Sister Noelle Hart follows the call to Bradenton, Florida

Publication: June 23, 2011  

By Michael J. Johnson,  The Southern Cross

 

“God has never written straight, he has always written in crooked lines,” said Sister Noelle Hart, MFIC as she described her life as a Missionary Sister of the Immaculate Conception.

 

She reflected on her life recently as she prepared to leave the staff of Sacred Heart Parish in Savannah for a new position as director of a clinic in Bradenton, Florida.

 

Sister Noelle entered the convent in 1963. “My mother told me, “she said, “that I wouldn’t last two weeks. But such a feeling of peace came over me, I knew I was where God wanted me to be as soon as I walked into the novitiate house.”

 

She spent 11 years ministering in the Archdiocese of Boston, interrupted by 3 years teaching in Pittsburgh and followed by 2 years of leadership at the Province's infirmary in Tenafly, NJ. She then returned home to Syracuse to care for her aging parents. In 1991, she took a sabbatical in Rome, Italy.

 

While on sabbatical, she made a journey to the Island of Guernsey in the English Channel. It was on this Island where the Order’s Foundress, Elizabeth Hayes, had lived that she had a revelation. Looking at the countryside surrounding the site of Mother Hayes’ parents’ graves Sister Noelle said, “I was taken aback that this woman (Hayes) had left such beauty to take care of God’s church.” Hayes left the island and founded an Order to minister to the poor, the marginalized, and especially to women and children. “She responded,” said Sister Hart, “to the call to go wherever she was needed.”

 

Sister Hart felt the call to do the same. Upon returning to the States, she found herself working at Saint Clare’s Center in Albany, Georgia. The center is a thrift shop and soup kitchen serving the needs of the poor and the Hispanic community. “I soon realized I needed to learn Spanish,” she said. She studied Spanish at the Mexican American College in San Antonio, Texas. Having studied Spanish on several previous occasions, she found she was still having difficulty. She passed a statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe on her way to and from her dorm. “I found that Our Lady was speaking to me,” Sr. Noelle said, “she was saying what are you going to do for my people?” All of a sudden, Spanish clicked.

 

Following her time in San Antonio, she returned to Lawrence, Massachusetts.

 

“God wrote straight with crooked lines and I came to work with Father John Lyons at Sacred Heart Church in Savannah.” While at Sacred Heart she worked with the RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults) program, FOCUS (Fellowship of Catholic University Students), and established an active women’s prayer group. Sister Hart said, “The parish has become a part of the fabric of my being.” The decision to leave was not an easy one.

 

“My Community asked me to consider relieving a mission in Bradenton, Florida,” said Sister Hart. The Stillpoint House of Prayer is a Hispanic outreach center. “God had led me in crooked ways to Hispanic Ministry,” she remarked.

After visiting Bradenton, she said, “I was struggling with the need to leave Sacred Heart but there is a deeper spiritual need in Florida – it was a difficult decision but I felt the call to fill a leadership role in a community that might cease without my taking it over.”

 

Sister Nora Brick--they call her the Mother of Teresa of Bradenton--founded the clinic. “I don’t know how I am going to continue all that she did,” said Sister Hart, “she is a powerhouse of prayer and healing.”

 

She added, “Stillpoint serves a community of about 60 women children and men. We give out food and clothing and if we have donations, we help with rent, food, and medical expenses.”

 

In an open letter to the parishioners of Sacred Heart Church she wrote, “Please pray for me. I will need all the prayer I can get as I continue to strive to serve God’s poor there in Bradenton.”

 

She will assume responsibility for the Stillpoint House of Prayer August 5.

Missionary Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate Conception continue their tradition at Savannah’s Social Apostolate

Publication: May 19, 2011   

By Michael J. Johnson, The Southern Cross

 

Sr. Julie Franchi MFIC will serve as the fourth director of the Social Apostolate in Savannah (SSA) beginning in September.

 

Sr. Julie entered the Franciscan order in the 1960s. Her primary role has been as an educator. She says, “I have worked all over the U.S. I have taught in Chicago, Brooklyn and Boston. I was also in Bolivia where I worked as a teacher.”

 

Upon returning from Bolivia, Sr. Julie came to work with migrant workers in and around the Statesboro deanery for five years. She says, “I traveled a lot during those five years. Recalling some of the communities she served she named Glennville, Claxton, Metter, Vidalia, and Eastman. Sr. Julie said, “I went wherever they said they needed my help with something or the other.”

