December 24, 2010
Four provinces of Daughters of Charity to form single province
By PAUL R. LEINGANG (Message editor)
Major structural changes are in the works for the Daughters of Charity next year, as a four-year long process leads to unification of the province now headquartered in Evansville with three other provinces in the United States.
Some uncertainty remains about the details, but a firm decision has been reached to unite the four provinces of Evansville, Emmitsburg, Md., Albany, N.Y, and St. Louis into the new Province of St. Louise, to be headquartered in St. Louis.
The new province is named for St. Louise de Marillac, foundress of the Daughters of Charity along with St. Vincent de Paul.
Sister Theresa Peck is the treasurer of the province which has been headquartered in Evansville since 1969. She chaired the steering committee which made the recommendations for uniting the provinces.
“All that is going to be missing [from the Evansville area] is the provincial council and the treasurer,” she said. Perhaps a dozen positions in finance and administration will be affected.
Sister Theresa said the Daughters would continue to hold and maintain the property west of Evansville. The headquarters of the East Central Province is known as the Mater Dei Provincialate, around 17 acres in total, at 9400 New Harmony Road. Administrative offices, the retirement center and the provincial residence are among buildings located around a lake.
“We will continue having retreats and workshops here,” she said. “Retreat places are hard to find and we are blessed to have this location.”
The community of sisters living at the current provincialate headquarters will remain, she said. Members of the community have positions of ministry in the area, including Aurora (an Evansville organization dedicated to ending homelessness), the St. Vincent Center for Children and Families, Nativity and Holy Spirit churches in Evansville, the St. Vincent de Paul food pantry, the Ozanam Shelter and St. Mary’s Medical Center.
The leader of the new unified province is Sister Louise Gallahue, who has been serving as Visitatrix of the Albany Province since September of 2009.
An eight-member council will be selected by the community, with mailings sent out in early January asking for nominees to the new leadership team. The new council will have at least one member from each of the current provinces. Formal installation of the visitatrix and the new council is scheduled in Baltimore, July 31, 2011.
The Daughters of Charity were founded in France in 1633, “To serve Christ in persons who are poor,” according to a news release from the community. The Daughters of Charity today serve in 92 countries as educators, health care professionals, social workers, parish ministers and advocates for those who live in poverty.
The stated reason for the union of the four provinces is “to continue to serve God’s poorest directly in their ministry.” It is an area “from El Paso to Boston,” according to Sister Theresa, describing the area and the scope of the new province which will include inserted ministries in 22 states, the District of Columbia and the Canadian Province of Quebec.
The community news release also stated that the new structure will make possible the continued “collaboration with others in the Vincentian Family including members of the Vin-centian priests and brothers, the Ladies of Charity, the St. Vincent de Paul Society, the Sisters of Charity Federation Communities and others who follow in the footsteps of St. Vincent and St. Louise.“
In 1969, when the current provincial arrangement was established, there were about 2,500 Daughters of Charity in the United States, according to Sister Theresa. Today, there are approximately 750 Daughters in the United States; about 575 in the new province of St. Louise, the rest in the Province of the West, headquartered in Lost Altos Hills, Calif.
The Daughters believe that combining sister-personnel and their “best practices” would be the most effective way to continue to stand in solidarity with the increasing numbers who find themselves in circumstances of poverty.
Three retirement centers will remain, with 60 or more sisters in each of them, at Evansville, Emmitsburg and Albany. Employment in service at the retirement centers is not affected by the new provincial structure.
All archive activities will be located at Emmitsburg, where a shrine is located in honor of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, who founded the Sisters of Charity at Emmitsburg.
Sister Honora Remes is the visitatrix of the East Central Province. She and her council continue in their leadership positions through the end of July, when the new province will be formally established.
In Evansville, a community supported agriculture project known as Seton Harvest will continue; the farm project on part of the province property provides organically grown produce for shareholders and charitable organizations.