resources shows that they knew themselves to be loved by him. Only when we are certain of God’s love and the complete acceptance of at least one other person are we able to open ourselves to the changes we know we need to make in our lives. How can we or I be the person who provides unconditional love for someone in need of this experience?

Paul Beel (right) hands out popcorn at Family Day 2011, with Sisters Joann Quinkert and Rosemary Borntrager.

I usually accept whatever web assignments I’m given from Diane Weidenbenner, our director of marketing and communications. I always regret that I say “yes” to writing the Father’s Day reflection. I feel it’s like me, a never-married, celibate person commenting on marriage. What do I know about marriage or fatherhood?

So, I went to three fathers on our SP staff and asked for their reflections. My three experts are Bob Flesher (manager of Utilities), Paul Beel (digital media/web developer, Office of Congregational Advancement) and Steve Ackman (executive director of Financial Operations).

All three were immediately gracious in saying yes to my request. I asked each person these two questions: (1) what is the best part of being a father, and (2) what is the hardest part of being a father?

Bob shared with me that “there’s so much that is good about being a father” but he thinks what stands out for him is watching his four children change and grow into adulthood. He loves watching them become themselves; develop interests and their own thoughts and ways of doing things. As a father of four and a grandfather of six, he loves “the chaos when we’re all together, when we’re having fun together.”

As for the hardest part of being a father, Bob admitted it was “letting them go.”  When the first of his two daughters married, he told me “I grieved for, missed my daughter for almost a year.” Bob loves his son-in-law and is happy they are together but he still had this response. It took him by surprise; but it helped him prepare himself for the second daughter’s marriage.

Paul Beel responded that “it’s the entire experience” of being a dad that’s his favorite part. Having said that, Paul did narrow it down to a few things like having his son Blake say “Dad” for the first time. Even more specifically, Paul reflected: “I think one of my favorite parts is being able to show my son how to do various things. Like right now he is very interested in playing basketball … so I’ve been out in the driveway with him every night showing him how to shoot, dribble, play defense, and pass. Even when I don’t quite feel like it, he asks me every night to play basketball with him. For him to look up to me and ask me to teach him these things and then to be able to go out and play with him and do it alongside of him is one of the best feelings in the world.”

Of course, there’s the other side of the coin – the challenging parts of being a dad. For Paul, “the most difficult part is worrying about them being safe all the time. Right now, it’s a little easier, because we can keep him with us most of the time. But you still worry about their safety … The bond and love is so strong between us, I cannot imagine something happening to my son. I think it will be even worse when he becomes a teenager. How to keep him away from the bad things in life is a huge worry. I constantly pray that his guardian angel will take care of him and protect him when I’m not around.”

Added to concerns for safety, Paul added this as a hard part of parenting: “… wondering if you are teaching him the right way in life. I want to make sure I teach him everything I can possibly think of so he grows up to be a good person and has a good life. Sometimes you question yourself if you are doing the right things, doing enough or teaching him correctly.”

Finally Steve – father and grandfather. Like the good CPA he is, he gave me a very precise and heartfelt list. Like Bob and Paul, Steve reveals himself to be a tender father.

Steve’s favorite part of being a father:

1.  Watching my kids grow up to be successful in what is important to them (hopefully making a difference in the world).
2.  Watching them excel in activities which I could never do or was not very good at.
3.  Being a grandfather, sending them home hopefully before the first dirty diaper.
4.  Having them call me for advice and not money.
5.  Having friends telling me how good my kids are and how proud I should be.
6.  Getting smarter with age in the eyes of my kids as I get older after being told I didn’t know anything in my younger years.

The most difficult part of being a father.

1.  Having to punish my children when they got out of line.
2.  Watch my kids do things I don’t particularly approve of but being quiet because they need to learn life lessons on their own.
3.  Paying for those weddings while giving away my girls.
4. Not talking to my kids as often as I’d wish because they have their own lives and commitments.”

