The Sisters of Mercy
For this assignment, I decided to research the Sisters of Mercy, a Catholic order of nuns. I never before realized that there is so much behind their amazing devotion to the Catholic Church and God. I must admit that they are beautiful examples of God's teaching, and I feel truly blessed to be involved with the Sisters of Mercy. Each and every one of them has a unique story to tell about her life, but none is more intriguing than that of Sister Mary Joel Hopkinson. Having only heard bits and pieces, and not knowing for sure the steps that each of these women had to take to become who she is today, I asked Sister Mary Joel to share her story with me.
When she was born into a Protestant family in New England, no one could have guessed that Sister Joel would end up becoming a Catholic, let alone a Sister of Mercy. But as it turned out, as Sister Mary Joel Hopkinson says, "There was no way to deny it; this is what God wanted for me." Sister Joel has been a Sister of Mercy for almost fifty years. What is so interesting about her story is that she has been a Catholic for only fifty years. Only a little more than a year after she converted to Catholicism, she found herself looking to enter a convent. She explained that all her life she had had Catholic friends. At one of her jobs, she was the only non-Catholic in the carpool. The Catholic Church intrigued her, and she was of a curious nature, but not until years later did she realize that God was sending her a sign. She puts it rather bluntly when she says, "God pushed me out of the window and into the convent." Sister Joel was not always a businesswoman; in fact, she worked in a building in Brooklyn, New York, cleaning windows on the second floor. It was a rather old building, and the chains on the windows had been painted over a number of times. Once, while struggling to pull the window down, she lost her footing and fell out the window. The reason she says God pushed her is that the only ambulance on call that day was from St.
Although the Catholic Church kept nuns enclosed in convents in order to regulate their sexualities, Jeanne de Jussie’s writings highlight some of her own experiences with violence, in addition to offering examples of the stories that Catholics circulated (Crawford 87). In the chronicle, Jeanne de Jussie mentioned issues of domestic conflict incurred by the Reformation; many women were caught between their husband’s wrath and their Catholic faith (de Jussie 95). She also described some of the violence committed by heretics against Catholics; for example, before the heretics locked away the Lords of Bern in an inhumanely small cell, they “villainously grabbed him and pulled him from the pulpit and treated him harshly, so that he almost died there and then” (de Jussie 94). According to Jeanne de Jussie’s accounts, religious people from both sides of the conflict went to war with each other; she described that “good fathers went to battle with many other monks because it was for the religion but they did not bear arms” (de Jussie 79). Women and children also instigated Catholic violence against the heretics; “many of the women . . . carried rocks in their bodices to throw at the Lutherans. Along with the women there were at least seven hundred children between twelve and fifteen who were determined to do their duty with their mothers” (de
Wilson, Barbara S., Arlene Flancher, and Susan T. Erdey. The Episcopal Handbook. New York, NY: Morehouse Pub., 2008. Print.
Mary MacKillop was born in Fitzroy, Melbourne on January the 15th 1842. She was the first child to Alexander MacKillop and Flora MacDonald. Mary was one child out of 8 and spent most of her childhood years looking after and acting like a second mother to her siblings. The MacKillop family were quite poor so at the young age of 14, Mary got herself a job as a governess and as teacher at a Portland school. All the money Mary earned went towards her families everyday living. While working as a governess, Mary met Father Julian Tension Woods. By the time Mary had reached the age of 15 she had decided that she wanted to be a nun. She also wanted to devote her life to the poor and less fortunate. So upon meeting Father Julian Tension Woods she told him her hopes and dreams, and together they decided to set up a school. In 1861, they worked together and opened Australia's first free Catholic school. At the time only the rich could afford schooling. But at the school Mary opened anyone was welcome. Mary was a great teacher and became very popular within the community. Although Mary was very pleased with her work she still felt a religious calling. So Mary and Father Woods started their own order, 'The Sisters of St. Joseph.' In 1867 Mary then moved to Adelaide where she opened another school. Before long there were 17 schools open across Australia. Mary's followers grew and by 1909 she had followers all over Australia. Mary later died on the 8th of August 1909.
Mary Rowlandson and Olaudah Equiano both had many obstacles in a certain period of life. From the different narratives, trials and tribulations were brought upon both. Taken from the life of which accustomed to and put in sometimes very harsh conditions had an antagonistic effect. Despite it all, Rowlandson and Equiano were able to get through by keep faith in God, the word of the bible, and spiritualism in itself. After all of the trials and tribulations Rowlandson and Equiano were able to escape and look back on all the things they went through. Mary Rowlandson and Olaudah Equiano can be compared and contrasted by family life, conditions while captured, and moment of rescue.
