May the New Year be all you hope it will be! May the New Year be a blessed and graced time for you! May the New Year open your hearts to embrace God's love in all the people who come into our lives! May the New Year especially show us the way to peace in our world!

Ursulines Celebrate St. Angela
Around the World
January 27

Ursuline Sisters, Associates, and friends of St. Angela around the world, will be celebrating her feast day on January 27. Little did Angela know how much her life would impact the world today when she walked the fields in Desenzano and the streets of Brescia in Italy in the late 15th and early 16th Centuries. A simple woman with a simple and deep love of God attracted so many men and women to her that she spent nights in prayer and hours and hours of her day with those in need.

Angela, a holy woman sought after for her guidance, wisdom and gentleness. She always put the needs of others before her own. She knew what it meant to be 'human' and she was in touch with the goodness in others. Angela was a woman ahead of her time, reaching out to women who wanted to devote themselves to God yet live in the world among those they served. Her deep relationship with God as a virgin living outside the walls of a convent made her stand out as a woman with deep convictions of trust and respect in the women who gathered around her. Bound to Christ in love she reflected his love to others. St. Angela, a woman of the Church, of God, of hospitality, of compassion, of gentleness, of peace and reconciliation, a model for women today – a woman in love with life itself, pray for us and help us to mirror God's love to others as you did.

It's All About Life!

January 22 will see another group of peaceful protesters descend upon Washington, D.C. in an effort reverse Roe vs. Wade. As this is being written, legislation on the side of pro-life is being debated. Many of our Sisters and Associates are committed to this cause locally by working with Heart Beat of Toledo (www.heartbeatoftoledo.org) Some may also be involved in post abortion ministry with Project Rachel (www.catholiccharitiesnwo.org)

There are many ways to support pro-life for when we look at it in its fullest sense, it refers to life from conception to natural death. Another group gathering in Washington earlier this month is composed of those working to put an end to torture. The recent issue of the Catholic Chronicle hi-lighted a woman from Fremont, one of several to go on trial speaking out against torture in Congress (www.paxchristiusa.org).

If you checked our website recently, both the annual SOA Watch (www.soawatch.org) in November and the anniversary on Dec. 2 of the martyrdom of the Four Church Women in El Salvador by graduates of the School were featured. Dorothy Kazel, OSU was one of them and the Ursulines of Toledo took a Corporate Stance toward closing the school in 1999.

Many of you have been very generous in the past in assisting Second Chance (www.secondchancetoledo.org). Some clients of Second Chance attend classes at Women Blessing Women (www.womenblessingwomen.org). Two faith-based houses will soon be open: The Daughter Project (www.thedaughterproject.org) for trafficked youth and in the near future, Rahab's House (www.lovegodlovepeopleproveit.org) in north Toledo, formed to address street prostitution, predominately the women who did not get saved as teens.

We cannot leave this topic without addressing the death penalty, our third corporate stance taken in 2001. While some Sisters and Associates do jail and prison ministry or stand vigil at the courthouse on the day of execution, many others are able to write to death row prisoners and all can make an effort to pray for those executed, their victims, and the families of both. See Ohioans to Stop Executions (www.otse.org)

Finally, as our troops come home from Iraq, let's not forget those on all sides who have suffered death, violence and trauma at the hands of war.

No one of us can do it all. Choose your passion prayerfully. The websites referenced in this article are just a few of the resources available. Statements about each and every issued covered here can be found on the website of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (www.usccb.org)

Submitted by Sandy Sherman, OSU and Mission Committee

Down Memory Lane

Sister Carmencita Andres

Bertha Magdalena Andres was born on January 26, 1902 in Helena, OH.  She was educated at the Ursuline Academy in Tiffin and joined the Toledo Ursulines in 1929. She attended Teachers’ College and Mary Manse College and then went on to the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago, IL for an AB degree in violin.  She received her Master’s degree from The University of Notre Dame and did further work in music at the Eastman School of Music, Rochester, NY. 

Sister Carmencita taught music in many of the parish schools and taught the orchestra and music classes at both St. Ursula Academy (36 years) and Mary Manse College (24 years).  She taught the Suzuki Method of playing the violin.  This method .is used on small children teaching them to play the violin soon after they learn to walk.  Sister Carmencita was very successful in this regard and had many pupils who became fine violinists. Sister Carmencita was Community – minded and enjoyed being with her Sisters. 

Sister Carmencita was also the “keeper” of the Stamp Collection and encouraged many sisters to save and give her stamps from all over the world.  She played with the Jewish Symphony and the Perrysburg Symphony for more that four years.  She retired to the Ursuline Center in 1991 and was active until her death January 7, 1999 at age 96.