Volume II Issue No.6 November-December2014

Missionary Benedictine Sisters of Tutzing, Casa Santo Spirito, 00163 Via dei Bevilacqua 60, Rome Italy

“Wherever the stream flows, it will bring life.” (Ez. 47:9c)

NEW GENERAL COUNCILOR. On October 5 the generalate officially accepted the resignation of Sr. Ire-ne Iita as general councilor due to her ill health. The generalate ap-pointed Sr. Regina Tesch in her stead. Sr. Regina, who was in-stalled on December 14, was as-signed in the Priory of Ndanda where she worked as surgeon at the St. Benedict’s hospital for 10 years, served as priory councilor for six years, novice directress for one and a half years. She was also liturgist, organist and the Priory’s newsletter editor.

NEW PRIORESS OF TUTZING. Sr. Ruth Schönenberger was elected prioress of Tutzing on November 15 and will be installed on Febru-ary 8, 2015. She succeeds Sr. Hil-degard Jansing. Sr. Ruth entered the congregation in 1986. In the last years she was secretary to the prioress and nearly 20 years as pri-ory councilor. Until the hospital in Tutzing was sold in 2007 she was chairperson of the executive board for 15 years. T h e r e a f t e r she was primarily engaged in spir-itual accompaniment and spiritual exercises, vocation promotion as well as public relations.

Sr. Irene

Sr. Ma. Ignatius and S. Mary Thomas

S. Hildegard

Sr. Ma. Angela and Sr. Ma. Gratia

NEW PRIORESS OF WINDHOEK. With Sr. Mary Thomas Prado’s installation as Prioress of Windhoek on December 20, Sr. Mary Ignatius Glaser, her predecessor, can now prepare to work in Rome as General Econome starting March 1, 2015.

NEW SUPERIOR OF INDIA. Sr. Maria Gratia Balagat was in-stalled superior of India on November 23. Sr. Maria Angela Yesudasan acted as OIC for one year while waiting for the ap-pointment of the new superior.

Sr. Regina Sr. Ruth

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Sr. Ulla Mariam Hoffmann and Sr. Anto-nia Hippeli where invited to the Young Europe-an Benedictine Women Meeting which took place for the fifth time – this year in Bayeaux, Northern France from September 20-October 3. Participants were young European Benedictine sisters and nuns, aged under 50 years and with at least 5 years of final vows. The meeting takes place every 2 years, the last in 2012 in Keylemore, Ireland. It aims on networking in this age group within Europe and getting to know each other while working on a special subject. This year the theme is on the vow of stability.

We where 19 sisters and nuns from 9 dif-ferent European countries, i.e. Spain, Lithuania, England, Ireland, Poland, Sweden, Belgium, France and Germany.

Mother Zoe Davies (Prioress of Turvey Abbey, England) led us through the 3 days with several inputs on ‘stability’, starting with a meditative entrance session on RB, followed by sharing in little groups.

The issue of the first day where the fol-lowing questions:

WHY? Why are there cloisters/convents? Why did I join my community and not a differ-ent one?

HOW? How do we live in our communi-

ty what we believe? How do I live my monastic vocation?

WHAT? What do we do to show that we exist? What do I do to witness my passion and

YOUNG EUROPEAN BENEDICTINE WOMEN MEET IN BAYEUX

my monastic vocation?

In the afternoon we had a guided tour through the cathedral of Bayeux – a marvelous, light-flooded roman-gothic building of the 14th century.

After Vespers and dinner with the Sisters of the Bayeux community, Sr. Scholastika from Dinklage gave us a detailed insight in her re-searches of her thesis which consist of the history and development of the CIB. Despite the late hour we were all compelled by her lecture, meeting celebrities of recent Benedictine history as well as from our own congregation. We mar-veled at impressive women and men worldwide.

The second morning started with a group lectio on Genesis 28. The rest of the morning and early afternoon was devoted on sharing quotes of the bible and the Rule of St. Benedict which each of us had personally connected with stabil-ity. In addition every one of us brought a picture of one sister of her community who had taught her stability – not surprisingly they all had taught by their lives, not by words and speeches. At the latter part of the afternoon Sr. Ma-rie-Pierre and Sr. Cecile showed us around their monastery, and for coffee-time we met with some of the older sisters of Bayeux Community – suffering from the French language barrier.

After the meditative morning session on RB 72 we started our last morning together with a short introduction of our communities with special focus on the question whether we belong to an independent abbey, an abbey within a con-gregation or a priory within a congregation or whatever connecting structures. Finally we lo-cated our convent house on a map of Europe.

In the afternoon we went to the beach of Arromanches-les-Bains. Here the Allies landed 70 years ago. In silence we went there, praying for peace in our world and lighting small can-dles. Who could have imagined 70 years ago that people from England, France, Germany, Belgium, Spain, Lithuania, Poland, Sweden would meet to pray together where 37,000 Allied and 55000 German soldiers died here?

