How To Become A Sister Of Charity? The 80 Top Answers

Our work would be overwhelming if we saw everything in a different light than God’s own work and depending entirely on the wonderful help of His almighty providence.

-Mother Mary Aikenhead

The Sisters of Charity Heritage Center is located in Potts Point, close to the first hospital and school founded by the sisters in Sydney.

Our site is an immersive multimedia experience for history and social justice students and for those who want to learn more about what they can do to make the world a fairer place for all. We hope you enjoy the experiences on our website and that you can visit the center to learn more of our fascinating history in person.

The Religious Sisters of Charity or Irish Sisters of Charity are a Roman Catholic religious body founded in Ireland on January 15, 1815 by Mary Aikenhead. Their motto is Caritas Christi urget nos (“The love of Christ urges us”; 2 Corinthians 5:14). .

The Institute is based in Dublin. The church is led by a church leader who is assisted by a group of sisters known as the general leadership team or general council.[1] It operates as a registered charity in England and Scotland.[2] The Religious Sisters of Charity of Australia are constituted as a separate congregation.

history [edit]

The religious institute was founded by Mary Frances Aikenhead (1787–1858), who opened her first monastery in Dublin in 1815.[3] In 1834 St. Vincent’s Hospital in Dublin was founded by Mary Aikenhead.[4][5]

In 1838 five sisters came to Australia – the first women religious to set foot on Australian soil – and later opened a convent in Parramatta. The Australian church has operated independently since 1842.

The sisters came to England in 1840. They first came to Birkenhead in 1900. Since 2020, most of the sisters have been working in the house in the parish. The Provincial House is in Acton, London.

In 1845 Mother Aikenhead had been advised to move to the country for health reasons. She bought Greenmount, a late 18th-century house in Harold’s Cross. Renamed “Mountain of Our Lady”, it became the mother house of the congregation, housing the novitiate and a school. In 1879 the motherhouse was moved to Mount St. Anne’s in Milltown. The Sisters run a cultural center on the grounds of Our Lady’s Hospice, Harold’s Cross, Dublin.

ministry [edit]

In addition to the traditional three vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, the Sisters of Charity take a fourth vow: to devote their lives to the service of the poor.[6]

The community is active in Ireland, England, Scotland, Australia, California, Nigeria, Zambia and Malawi, serving in the areas of health care, education, pastoral and social work, catechesis, home visitation, homes for the disabled and adult education.[7] The Generalate is in Sandymount, Dublin

In 1821 the governor of Kilmainham Gaol asked sisters to visit female prisoners; Prison visitation remains an important ministry for the congregation.[8] Stanhope Street Primary School in Dublin originally opened in 1867. A new building on the same site continues to educate students. In line with their work with the homeless, in June 2017 the Religious Sisters of Charity launched the opening of 28 new homes for disabled, homeless and vulnerable people in Harold’s Cross, Dublin.[9]

The Religious Sisters of Charity came to Nigeria in 1961.[7] In Lagos, Nigeria, the sisters work at St. Joseph’s Clinic, Kirikiri.

hospice care [edit]

When the motherhouse of the community moved to Mount St Anne’s in 1879, the sisters opened Our Lady’s Hospice at Harold’s Cross and pioneered the modern hospice movement under Matron Anna Gaynor. The following year it had a capacity of forty beds. [10] In December 2003, Our Lady’s Hospice opened a satellite unit providing specialist palliative care in Blackrock, Co. Dublin, provided through the generosity of the Louis and Zelie Martin Foundation. [10]

In 1905 they established St Joseph’s Hospice in Hackney. In August 1939 St Joseph’s Hospice was taken over as an Air Raid Casualty Station and the patients were moved to a nursing home in Bath. In 1952, Cicely Saunders, a palliative care pioneer, came to St. Joseph’s, where she remained for seven years researching pain control. [11] The hospice was subsequently converted into a stock company and took over the monastery for additional premises, while the monastery of St. Joseph was relocated to a new building on the site with its own care section. [12]

The hospice was subsequently converted into a GmbH and took over the monastery for additional premises, while the St. Josef monastery moved to a new building on the site with its own care section. The congregation extended its work to Scotland in 1948 and two years later opened St Margaret’s Hospice in Clydebank. Due to increased demand, a new St Margaret of Scotland Hospice opened nearby in September 1971 with a capacity of 60 beds. This was also later expanded. [13]

