*A presentation by and conversation with Sister Nathalie Becquart, XMCJ, Undersecretary for the Vatican Office of the Synod of Bishops
on Synodality, Young People & Church
Friday, January 14, 2022 | 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. EST
Online event. All are welcome. RSVP: navfdco@gmail.com
Sister Nathalie Becquart, XMCJ is a member of the Xavière Missionaries of Christ Jesus, a specialist in youth ministry and synodality in the Church.
The Ursulines of Jesus, are profoundly grateful to God, for the new life burgeoning in our Congregation. Sr. Rachel, from Cameroon, pronounced her final vows August, 2020.
Srs. Bernadette, Cecile and Prisca pronounced their first vows September 8, 2020 in Madagascar. The theme for their vows was, “Jesus Only” (Jesus Seul) a favourite phrase of our founder, Louis-Marie Baudouin.
The novitiate community joyfully welcomed 9 novices on October 5th.
Please hold these women in your prayer that they may be faithful to God’s call and that many more will hear that same invitation and respond with generous hearts.
Visit the Ursulines of Jesus directory listing
Br. Denis Claivaz fpm
In September 1975, I arrived in the northern part of Ghana, West Africa, specifically in a town called Navrongo, where I was to begin my new life as a Missionary. In my orientation days I was asked by a number of people, some who should have known better, why I had become a “Brother” and had not gone “all the way” to Priesthood. After all, my academic qualifications pointed to a “higher” vocation than brotherhood.
I guess I could understand these queries in the environment in which I found myself. It was the “White Fathers”, the Missionaries of Africa, who had opened up the trail of Christianity here. Their way of entering into new mission territories was to allow the Brothers to go first so that the infrastructures could be put into place. The Brothers, who were the carpenters, plumbers, masons, etc. the artisans of the group, took the lead and so the locals became accustomed to seeing and working with these men in putting up the house for the Fathers, the school for the kids and the Chapel for the Lord. They were the ‘hands on’ people of the Missions.
Neither was there a great deal of surprise in these queries about being a Brother, as I had spent a great deal of time, on my vocation journey, answering the very same questions. Why a “Brother”? Ever think of the Priesthood? Something the Sisters have yet to encounter. It is amazing how misunderstood the vocation of a Brother really is. However, I have never questioned my “call” to my vocation as a Religious Brother.
On October 4th, 2015 (the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi) the Vatican published a document about “being a Brother”. It was entitled the “Identity and Mission of the Religious Brother in the Church”. A document long overdue but much appreciated. In it the official Church gives a recognition of the uniqueness of the Brother’s vocation which had not been analyzed in such depth before. Usually the official definition of who a Brother is would suffice: “A religious brother is a member of a Christian or who commits himself to following Christ in of the Church, usually by the vows of poverty, and obedience”.
But the Vatican document seems to give a weightier stance to the vocation. It states, “the bonds of communion of the Religious Brother extend beyond the boundaries of the Church, because he is driven by the same “universal character that distinguishes the People of God. The vocation of the Brother is part of the answer that God gives to the absence of brotherhood which is wounding the world today. At the root of a Brother’s vocation lies a profound experience of solidarity that essentially matches that of Moses before the burning bush: he discovers himself as the eyes, ears and heart of God, the God who sees the oppression of his people, who hears their cry, feels their anguish and comes down to liberate them”.
I believe that my authority to “be a Brother” is directly related to the fact that the Lord called me to be one. It is in the call that the Brother is introduced to the Lord and can become intimate in his relationship with Jesus. It is Jesus who works through me. I have noting and am nothing if it is not ‘in the Lord’. My relationship with the Lord is the foundation of my vocation.
In my early discernment I visited St. Joseph’s Oratory in Montreal every month. This place was built by a simple person who had a huge heart and a great devotion to St. Joseph. On my visits to the tomb of Br. Andre I had many discussions with him about who I was and where I was going. His gentle guidance steered me along the ‘right path’. The magnificence of the Oratory was in stark contrast to the utter simplicity of the ‘man’. I wanted to be like Andre. And so, when I revealed my decision to my family and friends, I took solace in the great faith of this simple man.
*Due to the COVID-19 crisis, The Daughters of St Paul are offering their annual Holy Week Retreat online this year!
There is no cost for this retreat, which includes conferences, prayer opportunities, and more to help you live this week with the Lord in a rich and intentional way, grow in your relationship with Him, and pray about your vocation. The retreat will run from Wednesday, April 8 through Easter Sunday, April 12.
The portal is here: http://daughtersofstpaul.com/Portals/2/holy-week-retreat-2020.html
If you have questions or would like to register, please contact Sr. Emily Beata at vocations@paulinemedia.com or 703-549-3086.
September 7, 2019
A little over a week from now, I will make my final vows as a Sister of St. Joseph. With nearly a decade of formal formation behind me and many more years of informal discernment, it’s hard to believe that I’ve come to this point in my journey as a religious sister. Yet, through joys and sufferings, laughter and tears, I now find myself on the cusp of final commitment.
June 15, 2019
If you had met Fr. Ted Penton, SJ, right before turn of the millennium and told him he’d be ordained a Jesuit priest in 2019, he wouldn’t have believed you.
Ted was an atheist when he decided to go on a retreat at a Buddhist monastery in Thailand while traveling after college. His experience there changed everything, and led him on a path back to the Catholic Church, the spiritual home of his childhood.
Fr. Ted is one of the newest Jesuit priests in the world. He ordination was just a few weeks ago in Toronto, one of the 22 Jesuits set to be ordained to the priesthood this year. In this conversation with host Mike Jordan Laskey, Ted opens up about his faith journey, his ordination, and how he went about writing the homily for his first Mass as the presider when the Gospel for the day wasn’t his all-time favorite passage.
Bringing God to the young and the young to God!
March 29-31, 2019
To register: www.salesiansisterscanada.com
Sr. Nathalie Becquart, xav, is a member of the Xavière Missionaries of Christ Jesus, an apostolic religious institute rooted in the spiritual tradition of St. Ignatius of Loyola (founder of the Jesuits). Sr. Nathalie is the former Director of the National Service for Youth Evangelization and for Vocations of the Bishops’ Conference of France. She is currently the Vice-President of the European Vocations Service. She acted as one of several coordinators for the Pre-Synod meeting of youth held at the Vatican in March 2018, and has been named as an auditor of the Synod on Young People, the Faith, and Vocational Discernment at the Vatican during the month of October 2018.
For the second consecutive year a retreat was held for those living religious life who are new to their communities and/or 55 ish and under. Fr. Ron Rolheiser, OMI offered talks and facilitated our reflection time. The 20 young religious in attendance were able to bring their questions and desires to a casual atmosphere that included times of silent prayer, conversation, joy, and laughter over a 5 day period. In an effort to continue to extend support to all of the new and young religious in Canada (and Canadian religious living abroad) there are plans in place for a retreat next year and a new blog for young religious. More details are on their way so please stay tuned!!
We at NAVFD are thrilled to present the final report of the research study, “Recent Vocations to Religious Life in Canada” conducted for us by the Centre for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA). We are most grateful to the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation for funding this amazing project.
Download the report (Large PDF – 20MB)
Download the appendices (PDF)