By: Sr Ulla Mariam Hoffmann, OSB and Sr. Antonia Hippeli, OSB

Hôtellerie Monastique «La Joie Saint Benoît»

P a g e 3 V o l u m e I I , I s s u e 6

HEALTH CARE WORKERS

ATTEND VATICAN CONFERENCE

Sr. Caridad attended XXIX International Conference organized by the Pontifical Council for Health Care Workers at the Synod Hall of the Vatican on November 20-22. The theme was “The Person with Autism Spectrum Disorders: Ani-mating Hope”. During the two days of study, numerous experts in this field presented topics on epide-miology , national and international health-care, politics, research, prevention and thera-peutic contributions, the early diagnosis and identification of autism spectrum disorders; pharmacologocal and behavioural therapy; the socio-cultural and educational aspects and the-ological and pastoral approaches. In the morning of the last day of the conference, all the participants joined people with autism spectrum disorders and their fami-lies, relatives, health care workers, priests, men and women religious and vounteers at the Paul VI Hall for testimonies, musical program and concluded with a prayer by Pope Francis .

Bong Pyeong community is located in the middle of Kangwon-do. It is a small rural town with beautiful scenery and clean air. Seoul Pri-ory started Bong Pyeong community in May 2004 upon the invitation of Bishop John Chang of Chunchon diocese. The community and sis-ters’ houses were built in 2009. After that the sisters’ house was used as a resting place for our sick sisters. A sister who worked in Jinbu parish also stayed in this house.

Our sisters worked hard for the evangeli-zation of the people in the Bong Pyeong area. After 11 years, Bong Pyeong community was raised to the status of a parish and the parish priest came to be permanently stationed. Since this new parish was suffering economically, the Sisters had to leave the place.

Our sisters who had been there worked with zeal and love for the people. The sisters ex-perienced much joy of seeing the growth of the people and lots of blessings from the Lord. Now the sisters are looking forward to go to any place where the Lord is calling them.

SEOUL CLOSES B0NG PYEONG by: Sr. Illumina Lee, OSB

Bong Pyeong Station

Sr. Caridad at the Synod Hall of the Vatican

IBERIAN PRIORY

Sr. Timotea (l) handing the

document to Sr. Margarete (r) Sr. Teresa Maria

On November 4 Sr. Margarete Wegscheid of the Tutzing Priory was installed as the new superior of Madrid. She was formerly mis-sioned in Sorocaba and Angola.

The eldest African vocation in our entire

congregation is Sr. Teresa Maria Umba Cutane-

guera who celebrated her ruby jubilee of pro-fession in Torres Novas on November 1.

Sr. Timotea Kronschnabl, OSB

By: Sr. Caridad Choi, OSB

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We are going to assess our relationship with God, Giver and Creator, by examining how we receive the gifts of creation. Before modern chemistry and physics, people used to think that every creature was a different combination of four basic elements: fire, earth, air and water. How do we receive these elemental gifts in our private and societal lives today?

WATER

Life began in wa-ter. In begins ever anew in the water of wombs and eggs. Nearly 800 million people lack adequate drink-ing water. We use water not

only when we turn the tap or flush the toilet, but every time we buy something. For example, it takes 15 000 liters of water to produce 1 kilogram of beef and every one liter of bottled water re-quires 3 liters of water in production. So even if Canada is blessed with an abundance of fresh wa-ter, our consumption of imported goods contrib-utes to water scarcity around the world. How do I conserve, protect and share water? Am I grate-ful for life? If yes, then how can I take water for granted?

LAND

Consider what we eat, or more significantly, what we do not eat. Nearly half of all food produced in Canada ends up wasted be fore tasted. Canadian

households discard 25% of the food they pur-chase. Producing all that wasted food adds

substantially to the soil erosion, pollution and

ECOLOGICAL EXAMEN

deforestation committed by industrial

agriculture. How I treat my food is how I treat my home. Do I take more than I can eat? How well do I know the land supporting me. How often do I get out to walk with and listen to the geog-raphy where I live?

AIR

Nothing is more communal that breath-ing. The particles that were in your lungs a mi-nute ago could entermy lungs any moment. We are

always drinking from the same airy cup. And not just we humans, but all animals, insects, plants. What do I bring to this universal neighborhood? Besides dirtying the air, our greenhouses gases have made it warmer and wetter, inducing more storms, floods and landslides. Do I put my convenience and com-fort ahead of the safety and stability of the at-mospheric neighborhood? Do I experience my need to breathe as an individual right or a com-mon responsibility?

FIRE

Warmth and light! The gifts of fire are so dear to us the we keep them in our hearts and our minds. Most Canadians receive these gifts today not from

the hearth but rather from the wall socket. We plug in to draw out all the benefits of electricity. But every switch we flip or button we press means that somewhere energy is being generated and degraded. Am I aware that my use of power here dis-empowers another environment somewhere else? Whether it is nuclear waste, flooded valleys behind a dam or carbon emissions from coal and gas, most of my modern “fire” burns places I do not see. Is my use of electricity gentle and en-lightened, or dark and heavy? About The Author Greg Kennedy, SJ is a Jesuit scholastic who is pursuing a Licentiate in Sacred Theology at the Javeriana University in Bogata, Colombia.

by: Greg Kennedy, SJ

Source: dreamstime.com

Source: inhabitat.com

Source: leafuk.org

Source: news.com.au

In the last Prioresses’ Meeting held in Korea last October it was agreed upon that the LIFESTREAM will regularly publish articles on Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation. (JPIC). This page is devoted on how the four basic elements are treated. Pope Francis’ denouncement of human trafficking is found on page 5.

