Sisters of Charity to Volunteer in New Orleans: Federation Project Combines Resources to Help with Recovery Efforts

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Susan Isola – Director, Public Relations, Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill

GREENSBURG, PA – August 29, 2007, will mark the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina’s devastating path through New Orleans and, still, the city and its residents struggle to rebuild.

Sister Maureen O’Brien, SC, co-director of vocations for the Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill, will join vocation directors from seven congregations of the Sisters of Charity Federation and 23 young women and men in volunteering to clean, scrub, and paint apartments abandoned in the wake of Katrina. Two recent graduates of Greensburg Central Catholic High School, Susan Newman and Jillian Krupey, will travel to New Orleans with Sister Maureen.

This mission project, running from August 7 through August 12, is organized by the Sisters of Charity Federation in the Vincentian-Setonian Tradition, a group of 13 congregations of women religious who trace their roots to St. Vincent de Paul, St. Louise de Marillac, and St. Elizabeth Ann Seton (see www.sisters-of-charity.org for more information). The Federation is working with Catholic Charities New Orleans, who will coordinate where the group works and what they do. A second trip is planned for January 2008.

“Young people, today, have a real desire to reach out and serve others,” said Sister Maureen. “They’re also interested in developing their own prayer life. I see this project as a way of integrating the concepts of prayer and service.”

Sister Maureen, Newman, and Krupey will extend their stay to August 13, allowing them to visit with the Sisters of the Holy Family. The Sisters of the Holy Family and the Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill have a collaborative relationship that dates back to the 1920s when segregation prevented the Sisters of the Holy Family from attending local colleges and universities and the cost of traveling to northern colleges was prohibitive. Instead, the Sisters of Charity spent summers in New Orleans teaching college-level education classes to the Sisters of the Holy Family, enabling them to provide a quality education to the children in their care. Later, the Sisters of Charity provided scholarships that enabled Sisters of the Holy Family to attend Seton Hill University.

Newman and Krupey will be able to see first-hand how donations raised by Greensburg Central Catholic students during the past two years have been used by the Sisters of the Holy Family to rebuild their motherhouse and other facilities.

In addition to cleaning, scrubbing, and painting, the volunteers will use this trip to explore their own spirituality and the spirituality of St. Vincent de Paul, St. Louise de Marillac, and St. Elizabeth Ann Seton. Each morning will begin with an appropriate Scripture or Psalm. Each evening will include time spent in group prayer and individual reflection on the lives of the three saints.

“I think that if St. Vincent and St. Louise were walking on earth today, they would be in New Orleans,” said Sister Nancy Gerth, SCN, vocation director for the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth, who will be making her second volunteer trip to the city. “It is our charism of charity to be among the poor, and New Orleans is place where people are forgotten and displaced. You only have to drive around the city to see the destruction and lack of rebuilding.

Most important to the sisters will be helping the young people to associate the work they do with the people who were affected by the storm’s devastation, essentially to put a human face on the disaster and their work.

Sister Nancy And Sister Luke Boiarski, SCN, co-vocation director for the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth, made their first mission trip to New Orleans in January 2007 with a group of approximately 26 young people. The trip was so well received that the Federation decided to replicate it, inviting other congregations to participate.

“Before we began cleaning an apartment, we’d gather in a circle for prayer, praying for the person who lived there,” said Sister Luke of the January 2007 trip.

“What was transformative, for some of these young people, was to see all of the belongings of these people—keepsakes, photographs, drawings on the refrigerator—and realize that these people left their whole lives behind. Our young volunteers really thought about materialism and being economically poor,” said Sister Nancy.

In contrast to this Spartan experience, the sisters have planned a visit to the French Quarter and dinner at one of the finest restaurants in New Orleans—appropriately called The Three Sisters. “We want them to experience all of New Orleans,” said Sister Luke, “the best and the worst. Anytime you visit a city or country, you have to see both parts—the good and the bad.”