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In this Issue:
Sister Poems
"Truth or Illusion?"
Shower for Mary
Blessing of the Creche
Gingerbread House Contest
Christmas Greetings
St. Joseph's Christmas
Motherhouse Christmas Party
SEMS Christmas Mass Cards
January Birthday List
Send Us Your News
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LOVE
By: Rose Bernhardt, OSF
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Circles of love connect and swirl
as they move throughout the world
enlivening and transforming creation
in its myriad forms and splendorous colors.
Love embraces all!
Life-giving water, an energy source
in ocean depths, rushing streams
and crashing waves, and the bright
flashes of lightning and rolling thunder.
Love embraces all!
With Mother Earth, Brother Sun,
Sister Moon and shining stars
joined with planets both great and small
dance to the rhythm of the universe.
Love embraces all!
The Son of God came to earth – Jesus
born in Bethlehem – the son of Mary.
In a manger he laid wrapped in swaddling clothes,
while a bright shining star kept watch in the sky.
Love embraces all!
Sing, all you peoples of the earth.
Shout out with great joy,
for the savior of the world is born!
And all creation resounds with gladness.
Love embraces all!
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Earlier this month, on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, Sr. Lucy Cardet shared with us a reflection written by her mother, Marie Cardet, a longtime FSA Associate.
So, we’re sharing it with you.
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"Truth or Illusion?"
By: Terezinha de J. Oliveira, OSF
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December 7, 2024
Another beautiful reflection written by Terezinha. We hope to share more for your enjoyment.
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St. Elizabeth Motherhouse
22nd Annual Shower for Mary
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Two hundred “Welcome to the Neighborhood” bags were collected during the 22nd annual Shower for Mary, held at St. Elizabeth Motherhouse.
The bags will be given to the families of newborns at Olean General Hospital. The effort was a collaboration between the Motherhouse and the Greater Olean Association of Churches.
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Eighth graders from St. Bonaventure Parish raised about $1,200 at Masses, and that amount was matched by The Bridge, the parish’s thrift store and food pantry.
Officials with the hospital and hospital foundation accepted the gifts. About 600 babies are delivered each year at the hospital.
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Following the shower, the Motherhouse hosted a
get together with St. Nicholas.
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The Franciscan Center
The blessing of the creche at the Franciscan Center featured students from the Academy of Holy Names, led by Alyssa Cabrera, sharing their beautiful voices with parents, neighbors and friends.
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Franciscan Center & Sacred Heart Parish
Friars from the Franciscan Center and Sacred Heart Parish blessed the creche.
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FSA Tampa Bay Associates
Afterward, FSA Tampa Bay Associates (pictured, Frances Siracusa, Linda Dees, Cheryl Maggio) shared their gift of baking and hospitality at a reception.
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St. Elizabeth Motherhouse
Up north, The Olean Times Herald newspaper featured
the St. Elizabeth Motherhouse creche on the front page.
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St. Elizabeth Motherhouse
Gingerbread House Contest
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2024 Advent
Christmas Greetings!
By: Kathie Uhler, OSF
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Dear Allegany Franciscans:
May this Holy Season find you and your loved ones healthy and happy and blessed many times over! I greet you from The House of Prayer for All People (Hop) where I am well and adjusting to changes of climate, federal government and personal aging. We age, don’t we, in various ways, e.g. chronologically, mentally and spiritually? I am in my 8th decade, working crossword puzzles, and ever striving to gain wisdom. How about you?
This past November I was gifted with a rare opportunity to re-visit the Community (formerly Christian) Peacemaker Teams (CPT) members in Hebron in the Israeli Occupied Territory of the West Bank. I served on the Hebron Team for six years in the 2000s and grew to know and love many of the Palestinian Muslims there. With the Gaza uprising and expanding war, my prayers for them were not enough: I needed to have physical assurance of their well-being. At CPT’s invitation, five of us from the U.S. formed a group through Zoom meetings and traveled to Hebron to stay with the Team from Nov. 7 to 17.
