Last week, I was in Wilmington, Delaware for workshops with the sophomores at Ursuline Academy. What a lovely group of young women! We talked about discernment, God’s gifts, and the call from Jesus to use what we’ve been given to make a difference in this world. Serviam– “I will serve”–is not, we agreed, only for high school. It’s for all our lives.
In that spirit, for those of you no longer in high school, here’s a great opportunity to serve. We, Ursuline Sisters, offer a week of service in McAllen, Texas, June 23-29, 2019 for women ages 18-30. We will work with immigrant families at The Humanitarian Respite Center of Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley. We’ll prepare and serve food, organize clothing and showers, help with transportation, and learn a lot about the struggles of immigrant people in the process. Housing will be at the San Juan Basilica Hotel.
For more information or an application form, contact me, Sr. Elisa Ryan (elisaosu@gmail.com). It promises to be a great week of service, community and fun in the spirit of Serviam!
It’s 88 degrees in Panama, and half a million visitors are expected there today for the opening of the International World Youth Day. When I passed through the airport there recently, on my way home from Guyana, I could see full mode preparations for the arrival of Pope Francis and a great celebration of youth.
and on TV. We’re with you in spirit!
Sunday, November 25, is the 483rd anniversary of the foundation of the Ursulines by St. Angela Merici. This gentle, holy, Italian woman had the courage and “Spirit” to begin a new way for women to give their lives to God while remaining engaged with the people and needs of their day.
I’ve been in Rome to participate in an Ursuline commission at our international “headquarters” which we call the generalate. It’s been a time of intense work, but life in la bella città provides opportunities for beauty and delight at every turn. Being among ordinary people, whether Ursuline, Italian, or the Universal Church, is always wonderful.
Our commission is made up of 7 Ursulines of 7 different nationalities. It’s great to see the richness of diverse experiences of Ursuline life lived on various continents. Language can be a challenge, but we managed well and found that listening together to the Holy Spirit helped us discern the way forward.
Basilica for the canonization of 
and the peace we all desire. Together, we could believe that world communion is possible. May St. Oscar Romero help us stay alongside one another as signs of hope!
It was a simple reunion of the Ursuline Summer Volunteer group of 2015. None of us could believe 3 years had passed, but memories of that week of service in Laredo, Texas, are vivid and real. Ursuline alums who had worked side by side with us sisters are now professional women doing amazing things like graphic art, accounting, coaching Ursuline’s varsity volleyball team (they won last night!!), teaching, and grad school (face-timed into our gathering). We are so very proud of each of them.
perfect “future nun.” We shared photos of a mother and baby who had just arrived across the Mexican border, and the hanging laundry we did to prepare beds for newly arrived immigrants. We reminisced about shopping for Mexican trinkets and enjoying mariachis who serenaded us. We even remembered the simple menus we prepared for meals together at the Ursuline house where we stayed.