Reflections on the Ripple Effect or Quantam Physics

Have you seen the movie "The King's Speech?" I have not, but I have read reviews and heard others talk about it. To me the story of the Duke of York, Albert, shows the power of how all our positive actions can benefit so many people by the ripple effect. Some people call it Quantam physics.

A brief review of history for those who may not know it. Albert was second in line for the throne of England. His older brother, who would have assumed the throne, fell in love with an American divorcee, and was therefore disqualified from becoming the King of England. His brother was next in line. The problem was, his brother stuttered. The Duke's loyal wife, Elizabeth, encouraged him to to visit the eccentric elocutionist Lionel Logue. When World War II broke out, the people needed a morale booster from their tongue-tied King, and they got it. What would have happened had Elizabeth not encouraged him to see the elocutionist? What would have happened if Lionel Logue showed deference to the King, instead of challenging him? What would have happened to the people of England if they did not have their King who was able to encourage them, through verbal communication? We can see how one positive action led to another and led to another with a tremendous impact on a nation.

The same is true of negative actions. We have only to look at the priest scandal in the Catholic Church. Some who were abused as children became priests, and they, in turn, started abusing other children. It is common for the abused to become abusers. Abusers look for easy targets. Priests in the 50's & 60's were so well respected, parents frequently did not believe their children if they told them "Father" did something horribly wrong to them. Words cannot describe the terrible suffering these innocent victims endured from the trusted abusive priests and the well-intentioned parents who possibly did not believe them. The sexual abuse is one type of suffering. The disbelief of the parents, who the children thought would protect them was a whole other type of pain.

Those children grew up and some of them started suing the church. Now Catholic dioceses are going bankrupt and all the good they were able to do before is now paralyzed. An example of this is the diocese of Wilmington where I work. The Bishop is proposing to liquify the money from the Foundation started by Raskob to pay for all the lawsuits. Here are just some of the ministries that will be effected by that: Ministry of Caring who has women, men's, and family shelters, daycare for the poor, addiction services for adolescents, job placement center, a dining room to feed the homeless, and many others. Catholic Charities who provides much needed social services will also be effected. St. Paul's School, which serves poor children, mainly Hispanics and blacks, will also suffer. These are just a few of the services and people who will suffer because of the lawsuits. These innocent poor people were not even born when the abuse by some priests took place. Now thousands of innocent people are being deprived of much needed services, when they had nothing to do with the original abuse.

The point of my reflection is this: I do not believe any of our actions, whether positive or negative, just effect ourselves. They have the potential to effect a nation as with Albert or thousands of innocent poor people as we see today as a result of the abuse scandal.

Franciscan Volunteers

Last night, four Franciscan volunteers visited our motherhouse. The Franciscan Volunteer program consists of volunteers who give one to two years of their lives to help out at a certain missions. St. Paul's in Wilmington has 4 volunteers this year.

They came for supper last night. They first ate supper with us. One is extremely outgoing and was greeting all the Sisters at the different tables. We have quite a few round tables in the dining room that seat 6 people. He went around to all of them and talked to everyone. Another one hopped from one table to another. They seemed very much at home.

After supper the tour began. Sister Rose Immaculate, a prize-winning photographer showed them the collection of her pictures that line the second hall corridor. They were enthralled by the beauty of the collection. Then, she gave them each a book.

From there, we went to the fifth floor, where you can see three different States. One view shows the Philadelphia skyline; another, the bridges going into New Jersey and the western shore of New Jersey, and the third view allows you to see the edge of Wilmington, Delaware.

From there, I showed them the first floor. The life-size statue of St. Francis greets visitors at the entrance. Then, the history of our congregation is depicted along the walls in script and pictures. From there, we went into the heritage room, where there were memorabilia of our Sisters in the early days of our community, along with somethings of St. John Neumann who was instrumental in founding our community.

Then, I took them into our Spiritual Center. One of the volunteers, Chris, had helped with a retreat there some time ago. It brought back memories. From there, Chris wanted to see the main chapel. The volunteers were enthralled with the chapel. Chris imagined he was talking to the Sisters at the pulpit.

The spirit of those young volunteers were with me this morning as I walked in the hallway down to chapel for early morning Mass. I could see each one in my mind's eye as I walked to chapel. I know the priest was talking to us, but I could see Chris there giving us a reflection. Their spirits now live in our hallowed halls.

Spring Training

It is a quiet peaceful winter day. This year, we do not have the deep snow that we had last year, but we have had frequent, although not deep snow storms, so we constantly live in the white all winter.

I may be a Religious Sister, but I love baseball and the Phillies will be starting spring training next month. I am looking forward to this season with four star starting pitchers, my only concern is will we have enough hitting. Time will tell.

Christmas season

The Christmas season officially ends today. Where did it go? I love this time of year and am sorry to see it end. On Christmas eve, I made my routine rounds. First, I visited my parents and grandparents at St. Dominic Cemetary. From there, I visited my nephew and his family. My nephew has three boys and they are truly a beautiful family. After a short visit with them, I went to visit my brother and his wife. I had dinner with them. My sister-in-law made a superb meal. At 7:00 p.m. in the evening, we went to my oldest niece's house. She always has a big celebration on Christmas eve, and I get to see that side of the family. I stayed over at my brother and sister-in-law's house when the party was over. The next morning, we all went out for breakfast. After a short visit in the morning, I returned to the convent to join the Sisters on the big meal of the day. I do enjoy the visiting and seeing parts of my family because I love them dearly. At the same time, it is always good to be back in the quiet of the convent, where there is more time to reflect and pray.