V o l u m e I I , I s s u e 6 P a g e 5

The third annual meeting of Korean Mis-sionaries in Africa (KAM) was held at the Subia-co Center in Nairobi, Kenya from November 10 to 14. This was sponsored by the Pontifical Mis-sion Societies in Korea .The theme of the meet-ing was Being Joy of the Gospel. Fr. Selvam, a pro-fessor in Tangaza College, was invited as a guest speaker. He talked about Jesus’ style of Ministry in Action. Among the 51 missionaries who attended were 15 priests, 31 sisters and lay missionaries from 12 countries. Nine Korean Missionary Ben-edictine Sisters shared their mission experience.

YEAR OF CONSECRATED LIFE

KOREAN SISTERS MEET

IN NAIROBI, KENYA

From l-r: Sr. Serva Shin (Nairobi), Sr. Tabitha Sohn (Windhoek), Sr. Majola Lee (Windhoek), Sr. Seraphia Jeong (Peramiho), Sr. Pascha Park (Nairobi), Sr. Lugarda Park (Angola), Sr. Lioba Yang (Peramiho), Sr. Columba Kim, (Ndanda), Sr. Maria Koh (Nairobi)

POPE DENOUNCES

HUMAN TRAFFICKING Source: Romereports.com (12-10-2014)

January 1st 2015 will mark the World Day of Peace. That day, the Pope will denounce the fact that worldwide, roughly 30 million people are exploited every year.

The theme is 'Slaves no More, but Broth-ers and Sisters. The text highlights that there are many forms of slavery, from forced labor, to sex-ual exploitation and even the sale and trade of organs.

The Pope will make a call to action, ask-ing governments to protect human dignity and to pass laws and regulations that will stop the abuse. He will also call for workers rights to be protected.

The Pope also wants consumers to avoid buying products that were made through forced labor. A purchase he says, is not only about eco-nomics, but also about morality.

By: Sr. Columba Kim, OSB

should be dour, discontented and dissatisfied, for “a gloomy disciple is a disciple of gloom”. From Olinda Sr. Vania Toscano shares, “We had a grand event at the Cathedral on November 30 for the opening mass of the Year of Consecrated Life (YCL). More than 400 religious including the elderly ones like our own Sr. Ursula, and M. Mectildis Vilaça, the former Abbess of the Benedictines in Olinda who just turned 90. After the mass the religious went to our priory house. Our space was crowded for the lecture of Bishop Fernando Saburido and his Auxiliary Bishop Genival together with the priest in charge of the YCL in our diocese and the newly appointed Auxiliary. After the animated lecture luncheon given by the Archdiocese was served.”

Fifteeen Sisters of the Casa community joined hundreds of consecrated men and wom-en in the prayer vigil organized for the Year of Consecrated Life at the Basilica of St. Mary Ma-jor, Rome on November 29. Below is an excerpt from a video mes-sage of Pope Francis who at that time was on a visit to Turkey: “What in particular do I expect from this year of grace for consecrated life? That the old say-ing will always be true: “Where there are religious, there is joy”. ..show that God is able to fill our hearts to the brim with happiness...None of us

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IJP PARTICIPANTS From l-r: Sr. Antoinette Adelmann (formator), Sr. Mary Martin Likuwa (Windhoek), Sr. Kalista Matinya (Peramiho), Sr. Loice Jelanga Kisang (Nairobi), Sr. Immaculate Namanda (Jinja), Sr. Doroteia Tchinacussoki (Angola), Sr. Maria Zilmar Batista de Oliveira (Olinda) and Sr. Mary Fausina Varghese (India)

The International Juniors’ Program on its

third year at the Casa Santo Spirito, Rome start-

ed on November 29, 2014, the first vespers of Ad-

vent Sunday I. It ends on November 22, 2015 on

the Solemnity of Christ the King. The program

follows the whole cycle of the liturgical year.

Seven young sisters were sent to Rome for a

deeper experience of prayer, work, studies, pil-

grimages and apostolate among the refugees and

other marginalized people.

INTERNATIONAL JUNIORS’

PROGRAM (IJP) 2 1 1 3 Aside from the Sisters who were trans-ferred to assume key positions, the following sis-ters were moved for good to their respective sta-tions:

1. November 20: Sr. Benilda Maramba from Ndanda back to Manila

2. November 21: Sr. Walburga Maria Volkhausen from Sorocaba to Haus St. Ben-edikt

3. December 5: Sr. Stephanie Zamoras from Jinja back to Manila

Sr. Ancilla Vizcarra, OSB, 92, died in Manila on Septemer 8.

Sr. Lolita de Vera, OSB, 77, died in Manila on September 10.

Sr.Anania Neckermann, OSB, 95, died in Tutzing on November 27.

Sr. Liliana Criguer, OSB, 89, died in Sorocaba on December 11.