Sacred Heart Sisters

Soon I'll be celebrating my final Mass with the 44 Sisters of the Society Devoted to the Sacred Heart with whom I've been on retreat. The last eight days of retreat have been a very blessed time for me. When we began, I told the Sisters that I saw myself as John the Baptist--one who was there to direct their attention to Jesus, to facilitate their encounter with Him. The Holy Spirit is the real director of a retreat and last night, as the Sisters shared some of the graces they received on the retreat, I thought about what a privilege it is to give retreats to such blessed people.

During the retreat I was able to learn a little more about this community. It is an international and diverse group of young and old, including three of the founding Sisters. Here is a little bit of the history that I learned from them and from some of their printed materials from which I'll be quoting.

Sister Ida Peterfy was the foundress of the Society Devoted to the Sacred Heart. She "was born on October 7, 1922, of a Hungarian Catholic family in Kosice, Slovakia. From her early youth God prepared her to be a leader, to work for others, and inspired her to establish a new religious community. On October 7, 1940, her eighteenth birthday, Sister Ida pronounced her first vows in Kassa, Hungary (now Kosice, Slovakia). This marks the beginning of the Society Devoted to the Sacred Heart."

Sister Ida felt called to teach children about God and others soon joined her in this work, including Sisters Hermine, Agnes, and Eva, all of whom I had the privilege of meeting and talking with during this retreat. "God called Sister Ida to bring forth a new community in times when the universal Church was under attack in her Chief Pastor and in her religious children. As the future of formal religious education became uncertain [given the Nazi and then Communist occupation of Hungary], the times called for religious who dedicate their lives to proclaim the Good News of our Lord Jesus Christ in a new, appealing and personal way."

"Sister Ida's ardent faith in God and inspiration of the Holy Spirit developed an innovative catechetical method which initiated the community's religious education charism, the Five Step Illustrated Method." This method was so successful that the Society Devoted to the Sacred Heart has introduced it around the world and it forms the basis for the Paul VI Pontifical Catechetical Institute in St. Louis. It also led to one of the Sisters being appointed to the fifteen member International Council for Catechetics which works closely with various Vatican Congregations.

Priests, religious educators, and parents saw how effective Sister Ida's Five Step Illustrated Method was and asked for more. The result was the production of the "Sacred Heart Kids' Club"--"a method's course on video, and 30 half hour video tapes with teachers' guides." This is a "unique religious education program for children in harmony with the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The program spread to five continents in English, Spanish, Chinese, Korean and Hungarian."

Though Sister Ida died on February 8, 2000, her charism lives on in the Society Devoted to the Sacred Heart. Her work continues through their generous and talented members who work in Southern California, St. Louis, Taiwan, and Hungary. I would like to tell more about their international work but the truth is that some of it includes work in dangerous places and I cannot talk about it without jeopardizing both the ministry and the safety of the Sisters.

This is the remarkable thing about the Society Devoted to the Sacred Heart. They were born at a time and in a place of danger and turmoil. Their work continues at a time when the Church is in desperate need of good religious education. And it reaches out to parts of the world where the Gospel and those who proclaim it are at risk. The blessing of this retreat has been for me to experience their heroic charity.

Fr. William Doyle, S.J.

Several years ago, shortly after becoming the U.S. director of the Apostleship of Prayer, I was talking with a cloistered Carmelite Sister of the Monastery of Our Lady of Providence in Lake Elmo, Minnesota. She had a present for me, something that she had treasured for a long time. She felt that I would appreciate some extra heavenly help in my mission of promoting devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and so she gave me two items: a leaflet from the 1930's with a picture and favorite sayings of Fr. William Doyle, S.J. and a badge which contained a tiny piece of his clothing. I had never heard of Fr. Doyle and she shared with me some books from the convent's library. Since then Fr. Doyle has been my traveling companion and I depend upon his prayers, as well as those of Fr. John Hardon, S.J. and Fr. Walter Ciszek, S.J., as I try to fulfill the mission that I have been given by the Society of Jesus.

Today is the 93rd anniversary of the death of Fr. Doyle who was killed on the battlefields of Flanders during World War I. I reflected on him today in my daily YouTube video and I would encourage anyone who wants to find out more about this great Jesuit to go to a new blog, "Remembering Fr. William Doyle, S.J."

Society Devoted to the Sacred Heart

One of the blessings that I receive as I go around the country giving retreats and parish missions is making new friends. Here in Big Bear Lake, California, at the Sacred Heart Retreat Camp, I've become friends with the Society Devoted to the Sacred Heart. I had never even heard of them before being invited to give them their annual eight day retreat based on the "Spiritual Exercises" of St. Ignatius.

They were founded in Hungary in 1940 when Sister Ida Peterfy pronounced private vows. Others, who shared her desire to teach children about the love of God in new and creative ways, soon joined her. Given the situation in Hungary during the Nazi occupation in World War II and the Communist domination following, they did not wear a traditional religious habit. They had to hide the fact that they were teaching people about God. By 1949 things had become so difficult and dangerous that a bishop advised them to flee Hungary to a place where their religious community could develop and then one day return.

