August 2020

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:

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

May 2020

by Sr. Mary Emmadoña Lee | May 18, 2020 | Newsletter

Our Blessed Mother, whom we all love so dearly, gets very special honor in May, with spring flowers, May crownings, and other devotions.

At our motherhouse we had a May crowning on Mothers’ Day. It was planned to be outdoors at our grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes, but the very chilly weather (one inch of snow the day before!) moved the crowning indoors.

Our oldest Sister, Sr. Mary Elise, who will be 100 years old this year, was the crown bearer, while our youngest postulant, Sally, was the crowner. Each Sister placed a flower before Our Lady. We then completed the ceremony with hymns and our Parish Visitor consecration to Mary.

Our juniorate Sisters (those in temporary vows) had planned a marshmallow roast especially for the older Sisters for Mothers’ Day. Again, the chilly weather moved it indoors, and we roasted the marshmallows on the stove! Changes of plans are a standing joke with us!

We were also privileged this year to begin the month of Mary with the reconsecration to Mary of the United States and Canada, by the bishops of all the dioceses. It had to be done individually by each diocese because of the pandemic. What a beautiful tribute to Our Lady!.

During this pandemic our apostolate has to change temporarily, of course. Some of the Sisters have been able to keep in touch with the students in their religion classes by phone calls, email, postal mail, or sometimes zoom. First Communions and Confirmations are unfortunately delayed.

A number of the Sisters at Marycrest phoned all the parishioners of one of the large local parishes, asking the people how they were doing. These calls were very much appreciated.

At the same parish the Sisters in formation helped with bringing the statue of Our Lady to the homes of the delayed First Communion children. Keeping social distance, the children—many in their First Communion clothing—joined the priest and Sisters in a decade of the rosary and a hymn in front of their homes.
Hopefully it won’t be too long before we can safely resume parish visitations, in the footsteps of the Good Shepherd seeking those who need the Lord, and instructing children and others in the faith, in person. Meanwhile, we do all we can, and our prayers and sacrifices go where we cannot!

As our Parish Visitor Constitutions reminds us, Mary, especially in her Visitation to Elizabeth, is a model for our contemplative-missionary vocation. The Sisters are to walk in spirit with Mary, contemplating the greatness of the Lord and imitating her example of charity and zeal.

We have been having livestreamed Masses, and at one of the homilies the priest shared this:

God is more powerful than Wifi. Stay connected to Him!
The signal is always strong.
It’s always reliable, it’s always on, and it’s free!
The password is L O V E.

God bless you and guide you in your discernment of His will!

In Jesus,

Sr. Dolores Marie