Posts by Elizabeth
Archbishop Cupich NOT attending Dominican University dissident conference?
Apparently, Joan Chittister, Jamie Manson, and Archbishop Cupich will not be having a get-together to “sing a new church into being.” A month ago came some eyebrow-raising news that not only was the Sinsinawa Dominican Sisters’ Dominican University near Chicago to host a National Catholic Reporter dissident conference “New Faces, New Voices, New Ways of Being Church,” Archbishop Blaise Cupich himself was to be part of the festivities, celebrating Mass just after Sister Joan Chittister’s talk (at least according to conference organizers). Say what? The archbishop?! Sister Joan was the one who wrote the foreword for one of the late Sr....
Read MoreA positive Final Report on the CDF Doctrinal Assessment of LCWR
I had been hoping (and suggesting, while being shot down by certain “experts”) the situation with the review of the US religious sisters’ leadership group LCWR was a little more positive than it looked. One reason was that when I sent my book A Report on the Sinsinawa Dominicans Today (a reform oriented work not geared toward a general readership, which can be read online or as a paperback) to the LCWR executive director Sr. Janet Mock (she has since been succeeded in that role by Sr. Joan Marie Steadman), I did get a reply and it was positive: “thank you so much for sending it to me” and “I really look forward to reading it.” I...
Read MoreOn the Holy See’s Report on the Apostolic Visitation of Women Religious
The Madison Catholic Herald has a Letter to the Editor from me this week, commenting on the recent release by the Congregation for Religious of a gently-worded report summarizing the Apostolic Visitation a few years back of all the women’s “active” religious congregations in the US. Women religious are diverse, there’s no possibility of a one size fits all assessment of all sisters. Individual communities, including the Dominican Sisters of Sinsinawa who received an in-person visitation team (and say it wasn’t a bad experience at all) will get an individualized report that won’t be public. This is likely to be oriented constructively...
Read MoreSin-a-Mound: a sweet gift!
A friend who knows me well got me the most thoughtful and funny Christmas present. Great for sharing with friends. If you eat the entire thing yourself at a sitting, you should probably go to confession. For those who need this but do not live near Sinsinawa Mound, it can be ordered through their website and shipped to you. They also have cinnamon swirl bread that doesn’t have icing on it and makes great cinnamon toast or French toast–as well as other varieties of “Mound bread”. I believe my friend probably got this from the Blessed Sacrament Parish Christmas Market at the end of November, and kept it in her freezer. Thank you to my friend, and...
Read MoreJoin us in praying a Pentecost novena, for ourselves and for sisters
My friends and I who make up the core of the Father Mazzuchelli Society have felt moved to pray a novena for religious sisters, and for those in formation in women’s religious communities, and we decided to let this be a proper novena of Pentecost, joining ourselves to the first novena or nine days of prayer of the Apostles and Mary after the Ascension of Our Lord while they waited for the descent of the Holy Spirit. We begin today and invite everyone interested to participate. Pray for yourself, and if you also feel called, pray for sisters and women in religious formation. Happily, blogging priest Father Z has decided to make daily AUDIO postings of this...
Read MoreFather Mazzuchelli and the New Evangelization article in the Madison Catholic Herald
I have written an article which appears in this week’s Madison Catholic Herald. The Herald has had quite a few articles recently about Father Mazzuchelli, surrounding the 150th anniversary of his death which was honored with the annual memorial Mass at St Patrick’s Church in Benton, with about a dozen priests in attendance this year. I found reporter Kevin Wondrash’s photos worth looking at. I teach catechism at 9 am Sundays at the Cathedral Parish (and I don’t drive) so I could not be present for the 150th anniversary Mass–though as noted in my article below we observed the occasion at the Cathedral Parish with a reading group that...
