Out and About

Sunday was a busy day!  The Sisters of Charity of Saint Elizabeth, Convent Station, NJ, celebrated the dedication of the Shrine of Blessed Miriam Teresa.  It was wonderful to be among so many of the Sisters of Charity, who have been so supportive of the Passaic Neighborhood Center for Women!  We congratulate them and we pray in a special way to Blessed Miriam Teresa, asking her to intercede for our ministry here in Passaic.

The Shrine of Blessed Miriam Teresa Demjanovich, SC,
was dedicated during a Eucharistic Liturgy celebrated by
by Bishop Serratelli on Sunday.

On Sunday evening, we were happy to speak to the Confirmation candidates and youth group at St. Anthony Parish, Passaic.  We were able to share the good news of the Center with the young people and their mothers.  What a great, responsive group!

Sister Ann Marie interacts with the youth group
and Confirmation candidates and their mothers
at St. Anthony, Passaic.

From Passaic to Taiwan

As readers of this blog know, the Passaic Neighborhood Center for Women has been blessed to be a collaborative ministry involving, among other organizations and individuals, various religious congregations.  The Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Conception of the Mother of God (affectionately known in abbreviated fashion as the "SMICs") have supported the Center since before its opening and continue to support the Center in many ways.  So, when Sister Eleanor requested to purchase hand-made gifts to take to the delegates of the SMIC General Chapter in Taiwan in November, our crocheters jumped at the chance!

Pictured below is Sister Eleanor, SMIC, our Monday morning English teacher and member of our board of directors, with Elizabeth, who crocheted three of the 15 cell phone/eyeglass cases that will travel from Passaic to Taiwan next month.  We're so happy that the Center continues to touch lives globally (as work from our quilters has been sent to Haiti in the past).

The women did a great job in choosing the exact yarn that would be light enough to pack and sturdy enough to retain the shape of the case.  We hope that the SMIC General Chapter delegates enjoy their cases as much as our women enjoyed making them.  We send our prayers with Sister Eleanor, Sister Joanne, all the delegates and the entire SMIC Congregation during their Chapter.

Grateful for Three Years and Counting!

September 24 marks the third year since the Passaic Neighborhood Center for Women opened its doors.  Three years of serving the women of Passaic with the collaboration of so many people!  Three years of gratitude!  We spent this week expressing our gratitude to our staff and volunteers by giving them "Third Anniversary Gratitude" certificates.   We are so grateful for the work they do for the people of God in Passaic Here are some photos from the week.  (Email subscribers:  Click here to view the photos if you do not see them below.)

Nancy watches the children while their mothers take classes.

Sister Marcella, FSP, has given over 200 hours of volunteer service!

Sister Eleanor, SMIC,  has been a part of the Center since BEFORE it opened!

Sister Margaret, SMIC, has given over 100 hours of volunteer service! 

Claudia, our "right-hand" from City Green, is now also an English teacher at the Center!

Sister Pat, SC, has given over 300 hours of loving service!

Sister Gerardine, SCC -- once a volutneer, now a staff member.

Marie has gifted us with over 200 hours of service;
Sister Elaine, FSP, has been our Associate Director from the beginning.

Angela, a member of St. Anthony's Parish, Passaic, shares her joy with our children.

Our newest volunteer, Sister Patricia, MPF, teaches English at the Center.

Sharing Mercy at Good Shepherd

On Sunday, September 4, Sister Ann Marie gave a presentation, "Mother Teresa: A Saint of Mercy in the Year of Mercy"  at Good Shepherd Parish in Andover, NJ.  Coinciding with the canonization day  of Mother Teresa, the presentation focused on the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy,  its relationship to St. Teresa of Calcutta, and its meaning in our daily lives.  As always, Sister Ann Marie took this opportunity to share the good news about the Passaic Neighborhood Center for Women with this crowd of over 50 participants.  It is always good to be able to visit various parishes in the Paterson Diocese to thank the parishioners for their contributions to Partners in Faith, the diocese's capital campaign which had the Center as one of its case statements.  This Center would not exist without the Partners in Faith donors, to whom we are so very grateful.

