April 6, 2018 at 1:53 p.m.
PARISH GUEST
Maryknoller to visit St. Mary's, Crescent
Sister Claudette LaVerdiere, MM, author of "On the Threshold of the Future: The Life and Spirituality of Mother Mary Joseph Rogers, Founder of Maryknoll Sisters of St. Dominic," will stop at St. Mary's parish in Crescent, Nov. 18-20, to speak about and autograph copies of her book.
The volume is a biography of the founder of her religious order, which will mark its centennial in 2012. The Maryknolls were the first congregation of sisters in the U.S. dedicated to working in the foreign missions.
Sister Claudette, who was president of the order from 1990-'97, also ministered in Tanzania, Kenya and Myanmar.
"In Tanzania," she told The Evangelist, "I never dreamed that I would still have so much to learn: to listen, to ask when I did not understand, to realize that I thought differently and that my culture had prepared me for life in a different way."
While she was there, she continued, "Tanzanians were intent on deciding for themselves how their country should develop. We followed the government's lead and turned over the schools we ran to Tanzanian leadership.
"From the experience of not being in charge, we [learned] how to be sisters to the people of our adopted countries."
Vocation's beginning
Sister Claudette first learned about the Maryknoll sisters when she was an eighth-grader.
"I was already very attracted to religious life," she recalled, and felt drawn to the order. People wonder, she added, "what a 13-year-old knows about making life decisions. I have often asked myself the same question."
Nevertheless, she entered the Maryknolls after graduating from high school. "Wanting to do something worthwhile with my life was certainly part of my decision," she explained. "Home, school and parish instilled that kind of motivation as I grew up."
She knew she'd be a missionary, but "I was undaunted by a life that would take me far away from home for long periods of time, into a new culture, having to learn another language, listen with new ears and ultimately learn far more from the people I would teach than I would ever be able to impart."
Becoming biographer
Sister Claudette became involved in writing the biography of the order's founder in 2003, when the original author became ill and could not continue.
"I wanted to give it a more complete sense of the environment into which Maryknoll was born," she told The Evangelist. "Once I completed the biography, I felt that I would need to bridge the time between Mother Mary Joseph's death in 1955 and 2011 in an epilogue. I turned to the internet, where I was constantly surprised by all I was learning."
The manuscript was completed a year ago, just two months after the original author's death. "The book is dedicated to her as the primary inspiration for us to continue to mine the spiritual depths of our founder," Sister Claudette noted.
Readers' rewards
Readers of the biography will "meet a fascinating woman who made a tremendous impact on the 20th century by her down-to-earth spirituality and uncommon common sense," Sister Claudette said. "She set out to form sisters who would be able to adapt to whatever the circumstances required, so that they would thrive as missionary sisters. She wanted us to use our heads and live by our hearts."
The author also hopes that readers will be interested in "the context of mission at the turn of the 20th century. In this country, the Protestant churches were 100 years ahead of the Catholic Church in the missionary enterprise.
"Mother Mary Joseph's spirituality is truly inclusive," added Sister Claudette. "She teaches that all human beings live in God's presence, that we all need to pray, that none of us can ignore the need for unity, that no one must live for him or herself alone without care for the common good, and so forth. This little book holds many surprises."
Talk's theme
Sister Claudette said that her talk at St. Mary's will provide a chance for people to learn about the religious order.
"This is the eve of our centennial," she noted, "and I feel deeply privileged to be invited to speak, especially about the woman who gathered us together 100 years ago. In the process of forming a religious community of missionary women, Mother Mary Joseph did not worry too much about religious propriety and what other people thought. She was practical and realistic.
"Since I have been engaged in the work of making Mother Mary Joseph known, I have discovered that the spirituality she bequeathed to us she offers to all. It is a spirituality for our time. When so many hunger for the things of God, nothing could delight me more than to have the opportunity to share the Maryknoll spirit."[[In-content Ad]]
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