Where did the first sisters
come from and why? More importantly, why are they still
here? Would you believe it ~ a young French girl from
Noirmoutier, an island off the west coast of France,
was struck by the vision of a world so loved by God
that it lit a fire in her sould to make His presence
felt with joy in every human heart. She placed her
magnificent adventure under the guidance of the Good
Shepherd, who never stops seeking the lost sheep, particularly
the poor, the disenfranchised, the marginalized, those
left behind by society, most who never had a chance.
Her zeal, the defining character of her mission, means
fire, passion, "love in action." It was the torch she
passed from France in 1843 when she sent the five young
sisters to bring to birth the American mission in Louisville,
Kentucky. Her name? Rose Virginie Pelletier, who became
ST. Mary Euphrasia. She had entered the community founded
in 1641, by St. John Eudes, whose fiery missions challenged
people to change their lives for the better. For sincere
women who desired conversion but were economically
unable to do so in those times, her provided a refuge
of hope conducted by loving laywomen who eventually
became the nucleus of the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity.
It was the birth of a
new idea~ a person is of more value than a whole world.
Mary Euphrasia took the message to heart and was soon
elected superior. Little did they know how she would
revolutionize the mission, cost what it may, despite
the birth pangs involved. "But why stop at France?",
she thought. Her scope must be the whole world! By
establishing the Generalate in 1835, she could send
sisters anywhere in the world where they were needed,
in imitation of the Good Shepherd, whose name she added
to the community's title of Our Lady of Charity. The
birthing continued, planted by the seed of God's love
in Mary Euphrasia's heart, and inspired two outstanding
laypeople, Madame D'Andigne and Count deNeuville to
throw themselves wholeheartedly behind here flaming
zeal for souls. She reached out to establish houses
throughout Europe and Africa, then Asia, and Australia,
South American and the United States. From Louisville,
KY the sisters fanned out first to St. Louis, then
Montreal, and Philadelphia.
In 1857, concerned Catholic
laywomen appealed to Archbishop Hughes to also provide
a Good Shepherd house in NY, but it was a determined
Protestant laywoman, who was the Matron of the Tombs,
a prison in New York City, who succeeded in convincing
him to meet the needs of these homeless young women,
many of them immigrants and unsophisticated in the
ways of the city. She persuaded him that many sins
would be prevented by such a house in his diocese.
An English sister, Anne Clover, who had volunteered
to St. Mary Euphrasia, for the American mission, was
sent from Louisville to 14th Street, where the newly
founded New York community began its work in 1857,
with only a few mattresses and blankets, a frying pan,
and a few kitchen utensils. Now known as Sister Mary
Magdalen, she became the first provincial, and the
New York province was born!
But not without the help
of three outstanding laywomen! Their names will forever
be enshrined in the annals of the community, namely
Mrs. George Ripley, Miss Ella Edes and Mrs. Elizabeth
McBride. The girls who needed help came in such large
numbers that the first house was overcroweded in no
time. In addition, many young women asked to join the
community in their mission. In 1861, the Contemplative
Sisters of the Good Shepherd were founded in New York.
St. Mary Euphrasia had found the Contemplatives in
Angers, France to be a powerhouse of prayer to support
the apostolic sisters in their zeal for souls and tehy
are missioned throughout the world, also. In 1867 the
Boston house was founded, then Brooklyn in 1868, then
Peekskill, Albany and Troy, Newark and Morristown,
NJ, Springfield, MA and Hartford, CT.
In 1902 Mother Francis
Xavier responded to the request of Bishop Michael Tierney
of Hartford and sent five sisters to the Sisson estate,
which had been provided for them by the Bishop. When
the estate reached capacity, a large 3-story structure
was built in 1905, and an additional building in 1927,
which eventually came to be known as Marian Hall. Hundreds
of children were served here until 1958, when extensive
renovations provided a more homelike atmosphere for
small group living, a fully accredited junior-senior
high school , and clinical services. In 1948 Euphrasia
Hall provided a residence for 65 teenage girls who
went out to work or school each day. In 1971 the program
in Hartford closed when a bill for a reasonable rate
of reimbursement for residential placement was vetoed
by the Governor.
From the time that the
first five Good Shepherd sisters were missioned from
Philadelphia to New York in 1857, several trends emerge
as they spread throughout New York, New Jersey and
New England, responding t the cry of the poor and welcoming
into their homes those most deprived of hope and love.
