We are happy to welcome a communications intern, Brittany Odoms, to our Vocations office team.  Brittany is a senior Communication major at McDaniel College in Westminster, MD.  Her interest in marketing and communications in a religious environment brought her to the Sisters of Bon Secours.  She is excited to assist with our advertising, marketing, and communication efforts.  She will be assisting us with social media research and updates as well as exploring other creative ways to reach women interested in religious life. 

Brittany grew up in Weiser, Idaho and ventured to the East Coast to pursue her undergraduate degree.  Last spring she studied abroad in Budapest, Hungary, which sparked her interest in Eastern European history and travel.  She also enjoys reading, playing Scrabble, and film photography.

We look forward to utilizing Brittany’s fresh perspective and the extra help she will provide.  Welcome Brittany!

We had the privilege of attending the annual Sisters of Bon Secours co-worker recognition and service award luncheon last week.  This event is held annually and scheduled close to Foundation Day.   The sisters host the luncheon to celebrate the gifts of co-workers in their ministries here in Marriottsville, Md.   

The luncheon opened with a brief prayer service, led by Sr. Rosemarie Jasinski, USA Country Leader, who expressed her thankfulness for the many employees who support the Country House, Spiritual Center and Marian Hall.  To symbolize the luncheon theme, “We Are One,” each place setting held a paper cutout of a hand.  At one point during the luncheon employees were instructed to write a special gift that they bring to their work.  As Sr. Rosie, Rose Kurtz, Manager of Guest Services, and Lorraine Taylor, Manager of the Guest Relationship Team at the Spiritual Center, led the group in a song entitled “We are Many Parts,” each employee placed their hand cutout on a large display that formed a heart, symbolizing the unified … continue reading…

Sr. Rita Thomas, CBS, Sister of Bon Secours, received the Catholic Health Association’s prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award at CHA’s 2010 annual national conference last summer.  

Sr. Rita’s health care ministry spans 60 years starting as a nurse and then moving into adminstration as a CEO of hospitals.  Her background in health care also includes governance and sponsorship.  She was the first CEO to integrate a hospital in Virginia and the first woman CEO in Richmond.  She is known for mentoring leaders, her vision of the ministry of Catholic health care, her ability to call forth gifts from others, and her ability to ask the right questions.

Sr. Rita, originally from Baltimore, Maryland, sensed God calling her to religious life and entered the Sisters of Bon Secours as a young woman.  After completing nursing school, she became an OB nurse.  Her natural leadership abilities quickly became apparant.  Her life reflected a desire to address … continue reading…

Catholic Medical Mission Board Partners with Leading Catholic Health Care Networks to Launch Major Child Survival Programin Peru

Partners Hope Unidos Contra La Mortalidad Infantil – United Against Infant Mortality – Will Be Model for Further Expansion of Work of Catholic Healthcare Networks in the Developing World
Catholic Medical Mission Board (CMMB), Bon Secours Health System, CHRISTUS Health and Caritas del Peru announced the ambitious initiative last year, Unidos Contra La Mortalidad Infantil, aimed at decreasing morbidity and mortality in children under five years of age in three key regions of Peru.
The US$1.1 million project will be implemented in the regions of Trujillo, Huancayo and Chimbote, key regions of Peru where Catholic healthcare networks have ongoing ministries.  It will focus on the following major activities:

Home visits for pregnant mothers and all newborns, with the purpose of educating on early intervention, recognizing illnesses, knowing when and where to seek timely care, learning methods of exclusive breastfeeding, teaching newborn care to prevent illnesses and mortality;
Training in the Integrated Management of Neonatal and Childhood Illnesses (IMNCI);
Establishing systems of nutritional community surveillance in coordination with

regional and national … continue reading…

Lead Me Lord, I Have Come to do Your Will–This is the last in a series of three articles on “Finding Your Purpose in Life”.  

Article one, “Discovering Your Gifts” explored personal prayer and opening your heart to listen to God, letting go of your need to control.  Article two, “Finding Your Passion” encouraged you to reflect on your personal gifts and to discover your uniqueness in God’s eyes.  The possibility that God might be calling you to become a Catholic sister, brother or priest was also introduced.  Now, as you experience a deeper communion with God, your heart becomes more receptive to hearing God’s desire for you.  This article will explore how this openness allows you to hear God’s call to service on a deeper level by following in Jesus’ footsteps with the possibility of becoming a sister, brother or priest in religious life.

First … continue reading…

 One of our Bon Secours ministries is asking for your help.  The following is a letter from the Executive Director of Bon Secours of Maryland Foundation. 

 Dear Friends of Bon Secours,

 On Friday, June 25, 40 young women ages 17 – 21 who are actively pursuing a GED and have demonstrated strong advancement academically will be given the opportunity to attend their prom at the Country Inn Suites in Annapolis.

 All of these young women are success stories. While every story is unique, the majority of these young women grew up in foster care, dropped out of school by their freshman year, and have at least one child under the age of 4.

But that’s just the beginning of the story. All of these young women participate in Bon Secours’ Family Support Center which provides GED preparation, parenting and life skills training, case management and counseling, financial planning workshops, and job readiness training. The goal of the Family Support Center is provide young families with the resources to become economically self sufficient and to put them on the path to achieving their career and life … continue reading…

8:30 pm
Saturday, March 27, 2010

Turn your lights out
for 60 minutes!!! 

As a Sister of Bon Secours and as someone who is very conscious about the consumption of our earth’s resources, I would like to ask your participation in this global effort to make a difference.  All you have to do is turn off all your lights for one hour at 8:30 pm (your local time).  Use this as a chance to be creative, and think of something fun to do…like playing board games by candlelight or take an evening walk for one hour.  Each small contribution we make adds up when it is made by the masses.

Earth hour, organized by the World Wildlife Fund, began on a “small” scale in 2007 in Sydney, Australia, with about 2.2 million homes and businesses turning off lights.  By 2009, the effort had expanded to hundreds of millions of participants in over 4,000 cities in 88 countries!  You can only imagine what kind of difference is made in energy conservation, and … continue reading…

Ecology at the Heart of Faith
by: Denis Edwards
Orbis Books. Maryknoll, NY. 2006.

An Excerpt from the Introduction

One of the gifts we have received from the twentieth century is a picture of Earth as our shared home. The human community of the twenty-first century can see Earth as a blue-green planet set against the darkness of interstellar space. We are able to think of our home planet in the context of the vast distances of the Milky Way Galaxy and of the roughly one hundred billion galaxies that make up the observable universe, and be led to a new appreciation of Earth’s beauty and hospitality to life. We can see human beings as part of a global community, interconnected with other species and with the life systems of our planet. This represents a precious new moment in human cultural history.

At the same time we are confronted by the damage human beings are doing to the atmosphere, the soil, … continue reading…

“When I rocked a child in pain, I comforted the suffering God.”  Follow Pat Fosarelli, M.D. along her heart warming journey away from and back home to God from the January 18-25, 2010 issue of America Magazine.  See how she is able to conquer her medical training and find answers to the overpowering questions asked from her youngest patients.

Being a Sister of a healthcare based order, I can tell you that it does in fact seem as though with every new medical breakthrough, a small portion of our faith-based healing dissipates. 

Medical technology can be explained…it is logical and can be tested and re-tested.  To many, God can not be explained or tested and re-tested.  God can not be scientifically proven in a test tube…but what about the miracles that occur in hospital rooms?  Miracles: the most wonderful, extraordinary things that cannot be explained.  Hmm… Sounds like “someone I know.”

CLICK HERE for … continue reading…