A history of the sisters of the Order of St. Basil the Great
CONCLUSION
Today, the Basilian Sister, imbued with Eastern spirituality, is a woman of prayer, one who has been called by God to live in a supportive community where she is continually being emptied of self and filled with God's love. It is through God's love that the Basilian sister devotes her life to the service of others as a continuation of Christ's mission. She serves, primarily but not exclusively, the people of the Ukrainian Catholic Church, and her tasks are primarily, but not exclusively, in the fields of education, pastoral ministry, retreat ministry, and ecclesiastical arts. She is a living symbol of all that is promised in the great seal of St. Basil.
Community life in the province, so tenuous at the turn of the previous century, has matured and flourished. Where there were four, there are now 63. Jubilee celebrations for sisters who have served the order for 50 and more years are regularly and joyfully observed. Newly professed sisters share their dreams and vocation with elderly veterans, learn from them, and honor their experience and their wisdom.
One of these is a young woman from Ukraine, reprising the journey of Jeremiah Ewasiechko, the young postulant who accompanied Mother Helena Langewych from the Yavoriv community to Philadelphia in 1911. In many ways, her story is as remarkable as the story of her emigrant predecessor.
In 1991 Ukraine became an independent nation. After decades of active repression, personal and institutional spirituality began to experience a renaissance. The revitalization of religious practice and religious instruction was hampered by the scarcity of trained and qualified priests and nuns, by poverty and by isolation from the global religious community.
In 1994 the provincial administration initiated a program that would reconnect the sisters of the province with their ancestral homeland and would assist the sisters of the homeland to fulfill their mission in God's service.
The Ukraine Outreach program had several objectives: to staff religious training institutions in Ukraine, to provide medical and educational assistance to individual sisters in Ukraine and Eastern Europe and to invite young women from Ukraine to test their vocation in practice. It was determined that a trial period within the religious community located in Fox Chase, Pa., would allow these young women to discern their readiness to become members of the Order of the Sisters of St. Basil the Great and their commitment to ministerial service within the Ukrainian Catholic Church.
After several years of intensive planning and preparation, six young women were invited from Ukraine. They arrived in the United States on September 27, 1997, and embarked on a course of spiritual training in the provincial community while taking classes at Manor College.
Although most of these young women eventually chose to return to Ukraine, one chose to stay. On September 30, 2001, in a ceremony held at the Holy Trinity Chapel of the Sisters of St. Basil the Great, Luba Beley, from Kalush, took her first vows, promising to observe the rules of the community and to serve humanity in Christ's name.
While the first years of the Ukraine Outreach program did not turn out entirely as expected, they were a positive learning experience. The program has since been redesigned to reflect a better understanding of the expectations of the Ukrainian girls and their American sisters.
Vocational promotion here in America is also an ongoing challenge, for while the sisters of the Province of Jesus, Lover of Humanity, are strong in spirit, they are too few in number to fully meet the growing demands of the Church and community they serve. In recent years, the sisters have regretfully had to turn down requests from bishops in Brazil, Canada, Ukraine and the United States, all in need of teachers, parish assistants and pastoral ministry staff.
The response to this crisis has been a concerted and unified effort to seek out, invite, and nurture women who may have a calling for the religious life. Each of the sisters has recognized that this is not one person's task and has willingly committed herself to fulfilling the responsibilities of vocational director. They work together, assembling and mailing vocational information to high school and college students. There is an informative and inviting website that addresses the questions of women who are tentatively examining their spiritual needs and addresses, as well, the needs of women who are actively seeking a way to enhance their relationship with God by joining a religious community. The sisters also host and sponsor numerous programs, making themselves and their ministry more visible to the community at large and more specifically to women who are seeking spiritual guidance and direction.
From the start, most of these efforts have been directed at reaching out to young women. But there was a lesson to be learned here about the mysterious ways in which God works to answer prayers. In seeking to open one door, the sisters were to discover that God often opens other doors, sometimes reviving traditions long ago abandoned as antiquated or obsolete.
In 1997 a woman named Barbara Terefenko entered the community. On April 21, 2001, Sister Barbara took her first vows and accepted the veil. She was joyfully embraced by her sisters in Christ, and tearfully congratulated by her four children and her six grandchildren. A widowed grandmother had joined the community, reviving a tradition that, lost in the depths of history, may yet find new life in new times.
Labors of Love
Elections for the Province of Jesus, Lover of Humanity, were held in 2000 and those elected will serve the order and their community until the year 2005. The current provincial is Sister Dorothy Ann Busowski, formerly a principal of St. Basil Academy. The assistant provincial is Sister Laura Palka. Sister Miriam Claire Kowal, Sister Mary Cecilia Jurasinski and Sister Paula Jacynyk have been chosen as Councilors to the community.
St. Basil Academy, which was established in 1931, is now a college preparatory school that provides an excellent learning environment and diverse curriculum for more than 350 students. The academy is accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools and the Pennsylvania Department of Education. The current principal is Sister Carla Hernandez.
Manor College, which was established in an old farmhouse, expanded its facilities to include dormitories, a library, and in 1977 an on-campus Ukrainian Heritage Studies Center with the goal of fostering an awareness of Ukrainian heritage and culture. Now a co-educational college, Manor has an enrollment of 800 students with access to an extensive and varied curriculum. The current president of the college is Sister Mary Cecilia Jurasinski.