In 1957, at the request of Bishop James Scanlan of Motherwell, four sisters, with the support of the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul, established a nursing home for the infirm elderly and terminally ill at Assumption House in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire. Originally equipped with thirteen beds, in 1965 it already accommodated twenty-one. By the late 1970s, it was becoming apparent that much of the space was being occupied by elderly long-term patients, to an almost complete exclusion of the terminally ill. Additional space was needed and, with Assumption House in need of significant repairs, the sisters agreed to take over the former St Margaret’s School. St Andrew’s Hospice opened in 1986 with a capacity of 30 beds; In 2006 an extension for offices and administration was added.[14]

In 1892 Agnes Bernard of the Sisters of Charity founded a convent and wool mill at Foxford, County Mayo. The wool spinning mills are still (2017) an important employer.[15]

controversy[edit]

Child abuse[edit]

The Sisters of Charity are one of 18 religious congregations managing children’s homes investigated by the Commission to Inquiry in Child Abuse and were party to the 2002 €128 million compensation agreement with the State of the Republic of Ireland. The Commission’s work began in 1999 and on May 20, 2009 it published its public report, commonly referred to as the Ryan Report. Following the release of the Ryan Report in 2009, the Sisters of Charity offered to contribute an additional €5 million toward the €1.5 billion in reparation costs that the state will incur with the participation of former residents of the institutions.

By 2017, the Sisters of Charity had contributed €2 million of their 2009 bid plus €3 million in waived legal costs from the Child Abuse Inquiry Commission.[16][17]

Magdalena Asylum[ edit ]

The Religious Sisters of Charity were one of four Catholic organizations run by Magdalene Laundries in Ireland. These institutions operated from the 18th to the late 20th centuries to house “fallen women”.

In 1993 an authorized exhumation of a mass grave which had been in use between 1880 and 1970 took place to allow for the sale of laundry and convent land for a private housing development in High Park, Dublin. The mass grave was found to contain the remains of 155 women – 22 more bodies than were originally reported to have been buried there.[18][19] Many of the bodies showed signs of injury, such as B. Broken limbs encased in plaster.[20] The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child eventually called for a government inquiry[21], as did the United Nations Committee against Torture (UNCAT). UNCAT also called for the establishment of a reparations system for survivors.[22] A formal state apology was issued in 2013 and a €50-60 million bereaved compensation scheme was set up. Neither the Catholic Church[23] nor the four religious institutes that run the Irish Asylums have so far contributed to the Fund for Survivors, despite requests from the Irish Government.[22]

Senator Martin McAleese chaired an interdepartmental committee to establish the facts of state involvement in the Magdalen Laundries. An interim report was published in October 2011.[24] In 2013 the BBC published a special inquiry, Sue Lloyd-Roberts’ “Calling for Justice for Women and Children Abused by Irish Nuns.”[20] The Sisters of Mercy, Sisters of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd and Sisters of Charity, have ignored calls from the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child and the UN Committee against Torture to contribute to the compensation fund for victims, including 600 who were still alive as of March 2014.[25] In 2013, the Sisters of Mercy, along with the three other religious orders that ran Magdalena Laundries, announced that they would not contribute to the state’s reparation scheme for women who had been in the laundries.[16]

St Vincent Hospital[ edit ]

In May 2013 it was announced that the new National Maternity Hospital Dublin would be built on a site belonging to St Vincent’s University Hospital in Elm Park, which was founded in 1834 by Mother Mary Aikenhead, the founder of the Religious Sisters of Charity, with the sisters’ ownership , participation in management and representation on the board.[26][27] On May 29, 2017, in response to weeks of pressure and public outrage, the Sisters of Charity announced that they would be ending their role in St Vincent’s Healthcare Group and would not be involved in owning or managing the new hospital and would be giving the land away for free the St. Vincent’s Healthcare Group valued at approximately EUR 200 million; the two sisters on the board resigned.[28][29] It later emerged that the mechanism for future control of the hospital was to transfer ownership to a trust – St Vincent’s Holdings – which would take over the hospital if the new building, costing €1 billion, was approved by the state is paid, it’s complete. St. Vincent’s Holdings would then lease the hospital back to the state for 99 years.[30] This period was later extended to 299 years.

See also[edit]

References[ edit ]

Further reading[edit]

Lack of access to sanitation remains a challenge for menstrual hygiene management, particularly in nunneries, which, unlike monasteries, receive little or no funding from the government. Access to basic hygiene items like pads, let alone other facilities, is limited.

Ruby Song from Kuala Lumpur recently visited several nunneries in Thimphu and Punakha and taught nuns how to make reusable pads out of pieces of cloth. “Recyclable and eco-friendly is the keyword. These are all made from cotton materials. It’s zero plastic,” Ruby said as she explained the steps to sowing reusable pads.

