PRESS RELEASE: APRIL 27, 2023
The Sisters of Charity of New York Vote on Congregation’s Path to Completion
“I resign the present and the future to Him who is the author and conductor of both.” -St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, Foundress of the Sisters of Charity of New York
After a long and prayerful discernment process leading up to The Sisters of Charity of New York’s 2023 General Assembly, delegates voted unanimously on April 13, 2023 to accept the following recommendations from our Congregation’s Executive Council:
- The Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul of New York will no longer work toward finding nor accepting new members to our Congregation, in the United States. However, because we believe in the future of religious life, we will continue to promote vocations, and redirect inquiries to Federation congregations and/or to the Religious Formation Conference.
- The Council asks the Assembly to affirm that we, Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul of New York, continue to live our mission to the fullest, while acknowledging that we are on a path to completion.
The decision was not an easy one. Currently there are 154 Sisters of Charity of New York. We will continue to grow in love. We will continue to deepen our relationships with each other, with our Associates and with our ministry partners. We will continue to deepen our relationship with our God.
After more than 200 years of service for the Church, the Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul of New York will continue to pass the torch of charity. This is not the end of our ministries. Our mission will continue beyond our Sisters, through our Associates and partners in ministry, expanding what it means to live the charism of charity into the future.
For questions contact: SCNY Communications Dept. extcomm@scny.org or 718-879-5245
God Bless each and every Sister of Charity of New York who inspired me to my vocation. Almighty God has a great plan for you dear Sisters. Be certain of my gratitude for all you will continue to do for the Mission of Charity among us.
With great admiration and love,
Brother David
On one of my visits to St Vincent’s Hosp, Manhattan, there was a plaque mentioning that the survivors of the Titanic were treated at St. Vincent’s after their rescue.
My experience as an inexperienced social worker at the beginning of the HIV epidemic was through training at Brookdale Center and St. Vincent’s Hospital. These humane, generous and fearless people, Sisters of Charity and colleagues ,stepped in front of this horrendous medical calamity and brought kindness and loving compassion to these victims at a time when they were elsewhere scorned, denied medical service and evoked fear. The loss of St. Vincent’s was sad. The completion of the Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent DePaul is a significant loss. Yet, they did what the Lord called them to do, and that is enough. Peace.
God Bless each of you and your visionary ministry. My own sister was a Sister of Charity / Cincinnati. She died several years ago, but it was the members of her community that were the most courageous, prophetic voices that inspired meaning and relevance in the deeply troubled Roman Catholic Church. God love the nuns! Your post Vatican II witness will always be remembered as an enormous manifestation of the Spirit in an institution that too often spends a lot of energy keeping the Spirit at arms length. It has been the nuns who have given their lives to preaching and teaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ while the bishops and male priests, with few exceptions, have given their lives to bolstering up the institution and securing their own well-being. Over two thousand years ago, Jesus was on to this scheme and not impressed! God bless the Sisters of Charity.
Our small United States Province of our international congregation is on the same journey toward completion as the Sisters of Charity of New York. We send the Sisters our affirmation of their courage and honesty, our thanks for their decades of ministry and witness, our promise of prayerful support.
The Holy Union Sisters Province Leadership Team: Kathleen Corrigan, SUSC, Joan Guertin, SUSC, Carol Regan, SUSC
Your work in education for me and my elementary classmates at Saint Emeric School (`1954-1962) provided a foundation of excellence and religious fundamentals that have stayed with me in the many decades since. I was privileged to have had Charity sisters in 7 of the 8 grades at SES. I look on your work with profound gratitude and will continue to offer my prayers for the living and deceased members of the congregation. Fr. Vincent Hevern, SJ
It is the right decision. HOWEVER, my heart is broken. I am totally gutted and crying. My daughters are trying to comfort me, but it’s not working. I knew this day would come when Bishop O’Keefe asked me to join Sr. Irene Fugazy……..no, he did not ‘ask’, he ‘ordered’………to promote Elizabeth Seton as ‘wife and mother’………but I didn’t think I’d live to see the day. Although this must be a great relief for the Sisters, still it is a sad day in and for New York. I get it. I know. It’s best …… and yet, still, my heart is split completely. I am just so sad.