I’ve had a wonderful time listening to, reading and reflecting on the experience of fatherhood as seen through the eyes and hearts of our SP staff partners Bob, Paul and Steve. I hope you do as well as you read this. Better yet, why not ask your dad the two questions? Ask a favorite uncle, close friend, your godfather.

Together, let us praise Providence for those fathers whose lives are shaped, enriched and changed by their children and their love of their children. Let us remember as well those children who do not know that love whose lives our shaped by its absence. May our love help heal that wound.

Happy Father’s Day to all fathers! God bless each of you! You are in the prayer of the Sisters of Providence.

Sister Denise Wilkinson

General Superior

Naomi Smith (center) gets a Bingo check mark on her family’s form from the firetruck volunteer. Photo by Samantha McGranahan.

Whether visitors attended Family Day for the first or fifth time, hundreds of families, friends and neighbors enjoyed warm weather, cool crafts and fun activities during the Sisters of Providence Family Day at the Woods on June 9 from 1 to 4 p.m.

Naomi Smith of Terre Haute said, “We look forward to this event every year. The activities are perfect for our grandchildren and the Eco-Obstacle River Course was a favorite this time. It’s so beautiful here.” It was Naomi’s third year attending Family Day and she said she’ll be back next year.

Family Day began as part of the 100^th anniversary of the dedication of the Church of the Immaculate Conception in 2008 and has been a big hit with the community ever since. The day is open to the public and all activities, hot dogs (donated by Sodexo), cookies and Pepsi products (also donated) are free. Prizes are everywhere and when visitors participate in Booth Bingo, they qualify for a free stuffed animal upon visiting a specific number of booths. There is something for the young and young at heart during Family Day.

Debbie Fields (second from left) enjoys hot dogs in the shade with her granddaughter, Bailey, and her mother, Ruth. Photo by Diane Weidenbenner.

Family Day is an event that celebrates entire generations. Debbie Fields from Brazil, Ind., has come in the past with her mother, Ruth Hamilton, of Terre Haute. This year, they brought Debbie’s granddaughter, Bailey. Bailey’s wish came true – the face-painters drew a beautiful butterfly on her cheek. And, Great-grandma Ruth got her wish – she won the ladder ball competition, although Bailey beat her at the bean bag toss. “Bailey wasn’t able to come last year because she was on vacation with her parents. But this year, we made sure she got to come with us for Family Day,” said Debbie.

Patrick Uypuanco, a staff person in Providence Health Care’s Physical Therapy Department, said it was his first time attending the event with his family. “I heard about it at work and it sounded like fun. There are a lot of activities and we really liked the trip to visit the alpacas on the bus.”

Back row from left, Jan Surber, PA, Abby, Anne Marie and Lige Hensley. Front row from left, Max and Simon Hensley. Photo by Diane Weidenbenner.

If there was a prize for endurance in getting to Family Day, Lige Hensley from Brownsburg, Ind., would have won. He biked more than 70 miles to attend this year’s Family Day, while his wife, Anne Marie, children and mother-in-law, Jan Surber, drove down in the van. It’s interesting to hear the different connections visitors have to the SPs and the Woods.

Anne Marie is a 1995 graduate of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College (SMWC) and Jan is a Providence Associate. Abby, the Hensley’s daughter, sings to the sisters in health care. Simon tells the sisters all about fish and animals and Max hands out cookies and napkins. A visit to the Woods is really a family affair for the Hensleys.

New activities this year were the Children’s Sing-a-long, a visit from the Sugar Creek Water Safety and the Wabash Valley Power Squadron and the “River” Fish Pond. This year’s event incorporated the Wabash Valley 2013 “Year of the River” celebration into its activities, with the hay ride and golf carts decked out in fish netting, propellers, anchors and sea shells.

Planning for Family Day begins early in the year and the day’s success is a culmination of many volunteers including staff, Providence Associates, SMWC art therapy students and sisters. Some members of the Mother Theodore Guerin Council of the Knights of Columbus, and their spouses, lend a hand every year to set up tents, tables and chairs.

Next year’s event is slated for June 8 so mark your calendars!