Given free rein to choose whichever religious
orders I wished for the Our Sunday Visitor Newsweekly article I was
assigned last summer, I had to include a personal favorite, the Franciscan
Sisters, TOR. This fairly new order is a beautiful fruit sprouting from
Franciscan University of Steubenville, my alma mater, and I went to school with
some of the sisters.
What is immediately striking
about them is their joy.
Whenever I go back to the Steubenville area and see
them around town or on campus, their peace and unusual joy is practically
palpable. They move in an aura of goodness and bring with them a breath of
heaven.
This year is the order's
25th anniversary. In that time, their numbers have grown to 37, serving in a
motherhouse monastery in Toronto, and three mission houses, with talk of
another opening someday at Ohio University.
The Franciscan Sisters, like
many Franciscan orders, blend the contemplative and apostolic life. Their
mission is somewhat broad; as their website puts it: "The heart of our
life of ministry is to make known God’s merciful love, particularly among the
poor, the sick, and those in need of renewal of faith." As Sister Della
Marie Doyle, Vocations Coordinator, explained it to me, "Our ministries
fall under the umbrella of evangelization and works of mercy. So there’s a wide
variety of things that can be done."
What that looks like in daily
life ranges from serving the poor in downtown Steubenville through a
thrift-store and soup kitchen, to campus ministry at Franciscan both in Ohio
and its campus in Austria, to tending the sick, and leading parish missions and
retreats.
It all begins in prayer though:
"As contemplative penitents committed to works of mercy, prayer is
our primary ministry. Our life and mission flow from our life of prayer,"
the website states.
"Our work is an
extension of our prayer," Sr. Della Marie adds. "But it’s necessary
to have that time first where you’re just before the Lord and open yourself up
and it helps you to really enter into your work in a more contemplative spirit."
To learn more about them, visit
their website
or Facebook page.
Their hand-made religious articles are also worth checking out.