Daughters of Divine Charity

Together We Live in the Legacy that is the Daughters of the Divine Charity

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From the Sisters, Thank You for St. Joseph’s Day!

A Message from the Sisters-

Thank You! March 19, St. Joseph’s Day, holds a special place in all of our hearts. It has always been a our special feast day to reflect on our patron, Saint Joseph. As teachers in Hill, we hoped to instill in our students a special love for the father of Jesus. Last night, we saw our hopes turned to reality.

In the past few years, a tradition has taken shape thanks to our generous, kind, and loving group of current Hill families, Hill graduates, Lay Associates and Junior Associates.

Our celebration began with a beautiful Mass and the Associates Commitment Renewal. Special thanks to Sister Denise for coordinating all the elements of the Mass and for organizing and preparing the school auditorium. Although we could not hold this special occasion in our beloved chapel, Sister Denise transformed the gym into a beautiful setting for all of the Sisters and our guests to enjoy. Sister Josita gathered a large group of Associates to this year’s ceremony. Each Associate promises to carry out the charism of the Daughters of Divine Charity in their own lives by “Making God’s Love Visible” to all they touch.

Following Mass, nearly 100 guests joined the Sisters for a remarkable dinner. Each family added a delightful dish to our potluck dinner. From tomato and mozzarella and antipasto, fresh baked rolls and St. Joseph’s bread, to penne vodka and chicken marsala, to honey baked ham and mashed potatoes, all the way to the dessert table of cookies, cakes, scones and of course, St. Joseph’s Pasties, every bite tasted even more delicious knowing they were made to be shared with people who truly love Saint Joseph, the Sisters and Hill.

Liturgy for the Feast of St. Joseph

Induction and Renewal of Associates

 

Entrance Hymn                       Hail, Holy Joseph, Hail

 

                        Hail, holy Joseph, hail.  Chaste  spouse of Mary, hail.  Hail, holy Joseph! 

Pure as the lily flower, in Eden’s peaceful vale, Hail, holy Joseph!

 

                        Hail, Holy Joseph, hail.  God’s choice wert thou alone.  Hail, holy Joseph!

 To thee, the Word made flesh, was subject as a Son.  Hail, holy Joseph!

 

LITURGY OF THE WORD

 

First Reading  A Reading from the Book of the Prophet Samuel.                                Cate Moran

The Word of the Lord.

All:                  Thanks be to God

Responsorial Psalm    The Son of David will live for ever.                                                 

Second Reading            A Reading from the Letter of St. Paul to the Romans              Nicole Pietrunti

Gospel Acclamation    Praise and honor to you, Lord Jesus Christ.                             Robin Rodolfo

                                    Praise and honor to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

                                    How happy they who dwell in your house, O Lord;

                                    Continually they sing your praise!     

                                    Praise and honor to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

Gospel             Matt. 1: 16-18, 21, 24                                                                           Msgr. Whalen

Presider           The Lord be with you

All                   And with your spirit.

Presider           A Reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew                        Msgr. Whalen

All                   Glory to you, O Lord.

Presider           The Gospel of the Lord.

All                   Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ       

Homily                                                                                                                                      Msgr. Whalen

 

Prayer of the Faithful                                                                                                    Dorothy Zissler

 

LITURGY OF THE EUCHARIST

 

Presentation of the Gifts

           

Offertory Hymn                       Here I Am, Lord

 

I, the Lord of sea and sky, I have heard my people cry.  All who dwell in dark and sin my hand will save. 

I, who made the stars of night, I will make their darkness bright.  Who will bear my light to them?  Whom shall I send?

 

Refrain:          Here I am, Lord.  Is it I, Lord?  I have heard you calling in the night.

                        I will go, Lord, if you lead me.  I will hold your people in my heart.

 

I, the Lord of snow and rain, I have borne my people’s pain. I have wept for love of them.  They turn away.

I will break their hearts of stone, Give them hearts for love alone.  I will speak my word to them.  Whom shall I send?                           Refrain           

 

Communion Hymn                  Blest Are They

 

Blest are they, the poor in spirit, theirs is the kingdom of God.

Blest are they, full of sorrow, they shall be consoled.

 

Refrain:          Rejoice and be glad!  Blessed are you, holy are you!

Rejoice and be glad!  Yours is the kingdom of God!

 

Blest are they, the lowly ones, they shall inherit the earth.

Blest are they, who hunger and thirst, they shall have their fill.                   Refrain

Blest are they, who show mercy, mercy shall be theirs.

