Posted By The Catholic Free Press

By Tanya Connor

She grew up in a large family in Worcester and spent years in leadership among her fellow religious. Last week she began a new ministry – as liaison between them and the bishop.
She is Sister Cathleen Toomey, a Sister of Mercy of the Americas. She entered the congregation in a house once part of the Underground Railroad. She wouldn’t stay long, figured her father, who sometimes received late-night calls from the bishop – thanks to his four teenaged daughters. She was the second pursuing religious life, not as serious as her older sister. As Sister Cathleen puts it, “I majored in fun” in school.
But decades later, in this Year of Consecrated Life, Bishop McManus has appointed her Episcopal Liaison to Religious for the Diocese. She is to “maintain a bond” between him and “members of religious institutes and other forms of consecrated life.”

LSA Family Health Service Welcomes Pope Francis to East Harlem

A family will represent the agency at the blessing at Our Lady Queen of Angels and paper flowers made by LSA mothers will be displayed at the school

September 9, 2015 – LSA Family Health Service, founded by the Little Sisters of the Assumption, is proud to join Catholic Charities of New York in welcoming Pope Francis to New York City.

The Garcia family – Martina Juárez, her husband Manuel Garcia, two of their children and their grandson – has been invited to represent LSA and its work in the community, at Pope Francis' reception and blessing at the Our Lady Queen of Angels school in East Harlem on September 25th. They will be among approximately 200 guests, mostly immigrants and refugees served by Catholic Charities of New York, attending the reception. The family has been a recipient of services from LSA Family Health Service for over 10 years and has benefited from the food pantry, advocacy services, early childhood programs and education programs.

See press  coverage, learn more about the Juárez-Garcia family.

Additionally, 225 paper flowers made by mothers at LSA will be on display as centerpieces for the tables at the reception.

“For over 50 years, we have been carrying out the mission of our founders, the Little Sisters of the Assumption, to uplift the most vulnerable among us,” said Traci Lester, CEO of LSA Family Health Service.  “We are honored to welcome Pope Francis to East Harlem, and to share with him our commitment to serving our neighbors.”

From July 30 to August 27, Assumptionist Brothers Paul and Ryan led a book group through The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis.  Meeting at St. Anne's & St. Patrick's Parish in Fiskdale, the group, which also included parishoners from nearby parishes, numbered around thirty people. We met on Thursday evenings despite the August heat.

The Great Divorce is a dream of the afterlife.  After death the characters in this story board a bus for heaven.  Before getting there, they meet others they had known in the life before.  In the ensuing conversations the reader is led to discover the importance of choices, which move us either closer or further from the Lord.  What keeps us from heaven is selfishness.  What helps us get there is consenting to the Lord's desire to purify us and prepare our hearts for heaven, a process that is not comfortable at first but, as Lewis points out, marks the beginning of lasting joy.

At a recent Sunday liturgy in Brighton, the Assumptionist communities from the Center and Pavel House, the staff, returning residents and guests welcomed three new residents to Market St., with one more who came this week.

These young men include: Tristan Macdonald from MA, who teaches Theology and English at St. Joseph' s Prep here in Brighton, Carey Stephen from Minnesota, who is pursuing an MTS at BC's STM with a Dean's Fellowship and Basil Gillen from GA, a deacon in the Syriac Orthodox Church and who has begun work on a MA in Middle Eastern Studies at BC. Joining them this week is Fr. Ernest Gillen, Vicar General for the Archdiocese of Luxembourg and professor of Moral Theology at their seminary. He will be doing a sabbatical year at BC in Medical Ethics.

After these introductions were made, Fr. Claude, the superior at the Center, shared much organizational and pertinent information necessary for the smooth and comfortable operation of such a large house. Following a short question and answer period, everyone adjourned to the dining room for one of Michelle's delicious brunches. So officially, another well anticipated year has begun!