Daughters of Wisdom Announce New Provincial Council of India

Sisters Karuna, Rani, Lussiyamma, and Angel

The Daughters of Wisdom is an international congregation of women religious and we would like to share some good news with you. A new Leadership Council has been elected in the province of India and the sisters are pictured here. The previous Province Leader met at Wisdom House for several days in 2004 with the Council of the Congregation. The Province Leaders of the international congregation of the Daughters of Wisdom represent sisters living on 5 continents and 21 countries.

Wisdom House Retreat and Conference Center in Litchfield, Connecticut is a sponsored ministry of the Daughters of Wisdom of the USA Province. Please visit the international site and/or the USA site.

Online Lenten Resource: 'Seven Last Words for Seven Weeks'

Today Cath News USA highlights Creighton University's Online Ministries, which is publishing the online Lenten guide, "Seven Last Words for Seven Weeks, Praying with Jesus on the Cross, Guides in the Practice of Attending to the Presence of Christ in Each Moment of the Day." Click here to visit this resource at Creighton University's Online Ministries.

Here's the Cath News USA introduction to this resource: Lent offers us all a very special opportunity to grow in our relationship with God and to deepen our commitment to a way of life, rooted in our baptism. In our busy world, Lent provides us with an opportunity to reflect upon our patterns, to pray more deeply, experience sorrow for what we've done and failed to do, and to be generous to those in need. Creighton University's Online Ministries offers resources here to assist our entry into this wonderful season, from our preparing to begin Lent to our preparing to celebrate the holy three days following Lent.

The Artist's Way is Online

Artist Julia Cameron and her book The Artist 's Way have influenced the art and spirituality programs at Wisdom House. Hundreds of artists have participated in The Artist's Way at Wisdom House since 1993. Now, you can take the program online through here. In addition, consider viewing the video of Julia Cameron's recent presentation at Wisdom House in January 2009 here or here, video #1 ).

The Artist's Way is an excellent resource for anyone wanting to grow in self-knowledge and wholeness. It is "not-for-artists-only." The book and its "tools," or processes, have life-changing potential. "Creativity is the natural order of life. Creativity is God's gift to us. Using our creativity is our gift back to God. Our creative dreams and yearnings come from a divine source. As we move toward our dreams, we move toward our divinity." (From Julia Cameron's "Basic Principles" in The Artist's Way.)

Daughters of Wisdom, Corporate Responsible Investments, Pressure General Mills to Stop Using Genetically Altered Milk in Yoplait Yogurt

Daughters of Wisdom is part of CRI (Corporate Responsible Investments) and have been taking action against General Mills for their genetically modified foods and other concerns related to agribusiness.

General Mills yesterday announced its plan to stop using rBGH-stimulated milk in Yoplait products.

Here is the General Mills press release on this matter: General Mills Announces Commitment to Make Yoplait® Yogurt Products 100 Percent Free of Milk from Cows Treated with rBST by August 2009 Transition plans already in progress 02/09/2009

General Mills announced today that it has made the commitment to eliminate by August 2009 milk sourced from cows treated with rBST (recombinant bovine somatotropin), a synthetic hormone also referred to as rBGH, in the production of its category-leading Yoplait® yogurts.

Although the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the National Institutes of Health remain fully confident in the safety of products made from milk sourced from cows treated with rBST in accordance with current guidelines, Yoplait is taking the initiative to change its dairy sourcing strategy to provide consumers with the option to choose a category-leading yogurt with milk produced by cows not treated with rBST.

“We estimate that more than 70 percent of our milk is already coming from cows that are not treated with rBST,” said Becky O’Grady, General Mills’ vice president of marketing for the Yoplait brand. “We are committed to reaching 100 percent no later than August.”

(Click here to read the full release.)

The Annual Read Aloud Day

On February 4, Annual Read Aloud Day, Sr. Jo-Ann read the book, "A Visitor for Bear" to Mrs. Lori Schneider's kindergarten class at Center School in Litchfield, CT.

Chant As Spiritual Practice with Marguerite Mullee

Thirty-six participants took the chant workshop given by Marguerite Mullee on Feb. 7. This is the second workshop given by Dr. Mullee on the topic of chant. Visit our website www.wisdomhouse.org and on our homepage click on Videos. An audio slide presentation of her last workshop created can be found under Video #29. This presentation was created by the Republican-American newspaper.

Fairfield University's Ignatian Residential Community Retreat at Wisdom House

More than 200 sophomores from Fairfield University's Ignatian Residential Community and faculty came to Wisdom House for their annualwinter retreat at the end of January.

Village Zendo's Retreat at Wisdom House

Village Zendo's winter retreat at Wisdom House, December 26,2008 - January 1, 2009.

1. Joshin Sensei bowing at the altar.
2. Howard shoveling.
3. Enkyo Roshi speaking.
4. Jo-An burning a list of our sins on New Year's Eve.
5. Seicho ringing in the New Year.

