Dear Friend,
Almost all of us have experienced the death of someone close to us—a family member or a friend. When this happens, it’s normal to feel great sorrow and a sense of loss in our lives… perhaps even a sense of emptiness, if we were particularly close to the departed person.
We sisters feel this sense of grief and loss, too. In addition to our relatives and friends, we consider all our fellow sisters to be members of our family. It’s difficult to lose them, especially when those losses come as frequently as they have during the pandemic, with little or no opportunity to say goodbye.
Grief is a complex emotion. When we are experiencing it, we need the help and strength that we can derive from the support of our friends and family. We also need the support of God, which comes through prayer.
We will never forget the sisters we have lost—the love they brought us, and the light they brought to the world through their selfless lives of service. We hope you will join us in praying for them— and we would like to pray for the loved ones you have lost, as well.
Please click here to send us your prayer requests. We will remember your loved ones in our prayers and our community Masses on All Souls’ Day, November 2, and each day during November. There is also a place to list people (perhaps including yourself) who are bereaved or grieving for loved ones lost either recently or in the past.
Fifteen of our sisters have passed away over the past year. Every one of them made the world a better place through their lives and ministries, whether among the poor and hungry, the sick, the dying, the oppressed, or young people in need of education.
Please take a few moments to look at the enclosed brochure where we honor these departed sisters. May each one of them pray for us, and for you, from their places in heaven where their true lives have begun.
If you send a financial offering along with your intentions, you will be helping the Sisters of Charity of New York continue the work that began two centuries ago, and has endured through good times and bad thanks to faithful friends like you!
Remember—grief is terrible— but there is always joy at the other end of it. As scripture tells us, there will come a time when we are all together again in God’s Kingdom, and every tear will be wiped from our eyes.
Sincerely,
Sr. Donna Dodge, SC
President
Eternity! In what light shall we view (if we think of such trifles in the company of God and the choirs of Blessed)—what will we think of the trials and cares, pains and sorrows we had once upon Earth? Oh! What a mere nothing. Let then, they who weep be as tho’ they wept not, they who rejoice as tho’ they rejoice not, they who obtain as tho’ they possess not—this world passes away.”
—St. Elizabeth Ann Seton
Learn more about the lives and vocations of these beloved sisters! Visit scny.org/category/in-memoriam
