Another article that comments on our work to address human trafficking

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/st-louis-area-hotels-enlisted-to-fight-sex-trade/article_61f3de86-9682-5e11-9eda-0434a6c28893.html

Although I am quoted, the many of you who have worked on this issue know that it is your leadership that allows the Federation to have this opportunity to address this important issue.  Patty

The Dear Neighbor from whom they do not separate themselves

“Increasing our capacity for mission is our focus,” says Sr. MaryAnn Rogers, of the Province Leadership Team of the Sisters of St. Joseph, Albany Province.  She then began to describe the dynamic plan the province has for using two of its greatest resources, the land at the motherhouse and the enthusiasm of the sisters for the mission.

The campus for the Albany Province is massive.  Yet there is hardly an unused space.  The campus is home to approximately 170 sisters, 150 of whom are actively retired (some involved with more activities than when they were in full time remunerated ministry), with 70 in skilled nursing care.  The building houses an adult day care center called Bright Horizons where sisters and members of the neighborhood community spend time together enjoying their senior years, a hospitality center welcoming large groups for conferences and workshops, a music school providing music lessons and programs for all age groups, an art studio, a woodworking shop providing craft opportunities for the residents, and a commitment to wetlands preservation on their property.  Among all these programs and land uses, I want to focus on two, “the Ground B Ladies” and Shaker Pointe at Carondelet.

Well over 40 years ago when the State of New York was closing its State Schools for the cognitively challenged, the sisters invited a group of these [then] young women to become live-in employees at their motherhouse.  Now many years later, most have aged with the sisters, but still have jobs at the Motherhouse, although some have retired there.  They earn a salary, pay room and board, and enjoy life together among the sisters.  They each have their own bedroom, a shared community room with a kitchenette, and share meals with the sisters in the dining room. The mutual care and concern among the Ground B Ladies for each other and the sisters is obvious and heartwarming.  Two Sisters of St. Joseph are available to assist and guide these women. The group enjoys outings, especially their occasional major vacations together. 

Sr. MaryAnn at the new housing development 

 The sisters also recognized that their property could be used to provide services for their neighbors.  Working closely with the diocese and the neighborhood township, several years ago, they essentially donated a portion of their property to the diocese to be used for a joint HUD/Catholic Charities low-income elderly housing project.  Once that was complete, they began to explore how they could use other parts of the property.  A needs assessment noted that middle income elderly housing was the biggest need in the area.  So again the sisters began to develop a village that would both meet the needs of the neighborhood and generate some income for them.   A combination of stand-alone “cottages” and apartments are being developed in phases.  Additionally, a business area with a restaurant, stores, doctors offices and physical therapy center, an indoor pool and recreation area is being developed.  The sisters planned for these facilities to also serve the low-income residents.  This portion of the development will be built right between the two housing areas so that it is convenient for both populations.  This land is a wetland area and the property is being developed to preserve and even highlight the natural beauty that this feature brings to this area.

Living room area in model cottage

Interfaith Sanctuary in Albany

Today while Sr. Sean Peters toured me through the College of St. Rose, she noted that the college has been deeply involved in interfaith efforts in Albany for over 25 years.  We stopped into the Hubbard Interfaith Sanctuary which provides a place of respite, a place to meditate, a place to pray, and a place to celebrate.  This center has become a major hub for interfaith activity in the area. Named after the current bishop, Henry Hubbard, the Sanctuary uses the natural symbols of light, water, and earth, symbols that are universal in nearly every religion.

Hubbard Interfaith Sanctuary

The soothing serenity garden contains flowing water, abundant plants, and natural light to the mind at ease and inspires faith.

Sr. Sean Peters in the Sanctuary garden

Prayer rooms in the Sanctuary are dedicated to the needs of various faith traditions.

The Wisdom and Holy books of most world religions in the prayer room

Fr. Chris DeGiovine, Dean of Spiritual Life says, “This Sanctuary puts into bricks and mortar what we have said throughout our history- that spiritual development is an essential part of our educational mission.”

This college is sponsored by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, Albany Province.  It’s inspiring to know that the college lives out the mission with this interfaith vision playing a vibrant role.

NIX signs ECPAT code of conduct

See this news coverage of the celebration this Wednesday, January 11, 2012.  I was there representing the Federation along with several other representatives of the Sisters of St. Joseph.  Please suffer through the commercial to get to this great news story- just click on the link below.


http://www.fox2now.com/news/ktvi-new-effort-to-stop-sex-traffick-20120111,0,7637897.premiumvideo

Here is  link to additional coverage.
http://www.stlbeacon.org/region/115213-meeting-planners-enlist-in-effort-to-stop-human-trafficking

Update on the Novitiate

This morning after spending several days in St. Louis visiting some of the first sites and works that the Sisters of St. Joseph visited and began, the Federation Novices and their novice directors left for Wichita Kansas, followed by stop in Concordia Kansas.  In Concordia they will have an in-depth exposure to rural ministry.

