Because of their interest in the works of the Church around the world, our donors are aware of the vibrant growth the faith is experiencing in the southern hemisphere. Parish communities are expanding, churches are bursting at the seams during Sunday liturgies, and – especially impressive – the numbers of women religious and women religious orders are proliferating. In contrast to this last fact, those donors who have been around for a while are also cognizant of the striking decline in the number of religious sisters in the United States over the past half-century. The number is a fraction of what it was in the 1960s. The statistics are discouraging.
So, donors will be pleased to learn about the Sister Servants of the Eternal Word, a relatively new and growing religious community located in Irondale, Alabama within the Diocese of Birmingham. As their website explains:
“The Sister Servants of the eternal Word is a public association of the faithful founded by Mother Mary Gabriel in 1987 (deceased in 2017), The community is contemplative-active, committed to evangelization through catechesis and retreats, according to the ideals of St. Francis and St. Dominic who rebuilt the Church in Truth ad Charity. Holy Mother Church always includes Francis and Dominic together in the Litany of the Saints. St. Francis and St. Dominic are examples of poverty and learning as well as their heroic obedience to the People and to the Magisterium of the Church…… The Sister Servants run Casa Maria Retreat House and also participate in family catechesis, Sacramental preparation, and other catechetical missions throughout the diocese, teaching ‘spiritual things spiritually’”.
In addition to providing retreats at Casa Maria, the sisters visit college campuses throughout the Southeast. In many cases, they do this in collaboration with FOCUS (The Fellowship of Catholic University Students). The example of their witness of religious life has a very edifying effect on the young men and women in the universities. By promoting liturgical and catechetical events, the sisters underscore the centrality of God and the invincibility of love and truth.
The image of these Servant Sisters pouring out of their semi-cloistered convent to spread the good news on university campuses reminds one of Ezekiel’s dream of the Temple river (Ez.:47). Flowing from the Temple, the stream swells into a river and cures and makes whole all living things on its banks. The Servant Sisters of the Eternal Word have been around for only thirty-some years. As future years come and go, imagine the magnitude and force of this salubrious flow!
As the website of the Sisters indicates, the foundation of the community is inspired by St. Francis and St. Dominic whose charisms were (and still are) Charity and Truth. Tradition holds that these two founders of major religious orders actually met in person in 1216 in Rome where both were negotiating with the Holy See to obtain papal confirmation of their respective orders.
Now, eight hundred years later, a ‘new spring’ carrying this life-giving water has sprouted. And the Kingdom continues to advance.