Perrin, J. M. "Mercy." In New Catholic Encyclopedia, 504. Vol. 9. Detroit: Gale, 2003. Accessed
Dramatic Tension in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet There are many reasons for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet. For example, fate, the feud, domineering fathers, adolescent passion, Friar Lawrence, Friar John for failing to deliver the letter, or was the tragedy caused by love itself? This creates tension because, although the audience is omnipotent they never quite know what will happen next, or who will be held responsible for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet. Shakespeare creates dramatic tension with his creation of the characters and the language he uses pertaining to love, hate and fear. He uses oxymorons, repetitions, metaphors and similes to formulate imagery, puns and sonnets.
Dramatic Tension in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet William Shakespeare's, 'Romeo and Juliet', tells us the story of two feuding families, the Capulets and the Montagues; whose children fall in love with each other and eventually take their lives. The prologue is a brief description of the play. As the play was written in the 16th Century, a time when many people who attended the theatre were inattentive, they needed help with the context and meaning of the play; this is what the prologue is for. The prologue also makes the audience want to know what happened in between the beginning and ending; which they already know. Dramatic irony is introduced this way.
Teresa Sanchez de Cepeda y Ahumada, better known as St. Teresa of Avila, was a Spanish Catholic Saint and Carmelite nun who was most prominently known for her journey towards contemplative life through mental prayer. In her reflective and analytical autobiography, The Life of St. Teresa of Jesus, of the Order of Our Lady of Carmel, Teresa reflects on her interactions with others as a child, as a woman and as a nun, and bases her opinion of her own freedom and free will on these reflections. In this paper, I will argue the dual nature of freedom in Teresa’s life; on the one hand, Teresa is free in that she breaks free from the traditional role of the woman and society’s honour codes- despite citing honour as providing some guidance in her life-,
Twisted Sisters, a novel written by Jen Lancaster, is about Reagan Bishop, a psychologist who struggles accepting that her sister, Geri, is the family favorite. She ends up discovering some things she never knew about her sister. The theme of this book is definitely friendship. Reagan was named after the president Ronald Reagan, because she was born not long after he was elected. She grew up in Chicago with an older sister, Mary Mac, and a younger one, Geri. Reagan couldn’t be more different from her two sisters, she was tall with dark brown hair, blue eyes, and a love for academics. On the other hand, her sisters had a short and plump physique accompanied by red hair and freckles. Reagan moved on to a prestigious private college and fulfilled her dreams of becoming a psychologist. She was very careful about what she ate, and she loved going on long runs. Reagan was even featured on a cable show titled, I Need a Push! You’re probably thinking, wow, Reagan’s got a lot running for her, right? Wrong. She was a psychologist with a few issues of her own. In this paper, I will explain the ...
Joni was swimming with her friends and drove into the water where she hit the bottom and fractured her vertebrae at the age of 17, becoming a quadriplegic and having to rely on help from her parents for the rest of her life. Joni was lost in her thoughts, which turned into depression with the idea of euthanasia, not wanting to be a burden to her family any more. Joni was focused on what she didn’t have anymore and could not see the blessing of what she still had. When life changes for the good people never question why, then when life changes for the bad they always question why. People ask; why God would allow people to suffer, or what good has ever come out of someone, living like this, in the end can people over come all obstacles.
Schüssler-Fiorenza, Elizabeth. In Memory of Her: A Feminist Theological Reconstruction of Christian Origins. New York: Crossroad, 1983.
aspect of it has to be the loving thing to do then it is possibly
Being a devout Catholic, O’Connor’s “faith consciously informed her fiction. The difficulty of her work, she explained…is that many of her readers do not understand the redemptive quality of ‘grace,’ and, she added, ‘don’t recognize it when they see it. All my stories are...
“Saint Joan” is filled with many religious characters but the only one who truly believes they are doing God's work is Joan. Even though there is no proof that Joan is hearing these voices...
pH levels shows how acidic or basic a substance is. A substance that is neither acidic or basic is called neutral. pH levels are very important in measuring the acidity of something for scientists. The scale ranges from 0 to 14. A pH of 7 is neutral, a pH less than 7 is acidic, and a pH greater than 7 is basic. Sour and fruity candy are very acidic. Some sour candies reach very low pH levels, such as warhead sour spray, which has a pH of one p...