Center for Catholic Education at UD

By Laura Antel

My name is Laura Antel, and I am a recent graduate of the Lalanne Program at the University of Dayton. I am currently teaching 5th grade math and religion at Metro Catholic School in Cleveland. Within the past year I had the opportunity to get involved in a Ministry Leadership Program sponsored by the Sisters of Charity in the Diocese of Cleveland. This Program is made up of ten young adults working in ministry throughout the diocese, along with ten Religious Sisters. Each young adult is paired with a Sister companion. The main focus of this program is for young adults to create a mission integration project with the help and guidance of their Sister companion. Once the young adults created and planned their projects, they needed to write a grant in order to receive funding for their project. The grants were approved in August, and within the past two weeks I began the first phase of my mission integration project.

For my project, I am planning one retreat for the 5th and 6th grade students each quarter. Each quarter we are focusing on a different community of Religious Sisters. First quarter we focused on the Sisters of Notre Dame. I had six Sisters of Notre Dame come in to talk to my students, and the students rotated through each homeroom to listen to all six Sisters talk about their ministries. The Sisters included Sr. Dolores, who was a missionary in Nicaragua.  She talked about what life was like there, and she also taught the students a song in Spanish that told them how to make salad. Sr. Roseanna was a missionary in the Dominican Republic and in Nicaragua. She showed us pictures from those places, and also told us stories about how different their lives are from ours. Many of the people there do not have electricity or running water. One story that has stuck with many of my students was about a young boy who asked his mother, “What’s for supper?”  Her response was, “We don’t have any food for supper tonight.” The young boy did not complain or throw a fit, but rather went outside to play, as though this was normal.

Sr. Mary Berigan created a place called Blessing House, which is a safe home for children who need temporary housing. Children ages newborn through twelve years can stay in this home for up to four months if their parents are unable to care for them due to extended hospital stays, incarceration, homelessness, etc. The children will be loved and cared for in a safe environment during this time. Sr. Anne, who works at Metro Catholic, talked about work she did at the border early this school year. She helped make sandwiches for people who were hungry, and wore a shirt that said “Nadie es ilegal,” meaning “No one is illegal.” She explained to the students that people do illegal things, the same way some students here do mean things sometimes. However, that does not make them illegal, just as one mean act does not make a child mean. Sr. Margaret Hartman is a public defense lawyer.  She talked about the kids she helps in court. Lastly, Sr. Mary Jane is a missionary in hospitals and hospice care centers.  She listens to people, then tells their story back to them to prove she was listening. Finally, she asks the people if they would like her to pray with them. Sr. Mary Jane also told the students the miraculous story of St. Julie Billiart, who was the founder of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur. St. Julie Billiart was paralyzed for a period of time, but was then healed through the strength of prayer.

My students really enjoyed this first retreat day, and they are currently working on a missionary project to wrap it up, retelling the Sisters’ stories, as well as how each of them can be a missionary by spreading God’s love. They took pages worth of notes on each Sister, and I have never seen my students so quiet and engaged for two hours straight. It truly was a wonderful experience for my students, as well as for the teachers who were able to listen. My students are already asking when our next retreat will be, and I am sending out letters asking Ursuline Sisters if they would like to be presenters in November.