Blest are they, the pure of heart, they shall see God!                                    Refrain

 

Communion Meditation          Joseph’s Song

 

Recessional Hymn                   Christ Be Our Light

 

Longing for light, we wait in darkness.  Longing for truth, we turn to you.

Make us your own, your holy people, light for the world to see.

 

Refrain:          Christ, be our light! Shine in our hearts.  Shine through the darkness.

                        Christ, be our light!  Shine in your Church gathered today.

 

Longing for peace, our world is troubled.  Longing for hope, many despair.

Your word alone has pow’r to save us.  Make us your living voice. Refrain

 

School Song

 

Come, join and sing the praises of a school we can never can forget.

Though we may wonder far, she’ll be our guiding star.

Let’s sing once again the story of the white and the blue.  Pledging our alma mater, ever to be true.

 

Refrain:          All hail, St. Joseph Hill, keep her standards flying high.

Hail, St. Joseph Hill, may your glory never die.

We pledge our loyalty to your honor tried and true,

For they’ll never wave any flag quite as brave as the white and the blue.

 

Long after we have parted and we leave these old familiar halls

We’ll see the memory of days that used to be.

And though time may bring it’s treasure both of laughter and tears,

We’ll find our alma mater standing through the years.                                Refrain

 

 

Join Us for St. Joseph’s Day Mass and Pot Luck!

March 19, 2014

NOTE: Please park in the Landis Parking Lot (see below for directions),

4 PM Bring your contribution for the Pot Luck Dinner to the Convent Door

4:30 PM Join us for Mass with the Sisters in the St. Joseph Hill Auditorium

5:30 PM Pot Luck Dinner Served in the Sisters’ New Convent Addition

Directions to Landis Gate Parking Lot:

Take Fingerboard road to Columbia Ave, drive on the campus. Veer left at the top of the hill and proceed to the Landis Ave Parking Lot. Please join us in the Auditorium (Elementary School’s Main Entrance) for Mass of in the New Convent Addition(located adjacent to the Landis Ave Parking Lot)You can’t miss it!

How the Pot Luck works…

Please RSVP to Ms. Elizabeth Johnsen at [email protected] or 718-720-7365 by March 14. When you RSVP, please be sure to mention what item you are adding to our menu list. The day of the Pot Luck, alumnae volunteers will organize the kitchen. Please include reheating directions for your food item if necessary. Hot food items need to be brought in aluminum trays that fit into sternos.

If you prefer not to cook or bake, monetary donations are gladly accepted. These donations allow us to purchase decorations, paper goods, and beverages for dinner.

Thank you in advance to all who help make this event such a wonderful evening for our Sisters and their friends.

Sisters Favorite Foods:

Pillsbury biscuits, rye bread, cucumber salad, soup, shrimp cocktail, asparagus, roasted chicken, tiramisu, rice pudding, ice cream sundaes, etc

Anna Levay

Anna Levay was born into the large family of Rosalie Broun and Joseph Levay, with love among the parents and many children. This happy home life came to an end when her mother died after a short illness and five year old Anna was sent to her Aunt Julia, who raised her with her own children in Detroit, Michigan. She was also a cheerful child who adopted a little chicken, nursing its broken leg. Her early religious life was divided between Sunday Mass in the Catholic Church and in afternoon services in the protestant church of Aunt Julia.

In elementary school she attended Holy Cross School in Detroit and then to St. Joseph Hill Academy on Staten Island, New York. She attended College and studied early childhood education at Seton Hall University, South Orange, New Jersey.

Sister Sebastian taught in schools in Staten Island, New York, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Michigan, New Jersey and in California. This writer remembers her best there when the parish built a kindergarten in the convent to accommodate her class in St. Therese School in San Diego. She was always calm and achieved discipline by the slightest change in her look and tone of voice. The children loved the teacher who was not much taller than they and often, behind her back they would jump up and take comparison measurements. She was able to accompany the songs of the children with her own talent on the piano and voice and gestures that brought the songs to life. At one point in her life she had two parakeets and made sure that she played radio music for them too. She was conscious of spreading happiness in many ways.

During her golden jubilee year she had a chance to go to Rome and here, God granted her some wishes in an almost miraculous way. Upon arrival, she announced that it was her dearest wish to see Sister Leonore Mohl whom she remembered from her early formation. It was explained that Vienna was much too far away from Rome. Along with her fellow Sisters, she attended a pilgrims’ Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica and white going out by a side door literally “bumped into” Sister Leonore who had also attended that Mass.