The 53-year-old Malaysian is a cancer survivor. Ruby gave up her anti-aging business two years ago to pursue her passion of helping underprivileged women improve their wellbeing through education and hygiene.

She believes that access to sanitary pads is key to empowering women and increasing their productivity. “There are a lot of school-age girls who drop out of school after they get their period. How can we eliminate poverty if girls don’t go to school?” she said.

“During their period, they hide for four to five days because they don’t have access to basic sanitary pads. But once we teach them how to sow pads, and those things can take about four months, and within that four-month cycle, they can use the sanitary pads and go about their daily activities without inconvenience.”

Teaching nuns how to make reusable pads is also an important part of the Bhutan Nuns Foundation’s Menstrual Hygiene Management training course. With support from UNICEF, the foundation has even provided sewing machines to some nunneries in eastern Bhutan.

Commercial sanitary napkins are not readily available in remote nunneries. Even if it is, not all nuns can afford it. Therefore, reusable pads are advertised as an alternative to commercial pads.

“You can’t buy in stock because there’s no money. The nuns in remote nunneries still use pieces of cloth,” said Anim Namgyel Lhamo, a deputy program officer at the Bhutan Nuns Foundation.

However, menstrual hygiene can start with pads but doesn’t end there. Equally important is access to adequate restrooms stocked with soap and water. Facilities for the safe disposal of used sanitary napkins are also essential. But not all nunneries have these facilities.

“Even if we give them practical advice on how to manage menstruation, it doesn’t help much because they don’t have enough water to wash. Also there are not enough toilets. Whenever I visit nunneries, the nuns tell me to do something about pad disposal,” said Anim Namgyel Lhamo.

dr Dekee Yangzom of Gidakom Hospital is an active advocate for menstrual hygiene in schools and nunneries. She also knows how dire the situation can be at times. “There is hardly any water in the public toilets, but also in schools and institutions,” she said.

“There is also a need to put closed bins in girls’ toilets for the disposal of used sanitary napkins so they don’t get flushed down the toilets, which is causing a lot of problems.”

She says menstrual hygiene should not be taken lightly. “It increases the risk of infection in the reproductive system and urinary tract, which can lead to fertility problems later in life. The other thing is if you don’t change your pads from time to time it can lead to skin problems.”

A lack of sanitation is known to keep girls away from school. According to the Knowledge, Attitude and Practices Survey on Menstrual Hygiene Management, conducted in 2017 by the Department of Education and UNICEF, 48 percent of girls missed school due to menstrual cramps and discomfort.

Seventy-eight percent of teenage nuns said they miss classes or activities during their period because they find the toilets too dirty to use.

According to UNICEF, girls’ toilets in schools are often located too close to boys’ toilets, raising privacy concerns.

Nuns and girls also reported only taking half-body baths during periods due to a lack of hot water.

All of this requires the improvement of water and sanitation facilities in schools and nunneries so that nuns and schoolgirls do not compromise on menstrual hygiene and skip classes.

“Effective menstrual hygiene is very important to improve the overall health of girls and women. It also gives them dignity. It empowers them and helps them reach their full potential in the workplace,” says Dr. dekee

The hard-drinking Catholic priest, glass of whiskey in hand, is a well-known stereotype that Hollywood consistently captures and backs up with real-world examples. But for most people, the idea of ​​a nun with a drinking problem is inappropriate.

The sisters in an alcoholism treatment program housed in an old convent in St. Mary Magdalen Parish near Pico and La Cienega boulevards are shedding these prejudices with the same zeal that some nuns had in the late ’60s to shed theirs shed habits.

The facility, called the Center for Renewed Life, houses a mix of nuns and non-spiritual women who spend six months to a year overcoming addiction. The center for 1 1/2 year olds, south of Beverly Hills, is the first of its kind for sisters in Southern California and is believed to be the first in the nation to mix convalescent nuns with lay women.

Led by Sisters of the Holy Faith, a congregation based in Dublin, Ireland, the center is directed by Sister Ada Geraghty.

“I was told by someone, ‘It’s okay to drink for a priest, but not for the sisters,'” Geraghty said. “That’s the general attitude. Our traditional image and role has always been one of perfection, holiness and self-denial. But we are exposed to the same diseases as the rest of the population.

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“If we had cancer or diabetes, it wouldn’t be a problem to admit that,” she said. “But because it’s alcohol, it’s seen as a moral issue. It is the equivalent of admitting that you have fallen from grace or that you are a weak person.”

Geraghty, 50, speaks from experience. She is a recovering alcoholic whose drinking problem developed during her 10-year tenure as the principal of a New Orleans school. Four times she completed a month-long inpatient treatment program for her addiction, she said, and four times she relapsed.