Agree, 100%… I can hardly breathe. Filled with gratitude and love, I DO understand and pray for each and every Sister of Charity who came into my life. My greatest blessing ♥️♥️
God bless you all. It is surely a sad situation but one you will follow with grace, kindness and prayers. Love to all. Kathy Callaghan Mayer xoxo
I am saddened to learn of this and I am sure it was very difficult decision. My Aunt, Sr Rita Meaney introduced us to the most loving, warm and generous women I have ever met. Thank you all for your service. May God richly bless you
Praying with and for you, dear sisters, and honouring your courage at this moment and all that you have so generously given to the church and to the service of God’s people over more than 200 years. May God strengthen and reward you all.
Sr. Gemma Simmonds CJ, Director of the Religious Life Institute, UK
I stand in awe of your bravery and trust.
I thank you for your service and influence on my life, most particularly at Spellman High School.
Blessings on you and your future.
It is with great sadness that I read of your decision not to accept any new applicants in the United states. The Sisters of Charity have taught so many in both my family and my wife’s family going all the way back to the early 1900’s. We are all graduates of Our Lady of Good Counsel 323 East 92 Street, NYC, NY 10128. We received the best education in that school and although some of the Sisters were tough, they all held a special place in our hearts. MY wife’s first cousin Barbara Fitzgerald was a Sister of Charity for I believe almost 25 years before she left the convent I think in 1970/71. She last served at St Athanasius in the Bronx along side Sister Thomas (Trudi Collins) who was at our wedding in 1971.. A Sister David who taught me in 5th grade back in 1957/58, the same year I believe she left the congregation, was instrumental in sending me to a catholic camp for a month that summer.. I carried her picture in my wallet for many years and was in contact with her shortly before she passed away. There were so many Sisters, even ones I didn’t have who taught the girls but everyone loved, like Sister Amelia (1st Grade) Sister Bernadette , Sister Conseulatta, SIster John Miriam, Sister Seton, Sister Bernard, Sister Robert Maureen, Sister William, Sister DelaSalle, Sister DelaRosa, Sister Angeline. Oh the memories. I wish Vatican II never happened because I think there would be so many more people going into the religious vocation.. In any event I will keep all of you who are left in our prayers. Thank you so much for all the years of your dedication to not only our Lord but to all those people whose lives you have touched and never recieved thanks for. God Bless you all. Respectfully yours, Michael J Flanagan a 1961 Graduate of OLGC.
Michael,
Your wife’s cousin, Barbara Fitzgerald, also taught in St. Paul’s School, East Harlem, in the 70’s where I was a teacher and later principal, We became good friends and kept up with each other for many years. Barbara was a gem – so many loved her – and what a great teacher!
Sr. Kathy Byrnes
I am crying as I read the notice. The Sisters of Charity were my mentors and teachers at the New York Founding Hospital. The work led to various hospitals in towork in the new born nursery and the pediatric unit, and most of all as a mother.
Thank you sisters. May God bless all of you as you journey in a different direction.
Thank you.
I taught with the sisters of charity at Saint Joseph by the Sea high school Staten Island they were excellent educators and graded ministrations people like sister Joseph’a
While the Sisters know their life situation better than I it is very sad that they will not accept or promote vocations to their Congregation.
I was taught by the SC’s of Seton Hill, Greensburg. All were wonderful women and many like second mothers to us. I am sure the same spirit of Mother Seton was present in the NYC Congregation
I’t’s very sad. I had the Sisters of Charity in Incarnation Grammar School in Washington Heights & Blessed Sacrament High School, Manhattan. My experience with these wonderful women as teachers, caregivers and devoted woman of faith was a true blessing. Thank you for sharing yourselves with us.
It was a privilege to teach history at Saint Joseph by the Sea high school Staten Island with assistance of charity.
So sorry to hear this news. God Bless you all as you continue to do God’s work.
I am so sad to learn of this. The wonderful Sisters I had contact with during my College years helped me so much through a very difficult time of my life. They are always in my heart and prayers.
Thank you all! God bless you all!❤️
Cathedral High School, Class of 1948. There were over 700 students in my graduating class. Thank you dear Sisters of Charity for an excellent education and for the values you instilled that have served me all my life. God bless you. You are in my thoughts and in my prayers.
I am a Missionary Oblate of Mary Immaculate (OMI) living and serving in Canada. It would be so informative to know the key factors leading to this difficult, yet brave decision made in considerable faith and communal discernment. Of course, I would be most interested to know which of your reasons might be staring my community, and others, in the face. Your decision is abundant with faith, hope and love. Blessings and thank you.