At the time of Vatican Council II tremendous changes
in the world called for a corresponding change in the
response of religious to the needs of the people of
God. Faithful to the Council's call to subsidiarity,
which emphasized a broader participation by the sisters
in decision-making, many issues were resolved such
as acceptance of diversity, small community living,
changes in dress and lifestyle and other decisions
concerning the life of the sisters, now ministering
in a new age with new needs. The sisters' mission of
care to women who needed help extended itself far beyond
the former province-sponsored institutional services,
even to the assignment of indiviual sisters to specialized
ministries in the service of women. Many sisters from
the NY province volunteered for the foreign missions
such as South and Central America, China, Guam, the
Virgina Islands, Ethiopia, where they serve today.
Lay people, who always
had an important share in the development of the Good
Shepherd programs, were now formally organized as the
Companions of Jesus the Good Shepherd (founded in St.
Mary Euphrasia's time). Later the founding of the Associates
of the Good Shepherd now provides an overwhelming support
to the work of the sisters, and the most recent development
of the Volunteer program has literally brought new
life in the present era of diminishing personnel and
financial resources. Some of the Volunteers serve in
South American at the present time. Actually lay people
were outstanding from the beginning, and in many cases
the work was initiated by them or the bishop. In New
York thy had been the prime movers in obtaining the
siters in the first place, even to putting them up
in their own homes until the convent was ready, and
collecting money to provide for them and the girls
until they became self-supporting. Laypeople provided
either the estates, as the beautiful Collier Estate
in Wickatunk, NJ or the funds to purchase land or the
buildings to establish the Good Shepherd mission in
their area. In Hartford, the bishop gave his own property,
the Sisson Estate, to the sisters.
In the mid 1960's the
trend of deinstitutionalizatioin took place across
the country, causing a shift in the ministerial response
of the sisters, and a dynamic broadening of their ministries.
The focus is no longer on the individual alone but
on the person see in the context of her family situation.
Unjust systems also wreak havoc with young lives, and
advocacy for change in these is also seen as an appropriate
ministry for a Good Shepherd sister seeking social
justice for people in need.
As we approach the beginning
of the 21st century, the ministerial response of the
sisters is characterized by collaboration and teamwork
with other religious groups, priests, laypersons, and
others. The sisters serve as parish ministers, family
workers in both rural and urban settings, pastoral
counselors, hospital chaplains, and alcohol abuse counselors.
In our time they are responding to the needs of battered
women, also. Child abuse in a particular concern in
our times.
Depite the fact that vocations
seem to be diminishing in North America, Europe, and
Australia, they seem to be on the increase on the continents
of South America, Asia and Africa. Until recently the
demands of ministry in the New York province shared
priority with the need to care for the elderly and
the ill, a situationbeing faced by most religious communities
today. However, by means of careful planning and the
creativity of the sisters, the mission and ministry
of the community is foremose in priority at the present
time, while the financial burden of caring for the
present elderly and those of the future will continue
to be a major consideration of our times.
One hundred and fifty
years ago the sisters started with nothing ~ no money,
no programs, no houses for those they wanted to help
and only a handful of sisters. Yet from the late 19th
century to the end of the 20th century the communnity
expanded tremendously in every way and helped thousands
of girls and women to grow in self-esteem and to find
new meaning and fulfillment in their lives. Can we
fail to recognize the fact that a major constant in
this mind-boggling growth was the incredible assistance
of loving laypeople who were inspired by the Good Shepherd
to reach out to the needy members of His flock? Today
the sisters look forward with great expectatioins to
the lay fold of our day whose zeal got the sisters
going in the past and continues to do so today. Side
by side they work together in programs for the marginalized,
the oppressed, the poor, the immigrant. "As one traces
the hand of the Good Shepherd guiding this province
for nearly 150 years, despite incredible odds, there
is no reason to think that His presence will not be
with us, and those we serve, in the years to come,"
declared our Mother General from Ecuador some years
ago. It is the ardent prayer of the sisters that the
Good Shepherd will send them such loving supporters
as He did in the past, that together they may be life-bearers
to and with the poor of our world. Their time and their
talents operate now in this noble venture as Associates
of the Good Shepherd, Companions of the Good Shepherd,
Volunteers, staff, loyal supporters, treasured friends.
In them the sisters see their hope for the future.
From them may come the future Sisters of the Good Shepherd,
just as they did in the past. Then we can look forward
to another century and a half of magnificent growth
to match the accomplishment that we are celebrating
today.