In fact, she said, the rate of relapse among nurses after treatment was worryingly high. And so Geraghty set out to create a program tailored to the unique needs of nuns.

“I relapsed because I didn’t want to do the (follow-up) support program,” said Geraghty, who earned certification from UCLA’s year-long chemical addiction program, followed by an internship at Daniel Freeman Marina Hospital’s Exodus Recovery Center. “And there has been a collective denial in the community (religious and secular) that sisters have a drinking problem. Finally, after 10 years, I finally had enough of the pain (and attended regular recovery meetings).”

The tendency in religious life to isolate and be non-confrontational and self-sacrificing under the guise of service to others helps and encourages alcoholic behavior, Geraghty said. The problem, she said, is compounded by the nuns’ complicity in mutual denial of an issue.

Treatment at the Center for Renewed Life is conventional in many ways and is based on a standard 12-step recovery program. It includes group and individual psychotherapy sessions, a medical assessment, community living, prayer, and a follow-up plan.

But there are some key differences. Although most inpatient treatment programs last a month, this one lasts at least half a year. To ensure proper aftercare, the center’s staff go into a sister’s order to teach their fellow sisters and superiors.

And by bringing nuns and lay women together in a treatment program, Geraghty says, nuns learn from non-minister women honesty about their addiction, how to ask for help, and how to stop sublimating one’s feelings and needs. All of the sisters at the center, ranging in age from their mid-30s to their 60s, have emotional problems stemming from childhood sexual, physical or psychological abuse that they are only now facing, Geraghty said.

Sister Mary, who asked not to give her full name, is from a religious order in Ireland. Sitting in a Spanish-style pink-on-pink convalescent home living room, she spoke about her battle with alcoholism and her childhood memories of her father’s alcohol-related violence and abuse. Although the Catholic Church had never banned alcohol, she said she was only exposed to it when the church liberalized its rules for nuns in the late ’60s.

“There wasn’t much joy in the convent back then,” says Sister Mary, who is in her late 40s. “It was all so bleak. So I got into the habit of going out with friends and family and quietly topping up my glass when no one else was doing it. I deceived myself about the amount I drank, had power outages and couldn’t remember getting to bed.”

After drinking to excess in a hotel one night, Sister Mary said the police pulled her over for erratic driving. They forced her to spend the night in a nearby convent and called her superior, who confronted her the next day. After a treatment program in Dublin, Sister Mary resumed her professional life in Ecuador, where she lived without a support program.

Shortly after, she began drinking wine, beer, and later liquor from a bottle kept in a medicine cabinet. She was reported back to her superior and sent to the Center for Renewed Life. She said she will not be allowed to return to her religious community unless she faithfully attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings after her recovery.

If there is one factor that seems to have coincided with the number of clergy seeking addiction treatment, it is the passage of the reforms of Vatican II (1962-65) that modernized the Catholic Church. Coupled with the conversion of the Mass from Latin to colloquialism and the opportunity for nuns to break their habits and mingle regularly with lay people, there has been an increased exposure to alcohol for all clergy at church and social gatherings.

Before the Second Vatican Council, Geraghty said: “Alcohol was not available to us. . . . Sisters who were genetically predisposed to alcoholism would never have known about it before the rules changed.”

The center receives no funding from the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles or Catholic charities, Geraghty said. It works with funds that come from private philanthropists and from its own fundraising efforts.

David L. Murphy, director of the Exodus Recovery Center at Daniel Freeman Marina Hospital, is the center’s medical director. He said the treatment is based on the premise that alcoholism is a disease and that to a large extent it is inherited – a theory strongly supported by studies involving twins and adopted children.

“Alcoholism runs in families,” he said. “Scientists don’t deny that there are social, cultural and environmental factors, but a big factor is genetics – the inherited ability to become addicted.”

Father Terry Ritchie, a priest who heads a drug abuse ministry for the archdiocese, said there are no reliable studies tracking the incidence of alcoholism among clergy. But Ritchie, who has worked with alcoholic clergy for 17 years, said his work suggested the rate was comparable to that of the general population. (The National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence puts the average rate of alcoholism in the general population at 1 in 10.)

Sister Kathleen, a Dominican from the San Jose Mission who lives at the Center for Renewed Life, spoke of the shame that women religious feel about their problem. Following treatment for bulimia, Sister Kathleen, who said she had been drinking excessively for about five years, was advised to seek treatment for alcoholism.

“It was a big shock to me,” said Sister Kathleen, a teacher who has been on the program for five months. “I just couldn’t admit it. I just wanted to maintain this image that I’m a good sister and I’m in control. People have certain expectations that sisters don’t drink and that we rely on our God to solve all our problems. I drank mostly outdoors and the other sisters noticed but said nothing. There is a charity among sisters. . . the average sister wouldn’t face anyone else.”

