Letters to the editor
Madonna House Apostolate
Father David May, Susanne Stubbs & Mark Schlingerman
Volume 29 Issue 4, 5 & 6 | Posted: June 30, 2015
Once again we come humbly before you begging your help, for without the assistance of our friends, our whole Apostolate would cease to be. Why do we live this way? Aren’t there less difficult, less humiliating, easier ways to finance our Apostolate? Perhaps there are, but I have only one answer to this question – it is so simple that it is difficult to understand. It goes like this: We of the Apostolate beg “because we are in love with a Beggar who is God.” (Oct. 1, 1962 – letter of our founder Catherine Doherty to the community)
Once again we come humbly before you begging your help, for without the assistance of our friends, our whole Apostolate would cease to be. Why do we live this way? Aren’t there less difficult, less humiliating, easier ways to finance our Apostolate? Perhaps there are, but I have only one answer to this question – it is so simple that it is difficult to understand. It goes like this: We of the Apostolate beg “because we are in love with a Beggar who is God.” (Oct. 1, 1962 – letter of our founder Catherine Doherty to the community)
Catherine was deeply impressed by the Christ who gave all for our sake, and in the three promises of poverty, chastity and obedience, she found a way for us to respond in kind: “Through them we surrender all the wealth we have… what is there left for us to do but to beg? We have nothing of our own. We must beg as He said we should, and be content with what we receive.”
In our communal pilgrimage we currently find ourselves in a time of ‘passage’. A good number of our members who joined in the 50's and 60's are entering a phase of life where more care is required. One, Fr. Jim Duffy, went home to the Lord on December 25 and was buried on January 3. We are currently praying about what steps need to be taken to provide for our elderly, such as expanding or modifying some of our current facilities and living quarters. In the past, some of our people have found assistance in locally available facilities as well. All of this will require much prayer and conversation, as we seek to discern the Lord’s will in an area of tremendous relevance and contention in our world today. Please pray for us as we do for you!
In this Year of Consecrated Life as called for by Pope Francis, we have not only our mature members who have lived their commitment to the Lord for many years, for which we praise God! We also praise Him for our applicants (who number eight at the writing – three women, four laymen and one priest) and for all the young guests who grace our doors. Partly with this age group in mind (20-35), we recently produced with professional help, 12 videos about various aspects of Madonna House life (links are on the MH website or at YouTube – Madonna House/Villagers Media). It’s worth a look.
Our thought is that through these films available on line, the work of evangelization might be carried out on a greater scale. But also we sought to create an educational tool useful in passing on the Gospel in many circumstances, such as classrooms and small group settings. In the end, sharing the Good News is always a person-to-person encounter, and all we do here is meant to be at the service of this truth.
Jim Duffy exemplified this personal touch of the Gospel to the very end of his life. Just days before he died, one of our priests was visiting him in his room. Fr. Jim’s speech was no longer always clear, but he said something about this priest’s call to be a man of faith. Fr. Jim then took the man's hands in his and spoke again; gradually the visitor realized he was reciting the Lord’s Prayer, so they prayed the last part of it together. More unclear speech, then Father lay back on his pillow and clapping his hands quietly said once or twice: “Our Lady of Combermere”, smiling all the while. As if to say, have the faith and trust of a child of the Father and a son of Mary, and all shall be well.
Father David May
Susanne Stubbs
Mark Schlingerman
Father David May, Susanne Stubbs & Mark Schlingerman