 

Originally from Boston, she moved back in 1995 to care for her elderly parents. While in Boston she served as Catholic Campus Minister at Simmons College, she then served on her community’s leadership team for three years. For the past eight years she has been a Spanish language teacher at Mount Alvernia High School in Newton, Massachusetts.

 

Sr. Pauline O’Brien, MFIC, the current director of the Social Apostolate was active in the search for her replacement. “Sister Pauline and I are friends,” said Sr. Julie, “she called to tell me about the position. I found myself interested after a number of people suggested I apply.”

 

Sr. Julie arrived in Savannah on the Monday of Holy Week to interview and investigate the position. She says, “Wednesday afternoon Bishop J. Kevin Boland offered me the position.”

 

The trip was a turning point she said, “Everyone helped to make me feel like I could do this job. Following the Chrism Mass on Tuesday night I felt the affection the bishop had for his priests and his people and the warmth directed at him.”

 

Sister Julie decided to accept the position and its challenges.

 

Her primary challenges are financial. She listed a few of her key concerns as “Applying for grants, getting the money that comes in on a regular basis, keeping the mission before peoples’ eyes as a cause worthy of their donation. Keeping the good work that it already does going – in the wonderful way it already does.”

 

“It will be a steep learning curve,” says Sr. Julie, “but I have had experience working as a volunteer with the homeless. In Boston I volunteered with The Pine Street Inn, Rosie’s Place and the St Francis House. I always tell my students you can’t just study religion you gotta live it.”

 

Sr. Julie said, “My most notable qualification is that I am an MFIC. We (the MFICs) have a 43 year tradition at SSA. During my interviews Msgr. James Costigan said ‘The fact that you are a MFIC – I want you to have the job.’ It made me proud that that our community is held in such esteem. There is something in our DNA as a community that I think will help me.”

She concluded by saying, “I am proud of the work our Sisters have done. Sr. Catherine Moore began the Apostolate, Sr. Mary Therese Brown carried on the mission and Sister Pauline O’Brien will pass the directorship to me. It is an honor to follow in the footsteps of those women. I hope to continue doing it as well as they have.”

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR 2011

ELIZABETH HAYES GRANT RECIPIENTS  

We are happy to present our five recipients of this year's Elizabeth Hayes Grants:

 

 

Sr. Veronica Weygand  Albany, GA     $2,500

Neighbors in Need, is an outreach center in one of the neediest area of Albany, Georgia. We work with St. Clare’s Center which is located on the same grounds, and both are sponsored by St. Teresa Catholic Church.  Together, our mission is “to assist at-risk individuals and families who are in need and/or in crisis situations with various services.  We also provide programs to help people move beyond crisis toward self sufficiency and to become transformative agents of positive change in our city.” We will use our Elizabeth Hayes Grant of $2,500, as we did last year, to purchase two new uniforms @ $50 each for fifty students (Dress for Success Program)

  

    

Sr. Maureen Coyle   Piura, Peru    $1,310

The Shekina/Integrated Health Center has received help from the Elizabeth Hayes Grant Fund in past years. This year have requested financial assistance for some accessories for the Center. Our Elizabeth Hayes Fund grant for $1,310, will allow us to purchase 26 plastic chairs, a wooden built-in closet for the laundry only, an acupuncture magnet machine, and window curtains for the Center.

 

Sr. Jean Morrissey:  Coroico, Bolivia     $2,500

The UAC-CP (Unidad Académica Campesina-Carmen Pampa) is a unique Catholic college in rural Bolivia that provides higher education for poor, indigenous young men and women. We will use our Elizabeth Hayes Grant of $2,500 to help support the Student Food Cooperative Program.

Sr. Nora Brick:  Bradenton, FL       $2,500

The Stillpoint House of Prayer has received help in past years from the Elizabeth Hayes Grant Fund. Once again they will receive financial support for the Back to School Migrant Shoe Program. Sr. Nora has just retired from this ministry which she founded many years ago but her work will be continued by the MFIC's, along with many loyal assistants and volunteers.

 

Sr. Helena Harney: Coroico, Nor Yungas, La Paz, Bolivia   $2,500 The Elizabeth Hayes Grant has recommended financial support for the Internado "LaSalle" Cochun Program and has given $2,500 toward the School Textbook Project.