At a recent weekly group session, psychotherapist Kristine A. Kepp sat in a circle of 12 women, six of whom were sisters. The sisters sat on the overstuffed furniture as if afraid they were taking up too much space–hands clasped in their laps, feet together and flat on the floor, and eyes downcast. The lay women looked more relaxed, arms draped over the backs of the sofas and legs crossed. During the two-hour session, each woman had the opportunity to share her feelings and struggles with sobriety.

Sister Nora, a school teacher in her 60s, said: “I am so grateful to have the freedom to share my brokenness with these (non-spiritual) ladies and to let them see that we are only human and not one step ahead of them are . It’s nice to know that I’m surrounded by all these nice people and that I won’t shock them by having something to say. There’s no need to run.”

Rhonda, a lay participant who asked not to use her real name, replied: “It was really hard for me to get into a convent full of nuns. I thought, “How am I supposed to deal with my past here (being an alcoholic since I was 14)?” My idea of ​​nuns was that they had a special contact or connection with God. But what I found were these really beautiful women and I was really struck by their humanity.”

Even after months of treatment, Director Geraghty said, participants continue to encounter myths and stereotypes that have bound sisters for years.

“It’s hard to shake off the old training,” she said. “We didn’t think much of ourselves before. It was yourself last and others first, go it alone, stay isolated and sweep it under the rug. The old idea was to love God and love your neighbor before yourself. When in truth the commandment is: ‘Love God and your neighbor as yourself.’”

The nuns pray the Liturgy of the Hours together five times a day, spend an hour and a half a day in spiritual prayer, do spiritual reading for at least half an hour a day, and are silent except during rest, which occurs after lunch and dinner; and participate in a variety of works: upkeep of the monastery, gardening, correspondence, art work, computer projects, kitchen and sacristy work, needlework and handicrafts.

Daily Schedule: 5:30 – Rise followed by an hour of spiritual prayer

7:00 am – Morning prayer followed by Holy Mass, Thanksgiving and breakfast

9:00 – Office of Readings followed by work

12:00 – Dinner and rest

2:00 – Day prayer office followed by work or rest

15:00 – spiritual reading

5:00 pm – Evening prayer office followed by half an hour of spiritual prayer

6:00 – Dinner and rest

8:15 – Night prayer office, then optional reading, writing, etc.

10:00 – Lights out

Here’s everything you need to know about becoming a nun. Getty

how to become a nun

Becoming a nun is a difficult process that requires a lot of time and sacrifice. The process itself varies from order to order.

Some religious orders have very strict requirements about who can or cannot become a nun. For example, certain Christian and Buddhist communities require their nuns to be single, childless, and debt-free.

Once you have committed yourself to an order, you undergo “training” during which you learn more about the faith, live with the other nuns of the order, and take various vows until you become a full nun. The whole process usually takes years.

What is the difference between a nun and a sister?

Many people use the terms “nun” and “sister” interchangeably. That’s because a lot of nuns call “sister [name]”. But there is actually a big difference between the two.

The term “nun” is applied to women who have taken solemn, solemn vows to live a simple life in a monastery or convent. Her life is devoted to prayer and religious study. Sisters, on the other hand, take much simpler vows. In addition, the sisters focus primarily on “works of mercy” such as charity, outreach and evangelism.

There are different types of nuns. Getty

Are there different types of nuns?

Yes, there are different types of nuns. First, nuns are divided by religion—Christianity (especially Catholicism), Buddhism, and other religions may have their own communities of nuns.

Second, within a faith, nuns are further divided into “orders,” such as the Order of Saint Benedict, the Order of Saint Clare, or the Sisters of Charity. While orders may share a general religion, each may approach the faith from a different perspective or focus.

What do the different types of nun’s habit mean?

Nuns usually wear a religious “habit” or dress that distinguishes them as members of a particular order. These usually look like long robes or tunics, plus a hat to cover the hair.

Nuns’ “uniforms” can come in a variety of colors – black and white clothing is the most common, but colorful customs also exist, as in the case of the aptly named “Pink Sisters” or Holy Spirit Adoring Sisters.

With a little knowledge and a keen eye, you can tell which order a nun belongs to (and in some cases, whether she is a novice or full nun) by the costume.

Nuns usually wear a religious “habit” or dress that distinguishes them as members of a particular order. Getty

What do nuns wear under their habit?

Some nuns, especially those living in colder climates, may wear normal clothing among their habits. Others may only wear a t-shirt and shorts. In hotter countries, nuns can even wear only underwear.

