- October 25, 2024 Community
By Sister Donna Gunn, CSJ
On Aug. 12, the Nazareth Living Center community welcomed St. Louis Auxiliary Bishop Mark Rivituso for his very first visit to Nazareth. He had heard of it, though, he had never been on the campus. His coming coincided with celebrating the 152nd anniversary of the Sisters of St. Joseph being on that property.
For the celebratory Mass, Father Andrew O’Connor, chaplain, went all out, using lace altar cloths brought from LePuy, France, and decorating the altar with flowers picking up the magnificent colors of Sister Marian Cowan’s (1932-2015) “burning bush” banners.
In his homily, the Bishop praised the Sisters of St. Joseph for purchasing property that would take them well into the future — not only for the past 152 years — but beyond. Nazareth is perhaps the epitome of the future — sisters living and working side by side with the laity, always searching for ways to partner and collaborate with the wider Catholic church.
For those who believe “there are no accidents,” the Bishop’s first visit was on the Feast of Jane de Chantel — a wife, mother and foundress of a religious congregation. Her spiritual director “just happened to be” St. Francis de Sales. Consequently, every CSJ sister was reminded of our Consensus Statement:
In sincere charity, the manner of Saint Joseph whose name she bears — in an Ignatian-Salesian climate: that is, with an orientation towards excellence tempered by gentleness, peace, joy.
The closing hymn of the Mass was “Standing on the Shoulders.” We were reminded of the wonderful sisters who lived and died at Nazareth in the past and the amazing sisters who reside there now. Surely, we stand on their shoulders. We thank them for the gift of their lives.