INSTALLATION OF NEW MEMBERS

On a beautiful fall afternoon, the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi, we installed six new Ladies of Charity during a Mass at Our Lady of the Assumption Church. Father Pat Butler, our chaplain, concelebrated Mass with Father Martin McGeough, C.M. and gave a wonderful talk about St. Francis' rule: live by the gospel and show your joy. He closed with the saint's advice, “Start by doing what's necessary; then do what's possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.”

Mary Clinton introduced the officers for 2022-23:

President: Michele O'Hare

Vice President: Ronnie Blendell

Recording Secretary: Theresa McMahon

Corresponding Secretary: Sheila Morris Barnes

Treasurer: Jackie Stampalia.

Mary Ann Conway called new members: Diane Macken, Ann Drapeau, Barbara Healy, Diane Macken, Jane Melville and Rose Sherin to be installed.

After Mass we once again enjoyed camaraderie (and good food) at Wolferts Roost thanks to the organizing efforts of Alba Giordano and her committee. Father McGeough said the blessing. Mary Clinton spoke about the challenges and accomplishments of being president during the Covid pandemic and Michele O'Hare talked about her vision for the next two years.

Sister Betsy Van Deusen closed the evening with the following:

To face all of this, we will need courage. We will need energy. We will need vision. We will need to be at ease with ourselves and our decisions.

Above all, like the psalmist, we will need to keep our eyes fixed on the Lord, our God, until God lets us rest.

And then we will know, as we have always known, that the effort was worth the gift of our lives, the best of our years, the length of our days.

(Sister Clare Dunn, CSJ and Sister Judy Lovchik, CSJ)