Nun Rules You Must Follow

Because religious orders are free to set their own policies, there is no one-size-fits-all set of rules that all nuns must follow. The following are just some of the most common restrictions that nuns (particularly within the Christian tradition) must follow:

You must take a vow of chastity, which means you cannot marry or engage in sexual/romantic relationships.

You have to take a vow of poverty, which means you have to live a simple life. In most cases, this means giving up your personal possessions (and any sense of “ownership”) and sharing what you have with your community. Nuns are not paid either; everything you earn (even outside of work) goes back to your order unless otherwise allowed.

You must take a vow of obedience, which means that you commit to following the faith and your religious leaders.

You may have to take a vow of silence.

You must wear modest clothing if you are not wearing your nun’s habit.

Catholic nuns, as decreed by Pope Francis, are not allowed to use smartphones or social media.

You cannot become a nun if you have been previously married. Your marriage must first be annulled (not “divorced”).

Nuns who have taken solemn vows usually live in monastic communities. Getty

Where do nuns live? Where are you going after retirement?

Nuns who have taken solemn vows usually live in closed communities, such as a convent or monastery. In this way they are separated from society and can devote themselves to a religious life undisturbed.

Nuns usually spend their whole lives in their convent. Retired nuns can choose to remain in their order (some orders have retirement homes just for this purpose), or they can live in an external retirement home or with their families.

What happens when a nun breaks her vows? Or will you get pregnant?

Technically, a nun can break her vows and/or leave the order whenever she chooses. There are also many ways to become a nun, e.g. B. if you are at an earlier stage and have only taken your “preliminary vows”.

Unfortunately, the process of breaking your vows is long and complicated. Failure to follow this process (which involves dispensation from a bishop or other leader) is considered a sin or a betrayal of the faith. Nuns who break the three main vows (chastity, obedience, poverty) can be dismissed from their community.

WATCH: Jimmy Fallon opens up about how his mother Gloria was a nun (article continues after video)

The nun life

Becoming a nun is an important life decision not to be taken lightly – after all, it means giving up the world you know for a life of dedication, prayer and celibacy.

It’s definitely not for everyone, and only a special kind of person would be able to make that commitment.

About Aaron Chang

“Aaron is a performance and results-driven leader with a proven track record of creating a positive work environment and exceptional patient experience,” said Mark Sullivan, President and CEO of Catholic Health. “His dedication and compassionate approach to healthcare align perfectly with Catholic Health’s mission and values.”

As president, Chang will oversee day-to-day operations, maintain the hospital’s financial health and continue to focus on quality and patient satisfaction. He will lead the implementation of Catholic Health’s strategic vision, policies and mission at the site level. Chang will also be at the forefront when Catholic Health launches Epic on November 1, the most advanced electronic health record (EHR) on the market.

“Aaron’s medical and business experience and his commitment to patient quality and safety make him the ideal person to assume responsibility for continuing Sisters Hospital’s tradition of world-class care,” said Marty Boryszak, Senior Vice President of Acute Care. “His forward-thinking and approachable, energetic style will complement both Catholic Health and Sisters leadership teams.”

Chang will relocate to Buffalo with his family from California and will assume the role of Sisters Hospital President in early October.

For over two hundred years, the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth (SCNs) have dedicated their lives to education, health care and social work. With an emphasis on simplicity, humility and charity, SCNs live the motto Caritas Christi Urget Nos – The love of Christ drives us.

The Sisters of Charity of Nazareth were founded in 1812. Mother Catherine Spalding is honored and remembered along with Bishop John Baptist David as co-founders of the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth.

In 1812 Bishop Benedict Flaget of the newly organized diocese of Bardstown, Kentucky, was overwhelmed by the responsibility of providing religious instruction to the children of Catholic families who had immigrated to Kentucky from Maryland after the Revolutionary War. In response to this need, Father John Baptist David called on young women who were willing to devote their lives to the service of the Church. From a group of six women who responded to the call, Catherine Spalding, originally from Maryland, was elected First Superior of the Congregation. Mother Katharina led the young congregation for 45 years and always tried to respond to the needs of the time.

In 1814 the sisters opened a one-room school at St. Thomas Farm near Bardstown. The first house in Kentucky for the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth, a log cabin, still stands in St. Thomas with the church. In 1822 the sisters moved to Nazareth and built a new school. Within a decade, the school known as Nazareth Academy was able to accommodate one hundred boarding students at its new location about three miles north of Bardstown, the site of the present Motherhouse.