(Photos: A. Jesse Jiryu Davis)

Staff and Volunteers Enjoy a "Thank You" Luncheon

Wisdom House staff and volunteers enjoy a "Thank You" luncheon.

The Relationship between Religion and Environmental Ethics

Wisdom House's 2009 Casagrande Interfaith Institute will focus on the theme, "A Change of Climate." The relationship between Religion and Environmental ethics is experiencing a growing momentum. This video features Dr. Evelyn Tucker and Dr. John Grim, Co-Directors of the Yale University Forum on Religion and the Environment. They tell us why this is an essential and crucial concern for our time.

This video is being used with the permission of the Yale Forum on Religion and the Environment, Yale University.

Click here for more Social Concerns at Wisdom's Table.

Missionary Works her way out of a job in Malawi

From the January 28 edition of the Long Island Catholic:

Sister Diane Capozzi (right) reconnects with one of her former students and eventual provincial superior of Malawi, Sister Mercy Kanyumbu, during a trip to Malawi in 1998.

To celebrate the Year of St. Paul, The Long Island Catholic presents another feature in an ongoing series that explores the missionary spirit as it is nurtured in our diocese.

Sister Diane Capozzi has been inspired her entire life by the missionary spirit, something that led her to become a Daughter of Wisdom and that motivated her to become a missionary in Malawi, in Africa. "I first began thinking about being a missionary when I was quite young, about 10 or 11 years old," noted Sister Diane, who grew up in Rosedale, Queens, but who attended first through fourth grade at Holy Name of Mary Elementary School in Valley Stream.

"Even my dolls were multicultural!"

At Our Lady of Wisdom Academy in Ozone Park, she joined the mission club and became its president. (Click here to continue reading this story.)

Celebrating the 15th Anniversary of the Marie Louise Trichet Art Gallery

The most recent audiocast to the right, "Wisdom House Radio," offers Sr. Jo-Ann Iannotti's reflections on the inspiration behind and beginning of the Marie Louise Trichet Gallery at Wisdom House. The photos above were taken at the reception following Julia Cameron's special presentation of " Creative Myths and Monsters" at Wisdom House on January 24. Her presentation marked the first of three retrospective shows in the gallery. (Click here to view a video clip of her presentation.)

Watch for information on the other shows, which will run from May 9 to August 22 and from September 12 to December 31.

Ecumenical Advocacy Days: March 13-16, 2009

Join us as Network again co-sponsors Ecumenical Advocacy Days in Washington, DC.

Enough for All Creation
“The Thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” John 10:10

Join us at the 7th annual Ecumenical Advocacy Days, as we explore ways to bring about a world with Enough for All Creation. Learn about the connections between climate change, migration and poverty in the U.S. and around the world. Come together with faith-based advocates and activists from across the United States in the nation’s capitol March 13-16 as we discuss the abundance of our world and how it can be allocated in a way that is fair and just for all creation. (www.advocacydays.org)

We live in an increasingly interconnected world and have an enormous impact on each other and creation. As the earth’s temperature rises we see a strain on resources. Food, while plentiful for some, is desperately scarce for others. Lack of clean water makes children sick and burdens women. Global warming and growing resource deprivation forces some people to migrate and others to wage war over food, water and oil. Our increasingly co-dependent economies lift a few individuals up to great heights while keeping others living lives of destitution.

Ecumenical Advocacy Days is a movement of the ecumenical Christian community, and its recognized partners and allies, grounded in biblical witness and our shared traditions of justice, peace and the integrity of creation. Our goal, through worship, theological reflection and opportunities for learning and witness, is to strengthen our Christian voice and to mobilize for advocacy on a wide variety of U.S. domestic and international policy issues.

70th Anniversary of Sister Mary Antoinette's Religious Profession Vows

On this February 2nd, we commemorate the 70th anniversary of Sister Mary Antoinette's religious profession of vows as a Daughter of Wisdom. Profession anniversaries are considered special because they mark commitments to God to live the Gospel values of Jesus Christ and are based on one's Baptismal vows. They also mark the person's official membership in a religious congregation. The traditional vows are those of poverty, chastity and obedience and are defined in the Rule of Life of the congregation.

Sister Mary Antoinette, DW, a native of New York, lived and worked in the Congo during the uprisings and massacres of 1964. She was brutally killed, dying a martyr on November 19, 1964. Her strong faith during times of fear carried her through this ordeal to her death.

As an international congregation, we serve in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (since 1935) as well as in sixteen other countries.

Some of Sister Mary Antoinette's story can be read here on the Wisdom House website. Her icon is enthroned in the chapel of Wisdom House. You are welcome to come and pray before this icon and join all who pray and work for peace in the Congo and around the world.

For further information about the Daughters of Wisdom visit here and here.