I had the privilege of working with your community a number of years ago. I remember well sharing the painting of the “Torn Woman” with you during a difficult time. I pray that paint again as you walk this path to completion. Know that I support you in prayer as you face your current reality and walk with passion and peace the days ahead.Your faithfulness and integrity are an inspiration to many congregations facing similar decisions.
Tremendous courage to say yes to this challenge ! My prayers and best wishes ..
My wife, her brother, his wife, and I at dinner last evening recalled with love and gratitude the the love, education and Christian formation that Sisters of Charity gave us over seventy-five years ago in New York City, in my case at Manhattan’s Incarnation School, grades 1 through 3. I have felt this way since the day I left Incarnation and to this day, when I kneel in prayer, make every effort to fold my hands as the taught me. God is great.
What greater gift did any student at Our Lady of Angels ( Sister Miriam Brendan), or patient at St Vincent’s Hospital, or child at The Foundling receive,! The Sistes of Charity and all our beloved orders deserve the highest praise and appreciation. PLease God their work and example continue in new forms guided by theHoly Spirit.
As my Catholic Church continues to diminish, I read with great sadness the decision of the Sisters of Charity to enter the Journey into Completion. As a former Jesuit, I have seen firsthand the remarkable vision, evangelization and spirit of the many pioneering women who came after Elizabeth Seton. The world owes a great deal to this heroic and historic community. How ironic it is that at a time when our broken, divisive world needs the very work of the Sisters of Charity, providence has another plan for them. May God in His infinite wisdom bless all of the wonderful women, past and present, who sacrificed their lives in this community, and may He bless all of them with His love.
I cannot imagine the Church of NY without the Sisters of Charity of NY! They are inextricably intertwined in my mind for as long as I can remember.. Thank you for all the ministries you had for so many years in so many places and for the thousands of lives you touched.
Barbara Heaney
I find this development alarming. I do NOT accept it as God’s will. Something very dark is happening in the Catholic Church. The snuffing out of religious orders, especially women religious, is an ominous sign that does not augur well for the future.
Since I work with the Sisters of Charity of Convent Station at Trinitas Regional Medical Center in Elizabeth, I had already heard about this wise and courageous decision by the Sisters of Charity of New York. May the Lord continue to guide and inspire their apostolic work up to the day of completion. I am particularly grateful for the witness and wisdom of the Sisters who taught me at Our Lady of Good Counsel School in Manhattan decades ago.
Grade 1 Sr. Marita Carmel (Yolanda Demola)
Grade 2 Sr. Maria Seton (Joan Glowacki)
Grade 4 Sr. Maria Seton (Joan Glowacki)
Grade 5 Sr. Miriam David (left the community – first name Elaine)
Grade 6 Sr. John Marian (Margaret Brady)
Grade 8 Sr. Marietta Bernard (Mary Clark)
May they rest in the peace of Christ!
Tears and sadness. The Sisters at St. Peter school on Staten Island NY inspired me to be kind and respect all people. I am 82 years old and still remember the Sisters who taught me to be the best I could be. Dedicated women who demanded the best of us. I will never forget you. Sister Dominick, Sister Helen,Sister Grace and Sister Joseph. You gave so much to your students and how we loved you. Vivian Nally Davis.
While viewing the EWTN show “The World Over” whose moderator is Mr. Raymond Arroyo introducing his first guest Sr. Donna NYSC administrator in sadness mentioned the Congregation is in Completion……Two of my dearly departed aunts, namely: Sister Mary Josephine Sheridan (for whom I am named) and Sister Bernadette de Lourdes Sheridan ( for whom my cousin Bernadette Anne (Potterton) Holland was named for are saddened with heavy hearts as we have been invited to so many of the schools in which they were teaching……At a very tender age while Aunt Sister Joe was caring for the children at St. Agatha’s Orphanage in Nanuet, N.Y. was given special permission to allow me to sleep over one weekend with her and Sister Joesita…..It was a fabulous experience to be able to be with the girls and boys who were in charge of the barn, animals and garden….By the end of the weekend, most all wanted to come home with me which was very sad ……However, while in high school, and involved in CYO a few of us were able to visit St. Agatha’s Orphanage in Nanuet to get involved with some of their activities…….
Thank you for all your Congregation has done and given to this great city and state….May God bless you and Keep you in His Loving Mercy.
Sincerely,
Mary Jo E. (Sheridan) Morse