Associates help continue the missions of religious orders

MARY GORRY | TLIC

Associates and sisters from eight different local religious congregations listen to presentations at the March 21 conference.

AMITYVILLE — They came from all over Long Island — women and men, lay associates and religious — to help ensure the future of the mission of religious life in whatever form it takes.

About 170 associates and vowed religious from eight different religious congregations on Long Island attended a conference called “Living Our Founders’ Dreams” at the Dominican Motherhouse here March 21.

“In this new millennium,” said Sister Dolores Castellano of the Congregation of the Infant Jesus, “I see many parallels in history. In 1905, there were many immigrants in great need — need for housing, health care, and education. There were few sisters at the time. Today you find yourself in similar circumstances. Along with the needs of the poor, there are many immigrants, many needs, and few sisters. My prayer is that a new wave of people will rise and respond to the present need for the glory of God,” that “new wave” being associates.

An associate is a lay person, either male or female, who feels called to share in the mission and spirit of a religious congregation within the context of his or her own life at home, at work, and in the community. Many feel called to a particular congregation’s charism, which is a way to look at and live out the Gospel. They commit to non-vowed participation in the prayer life and ministry of the religious community. The North American Conference of Associates and Religious conducted a survey in 2002 that counted 27,400 associates in the United States.

The associates and religious at the conference represented eight local religious communities — the Ursuline Sisters, the Religious of the Cenacle, the Sisters of St. Joseph, the Sisters of Charity, the Sisters of Mercy, the Daughters of Wisdom, the Congregation of the Infant Jesus (also known as the Nursing Sisters of the Sick Poor), and the Amityville Dominicans.

Associates “partner with us in many things,” noted Dominican Sister Joan Fronc. “Each congregation has its own charism, its own way of doing things, and every one of these eight congregations has a healthy number of associates who help that happen in ways that are not, strictly speaking, Church-related. They take this way of living into wherever they work and live.”

Virginia Campbell, an associate of the Amityville Dominicans, noted that for her community, “one of the requirements is that an associate connects with a group of sisters and prays with them. Myself and three other associates pray with three sisters in Roslyn on a monthly basis. A lot of the people here who are associates are also involved in the ministries (of the congregation). We have people who work in the motherhouse, I volunteer with The OPening Word,” a Dominican education program for poor, undereducated women. (The letters O.P. designate the Dominicans, the “Order of Preachers.”)
Being an associate in general “is a wonderful way to get involved in ministries,” she noted. Being a Dominican associate in particular, “you also can bring the charism of Dominic into what you’re doing.” The Dominican charism includes the deep search for the truth that God is in all creation, and integrating into their lives the four pillars of prayer, study, living the common life, and mission.

“I’m retired now,” she continued, “but I was a school psychologist and I really felt like I was able to bring some of my Dominican charism in dealing with the people I dealt with.”

Seeing so many associates from different communities in one room, Sister Joan noted, “is marvelous, because all of us sisters at some point are going to die, but the charism has to live on. I see it living on in lay people, in their place of business, in their families. Some of the people are young and are going to way outlive us. Those are the folks I’m really counting on to carry on this message that came from 300 or 400 years ago. So they have their work cut out for them, but they are accepting of that responsibility. I think it’s so exciting!”

Artwork put on display by the associates for the Daughters of Wisdom at the March 21 conference.