In 1950 Sister Ida and five other Sisters made their way to safety in Toronto, Canada where they were able to obtain immigrant status by working as domestic servants for a year. They also supported themselves and their ministry by working during the summer on tobacco farms in Ontario as they learned English.

In 1956 James Cardinal McIntyre of Los Angeles invited them to bring the community to Los Angeles. At this point Sister Ida asked him about adopting a more traditional religious habit with a veil and was told: "Don't change. Mind my words: the Church will need you as you are." In 1985 the Society was formally recognized as a congregation of diocesan right in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. The Sisters met in a private audience with Pope John Paul II in 1991 and he told them: "You are blessing for the Pope. You are truly American and truly Catholic."

Sister Ida's vision of religious education was always international in scope. She developed media and materials, now used around the world, which teach the Catholic faith in very simple and practical ways. Sisters serve in Los Angeles and neighboring dioceses, as well as in St. Louis where they have an Online Catechism Certificate Program that is part of the Paul VI Pontifical Institute of Catechetical and Pastoral Studies. They also serve in Taiwan and, with the fall of the Iron Curtain of Communism, have returned to Hungary where they form catechists for the entire country as well as in Slovakia, Rumania, and the Ukraine.

Sister Ida died in 2000 but her vision is alive in the 50 Sisters who form the Society Devoted to the Sacred Heart. I'm now giving a retreat to 44 of them, including three of the original group who left Hungary. It's amazing to be part of their history in this small way.

Big Bear Lake

This morning I woke up and felt a bit dizzy. I remembered that I had not been pushing fluids the way I should here at 7,000 feet above sea level.

I flew into Ontario, California yesterday and two Sisters drove me up into the San Bernardino Mountains to their congregation's retreat house and camp on Big Bear Lake. We began their annual eight day retreat last night. The schedule is pretty simple: three 20 minute talks a day (9 AM, 4 PM, and 7:15 PM), Mass at 11:15 AM, and confessions or brief meetings for spiritual direction throughout the day. Forty-four Sisters are making the "Spiritual Exercises" of St. Ignatius with me and they are an impressive group. I'll write more about them another day.

I didn't have to worry about mosquitoes last night, but when I left the main conference room to return to my cabin a short distance away, one of the Sisters warned me about a bear that travels around town at night.

Another Morning Prayer

Yesterday I wrote about the three prayers that I say after waking up and before getting out of bed. There was a fourth, but I couldn't remember it. I guess it only "kicks in" for me in the morning, or when I'm horizontal. I remembered it this morning and wrote it down. Here it is:

I thank You, Father, for giving me this, another day in which to serve You. Grant that every breath I breathe, every thought I have, every word I utter, every moment I spend on this earth will be for Your honor and glory and for the salvation of souls.

I can't recall where I found this prayer but it has become part of my morning routine. I like how it begins with gratitude and ends on the note of living a life like that of Jesus who sought not His own glory but that of the Father and gave Himself totally for the salvation of the world.

Praying with Your Calendar

I learned a lesson the hard way this week. On Wednesday morning I woke up at the usual time and immediately prayed the prayers I say before getting out of bed: the Morning Offering, the Peace Prayer of St. Francis, and the Suscipe or Offering Prayer of St. Ignatius. Then I showered and shaved, got some coffee and prayed. At 7 I went to breakfast in my Jesuit community and then went into our living room to take a leisurely look at the newspaper. At 7:50 I came to my room and started getting ready to go to the office and in doing so noticed that I had in my bag two folders with background materials for the Holy Father's monthly intentions. Ach! It's then I realized that I had missed the 7:30 phone call from KWKY of Des Moines, one of the radio stations that interviews me about the Pope's intentions at the beginning of each month. Sure enough. There was a message from Josh, the engineer. I called, but it was too late. We're going to have to reschedule, if we can.

So, what's the lesson? I suppose there are several but there's one that really hits home because it involves something that I tell people all the time, but haven't been following myself. Don't just "say" the Morning Offering, "pray" it! One way to pray it is to say the words and then look at your appointment book or calendar for the day to see what exactly you will be offering to God that day. If I had done that, if I had practiced what I preach, I wouldn't have missed that radio interview.

Looking back at the end of that day, I could see God speaking to me and teaching me even through that embarrassing mistake.

The Jesuit Mission Band

Years ago Jesuits went around in "Mission Bands," preaching the Word of God, leading people in the "Spiritual Exercises" of St. Ignatius, celebrating the Sacraments, encouraging people in their devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and introducing them to the Apostleship of Prayer. The practice faded until this summer when Fr. Phil Hurley, the director of youth and young adult ministry for the Apostleship of Prayer in the U.S., pulled together a team of younger Jesuits who created a program for young adults. They journeyed to five cities in the Midwest (Milwaukee, Chicago, Iowa City, Des Moines, and Columbus) for an event called "Hearts on Fire." Some of it was captured on video and can be seen here. One of the Jesuit seminarians, Michael Wegenka, wrote about his experience on his blog, "A Scaffold of Score Brittle Bones." In our group evaluation last week, there was a strong desire to keep the Jesuit Mission Band going and so we've begun to make plans for a few events during the school year and some more next summer. Keep an eye on the Apostleship of Prayer web site to see if the Jesuit Mission Band will be coming to your city!