| Back:
Srs. Barbara Kupchak, Joan Kreyenbuhl, Mona Farthing, Christine
Riley, Carmella Campione, Anna Marie Cole
Middle: Srs. Molly Bauer, Alicia Weiskircher, Mary
Alice McMaster, Sandra Peraldo, Judy Teufel, Judith Minear, Mary
Ann Rosenbaum, Rosie Hefner
Front: Srs. Mary Palmer, Mary Clark, Barbara McCartney,
Marguerite O’Brien.
Not in picture: Sr. Kathleen Durkin
and Karen Vernal, Event Planning Committee members |
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The
Wheeling Sisters of St. Joseph were among the1,095 other Sisters
of St. Joseph and Associates from the United States, Canada, including
sixty sisters from other countries, who celebrated the 40th anniversary
of the U.S. Federation of Sisters of St. Joseph in Milwaukee, WI
from July 8-12, 2006.
The U.S. Federation of Sisters of St. Joseph was formed in 1966
to deepen relationships among the 23 member congregations within
the United States. It helps the sisters and associates to unify
efforts to address spiritual, social and environmental issues, both
locally and globally. The Federation is composed of nearly 7,000
Sisters of St. Joseph and 2,500 associates, and enjoys NGO statue
in the United Nations.
One guest speaker, Elizabeth Johnson, CSJ, of Brentwood, NY, and
professor of theology at Fordham University, addressed the assembly
with challenges of facing the need of our engagement for the poor,
women, inter religious dialogue and Earth.
Alfredo Sfeir-Younis, an economist who worked for 29 years at the
World Bank, offered St. Joseph, the carpenter, as a model for beholding
a vision of the whole while never losing the importance of each
individual part. As sisters, we gathered to hear words of wisdom
and challenges of the intention of God regarding universal oneness
through compassion and to care for the “universal neighborhood.”
Veronica O’Reilly, CSJ, Executive Director of the Canadian
Federation, summed up the Event on the last day with this observation:
How do we discover our Eucharistic spirituality where we respect
the value of each other and recognize “Eucharist as the ultimate
act of imagination”?
We arrived home energized, enriched and enthusiastic about our future
work and mission to be more connected and more ONE with our sisters,
our associates and the world.
Go to www.sistersofsaintjosephfederation.org
for more information.
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