Read MoreFather Mazzuchelli book group to meet
I have a go-ahead from the Madison Cathedral Parish to organize a parish book group at Holy Redeemer Church to read Venerable Fr Samuel Mazzuchelli’s Memoirs beginning in January. This will be an ideal way to observe the 150th anniversary of this great priest’s death, which falls on February 23rd of 2014. I am hopeful that a lot of grace may come from this study, which is oriented toward the New Evangelization. It is a parish program but I certainly would welcome people from outside the Cathedral Parish participating. If you are interested, watch the Cathedral Parish bulletin or website, or email me. The Father Mazzuchelli Society has published an attractive...
Read MoreHappy birthday Father Mazzuchelli!
We had a lovely birthday party for Fr Mazzuchelli on Monday the 4th, in downtown Madison! I think there were ten of us. We prayed the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary and the prayer for his Beatification, and then potluck dinner and birthday cake. A very pleasant occasion. We discussed his legacy and how we can make that better known to inspire people for the New Evangelization. The 150th anniversary of Father Mazzuchelli’s death is coming up this coming February. The Sinsinawa Dominicans will emphasize him as “social justice crusader” in their own image. He was indeed very good on social justice, but it is a serious distortion to narrow his legacy to...
Read MoreMore reactions to the Report on the Sinsinawa Dominicans
The feedback on the Report on the Sinsinawa Dominicans Today has been very good. One priest gave it a 96% on account that it is not very perfectly edited! True! A reader who purchased the book on Amazon left a nice review there: The breakdown of religious orders is something I have been studying for some time as part of the work of the Catholic apostolate I founded, and this very well researched and well written book about one specific order and how it slowly unraveled is superb. I have not found any other work that reaches such a level of specificity while connecting to the larger story–a very sad story–of the breakdown of so many orders of nuns and sisters...
Read More“Like” us on facebook
The Father Mazzuchelli Society now has a “Like” page on facebook. https://www.facebook.com/fathermazzuchellisociety
Read MoreThe reaction from the Dominicans
I received a message from Sister Mary Ellen Gevelinger the Prioress General, who didn’t like this initiative or the name Father Mazzuchelli Society, and wants me not to mention the Sinsinawa Dominicans anywhere on the internet. One point to clarify is that the Father Mazzuchelli Society supports Father Mazzuchelli’s official Cause for Beatification and Canonization and does not at all represent itself as being the Cause! Monday October 7th is the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, patronal feast of the Sinsinawa Dominican Congregation of the Most Holy Rosary. Please pray for the Blessed Mother’s affection and care for these Sisters especially on Monday....
Read MoreAnnouncing: the Father Mazzuchelli Society
Welcome. This blog will provide a space for news and updates. The Father Mazzuchelli Society goes live on October 4th, 2013.
Read MoreA visit to Edgewood College, February 2013
On Feb 6, 2013 I visited Edgewood College in Madison, WI to see if there was any reasonable possibility that I, a believing and practicing Catholic, could get an education there that was supportive of my Faith. Edgewood College is sponsored by the Dominican Sisters of Sinsinawa and considers itself a Catholic college in the Dominican tradition, though it is really highly secular and when there is religion involved unfortunately it tends to militate against Catholic beliefs. I went on a Wednesday because I am a daily Mass goer and that is the only weekday when they have a Mass on campus. [page under construction] ...
Read MoreIntroduction to A Report on the Sinsinawa Dominicans Today
I first visited Sinsinawa Mound in the summer of 2012 on an edifying parish pilgrimage to sites associated with the great pioneer Dominican missionary priest Venerable Father Samuel Mazzuchelli. A builder of churches and founder of numerous parishes, Father Mazzuchelli also founded the community of Dominican Sisters of Sinsinawa. Since then I have also read his Memoirs and grown to have a tremendous appreciation and love for him and his still-very-current message, and would like to do the little I can do to inspire others to devotion to him. When I and a friend visited Sinsinawa Mound again in January of 2013 for a large showing of a film called Band of Sisters, about...
Read MoreFather Mazzuchelli’s story for children, plus coloring pages!
