Here’s this week BSN Headline News. This week’s stories are SQP, FSA, and Retirement.

 This week’s stories are ICD-10, Sisters Chat, and Volunteers. 

The Sisters of Bon Secours began hosting a chat room on their vocations website on Tuesday, October 25. The chat room, entitled ‘Sister’s Chat,’ will be held weekly from 7-8 p.m. and will feature a new topic each week. Sister’s Chat has been created by the Vocations office and Sr. Pat Dowling, CBS, Vocation Director, said, “I wanted a chat room to offer women who are inquiring about a vocation an opportunity to discuss topics related to religious life and discerning one’s call to religious life.” The chat room will enable women to casually talk with some of the sisters and other young women. They will have the opportunity to candidly ask questions that they may otherwise be uncomfortable asking someone else, furthering their knowledge of religious life.

The first four weeks will feature guest Sr. Christine Webb. Sr. Chris will be taking her final vows to become a nun on November 12 and she is currently preparing for this special step in religious life. Sr. Chris’ chat room topics will include God’s Whisper (How she heard God’s calling and began … continue reading…

The Sisters of Bon Secours spent time in Madrid, Spain for World Youth Day 2011.  World Youth Day is held every three years in a different country and is a special time of pilgrimage, prayer and a worldwide encounter with the Pope.  The Sisters of Bon Secours had the privilege of hosting a vocation booth during this monumental event and visiting with thousands of young adult Catholics.

World Youth Day in Madrid, held August 15-21, was not only special this year because of the 1 million young adults that attended, but it also hosted a Vocation Fair.  Sisters Pat Dowling, CBS, Vocation Director (USA), Elena Serrano, CBS (Peru) and Rosa Sanchez, CBS (South Africa) hosted a vocation booth there for the Sisters of Bon Secours.  The Vocation Expo took place in the Parque del Retiro, a park comparable to Central Park in New York City.  Despite the extreme heat wave in Madrid … continue reading…

The Spirit calls us to be co-dreamers…to be co-creators.
by: Sister Elaine Davia, CBS

It is amazing what a garden teaches one about community life as a Sister of Bon Secours:

It takes a lot of preparation and tending to keep it healthy and fruitful;
And the need for creativity, to tend and care in organic ways that don’t pollute or contaminate;
It’s the variety of colors, shapes and sizes that make it so beautiful and successful;
And the plants need to be rotated to continue to produce healthy fruit;
Some of the most beautiful flowers have really thorny spines (ouch);
A healthy garden attracts LOTS of life and visitors;
Some of the visitors have a real sting…but essential for pollination and growth of fruit;
Some visitors are quiet and inconspicuous, but necessary for healthy soil (e.g. the worms);
Some of the regulars appear to do nothing but add beauty;
Some just wait till the right moment then ruin the veggie (e.g. stink bugs and eggplant fleas);
There are rare, special visitors (e.g. a praying mantis and a hummingbird);
And of … continue reading…

Am here in the square of neptune w/ the million for the Pope’s welcome of young adults representing all parts of the world – pretty awesome – they are everywhere in the streets sitting and waving flags and singing and clapping.

I’m no where near where the Pope is in the plaza cibalis. The music is wonderful.

He’s supposed to drive near here tho in his Pope mobile.

Sisters Elena and Rosa came to help at the booth.

We have young women fm France, England, Peru, and USA who have signed up asking for info!! Too bad we aren’t in Australia, Poland, or some of the Asian or other African countries who asked if we were in their countries.

Gotta say there’s nothing like being in a young crowd like this to give u hope for the church.

Even had 2 young doctors fm New Zealand and a pharmacist ask about volunteering in the USA.

Its beastly hot tho – and the booth is outside so it takes a lot of you.

Pope is greeting all – this must be the 10th + language now.

Keep us in prayer … continue reading…

Sr. Fran Gorsuch meets God in the faces of those she helps. “My spirituality is at the moment of encounter— to bee there, to hear their nee ds. As sisters, we’re called to universal love. Some people may not appear lovable, but you get to know them. We’re all so much more alike than wee are different,” she says. Sr. Fran sees our similarities in an unlikely place: among immigrants from Haiti, Latin America, Russia, India, Pakistan, and the Middle East, now living in Rockland County, outside of New York City. As director of Community Initiatives with Bon Secours Charity Health System’s Good Samaritan Hospital in Suffern, NY, Sr. Fran advocates for disadvantaged people in communities that have some of the fastest growing immigrant populations. She helps people who need medical care by connecting them with appropriate caregivers, including Good Samaritan. Sr. Fran is part of the Rockland County Immigration Coalition, an organization that helps defend and protect their rights and human dignity of all who seek to … continue reading…

This year, Sister Pat, as well as other Bon Secours Sisters, will be attending the 2011 World Youth Day in Madrid, Spain as an exhibitor!  With hundreds of thousands of young, Catholic attendees, this years event is going to be awesome. 

WHAT: An annual pilgrimage for Catholic youth

WHERE: Madrid, Spain

WHEN: August 11-21, 2011

Registration for Attendance is still open!

Here is a little history from the www.worldyouthday.com site:

What is WYD?
History of WYD
WYD Schedule
A (very brief) history of Madrid

Pilgrimage planners ask participants to be prepared to:

          …walk 100 miles & hike 1,000 stairs

          …climb a fundraising mountain

          …suffer with joy and gratitude

          …receive the Sacraments

          …listen to the Word

          …experience a unique event

          …encounter JESUS CHRIST with our Holy Father Benedict XVI… continue reading…

This week’s stories are Project Good Help, Bon Secours Values, and PHA.

Today, the Sisters of Bon Secours celebrate the Feast of Our Lady Help of Christians.  With this prayer, we remember our many blessings and ask for favor where we serve.

Mary, we come before you as a Congregation dedicated to you,
look favorably on our sisters in all the countries where we serve…
animate us with a loving prayerful spirit,
send generous women to us to help us to extend
the healing work of your Son on earth. 
May we be the echo of your “fiat” when God calls upon us.
May we be your goodness to those you wish to aid.
May the Spirit of the Lord help us,
especially in moments of difficulty, to repeat with you,
“Behold the handmaid of the Lord.”

(Prayer for the Congregation; Act of Consecration to Our Lady of Bon Secours)