OUR LADY’S UPDATE

OUR LADY OF THE ANGELS MATERNITY SHELTER

MESSAGE FROM THE ADMINISTRATOR

A call came in from a mother looking for housing for her pregnant daughter, saying she had to find a place before the girl’s father returned home, or he would force her to have an abortion. Another call came from a woman with several children. She had just lost her job and her home, and now she learned she was pregnant. With 2 other children to care for, this family needed a place to live. Over the past few weeks we’ve had numerous phone calls very similar in that each person was facing an unplanned, crisis preg-nancy and needed shelter immediately. Many times I can help these individ-uals or give them resources to other agencies that can help them immediate-ly.

It made me stop and think about the innkeeper on the night when Mary and Joseph showed up at his door seeking shelter. Finding rest in a stable on a bed of hay must have been a wonderful sight after the long trip they had just endured. And what wonderful blessings awaited the world from the birth of the baby born to that couple that important Christmas night. Most of our residents come to us with the same relief that we’ve offered them safety and shelter when they couldn’t find it anywhere else, and that makes us feel blessed to help those we can. And isn’t that what Christmas is all about and the true meaning of love? God bless you all, and thank you for your contin-ued support of Our Lady of the Angels.

JaLeta

Fall/Winter 2012 Volume 10

Sisters of Sacred Sciences

Shown left to right: Sister Nilam, Sister Bibiana, Sister Sini and Sister Frisca.

We truly have Angels Among Us!

Sister Nilam Xess was born in the northern part of India in the state called Odisha. She had six siblings, and she was the second child. Her parents were very devout Catholics and supported and encour-aged her, and she states they inspired her through their lives. One of her sisters is also part of her same congregation of Sisters of Sa-cred Sciences, and is part of the community in the North India state of Punjab, where Sister Bibiana also worked. Another sister be-came a nun with the congregation called Handmaids of Mary in their home state of Odisha.

Sister Nilam attended a Catholic High School that was run by nuns. When Sister completed the 12th grade, she moved to southern India and joined the congregation of the Sisters of Sacred Sciences in 2000. After joining their order, she says she was convinced of her vocation to dedicate her life to serve God by serving humanity. She took her first vows in 2004, and the following year she worked on her Bachelor in Arts, along with having responsibilities of oversee-ing the junior students in their community. Sister was also involved in faith formation in the local parish.

After completing her Bachelor of Arts degree, Sister Nilam was sent to North India to work in a new mission. She was on staff of the Missionaries of St. Francis de Sales Seminary teaching Bible classes to the seminarians. Sister Nilam was also doing the family aposto-late, involved in the local parish activities, and enjoyed being with the “simple people over there where she too learned from them.” She was there for 2 years, from 2007-2009.

In 2009 Sister Nilam traveled back to South India where she was the Superior of her community as well as training the candidates aspir-ing to be religious. She states “it was an enriching experience” and she made her final vows in 2010 and came to OLAMS on August 1, 2012.

Welcome, Sister Nilam! You are a blessing to all of us, and we look forward to getting to know you better.

Sister Frisca Guria was also born and raised in the north part of India in the state called Odisha. Her mother raised her, 1 brother and 5 sisters. Her father died when she was 9 years old. Sister Frisca came from a very devout Catholic family and they supported her decision to become a nun. Sister completed her high school studies and decided to join the religious congregation of Sisters of Sacred Sciences. She states she “was convinced of her vocation” and made her first vows in 2005. After that, she worked on her Bachelor of Arts degree, which she completed in 2008. She made her final vows in 2010. In 2011, Sister Frisca was in charge of candidates who were aspiring to become Sisters and she was also their teacher, teaching them grammar and stories of the Saints.

Sister Frisca enjoyed working in her community as well as being involved in church activities. She came to OLAMS on August 1, 2012. We are so blessed to have her join us.