If you are looking for our beautiful coloring pages, scroll down, they are at the bottom! A Catholic mother says this story should be suitable for children who have received their First Holy Communion. It is also a good and lively introduction to Father Mazzuchelli for grown-ups. Samuel Mazzuchelli [motz-oo-KEL-ly] was born in Italy in the year 1806. His father was a merchant and hoped Samuel would grow up, get married, and follow in the same kind of work. But instead, the boy felt God calling him to the Order of Preachers founded by Saint Dominic, to be a religious brother (friar) and a priest. He went to Rome to learn how to live the disciplined and holy way of life...
Read MoreSchoolgirl tributes to the old “Benton Days” of Saint Clara, and to Father Mazzuchelli: “O quam dilecta!”
These two articles by high school aged girls are drawn from 1899 and 1900 editions of The Young Eagle, the student magazine of Saint Clara Academy girls’ school on Sinsinawa Mound. Benton, Wisconsin, several miles distant from Sinsinawa, was the original place where Father Samuel Mazzuchelli founded Saint Clara. At this time, there were still alumni and sisters living who remembered those times fondly, and even some who remembered Father Samuel himself. — [At the request of the pupils of St. Clara, Benton, we publish the response given at the Alumnae Reunion to the toast ” Benton Days.”—ED. Y. E.] “BENTON DAYS.” ” One hand...
Read MoreSacred Heart Academy, Edgewood, A Backward Glance (in 1900)
This article on Sacred Heart Academy (the predecessor of Edgewood High School–there was not a college there yet) appeared in the Saint Clara Academy, Sinsinawa magazine The Young Eagle, in 1900. A BACKWARD GLANCE. Sacred Heart Academy, Madison Wis. DEAR EAGLE: AS each month draws near its close, we Edgewood girls look eagerly toward the southwestern corner of our state, watching for the coming of the ever welcome “EAGLE” which brings sweet tidings of the “Mound girls” and the dear Sisters who are helping them make life worth living. The kindly editors gave us, early in the year, an invitation to contribute an article to the columns of...
Read More“Influence of Noble Womanhood,” according to a Saint Clara girl in 1900
“The woman Dante describes, who influenced him so, was a true daughter of the church, and one that we all wish to be like. Her power over his life from their first meeting, when children of nine, to his death, is wonderful. She is like a light burning brightest in darkest hours, leading him ever upward. …Good women were a great support in the past, but how much greater a part is woman’s at present ? Her circle is widened. …She can voice her opinions in public affairs if necessary; but her truest sphere is home. God made her its queen. From there her influence can be most widely distributed.”
Read MoreFather Samuel Mazzuchelli, O.P. A Character Sketch, by Father J. R. Volz, O. P. (1899)
This article originally appeared in The Rosary Magazine, before being reprinted in the Saint Clara Academy, Sinsinawa magazine The Young Eagle, in December, 1899. By JOHN A RAYMOND [a pen name for Rev. J. R. Volz, O. P., a former Saint Clara chaplain] The lovelier things of life are not always found on the world’s great thoroughfares. It is with this bit of philosophy well realized, that most visitors at Saint Clara Academy contemplate the stretch of shore, or more accurately, the carriage drive from the Mississippi Valley at Dubuque, Iowa, to Sinsinawa Mound, Wisconsin. Everyone who has taken the ride will doubtlessly remember how the persistently uppermost...
Read MorePoetry about Father Mazzuchelli from turn-of-the-century Saint Clara Academy
From the Saint Clara Academy, Sinsinawa student magazine The Young Eagle, at the turn of the century. The first three are very pleasing student works. Possibly the one that begins “Today we keep our holy Founder’s Day !” may have been written by a sister, on the basis that an author is not mentioned, but only “read by Mary Lyon,” who was a student. The poem was described as “the keynote” of the November 4th Founder’s day celebration at which it was read. The Founder’s Day program also included instrumental and vocal music selections, and an eloquent address by a priest on the life and spirit of the Founder.
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Dominican priest and Missionary Apostolic
in Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Illinois
in pioneer times.
Builder of 20 churches, founder of 30 parishes,
founder of the Dominican Sisters of Sinsinawa.