This past Fall, Fr. Greg gave me a list of projects and things to do in the coming months. Some of them were quick items and several of them were longer term projects. One of them was very exciting: recruit Religious Sisters to come and teach in our grade school and to work in our parish. Having religious as a part of parish life is such a great gift! We already have two communities that attend our parish that I am sure all of you have seen: the Medical Sisters of St. Joseph and the Sisters of St. Anne. Many of them serve and work as Nurses at Villa St. Francis and other local Catholic entities. Why not add to the greatness that they bring to our parish life!
As I began to work on this longer term project, I decided it needed a name and Operation Sister Act was born. I began to research and vet religious orders from across the Country and put together a list of around 16 Religious Communities; all communities that have a charism of teaching.
Next, we began to pray about how best to reach out to the Sisters in order to invite them into our parish. Believe it or not, teaching sisters are in very high demand! There simply aren’t as many of them as there used to be. The orders that have survived and are currently active in this ministry are in very high demand because of this reality. These communities are constantly receiving letters and invitations to come and teach in schools. All of us here at Prince of Peace know how special and incredible our parish is, but how do we convey that to the communities when we reach out to them? It is hard to do that with just a letter. To show who our parish is and what we are all about, we have mailed packets full of information and pictures about our Parish, Early Education Center, Grade School, and Faith Formation Programs. We did this in hopes that we would stand out and draw attention to everything we have going on here, and hopefully stand out against our “competition” as well.
With this mission being undertaken, we as well want to get ahead of any rumors that may begin. If we do get sisters: no, we will not be firing anyone from the grade school or parish for a sister to replace. Every year at the parish, there is a natural turn over that happens. People move on from current jobs or retire. The welcoming of sisters will be a natural transition and supplement to the jobs that we currently have.
As the packets are on their way out and hopefully in the hands of Mother Superior, I invite you to pray with Fr. Greg and I: for an increase of Vocations to Religious life, that the Holy Spirit may lead the sisters to Prince of Peace, that a mutual discernment may happen between us and the communities, and that we would gain a beautiful new ministry within our parish life.
Hopefully come this fall, we will be able to announce to the parish that Operation Sister Act was a successful mission!
- Fr. Andrew