In 1831, in Louisville, Kentucky, Mother Catherine opened the Presentation Academy, the city’s first Catholic school. In 1832, classes were interrupted by the cholera epidemic when the sisters volunteered to nurse victims and care for the orphans. As the epidemic abated, the sisters opened St. Vincent’s Orphanage and St. Joseph’s Infirmary, the first of their community service and health care facilities. By the mid-20th century, members of the Congregation were serving in two colleges, more than 30 high schools, and over 100 elementary schools. Countless children found homes in six orphanages and thousands of patients were cared for in 12 hospitals. Six nursing schools expanded SCN service.

Over the centuries, SCNs have earned a reputation for responsiveness and risk-taking. During the Civil War, the sisters cared for wounded and dying soldiers on both sides at military hospitals in Kentucky. During the civil rights movement, our sisters were recognized for their efforts to promote equality for all. SCNs have cared for patients with cholera, typhoid, yellow fever, influenza and victims of natural disasters such as floods, hurricanes and a tsunami.

In the 1980s, the sisters were among the few organizations caring for people living with HIV/AIDS at a time when little was known about the disease. SCNs were the first in Kentucky to open their nursing home to AIDS patients — and changed the law to allow for it. Since 1986, Nazareth Home has provided long-term care for people living with AIDS and support for their families. In 1993, four SCNs served on the founding board of directors of Kentucky’s first nonprofit organization serving women and children with AIDS, the House of Ruth.

Long before many organizations “went global” and embraced diversity, SCNs did just that. Services outside of the United States began to take root in the 1940s. Currently, SCNs live and serve in India, Nepal, Belize, and Botswana in addition to their ministry in the United States. In each of these countries, SCNs work in the areas of health care, education, social work and advocacy.

Our roots in India date back to 1947 when six sisters left Nazareth for Mokama to open a hospital and clinic to treat people with leprosy. Today, SCNs work in schools alongside hospitals and outpatient clinics across India, providing adult education, promoting community development, overseeing programs for people with disabilities, and helping to empower and educate women and families. Groundbreaking programs in cottage industry, microfinance and domestic violence prevention are underway. Recognized programs include an SCN ministry aimed at rescuing women from prostitution, including providing safe shelters for their children to break the cycle of victimization.

In 1975, the sisters began reaching out to the people of Belize, Central America. SCNs have been involved in church ministries and retreats, lay ministry leadership training, physical therapy training, adult literacy programs, and community service in towns and rural villages. Through collaboration with other organizations, members of the SCN family also build houses for people or people living in poverty, work in health clinics in rural areas and develop new educational programs.

In 1979, SCNs began serving in Nepal. There are SCNs working in schools, caring for people with physical or cognitive problems, and overseeing adult literacy courses and training in marketable skills and crafts. Countless families have improved their lives through SCN empowerment programs and human rights education. Our sisters have ministered in turbulent times in Nepal, including civil unrest.

Although globally oriented since the 1940s, the 1995 SCNs Mission Statement formally proclaimed the international character of the congregation and of service in a multicultural world. The Sisters and Associates pledge to work for justice and care for the earth in solidarity with oppressed peoples, especially the economically poor and women.

In 2000, SCNs began service in Botswana, Africa. Botswana is believed to have one of the highest known HIV/AIDS infection rates in the world. An estimated 1 in 3 people are currently living with the disease. SCNs are engaged in health care, education and provision of pastoral and social services to those infected and affected by AIDS; day care for the neediest children, including AIDS orphans; and overseeing a very active youth ministry. In 2010 the sisters celebrated 10 years of service in Botswana and were part of the opening of a groundbreaking facility, a hospice, the first of its kind in the area. Our sisters have been involved in much needed and life-giving ministries in Jwaneng, Lobatse, Kanye, Nthantlhe and Metsimotlhabe. In 2003, discussions began with the Vincentian Sisters of Charity (VSCs) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania about the possibility of the VSCs merging into the SCN congregation. That same year, for the first time, a sister from the Eastern Province was elected President of the SCN Congregation, testament to the congregation’s mission to be “an international congregation in a multicultural world.” Shalini D’Souza, SCN, a native of Bombay, India, took office on September 1, 2003.

In November 2008, the Vincentian Sisters of Charity of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania officially merged into the SCN congregation. Now, as one congregation, the ministries expanded as the number of sisters and associates increased and the variety of outreach programs increased. The Pittsburgh pioneer sisters came to the United States in 1902 with Mother Emerentiana Handlovits, their appointed superior, from Szatmar, Austria-Hungary, at the request of Rev. Adalbert Kazincy, a priest at St. Michael’s Parish in Braddock, Pennsylvania. These five Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, later known as the Vincentian Sisters of Charity, devoted themselves to the work of God, teaching and serving the sick. Her main job was to work among the large number of Slovak immigrants in the area. The membership and services of the congregation grew rapidly from teaching children in the parochial schools of Southwest Pennsylvania and founding the Vincentian High School to establishing hospitals, long-term health care facilities, and a child development center. Eventually her ministries expanded into the United States, including work among impoverished black Americans in Alabama, then parts of Canada, and later in Talara Alta, Peru.

