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Join us in reading the “Journals and Letters” of Saint Mother Theodore Guerin

By Mary Riley | October 11, 2020 |

To celebrate Mother Theodore’s life and many accomplishments that continue even today, we will be revisiting her own words by reading Journals and Letters over the course of a year. Each week we’ll read several pages and reacquaint ourselves with the woman who started it all. Won’t you join us?

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“Journals and Letters” week 2: The voyage begins

By Mary Riley | October 18, 2020 |

The sea journey seems doomed from the moment they boarded. Thieves, seasickness and bad weather with the added addition of not speaking English and being on an “American” ship, all contribute to a wretched start.

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“Journals and Letters” week 3: At sea in 1840

By Amy Miranda | October 25, 2020 |

I love the many instances where she studies and describes an animal for the reader. She tells of the whale’s massive head, as big as a house. The dark brown color of its back and how it spouts out water apparently by respiration as its jets are so regular.

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Journals and Letters week 4: Arrival on U.S. soil

By Sister Ann Casper | October 31, 2020 |

And then, as often happens in our darkest hours, the smallest of kindnesses can lift the spirits.

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Journals and Letters week 5: The measure of the woman

By Sister Denise Wilkinson | November 7, 2020 |

Did the woman carry a yard stick? A surveyor’s measure? A folded up paper chart that converts leagues to miles, meters to inches or feet?

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Journals and Letters week 6: Traveling the United States

By Patricia Davis | November 14, 2020 |

Saint Mother Theodore’s detailed descriptions of her experiences become a way to meditate on and pray thanksgiving for creation.

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Journals and Letters week 7: Hardship on the Ohio

By Mary Riley | November 21, 2020 |

As they get closer to Indiana, Mother Theodore and her companions experience some lows and highs traveling down the Ohio River.

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Journals and Letters week 8: Indiana arrival

By Sister Ann Casper | November 28, 2020 |

I tend to forget that Mother Theodore came from a rather sophisticated France with great Cathedrals, actual roads, and thriving businesses, etc.

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Journals and Letters week 9: The Journey’s end

By Sister Denise Wilkinson | December 5, 2020 |

Mother Theodore entered a culture entirely unknown to her; so perhaps the mission succeeded and endures because of her willingness to act, observe, learn and adapt.

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Journals and Letters week 10: First letters, bishop issues

By Amy Miranda | December 12, 2020 |

As she goes on, we get a feel for more of the distress coming the sisters’ way from the bishop. “So far there has been nothing but complaints about us,” she writes.

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Join us anytime for this reflective, year-long reading and discussion of the “Journals and Letters” of Saint Mother Theodore Guerin. (You can find the book here and buy the digital download here.) Follow along as you read with our weekly reflections from 2020-21. Enjoy some time with Saint Mother Theodore.

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