As Cardinal Mercier said : "When prudence is everywhere, courage is nowhere."                                                                                  From Cardinal Sarah : "In order to avoid hearing God's music, we have chosen to use all the devices of this world. But heaven's instruments will not stop playing just because some people are deaf."                                                                                              Saint John-Paul II wrote: "The fact that one can die for the faith shows that other demands of the faith can also be met."                                                 Cardinal Müller says, “For the real danger to today’s humanity is the greenhouse gases of sin and the global warming of unbelief and the decay of morality when no one knows and teaches the difference between good and evil.”                                                  St Catherine of Siena said, “We've had enough exhortations to be silent. Cry out with a thousand tongues - I see the world is rotten because of silence.”                                                  Chesterton said, “The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult; and left untried.”                                                Brethren, Wake up!

SAINTE JEANNE JUGAN, LITTLE SISTER OF THE POOR

Sainte Jeanne Jugan, pray for us.
Monday was also the first year's celebration of the feast of Sainte Jeanne Jugan, foundress of the Little Sisters of the Poor, canonised last October by Pope Benedict. Click here to read more about her. The Sisters first came to London from Brittany and opened their first home here in Portobello Road in 1869.

In recent years the Conventual Church has developed links with the Little Sisters at Saint Anne's Home for the Elderly in Stoke Newington. Several of the sisters and residents joined us for the visit of the relics of Sainte Therese last year, and our Chaplain Emeritus, Canon McDonald, is now Chaplain at Saint Anne's Home.  Some members of the Order joined the Sisters and residents on Monday morning for this joyous feast, a sung Mass in the beautiful new chapel, followed by devotions at the new statue of the Saint in the grounds, and a delicious barbeque buffet lunch in the dining room and garden. Rarely does one see such a happy atmosphere in an old-people's home.


The New Chapel (Photo courtesy The Architect's Journal)
Saint Anne's Home provides residential care for 34 elderly people, as well as some self-contained flats for the  more self-sufficient, and a day centre for people in the local community.  The constitution of the Sisters ensures that they may not make any investments, the money they collect must be spent directly on the poor, relying entirely on Divine Providence. Their funding comes from local authority grants, private donations and the appeals around parishes and offices with which many Londoners are familiar.  Saint Jeanne laid great store by the humility of begging for alms for the poor, and this remains a great part of their life today. It is in recognition of this extraordinary work that the Holy Father will visit the Little Sister at Saint Peter's Home in Vauxhall later this month.

Please consider making a donation to the Little Sisters and their work. You may send it to: Mother Josephine Storey, Saint Anne's Home, 77 Manor Road, Stoke Newington, London N16 5BL. For more information, or to become a friend, telephone 020 8826 2500.
Posted on Wednesday, September 01, 2010
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