by Sr. Mary Emmadoña Lee | Jun 24, 2021 | Events
On June 24, the Solemnity of the Birth of St. John the Baptist, the Parish Visitors had a great reason to celebrate. Sister Jhoan Marie of Tacloban, Philipppines and Sister Mary Imelda of Bicol, Philippines made their Perpetual Profession of Vows at our motherhouse in Monroe, New York.
Fr. David Rider was the principal celebrant, Fr. Tom Byrnes, the homilist, and the following priests concelebrated the Mass: Fr, Chris Argano, Fr. Jack Arlotta, Fr. William Damroth, Fr. Eric de la Pena, OFM Conv., Msgr. Philip Franceschini, Fr. Dennis Gill, Fr. Kevin Hanlon, M.M., Fr. Robert Pinnisi. They were assisted by Michael Coleman, a seminarian currently assigned to Sacred Heart in Monroe. Fr. Reynor Santiago joined in the celebration later in the day.
Sr. Jhoan Marie will serve God’s people from our Pennsylvania convent, and Sr. Mary Imelda will continue to be missioned at our Philippines convent.
As you can see, the new “Brides of Christ” were radiant. Please pray with us for many more young women to follow their example and say “yes” to the call of Jesus!
by Sr. Mary Emmadoña Lee | Apr 20, 2021 | Events
On April 20 we hosted Bishop Gerardo Colacicco, Fr. David Rider, Fr. William Damroth, Fr. Reynor Santiago, and Fr. Kevin Hanlon, who have celebrated Mass for us at Marycrest. It was our way of saying thank you to them for their spiritual care for the Sisters. (Several other priests who also celebrate Mass at Marycrest were unable to attend.) A Eucharistic Holy Hour which concluded with Benediction of the Most Blessed Sacrament was followed by free time for the priests to relax together. They joined us for Evening Prayer and Rosary. After a special dinner, the we sang songs that had been written in their honor. May God bless all our priest friends!
by Sr. Mary Emmadoña Lee | Feb 19, 2021 | Events
Seek 21 was this year’s FOCUS (Fellowship of Catholic University Students) conference. With the pandemic, it had to be done virtually, with youth taking part from where they lived, around the country. Our Pennsylvania Sisters were able to join the group of participants at Cathedral parish in Philadelphia. May God grant that much fruit comes from this conference!
by Sr. Mary Emmadoña Lee | Feb 19, 2021 | Newsletter
Besides the pandemic, we also have a famine!
“There is a famine in the land—not for bread, not for water, but for the Word of the Lord.” (see Amos 8:11)
We are now in the holy season of Lent, a special time of grace. Jesus died for everyone, but so many people don’t know this!
So many souls are famished, are starving. They need to turn to Jesus, the Way, the Truth, and the Life, but many don’t know how, or don’t care.
To give some examples, Mike stopped going to church years ago. Now he says God would never take him back after so long and after so much sinful behavior.
Jen goes to get ashes as a custom, as something she’s always done, but then she goes on living her immoral lifestyle.
Anna is old enough for First Communion, but never even heard of Jesus, except hearing His name taken in vain.
Meg can’t be bothered getting her children to Mass and religious instructions. She doesn’t see the point of it and has other priorities, anyway.
Dave says his mom tells him Lent is important, but he says, “I don’t believe in God now, so why bother with Church?”
This list could go on and on.
All this must hurt the loving heart of Jesus.
These are the ones Parish Visitors were founded to help! We have been helping starving souls since we began, and this charism which our foundress, Mother Mary Teresa Tallon, handed down to us is more needed than ever!
“The Sisters are to have cloistered hearts, to be contemplatives for the street. They are to seek out, after the example of the Good Shepherd, those in need of spiritual and material assistance, the poorest and most neglected, those not practicing their Catholic faith. The union of contemplation and missionary activity is the essence of the Parish Visitor vocation.”
Yes, “There is a famine in the land….” Pope Francis has said, “Evangelization is the most important work of charity.” Combining evangelization with contemplative prayer, according to our charism, gives it its power! And, the more technology there is these days, the more powerful and needed our person-to person contact is!
Evangelization, of course, involves religious instructions–on the spot instructions as well as classroom instruction–as so many people know so little about God! Youth ministry, too, is a part of this apostolate.
Parish Visitors strive to instill in the children a deeper love of Jesus, to inspire the youth to love Him, to encourage the careless Catholics to come back to the heart of Jesus.
Those who are spiritually starving need Parish Visitors. Maybe they need YOU! Is the Good Shepherd calling you to help people like this, along with us?
Pray that everywhere we serve, our apostolate will be very fruitful for the Lord, in this Lenten time of grace and always.
We pray, too, that all of us will live this Lent the best we can for Our Lord, Who has done so much for us and loves us so much! God bless you all!