Sister Bibiana was born in North India and grew up with her parents, 4 brothers and 1 sister. In 2000, Sister left north-ern India and traveled to southern India to join the religious community of Sisters of Sacred Sciences. She made her first vows in 2004 and was sent to Switzerland to study and take part in mission work with the visitation nuns. She came to the United States in 2006 to carry out mission work for St. John’s Catholic Church in San Marcos, TX. In 2007 Sister Bibiana came to Temple and worked at OLAMS with Sister Lincy and Sister Sini until she returned to India in 2009 to make her final vows. Unfortunately, she was unable to re-turn to the U.S. until recently due to problems within the United States Homeland Security.

Over the last 3 years since leaving Temple, Sister Bibiana has stayed busy in India. When she could not return to the U.S., she took classes and worked with the new candidates coming into her community. She went to another commu-nity for a year and a half as the house parent to 72 girls who were attending a nearby Catholic School. From there she and 3 other Sisters were invited by their Diocese of Jalan-dhar to start a mission in Punjab northern India, which was on the border of Pakistan. Sister Bibiana worked at Sacred Heart Convent School where there were 700 students and she taught children from nursery through 7th grade. Sister Bibiana taught the students English, Hindi (the national lan-guage of India), General Studies (similar to history class), and Moral Science (similar to geography and science). The children enjoyed singing and dancing and took part in sing-ing competitions. She was also the coordinator for a group of women who would come together for prayer meeting and would help and visit the poor families in that area. Sister also learned to read and write the script of the language of Punjabi that was spoken in that state.

One of the highlights of that area was a daily ceremony, morning and night of raising and lowering both the flags of India and Pakistan at the border. This was done as a parade of 4 soldiers from each country went onto a stage, present-ing the flag along with their country’s slogan, and then raised or lowered the flag. These ceremonies were so popu-lar that thousands of people would travel from all over both countries to watch this ceremony.

The Diocese moved Sister Bibiana and another sister to a new school, (an English Midium School), where she was the manager. They had been there 2 months when she was notified by Sister Sini that her VISA had been approved and she could return to the U.S. She arrived in Temple on July 10, 2012.

Sister Bibiana states “I am happy to work and serve the ladies who come to the shelter and help them in different ways. Thank you one and all for what the community does for us, the Sisters of Sacred Sciences”.

Thank you, Sister Bibiana, for coming back to OLAMS!

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

President, Louis Maspero Dr. Robert Brakemeier Ann Cooney Rev. Joseph Nisari

Vice-President, Dr. Bill Hamilton Dr. Jose Cesani Phil Everett Msgr. Louis Pavlicek

Treasurer, Stephanie Glorioso Rev. Tom Chamberlain Kim Kroll Jerry Samu

Secretary, Ann Bierschenk Rev. Ranjan Cletus Jane McBride

ANGELS AMONG US

Thirty five students from Holy Trinity Catholic High School took part in a service project at OLAMS and cleaned inside and outside the shelter. Pictures below show their work in progress. Thanks to everyone who took part in the service day for all their energy, enthusiasm, and hard work to make the shelter look so great. We appreciate

your efforts!

“When you live with a heart of compassion, you have the heart of an angel. When you fill your life with deeds of compassion, you do the work of an angel.”

Angels In Our Lives

SPECIAL THANKS TO THE FOLLOWING:

OLAMS

Appreciates all

the volunteers and

donors who give so

generously of their time,

talent, and treasures to make

this ministry possible. Here are

just a few of the gifts we received:

Sheila Berning—Shelter Consultant

Phil Leibowitz, Jr.—Insurance Consultation

Novosad Electric—Electrical repairs and service

Steve Roeder—Computer repairs and maintenance

Helping Hands of Killeen—Bus Tickets for Residents

St. Vincent de Paul of Temple—Bus Tickets for Residents

Phil and Mary Ann Everett—Yard work and shelter repairs

Marian Bergmann—Organization of clothes & donations in store room

Josephine Guardado—Health Screenings for new residents & their children

Tom Pechal—Training for staff, and volunteers on CPR/1st Aid Certification

Frances Elliott and Dolores Lopez—Teaching Quilting to Sisters and Residents

Ed McCrae—Monthly maintenance check on shelter’s fire extinguishers, ac filters

We are so thankful for our hard-working Volunteers and Sub-House Parents:

Frances Elliott

Louise Leyden

Dolores Lopez

Francyn Madler

Mary Ann McCrea

Jane Montgomery

Janie Petter

Annual 2012 Fundraiser:

Over 19 volunteers spent well over 284 hours in preparation

for the event.