In delving more deeply into Mother Teresa's life and ministry, we find that her way of ministry is similar to ours here in Passaic.  While we do not take a fourth vow of "giving wholehearted free service to the poorest of the poor," as the Missionaries of Charity do, we follow this directive to the best of our ability.  Our donors make this possible. Thank you!

We are grateful to Nick Berg, Evangelization Director at Good Shepherd, and to the entire parish family, for this invitation and the hospitality they shared on Sunday.

Here are some photos from the presentation at Good Shepherd:

Now on Facebook!

If any of our loyal blog readers have Facebook accounts, we are asking you to consider "liking" the page of the Passaic Neighborhood Center for Women.  Click here to go to the page.  Of course, we'll continue to post here on the blog, but the Facebook page will provide another way to tell the beautiful story of the Passaic Neighborhood Center for Women.  Thank you!

Gathering the Evidence

In a ministry such as the Passaic Neighborhood Center for Women, we do not speak in terms of large victories.  There is no "grand assessment tool" that spits out percentages that we employ to prove our abundant success.  Most of our "data" is anecdotal and is usually collected informally, unexpectedly and in small amounts.  So, the only way to "gather evidence" that will attest to the success of this ministry is to be present to and to remember these small, grace-filled moments.

This morning, we had just such an informal and unexpected moment of grace.  One of our women came to the Center  as usual at 9 am to work with the Rosetta Stone program for an hour.  At 10 am, she attended her English class.  At 11 am, she was ready to depart.  What made today different, though, was that she had her young sons, ages 7 and 9, with her.  (Because the Passaic schools offer a summer enrichment program, the boys had been in school most of the summer.  However, that program ended August 12, so today she brought the boys with her to the Center.)  None of that is really extraordinary.

However, what happened as they departed made our day!

As they were walking out the door, the seven-year-old son said (rather excitedly) to his mother, "Can we go to the garden?"

In a ministry such as ours, those six words are golden!  Why?  Because by saying those words, the young boy was unwittingly saying to us, "You are fulfilling your mission."

When a seven-year-old boy -- after two hours of being at a center for women on a summer morning -- expresses the desire to stay longer in order to garden, he does not realize how many religious communities, organizations and other people collaborated to make the garden a reality.  He is not consciously aware that his family is being strengthened by his mother's participation in the programs here.  He is not commenting on the empowerment of women that has taken place as a result of the building, planting and sustaining of our garden in the midst of this urban area.

He simply knows that he enjoys being in this space that seems to be so important to his mother and the other women.  He knows that each time he visits the garden, it has grown to be something different from the last time because he has witnessed this process all summer long, especially as the tomatoes turned from green to red. He knows that a visit to the garden means that he will probably take something home that his mother will use to make lunch or dinner.

These six words spoken by this young child provided us with grace-filled evidence that continues to tell us that this ministry is necessary and appreciated.  Our task is to stay tuned in -- in this case, to open the door for a woman and her children as they left the Center --  so that we never miss the opportunity to "gather the evidence" provided by these small moments of grace.

Thanks for iGiving!

Thanks to our iGive supporters, we have raised $65.17 to date.  While that might not seem like much money to raise in a little more than a year, consider the fact that it's free!  Just by downloading the iGive button, choosing the Passaic Neighborhood Center for Women as your cause and doing your normal online shopping, participating merchants donate a portion of your purchase to us through iGive.

Won't you consider becoming an iGive member?  It's quick and easy.  If you sign up before August 31 and shop within 45 days, iGive will donate an extra $5.00 to the Center.  To learn more or sign up now, please go to http://www.igive.com/XgMoyc9

Remember, the cause is Passaic Neighborhood Center for Women.

Thanks for your ongoing support!  We cannot do this without you!