Monthly e-newsletter giving witness to our Precious Blood Spirituality,
grounded in Catholic Social Teaching and Gospel values
A spark of light and a feeling of joy
As I reflected on the beginnings of this pandemic, I had no idea how long it would last. No one knows! For certain, I recognized my daily schedule needed to change.
The virus curtailed my volunteer ministry on Wednesdays at a local cancer center. For the past five years I visited patients there after retiring from a pastoral care position. Because of COVID-19, I also could no longer help at Emma Hall where our Sisters who need full-time nursing care live. Nor could I bring Eucharist each week to our Sister in a memory care facility. Read More
My heart aches for all these individuals. I pondered and prayed how I could best use the experience of the pandemic to serve so many special persons. Then our mission statement as Sisters of the Precious Blood filled my mind and heart. We are called to be a healing and reconciling presence. I realized if I can’t visit others in person, I can call to say I am thinking of and praying for them. Or I can send cards of love and support.
The members of our Community were first on my list. I was sure our coordinator of Sisters in Emma would deliver mail each day. The Sisters responded with such enthusiasm! I knew I wanted to continue keeping in touch. For those I had the privilege of talking with by phone, I sensed the joy they experienced in being remembered, especially in prayer.
For many others, to whom I send cards, I can only trust that a spark of light and joy comes to their long days. I also lengthened my list to include people who live alone or who lost a loved one. In total I contact about one or two each day. The list keeps growing!
I feel God is leading me in this endeavor. I thank God for the hope, joy and love I am able to share. I am most grateful for the blessings I have received through these interactions. Yes, there are genuine blessings during the pandemic!
Sister Rosemary Goubeaux, C.PP.S.
Retired
CPPS Heritage Mission Fund: Extending Precious Blood Spirituality through grantmaking
At this critical time in American life the majority of people have learned anew the beauty of sharing whatever it is you have. From the poorest to the wealthiest, people have come forward with compassion, empathy, genuine caring and a sense of togetherness that is strong and real. Read More
Folks have shared food — simple sandwiches to full meals. They have shared skills of healing, of kindness, of a simple smile, of banging pots and pans together, of praying, in order to send signals of support and love.
The Sisters of the Precious Blood have always been attuned to the needs of others and, most strongly, they have always heard and responded to the cry of the poor and the most wounded in our world. The redeeming love of Jesus, the basic tenet of our Precious Blood Spirituality, is a constant reminder to us that we need to work at mending the brokenness within our world, and it urges us to bring about healing and reconciliation.
Hundreds of women have dedicated their lives as Sisters of the Precious Blood, and through their lives of sacrifice, a simple lifestyle, and sound and frugal financial management, have been able through the years to share their blessings in various and sundry ways with those most in need. In an effort to continue to share what we have — and urged by the redeeming love of Jesus — the CPPS Heritage Mission Fund was created in 2017.
The fund perpetuates the charism and mission of the Sisters of the Precious Blood through financial assistance and support to groups or organizations that are also ministering to God’s people in a way consistent with our Precious Blood values.
For example, one 2019 grant recipient was Project Hope (pictured above) — a project of the Sisters of St. Francis of Tiffin, Ohio — which provides legal services for immigrants. In 2018, one recipient was the mobile library program at Ai Tam Educational Organization in Vietnam (pictured at top).
The fund is managed and directed by a 15-member board of directors. Each member of the board has been imbued with the values held dear by the Sisters of the Precious Blood. They have come to understand the implications of the mission statement and have made a commitment to carry out the intent of this fund and the Spirituality that lies at the very heart of our being.
The CPPS Heritage Mission Fund had its origin in the desire of the Sisters of the Precious Blood to continue the Congregational charism and mission beyond the eventual limitations of physical ability and presence. It is the sincere hope of the Sisters of the Precious Blood that the mission to which they have been committed over the past 180+ years — proclaiming God’s love by being a life-giving, reconciling presence — will continue into the future through the CPPS Heritage Mission Fund.
By Sister Mary Ann Mozser, C.PP.S.
President, CHMF Board of Directors
Nonprofit organizations can begin CHMF grant process until July 15
So far this year, the CPPS Heritage Mission Fund has supported 43 organizations in Africa, the Caribbean, Central America, Eastern Europe and throughout the U.S. The first step in the process of requesting a grant from the fund is submitting the letter of inquiry, and nonprofit organizations may submit letters of inquiry for the next granting cycle until July 15. Letters may be completed online. Read More
Barb Clark, executive secretary of the Heritage Mission Fund, explained that each grant application must meet at least one of the fund’s core values, which are built on the core values of Precious Blood spirituality:
- Promotion of the dignity of and respect for all life.
- Healing and reconciliation.
- Solidarity with the poor.
- Emphasis on the common good.
- Responding to the unmet needs of the time.
“Being raised Catholic, I was raised with a lot of the same values and hold them dear. Each application must meet at least one of these values, and most meet more than one,” Clark said. “In this time we are in, these seem all the more important.”
The fund’s board of directors is composed of both Precious Blood Sisters and laypeople who bring to the table a variety of applicable skill sets, such as expertise in financial planning, legal issues, mission effectiveness or governance. Clark has served as the fund’s executive secretary since the nonprofit was created in 2017.
“Even in these chaotic times, I am constantly amazed at all the good people are doing in this world. The needs keep increasing and that makes the board’s decisions even harder, but I know what support the fund has been able to provide has helped countless people,” she said.
By Mary Knapke
Communications assistant
Precious is Their Blood
When I was a Director of Religious Education in a parish, one of the things I enjoyed was visiting the classrooms, or on some occasions, just standing beside the door, out of sight of the children, and listening to the interchanges. One day I was approaching the first grade classroom and heard singing. They were singing the little ditty, “What Color is God’s Skin?” Sometimes off-key but with great enthusiasm they sang, “It’s black, brown and yellow; it’s red and it’s white. Everyone’s the same in the good Lord’s sight.” Read More
I’ve thought of that song, and the children’s innocence, while watching the demonstrations, both peaceful and violent, of the past few weeks — demonstrations stoked by fear, anger, frustration and despair. I found myself praying for that first grade class and for all the other children who sang that song in their innocence. I hoped that the seed of that message had taken root deep in their hearts and souls so that because of it they were working and praying for justice and peace for all people, no matter the color of their skin.
As simple as the words of that song are, they hold the meaning of a great mystery: the mystery of a God who lovingly creates each unique person as a gift to the rest of humanity and shares with them the destiny of ultimate unity with God and each other. Each gift of God comes wrapped in skin of varying hues. Although the outside may look different, that skin holds both the presence of God and our precious lifeblood which is the same color for all; we all bleed red. Psalm 72 says that “(God) redeems them, for precious is their blood in (God’s) sight.” Blood shed as a result of violence or for the sake of justice and peace is precious blood. In God’s eyes it is as precious as the blood shed by Jesus on the cross.
By Sister Joyce Lehman, C.PP.S.
Retired
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