In 2012 the following activities were also held to benefit

OLAMS:

Since our last newsletter, two garage sales were held with 8 volunteers

raising $1,458.25 for the shelter. Within the last 6

years, this same group has raised $6,820.32 for

OLAMS.

Please join Our Lady of the Angels Maternity Shelter

as we celebrate our

Tenth Annual Benefit Banquet

FRIDAY, JANUARY 25, 2013

Bell County Expo Center

301 West Loop 121

Belton, TX

This year’s Banquet will feature:

Most Rev. William Mulvey

Bishop of the Diocese of

Corpus Christi

Social Hour and Silent Auction 6-7 pm

followed by Dinner and Program from 7:15-9 pm

Tickets are $50/individual dinner or $375/table of 8

For Reservations, please call St. Luke’s Catholic Church at

(254) 773-1561

At Our Lady of the Angels, we always have ongoing needs:

The majority of items we receive at the shelter are for the babies and children, and without these donations we couldn’t meet the needs of the moms we help. However, many of our moms at the shelter are in need of personal items for themselves, and although the shelter provides whatever has been turned in as donations, it would also be nice to offer NEW items for the moms. Some of these items might include: maternity gowns, tennis shoes and socks, house shoes or flip-flops. Gift cards would be great too, for special items such as maternity undergarments. During the winter months we always need warm clothing, such as sweatshirts and pants, coats and jackets.

ANOTHER IMMEDIATE NEED

As we start a new year it’s important to look at the mission of Our Lady of the Angels and to make sure that each and every day we do everything possible to meet the needs of eve-ry young mother and child who stay at our shelter. Women learn of our shelter from a va-riety of different sources: pregnancy centers, shelters that cannot house pregnant women, word of mouth from friends or family; the phone book, and now more frequently, the in-ternet. As technology advances, we find that we have not been able to stay up with the times with our website. The young lady who designed our website in 2009 was the de-pendent of a soldier at Ft. Hood. She was from England, and eventually moved back to England when her husband was sent to Iraq. We have made numerous calls to other agen-cies for assistance with our website, but so far, no one has stepped up to help. If you or anyone you know can help us with this immediate need to update our current website, please have them contact us. We believe this will be a great tool to reach those who are looking for a shelter such as OLAMS.

OTHER ITEMS NEEDED:

newborn baby clothes

diapers

formula

baby wipes

coats/jackets

maternity clothes

shoes for moms

Please make check payable and mail to: Our Lady of the Angels

Maternity Shelter 613 South 9th Street Temple, TX 76504

We do not share or sell any of your contact information.

Please Print: Amount enclosed:____________

NAME_______________________________________________________________

ADDRESS___________________________________________________________

CITY _________________________________ STATE_____ZIP____________

PHONE _________________________________________ □WORK □HOME

E-MAIL___________________________________________

AN ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF YOUR DONATION WILL BE MAILED TO YOU. PLEASE DO NOT SEND CASH.

Everlasting God:

You have ordained and constituted, in a wonderful order, the ministries of an-gels and mortals: Mercifully grant that, as your holy angels always serve and worship you in heaven, so by your ap-pointment they may help and defend us here on earth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER

613 S. 9th St. Temple, TX 76504

Phone:(254)742-2340 (Toll Free) 1-877-542-2340

Fax:(254)742-1050

OUR LADY OF THE

ANGELS MATERNITY

SHELTER