For many young Catholics and non-Catholics today there is a lack of understanding or connection to “religious life” in our Church. And when I say “religious life” I don’t mean living faithfully everyday but rather  specifically I mean a “Religious sister or brother,” not a sibling who is close to God but one who has answered the call—a vocation—to serve the Lord in a Church ministry.  

By way of example, Religious nuns, sisters, brothers and monks, such as the Felician Sisters, the Sisters of Mercy or of St. Joseph, the Little Sisters of the Poor or the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur—to name a few and for men, it might mean the Franciscan Fathers, the Passionists, the Dominican Friars or the Christian Brothers— and even the well-known Jesuits and others. 

For the Church, these religious orders have not only served the Church as founders and teachers at  elementary and high schools as well as at university level institutions but also have developed and administered hospitals and nursing homes, retreat centers or have served in many other charitable arms of the Church.  In the midst of selfless service, poverty and charitable outreach these women and men have created the institutional Church that many Catholics have come to know and admire. For many, they are the face of the Church. 

These men and women lived very simple lives. Living in community—a convent, abbey, friary or  monastery—they accepted obedience and poverty along with chastity as their vows and went out into the world to bring the Word of God and the love and peace of Christ to urban and rural poverty, to dysfunctional and  broken homes and families, and to the people for whom the rest of the world had no interest or care—and they became the face and heart of Christ.

They worked for next to nothing—living on a stipend of some $70 per month, (trying getting out of CVS for that amount), living in a cell-like room for private quarters and simple food, they mostly and happily  proclaimed the Good News. Today they face rising health care costs, retirement with few to support them, and an uncertain future. Our parish will join the Archdiocese of Hartford in taking up a second collection for their healthcare and retirement needs. I ask you to be generous to them—even cutting back your regular parish  collection to help support these devoted and caring women and men now facing their own uncertainty and  poverty. Thank you for using your provided envelope for this collection!