Best Celebrating The 200th Anniversary Of The Lyon
1. Celebrating the 200 th Anniversary of the Lyon Sisters of St. Joseph July 2008
2. One hundred thirty three Sisters of St. Joseph from 33 countries on five continents gathered in Lyon, France, July 7-12, 2008, to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the refounding of Sisters of St. Joseph
9. The Tree A heart for each Congregation Later in the meeting we’d break into Congregational Groupings. Each CSJ would write their reflection on colored paper in heart shapes…red for English speaking; blue for French speaking persons. Later it was used at the closing Liturgy and will be in the Heritage display at the Lyon Motherhouse.
10. Tables were divided into English speaking and French speaking. Each table had on it a Statue of Mother St. john Fontbonne and a silk scarf. At the end of the conference, each sister received a scarf and one sister at each table won by lottery the “miniature” of the sculpture of Mother St. John. Lucky Carondelet winners were Laura Bufano, Kate Filla and Carol Rohloff.
15. Sister Annunciata Collins, Watertown , Receives water – world reps - poured into common bowl. “ We are one.” Prayer
16. At another prayer service we blessed each other at our tables with holy oil…here at Carol’s table Annunciata (Watertown) blesses Kathy McCluskey, (Boston) who serves as the Executive Director of the US Federation of Sisters of St. Joseph.
20. Lyon – Started with Mother St. John and other sisters of St. Joseph being saved from the guillotine by one day .
21. It was in St. Etienne that Mother St. John (Jeanne) Fontbonne, at the invitation of Cardinal Fesch of Lyon, gathered a group of twelve women and guided them in the spirituality of the Sisters of St. Joseph. On July 14, 1808, this group received the habit and, with Mother St. John as superior, became the refounding group of Sisters of St. Joseph after the French Revolution. She eventually centralized her sisters in Lyon.
22. The congregation also has five regions: England-Ireland, Greece, Lebanon, Egypt, and Africa.
23. Lyon Congregation TODAY not only in France but in: Denmark USA Sweden Russia Norway Italy Ireland North America Brazil Argentina India Lebanon Egypt
26. US FEDERATION Carondelet Philadelphia Brentwood Springfield Boston Baden Rutland (now with Springfield) Medaille Wheeling Wichita LaGrange Nazareth Tipton Cleveland Congregation of St. Joseph Carondelet Concordia Orange Erie Watertown Buffalo Rochester
27. Carondelet was the first foundation Congregation in the USA (1836). We were the ones to begin the history section of USA and Canadian Congregations. We sang an adapted version of “ Shall We Gather At the River”. We projected the text to the song on the wall and also gave out hard copies to the French speaking sisters.
28. Laura and Maria placed “river shawls” around each of our necks. The same “river shawls” were used during congregational chapter and were given to discerners for congregational leadership.
29. There was a pause in placing “river shawls” in between the verses –we sang. Kate Filla was the narrator and sisters read different parts. Here Mary Sevilla reads her part.
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31. As a gift to the Lyon Congregation , Sister Gerry Lane from St. Paul, designed a sculpted candle with a Fleur de Le. To create the image of a river and to symbolize our “oneness” we connected our “river shawls” and Mary Sevilla led us out.
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33. Philadelphia sisters had to wear street dress when they first arrived in Philly because of prejudice toward Catholics. Carol Zinn, known by most of us, is here with her red scarf…after they became known by the Philadelphians, young women began to join them and received the habit.
34. Buffalo Sisters since the early days ministered to the deaf. They still have one sister active in this ministry today. Bea Manzella led us in “signing” “ Peace Is Flowing Like A River.” Catherine McNamee is dead center here!!
52. Sister Graciela from Argentina, who spoke French and Spanish presented the cultural story of South America. Not shown, is our Maria Rubina, who did the translating into English
53. Laura gets ready for our cultural presentation. We are in the room with the Central USA and Argentina (because Maria Rubina translated for Argentina.)
59. In the afternoon we met in congregational groups and had opportunity to reflect, share and write our thoughts…these red hearts were then placed in the plastic heart containers. The tree will remain on display as part of the Lyon Congregation’s Heritage Exhibit.
90. FAMILY TREE Congregations of Sisters of St. Joseph throughout the world Today 2008!!!! In 2108 ??? In 2208 ???
91. Thank you to YOU... Our CSJ sisters… for allowing us the opportunity of a life time! If you ever have the chance to interact with Sister of St. Joseph from other Provinces or Congregations - ”DO”. You will learn much and enjoy … It amazing to see and realize our common heritage.
92. “ I See Myself in You” By Kathy Sherman, CSJ – Congregation of St. Joseph
