Life is meant to be lived in as a gift of oneself in love, whether in marriage, religious life, or the single life lived in dedication to service. In the last two years, our community has been blessed to work with Fiat Ministries, which provides retreats that help women grow in the necessary freedom to embrace that call to love.

Fiat Ministries, founded by Emily Savage, is based out of Wichita, Kansas and works to ‘cultivate an authentic culture of discernment for young women’. They organize retreats around the country, structured to help prepare women say their own “yes” to God, just as Our Lady did at the Annunciation.

Our Sisters have participated in several retreats hosted by Fiat Ministries, including Mother/Daughter retreats, Middle School retreats, and discernment retreats. They are unique opportunities for prayer, the Sacraments, fellowship, and fun with religious Sisters from a variety of congregations. The retreats follow a deliberate structure to help build a foundation, from which women can go on to discern God’s call for them. Sisters who assist with the retreats walk alongside the young women as they learn more about who God is, who they are, and for what they are made. It is privilege to accompany them and to get to know them during the short time that we are together.

We have been delighted to participate in these beautiful events. Please join your prayers with ours, that this ministry continues to grow, helping women of all ages respond to God’s plan for their lives – to respond always to God’s invitation to live for Love.

If you are interested in seeing the locations of upcoming Fiat retreats, inquire about arranging a retreat in your diocese, or wish to support the ministry in any way, please take a look at their website!

A word of thanks to all of you, who faithfully keep our community in your prayers!

This summer has been tremendously packed, with helping with VBS programs, giving presentations at parishes, making family visits, and hosting some special events at Casa Maria.

August, however, has been a strongly community-oriented time. We were blessed to make our yearly eight-day retreat with Fr. John Lager, OFM. Shortly after, we entered into our first Chapter of Affairs – a cannonically required event for religious communities, which generally coincides with the regular election of superiors.

A Chapter of Affairs is a blessed opportunity for professed members to raise questions that concern the life and apostolate, and evaluate the best ways to respond as a community. Within all the questions raised, its particular focus is to ensure fidelity to the founding charism. We were all a little nervous about our first Chapter of Affairs, but experienced the grace of the Holy Spirit in a truly blessed week of meetings together!

This past week, our community welcomed a group of Sisters for a nine-day formation course called Esposas de Cristo. The theme for this year was The Eucharist and Consecrated Life. The CMSWR (Council of Major Superiors of Women Religious) has offered this event, with different themes, every few years since 2015. It is an excellent opportunity for deep ongoing intellectual and spiritual formation in Spanish. We appreciate the blessing this event is to these Sisters, and pray that it continues to grow!

A few of our Sisters participated in the lectures and discussion, focused on drawing key themes out of Pope St. John Paul II’s monumental Vita Consecrata. Others helped behind the scenes as we always do for retreats. As a providential bonus of the classes being hosted at Casa Maria, we were able to record the classes for future availability and create a promotional video to thank benefactors and encourage greater attendance.

As we all stretched our language skills, whether in English or Spanish, new songs were learned, recipes shared, and long-lasting friendships formed. Sisters always know how to make the most of these rare opportunities to visit between congregations!

Here at Casa Maria, we have been enjoying the lovely spring and early summer weather – as a community and with visiting friends.

We have enjoyed the fun that comes with having extra young visitors during summertime:

Some Sisters traveled to Florida to be present at FOCUS’ summer training, so some of the outdoor fun has also been of a tropical kind:

Hope you are also enjoying the beauty of God’s creation this summer!

Fourteen Sisters have just returned from a very exciting trip to St. Louis – to participate in Augustine Institute’s first commencement ceremony on their new campus! Over the last several years, our Sisters have been working as a community to study Theology, and as the years have gone by, we have only been more and more impressed by the program, edified by the faculty, and grateful for the experience. Ten Sisters completed the coursework for credit and received their Master’s in Theology, but all the community participated as much as possible in the lectures, course reading, and many many conversations about coursework. It has absolutely been a community effort!

These years of study have be a tremendous blessing, and we are so grateful to the faculty, staff, and benefactors who made this possible. The chance to visit with our professors was a highlight of the trip, and we hope that these friendships will continue over the years.

Seeing Augustine Institute’s new campus and learning its history was also impressive. The campus was originally a summer home estate of the Catholic Desloge family. Mr. Joseph Desloge built the French inspired chateau in 1926 after volunteering with the French army in World War I. Boeing purchased the property and developed it for use in training their company leadership, but managed to preserve the original beauty of the grounds. Its guest rooms, classrooms, and large gathering spaces have readily lent it to transformation into a graduate school, though Augustine Institute will continue to adapt it more over time. The ballroom originally built for Joseph Desloge’s oldest daughter’s 16th birthday serves as the temporary chapel!

The Sisters who remained home during the trip welcomed the travelers home – providing the graduates with replacements for the cap and tassel that they didn’t wear for the commencement ceremony!