“Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long.” Psalms 25:5
Since our Sisters’ earliest days on these shores, education has been paramount to their ministry. When our Mother Foundress, Blessed Mary of Jesus the Good Shepherd (Frances Siedliska), set out on her journey to America with a few faithful Sisters at her side, she knew that the growing population of immigrants here needed help and instruction – including new schools and teachers for their children.
Within only a year or two of arriving, Mother Raphael (Felicia) Lubowdizka, who was hand-chosen by Blessed Mary to serve as the Provincial Superior for this new mission, began providing night classes for working women in the Chicago area, where she and the other Sisters who had journeyed to America with our Foundress had settled. The success of the program brought with it a demand for expanded educational opportunities, and so in October of 1887, one of our Sisters’ very first schools, Holy Family Academy, was founded. It was a circumstance our Sisters would see time and again: young families struggling to find their footing in their new homeland reaching out for a helpful guiding hand, creating an impetus for more and more schools and teachers across the country!
It is in this spirit that our Sisters today carry on not only bringing the love of Nazareth to children, teens, and young adults in their local schools, but also furthering their own education with an eye to the future needs of our Nazareth family, and our congregation. There will be more young people who need teachers, counselors, and administrators to keep the educational opportunities in their communities successful and available to all who would seek to learn; and, as time passes, our congregation will need capable, educated leadership to carry our mission on into the future!
In the more than 150 years since first arriving in the US, our local congregation has grown exponentially. While our Sisters would happily expend all of their time and energy working within their communities, we recognize that for our congregation to continue its mission, we need solid, educated leadership that will cast an eye towards the future of all of our Sisters.
To that end, it is important that even as our Sisters dole out educational opportunities, there are some they must take themselves. To that end, today we have several Sisters seeking higher educational degrees and certificates that could one day help them in leadership roles within the congregation.
Would you consider making a donation to assist our Sisters in these important educational pursuits? Without them, we will be unable to serve our communities through local schools and universities, or even guide our congregation further on into the 21st century.
You have shown us time and again how important our Sisters and our mission is to you. We know that many of you, our dear Nazareth family, were able to grow and learn with one or more of our Sisters in your classroom. You have told us often how much it meant to you to share those precious early years with our Sisters, and we know that you want that tradition to continue on for future generations. Won’t you share a gift with us today to help ensure just that?
There simply are not words enough to express how much your continued support, your heartfelt loyalty, and your deeply faithful devotion means to our Sisters. Our Sisters will be truly grateful for whatever you can share with them. Moved by your kindness, they will be more than honored to pray for you, your loved ones, and your special intentions!