As the SCNs begin their third century of service, the motherhouse and central offices of the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth are still on the same property where the congregation moved in 1822. The SCN family has grown to include staff, SCN volunteers, associates, friends, donors, and people working in ministry around the world. Always mindful of the SCN Mission Statement, members of the SCN family around the world pledge to “…work for justice and care for the earth in solidarity with oppressed peoples, especially the economically poor and women. We risk our lives and resources, both personally and as a company, as we engage in various ministries to carry out this mission.”

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The Missionaries of Charity were founded on October 7, 1950 by Blessed Mother Teresa with the sole purpose of “serving the poorest of the poor wholeheartedly and free of charge”. The Missionaries of Charity started as a small fellowship with just 12 members, but today the organization has over 4,500 members who run orphanages, AIDS nursing homes, and care for refugees, the blind, disabled, the elderly, alcoholics, the poor and homeless from floods, epidemics and famines.

As the organization marks its 66th anniversary, here are some facts you should know about the Missionaries of Charity:

It consists of over 4,501 nuns. The charity is active in 133 countries

A member of this organization must keep the vows of chastity, poverty, and obedience

Her fourth vow is to wholeheartedly serve the poor for free

In 1963 branches of sisters and brothers were formed

In 1984 a branch of priests, the Missionaries of the Fathers of Mercy, was founded by Mother Teresa with Fr. Joseph Langford

The sisters and fathers of the organization live without television or radio. They don’t smoke, don’t drink alcohol and beg for their food

Missionaries care for people like: refugees, ex-prostitutes, the mentally ill, sick children, abandoned children, people with AIDS and the elderly, regardless of their religion

To educate street children, the association’s volunteers also run schools

They have around 19 homes in Calcutta alone, including homes for women, orphans and the dying; an AIDS nursing home, a school for street children and a leper colony for lepers

The missionaries offer their services free of charge

A full-fledged missionary is to wear a white cotton saree with a blue trim covering the head, a belt of rope, sandals, a crucifix, and a rosary

The current Superior General of the Missionaries of Charity is Mary Prema, who was elected to succeed the late Sister Nirmala Joshi

It takes nine years to become a full missionary.

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Three Sisters of Charity Foundations were formed in 1996 with funds raised from the sale of 50% of Ohio and South Carolina hospitals: Sisters of Charity Foundation of Canton, Sisters of Charity Foundation of Cleveland, and Sisters of Charity Foundation of South Carolina. In January 2006, the Sisters of Charity Foundation of Cleveland merged with the Saint Ann Foundation to form a single organization.

Today, through strategic grants, outreach and collaboration, each of the three foundations works to address the root causes of poverty, foster the growth of healthy communities, highlight the needs of youth and families, and measure the results of those efforts.

Collectively, the Sisters of Charity Foundations invest more than $10 million annually in grants to strengthen their communities and those most in need.

German-born Sister Mary Prema is the new Superior General of the Missionaries of Charity (MoC), a congregation founded by Nobel Laureate Mother Teresa.

“Sister Mary Prema is the new Superior General of the Order,” MoC spokeswoman Sister Christie told IANS on Thursday. She did not give any further details.

Sister Nirmala Joshi, who led the congregation for 12 years, was re-elected to a third term on March 13. However, the MoC held a second election on Tuesday after she expressed a desire to be relieved of her post due to ill health.

The election, chaired by Archbishop Lucas Sarkar of Calcutta, took place at the General Chapter of the Congregation in Green Park, 30 km from Calcutta.

The unremarkable Sister Prema, one of the oldest nuns in the order and known for her work among the poor, is the third Superior General of the order.

Nirmala, now 74, succeeded Mother Teresa in 1997 and was elected to a second term in 2003.

Catholic Church sources said Sister Nirmala had also expressed a desire to return to the “contemplative life” she led before becoming Superior General in 1997, six months before Mother Teresa’s death.

Despite several attempts, Sister Prema could not be contacted. “She won’t speak until Friday. It is not in the Motherhouse (the global headquarters of the MoC),” Sister Christie said.

Sister Prema’s appointment now has to be approved by the Vatican, which will be a mere formality.

Mother Teresa, winner of the 1979 Nobel Peace Prize, founded the MoC in 1950.