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To exemplify the horror yet hope of what I experienced, I will tell of our visit with a Palestinian Muslim who is a nonviolent peace activist: Issa Amro, “the real deal,” as I always knew him. The motivation for Issa’s life of sacrifice is expressed in the words of the former Latin Patriarch Michel Sabah: “The international community must help us by recognizing that the root cause of this war is the negation of the right of the Palestinian people to live in its land, free and equal.” (America, October 7, 2024)
The way to Issa’s house was itself an ordeal: An Israeli soldier refused our travel on a paved road. Instead we had a mile or so trek up a very rocky path where, in spite of two guys from the group holding my hands, I got winded and everyone had to stop. Our view was great from there of the valley and ancient olive trees.
Issa lives in a house formerly owned by Israeli settlers. (N.B. By the 4th Geneva Convention, that Israel signed, it is unlawful for a country to occupy another, except very briefly. Israel’s occupation of Palestine is the longest in history – since the “’67 War”.) Through a third party, Issa obtained occupancy. He is surrounded on every side by settlers and his every movement is monitored by cameras designed to keep him on edge. Issa’s very presence is a courageous act of nonviolent resistance. He has been dragged out of the house at times by soldiers, beaten and tortured, leaving his right arm in pieces and partly immobilized. When arrested, he does not enter a plea deal but goes all the way to trial in the Israeli court, with understanding Israeli lawyers, I might add. Issa has not won many trials but, as he says, his international reputation is his best protection. Indeed, I copied Issa’s photo from The New York Times (May 1, 2024).
Issa talked about being ready to be arrested, detained, even killed for the work of freedom. “The threats do not deter me,” he says. He speaks of being on the right side of history, for the long-term, and about power, not by soldiers, or guns, or checkpoints, but by “a deep moral conviction of the unwavering dignity and unshakable belief in freedom.”
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With my love and prayers for you, as ever,
Kathie
P.S. Let's keep in touch!
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St. Joseph's Hospitals
Blessing of the Christmas Tree
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St. Elizabeth Motherhouse
Christmas Party
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St. Elizabeth Mission Society
Christmas Mass Cards
By: Laura Whitford, President, St. Elizabeth Mission Society
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Send your special prayer blessings to friends or loved ones this Christmas with Christmas Mass enrollment cards from St. Elizabeth Mission Society. As members of the Mission Society, their intentions will be remembered at Christmas season Masses and in other Masses celebrated throughout the year in the Motherhouse Chapel.
They will also share in the prayers and good works of our Sisters in Bolivia, Brazil, Jamaica, Mozambique and the United States. As a sponsored ministry of the Franciscan Sisters of Allegany, the St. Elizabeth Mission Society shares in its spiritual aims, one of which is to advance the awareness of God's love. Donations given for the cards are used to support the ministries of the Franciscan Sisters of Allegany and their Associates who work to educate, heal, clothe, and feed those who are poor in Bolivia, Brazil, Jamaica, Mozambique and the United States.
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Christmas cards, as well as various other enrollment cards,
can be ordered online.
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Or call the Mission Society office at (716) 373-1130
or e-mail the staff at
steliz.office.manager@fsallegany.org
for more information about ordering the enrollment cards. Christmas cards will also be available in the Mission Society office and Allegany Motherhouse lobby.
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We Want to Hear From You! | |
We would love to include more news from Brazil, Bolivia, Jamaica and Mozambique in our newsletter. If you have any pictures, tidbits of information or bigger stories you’d like to share please email them to
FSA Communications Coordinator
Anne Holliday anne.holliday@fsallegany.org
If you have any questions about whether it’s something that could or should go in this newsletter, you can ask Anne about that, too. But she’ll probably say, “Yes, send it.” 😊
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Newsletter Content Submission Deadline:
January 13th 2025 Publication: Due 12:00pm EST - January 10th 2025
January 27th 2025 Publication: Due 12:00pm EST - January 24th 2025
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