Here are a few pictures of their stay in St. Louis.

The original church that the sisters prayed in at Cahokia

Front row- Sandy, Monique and Preenika
Back row- Mary, Pat, Anne and Bernie inside the Church at Cahokia

The federation novitiate community joins FIAT House for dinner

Monique, Sandy and Preenika

Maxim 85

During a recent trip to Wichita, Kansas, I was reminded of maxim 85, “Advance good works until they are almost finished; and then, whenever possible, let them be completed by someone else who will receive the honor.” 

To meet the unmet health care needs of the uninsured and under-insured in Wichita, four years ago the Mother Mary Anne Health Clinic, named after a long time St. Joseph Hospital administrator and leaders of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Wichita, opened to provide after-hours patient care on a walk-in basis at an affordable rate, often free.  After providing over 20,000 patient visits, the Sisters and the staff realized that the needs of their “dear neighbor” had changed. 

Mother Mary Ann Health Clinic

Translator Virdiana Villalobos and a nurse prepare for patients

Patients who had their urgent health care need attended to, but found that they were unable to locate ongoing medical care that they could afford, began returning to the Mother Mary Anne Clinic.   The Clinic staff knew that although they could provide the care, it would be urgent care.  It would not be the kind of care that a patient gets when they have a primary doctor who knows them and a medical home that emphasizes prevention and follow-up treatment of chronic conditions.

Out of this need for increased access to ongoing care for the poor, a new and strong relationship was formed with the GraceMed Health Clinic, a federally qualified health center (FQHC).  GraceMed currently provides medical home services, however not in a location that is convenient for the Hilltop neighborhood, a poor section of Wichita that the Mother Mary Anne Health Clinic serves. The plan is for GraceMed  to take over the Mother Mary Anne Clinic.  It will be able to use the current building to provide regular medical home services, including dental care, a service that the poor have great difficulty accessing, as well as the after-hours walk-in clinic dedicated to serving patients who are uninsured and underinsured.  This will all be accomplished in a newly remodeled 4,100 square-foot space with nine exam rooms. 

For those of you that may not have had experience with FQHCs, let me give my personal testimonial to the quality of care they provide.  When I was the Assistant Administrator for Medicaid in Hawaii, the position I held immediately prior to becoming the Federation Executive Director, I received my care at one of these centers.  I felt it was important to experience what my clients were experiencing.  FQHCs are required to meet strict federal guidelines, including time frames for granting an appointment.  I always got wonderful care when I needed it.  Regular recommendations and reminders for preventative care, getting needed blood tests, and guidance on how to obtain the lowest cost, yet effective medications were always offered.   From my first-hand experience of having a medical home and from the experience of my neighbors and clients in Hawaii, I fully appreciate the wonderful expansion of service that this new relationship of the Via Christi Mother Mary Anne Health Center and GraceMed offers to one of the most impoverished areas in Wichita.

This good work was advanced by our sisters but will be continued on by these new colleagues, with a little help from the Sister’s Foundation.

Patty and Griselda Take Manhattan

The Muppets have nothing on Sr. Griselda Martinez Morales and me.  While I was in New York working on business for the Sisters of St. Joseph Non-Governmental Organization at the United Nations with Griselda, our representative there, we also did a few Christmas tourist things in Manhattan.

We visited the Christmas store windows, saw the tree at Rockefeller Plaza and visited Grand Central Station.

The windows at Macy's were the best I have ever seen

Sr. Griselda at Rockefeller Plaza

The skaters at Rockefeller Plaza

Me at Times Square

I am getting better at crossing the streets in Manhattan.  Although they have walk and don’t walk signs all over, in New York that doesn’t really mean that you should or should not cross.  Ideally, you cross with a pack of people when it is safe but mostly you just cross when there is not a car or bicycle coming right at you.  This usually has nothing to do with the traffic signals.  After following Griselda around, I had to go to a meeting on my own several blocks from her office.  I was so very proud as I scouted the scene and took my life in my hands as I crossed the street on my own.

Griselda is quite involved at St. Patrick’s parish which is a predominantly Latin American parish.  I participated with her in a rosary at a parishioner’s home.  For 45 days, leading up to the celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the parishioners have been hosting a rosary for the parish in their home.  The one I went to had about 50 people and included a procession by the children, a song with every decade of the rosary and food afterwards.  It is quite a commitment and community building process on the part of the parishioners.

I met with our Sisters at the UN, Griselda, Marianne Sennick and Susan Wilcox to do some future planning also.    We put the finishing touches on a newsletter about our work at the UN which will be sent off for translation and available on the Federation website soon.

Susan, Marianne and Griselda, Sisters of St Joseph at the UN

Griseda at Grand Central Station