January 2021


Bi-monthly e-newsletter giving witness to our Precious Blood Spirituality,
grounded in Catholic Social Teaching and Gospel values

PBMR - Comfort Bears
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Holly O'Hara and Peaches at PBMR_slider
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Comfort Bears

Is there anything more comforting than hugging a loved one — or, if they are not there, a soft teddy bear? How well we know that as many of us have been isolated for months, many of our huggers need be masked and 6 feet apart from us! Not fun!!

Patti Kemper (Sister Ann Clark’s sister) felt there might be a need in Chicago for animal huggers, soft teddy bears, so off to Chicago she and Sister Ann went with 40+ bears to honor her friend Regina and to bring comfort to mothers who have lost loved ones to violence and/or to COVID-19.

Attached to each bear was a message:

“My name is Regina. I am named after a lady who died of breast cancer in 2001. One of her favorite hobbies was making teddy bears. She was a great listener and hugger! When you’re feeling overwhelmed with grief or just need someone to talk to, I’m here. Just give me a hug and I’ll listen to your troubles and worries and your good news too!” Read More


“Now is the time to take it seriously”

St. Mary Medical Center in Apple Valley, California, was recently featured in The Washington Post as one hospital that is currently overwhelmed by the coronavirus pandemic. Precious Blood Sister Terry Maher serves as mission integration manager at St. Mary.

Sister Terry wrote about her experience as a chaplain amid the pandemic in a recent issue of Sharing & Caring, the Congregation’s quarterly newsletter (available on our website).

The Post article reports that the medical center’s Intensive Care Unit is at 300% capacity and patients are triaged in tents in the parking lot. “If you didn’t take [the pandemic] seriously before, now is the time to take it seriously,” a nurse says in a video that accompanies the article.

An article in the Daily Press (Victorville, California) also describes the current situation at St. Mary Medical Center and in the surrounding area. Health care workers at St. Mary began receiving the COVID-19 vaccine on Dec. 17.

By Mary Knapke
Communications Assistant


A Little Birdy Told Me I’m Racist

It was a Tuesday, and Peaches was in a mood. My roommate is bird-sitting a cockatoo, and today, Peaches was screeching at top capacity, throwing food in every direction, even attempting to chew through her cage to get out. I sat on my chair 10 feet away — afraid and silently judging her behavior. That’s when my roommate arrived. She saw the frustrated bird, gently opened the cage door, stuck her hand inside, and began to pet her head. Almost instantly, Peaches’ screeching faded to a purr, her head tilted to the side, and her feathers fluffed in warm gratitude for the act of compassion. Read More


Online events with Sister Mumbi

Precious Blood Sister Mumbi Kigutha led the Women Witnesses for Racial Justice Advent Prayer Service at futurechurch.org on Nov. 29. The prayer service honored the life of Mother Mary Lange, founder of the first religious community for Black Catholic women and the first school for Black Catholic children. The prayer service is available to view on YouTube.

Sister Mumbi has also joined recent episodes of “Tapping the Wine Cellar,” discussions hosted online by the Precious Blood Volunteers and Missionaries of the Precious Blood, Kansas City Province. On the Dec. 17 edition, Sister Mumbi participated in a discussion about the readings for the Fourth Sunday of Advent. She touched on the power of Mary’s “yes” and briefly described her relationship with Mary within her own faith journey as a convert to Catholicism.

Participants in the Dec. 17 episode also included Margaret Haik, director of communications for the Missionaries of the Precious Blood, Kansas City Province; Father Keith Branson, CPPS, chaplain at Avila University in Kansas City; Vicky Otto, director, Companion Movement at the Missionaries of the Precious Blood, Kansas City Province; and Tim Deveney, Director of Precious Blood Volunteers. Read More

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