In Jesus,
Sister Dolores Marie
by Sr. Mary Emmadoña Lee | Aug 5, 2020 | Newsletter
Our 100th anniversary! That’s quite a milestone! When Mother Mary Teresa Tallon began our community in New York City on August 15, 1920, she began with only three members. The seed grew and spread, and besides our “community in heaven” rejoicing there with our foundress, we now have convents in New York, Pennsylvania, Arizona, the Philippines and Nigeria. Only God knows how many thousands and thousands and thousands of persons have been brought back to Him, and learned to love Him, by Parish Visitors over the years!
One of the Sisters recently made a cutout of our foundress. Our centenary celebrations originally planned for August 15 and 16 have been postponed for now because of the pandemic, but our anniversary will be very special nevertheless!
During the pandemic we have continued to reach out to people in whatever way we could, as our last few newsletters told—phone, email, May devotions, zoom, and so on. Our Pentecost novena is now on our website; you can access it there. We also had a livestreamed Holy Hour for Corpus Christi, praying for all the continents of the world. Hopefully before long everything will be more normal. First Communions, though delayed, took place recently, and more will be held in the fall. Here are a few photos.
What a privilege to instruct others in the faith, and especially to prepare children for First Communion!
Two of our junior professed Sisters, Sr. Alina Marie and Sr. Marie Meaghan, moved to our Bronx convent to begin their new apostolates.
Here they are pictured with Sr. Mylene Rosemarie at the convent.
Our annual eight-day retreat was in early July. Retreat is always a beautiful time of many graces from the Lord, as well as a preparation for the year ahead. I’ll share with you this quote from our retreat master:
We are brides of Christ.
We serve Jesus for those who do not.
We worship Him for those who do not.
We are pure for those who are not.
We are brides of Christ.
A few years ago Sr. Maria Leah was recorded singing “I Am Your Bride” for a youth conference. You can listen to it on this link:
TVM Sessions: Your Bride
Si Sr. Lea Japos ng Parish Visitors of Mary Immaculate, kasama si Mr. Philippe Toda ng Youcat Phils at Kuya Roberto Bahia ng TV Maria ang mag share naman ng kanilang talento sa pagkanta. Tara! pakinggan po natin sila. 🙂
Posted by TV Maria on Wednesday, May 24, 2017
I’ll close with a quote from our foundress about her inspiration to begin our community:
“God revealed to me clearly, at Holy Mass…what it was He wanted. I must establish an Institute where women would be trained to greater spiritual perfection and, being formed in the contemplative spirit, go out in search of the lost lambs and bring them back to the fold by means of Christian instruction. I saw God’s will clearly and received strong assurances of His powerful protection.”
Please thank God along with us for Servant of God Mother Mary Teresa Tallon and for the foundation of the Parish Visitors of Mary Immaculate! And, if God is nudging you in this direction, be not afraid! Come!
In Jesus,
Sister Dolores Marie
On June 24, the Solemnity of the Birth of St. John the Baptist, the Parish Visitors had a great reason to celebrate. Sister Jhoan Marie of Tacloban, Philipppines and Sister Mary Imelda of Bicol, Philippines made their Perpetual Profession of Vows at our motherhouse in Monroe, New York.
On April 20 we hosted Bishop Gerardo Colacicco, Fr. David Rider, Fr. William Damroth, Fr. Reynor Santiago, and Fr. Kevin Hanlon, who have celebrated Mass for us at Marycrest. It was our way of saying thank you to them for their spiritual care for the Sisters. (Several other priests who also celebrate Mass at Marycrest were unable to attend.) A Eucharistic Holy Hour which concluded with Benediction of the Most Blessed Sacrament was followed by free time for the priests to relax together. They joined us for Evening Prayer and Rosary. After a special dinner, the we sang songs that had been written in their honor. May God bless all our priest friends!
Seek 21 was this year’s FOCUS (Fellowship of Catholic University Students) conference. With the pandemic, it had to be done virtually, with youth taking part from where they lived, around the country. Our Pennsylvania Sisters were able to join the group of participants at Cathedral parish in Philadelphia. May God grant that much fruit comes from this conference!
Besides the pandemic, we also have a famine!
Jen goes to get ashes as a custom, as something she’s always done, but then she goes on living her immoral lifestyle.
“The Sisters are to have cloistered hearts, to be contemplatives for the street. They are to seek out, after the example of the Good Shepherd, those in need of spiritual and material assistance, the poorest and most neglected, those not practicing their Catholic faith. The union of contemplation and missionary activity is the essence of the Parish Visitor vocation.”
Pray that everywhere we serve, our apostolate will be very fruitful for the Lord, in this Lenten time of grace and always.