At both the college and the academy the tradition of teaching that began so many centuries ago continues. Both institutions reap the rewards of having alumnae whose post-graduate accomplishments pay tribute to the sisters who taught them how to reach for the best within themselves.
Operations at the orphanage on West Lindley Avenue were suspended in 1988 with the understanding that a functioning orphanage might be re-established if and when the need arose. The elementary school and printing press at the same location were closed in 1989, and the property was sold to neighboring La Salle University.
The sisters continue to staff St. Josaphat School in Philadelphia, St. George Elementary School and St. George Academy in New York, St. Nicholas School in Chicago, and St. Josaphat School in Parma, Ohio. They conduct religious education programs in the Stamford Diocese and provide pastoral ministry to the Ukrainian community in the Parma Eparchy. One of the sisters serves as personal secretary to the archbishop of Philadelphia; one serves at the Basilian Generalate in Rome.
In December 1996 the first group of Basilian associates was welcomed to the Order after a year-long preparatory program. The association offers men and women of varied circumstances the shared experience of coming together and engaging in the spirit and the mission of the Basilian Sisters. Being in the association helps them to deepen their spiritual relationship and personal spiritual growth.
In May 1998 another longstanding dream of the Sisters of the Order of St. Basil the Great was fulfilled. A pontifical divine liturgy celebrated by the Most Rev. Archbishop Stephen Sulyk was followed by a groundbreaking ceremony for the Holy Trinity Chapel and Basilian Spirituality Center.
In March 2000 the sisters witnessed the consecration of the chapel and the blessing of the completed center. The facilities include a large meeting room which seats 100 people, two smaller meeting rooms, common space for informal sharing and exhibits, a library and archival area, a dining area, and a small prayer room for individual and group reflection. Set in the beautiful natural environment of the 130-acre site purchased by Mother Josaphat in the 1920's the center provides a peaceful and nurturing atmosphere and attests to the manifold wonders of God's creation. The director of the center is Sister Marina Bochnewich.
The Basilian Spirituality Center is the culmination of a dream of many years a testament to the human spirit and the embodiment of the mission of the Sisters of St. Basil the Great. In all ways, it is the manifestation of community, heritage, love of God and love of humanity, love of learning, prayer, service and dedication. It is above all, a place to reflect, to pray, to learn and to be refreshed in body, soul and spirit. The programs and special events hosted at the Spirituality Center are designed to provide intellectual, psychological and spiritual enrichment. Recent events have included symposiums on iconography, retreats for students and faculty of St. Basil Academy and the archeparchial clergy conference. In keeping with the theme of health, healing and wholeness, the Spirituality Center sponsors tai chi classes, women's discussion groups, guided prayer weekends, and individual spiritual direction. The Spirituality Center also houses the province archives. Work has begun on establishing a permanent endowment fund for the Spirituality Center, and for the purpose of perpetuating the sisters' mission of serving the educational and spiritual needs of the community.
At the end of 2001 and the beginning of 2002, the Province of Jesus, Lover of Humanity is celebrating its 90th year of existence. Many commemorative activities have been planned, including an essay contest, a historical video-collage of sisters in the community, and a special pilgrimage. Holy card bookmarks will be distributed at parishes staffed by the province.
Three of the sisters have contributed their God-given talents to honor Mother Helena. Sister Susanne Matwijiw will paint a portrait. A poem, written by Sister Judith Piszyk, will be set to music by Sister Laura Palka. The community will celebrate both joyously and solemnly - a reflection of life's dual nature and a mirror of the history of the province and the order it serves.
As they prepare for the challenges that lie ahead, the sisters find strength and inspiration in their roots and in the community's new spiritual leader, Archbishop Stefan Soroka. The archbishop has expressed more than a passing interest in the sisters' work, and especially in their determination to improve and accelerate their vocational program.
Nowhere is this more evident than in the newly created Archdiocesan Vocation Committee, which has proposed, and means to implement, a series of proactive measures to heighten vocational awareness among the clergy, the religious and the laity. The committee has planned retreats, community outreach programs, motivational workshops and a rigorous media campaign aimed at seeking out those who have been called by God and are merely waiting for encouragement from the religious community to pursue that calling.
In these uncertain times, many have turned (or returned) to God as the source of comfort in a world torn apart by the heinous acts perpetrated by desperate and misguided human beings. In the last year alone, we have witnessed tragedy that defies reason and defiles God's creation in ways too horrific to fully comprehend. It is in the vortex of such horror that God truly shows his light and his mercy, calling upon men and women to special deeds and special sacrifices. Thus, it is not merely coincidence that the vocational aspirations of the province and of the archdiocese have coalesced at a time when religious vocation is so sorely needed as a palliative to evil, grief and the chaos bred of uncertainty. And it is surely no coincidence that God's instrument in this mission is a young archbishop with the passion and the energy to remobilize the forces of good by example and inspiration.
Time passes. The seal of St. Basil the Great, a waxen image created centuries ago in faraway Cappadoccia, appears on the official provincial website of the order. Goals and dreams and ambitions, fulfilled and unfulfilled, have their day in the sun and pass on. God remains and sees what works have been done in His name, what acts have glorified Him, what challenges have been met in his honor. And the sisters pray and teach and wait to see where God will lead them next.
- Development Office, Sisters of St. Basil the Great
CONCLUSION
Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, August 11, 2002, No. 32, Vol. LXX
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