The other wish was to make an urgent request of the Holy Father. Again, we explained that the most she could hope from an audience was to see a white dot at the front of thousands of people. She was disappointed but God had another surprise in store for his faithful handmaid. Some days later there was a smaller celebration at which she could get close enough to whisper into his ear. Let us leave the content of that whisper to the angels, but someone must be treasuring a wonderful photograph.

In the last months of her life it was difficult for Sister to respond and to eat. Many took the effort to coax a weak smile and to have her drink some nourishment. It was decided that she would be placed for rehabilitation so that her muscles would remain functional. In the afternoon, the sisters who visited her at Carmel Richmond Nursing Home remarked about her alertness and the sister who gave her a rosary said she wound it around her hand with a smile. She nodded in the affirmative when asked if she wanted to meet Jesus. In the evening we received a call that she was taken to the hospital because of seizures. When the sisters arrived at the hospital the doctor was waiting for permission to stop all extraordinary means to revive her, saying she would never recover consciousness in any case. His beloved little sister had already slipped peacefully into the arms of Jesus.

May she rest in peace and pray for us.

Sister M. Caroline Bachmann, F.D.C.

Sister M. Caroline Bachmann, F.D.C., was born in Manhattan, New York City.  She grew up in Bachmann’s Delicatessen on Staten Island and attended Public School 12 and CCD instructions at her local parish, St. Sylvester’s.  She  attended St. Joseph Hill Academy high school, where she met the Daughters of Divine Charity.

Hers was not an easy childhood.  Her mother died when she was six years old, and Sister Caroline really never knew what it was to have a loving mother as a confidant and to have a cozy home as a safe haven when she returned from school each afternoon.

After graduating from St. Joseph Hill Academy, she entered the Congregation and took the name Sister M. Caroline.

She loved the simplicity and good humor of the Sisters who taught her and, after finding out that the foundress of the Daughters of Divine Charity was born in the same district as her own father, she felt a sure call to a religious vocation to that same Congregation.     She made her   first vows on Aug. 15, 1956    and her final  vows on Aug 28, 1961, in the Motherhouse chapel in Vienna.

The vow of obedience became the key to a wonderful life of adventure and travel getting to live in different countries and meet Sisters from all over the world.  She liked to put these adventures into stories that she would share with anyone who would listen.  She often illustrated written tales with her own paintings and photographs.

Sister taught in elementary schools in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and California, as well as at Aquinas High School in California.  She served as Director of Religious Education in several parishes in California and New Jersey and was a residential aide at Franziska Residence, a shelter for homeless mothers with children.

Sister Caroline was the Moderator of the New Jersey branch of the Divine Charity
Associates and the members looked forward to her spirituality sessions with them.  She also served as a pastoral minister at the local parish and was involved in running a prayer group, doing religious education with mentally challenged or handicapped children, and working with the Cursillo movement.

Sister Caroline was a member of the General Council of the Congregation for twelve years.  She was a dedicated religious and had a deep love for our Congregation.  She was always willing to use her talents to further our charism of spreading God’s love to all.  Her spirituality was deep and she wrote in her journal only the day before she suffered the stroke that ended her life,

“All are welcome in His house.  I will focus on the eternal shore and throw my anchor there.”

Her wake and funeral were attended by many people who had a deep appreciation for her work.  After her death, we heard many stories of the spiritual good that she did for all those she

met and worked with as well as the joy that her presence brought to the lives of those to whom she ministered.

Sister Caroline was deeply imbued with the spirit of Mother Franziska Lechner.  She was a prolific writer and gifted artist and often surprised the Sisters on special feast days with holy cards she had made pertaining to some aspect of the spirituality of the Congregation.  Her spirit will live on in the hearts and minds of all whose lives she so deeply affected.

If the cross is the answer, then what exactly is the question?

In Psalm 79.5 the writer asks the Lord how long He will be angry at theworld? Sometimes we find ourselves asking the same question. During adifficult time in my life, a priest friend said to me, “Sometimes we allfeel like we’re in Good Friday, but remember Easter Sunday is coming.” I’llnever forget those amazing words! Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross and theResurrection is proof of His love and power to all the world. Easter isthe once-and-for-all-time answer.

Please join me Monday, March 10th as we discuss how Lent helps us face ourhumanity. Lent is not only a time of reflection, but a gift of time setaside by God to help us in our own personal growth.

Our meeting will be held at the Mother Franziska House of Prayer, 205 MajorAvenue on the campus of St. Joseph Hill Academy. Kindly RSVP to Sr. Deniseat (718) 727-5700 or email [email protected] or [email protected] suggested donation is $10.00. Refreshments will be served.

I hope to see you there!

In Christ,

Grace