Sisters of the Missionary Servants of the Word, based in Mexico, will open a new formation house at Columbus Corpus Christi Church.

Culture of faith attracts sisters to diocese

By Tim Puet
Catholic Times Reporter

It’s no surprise that three more orders of sisters will be serving the Diocese of Columbus by the end of the month or that several other orders have established convents in the area in recent years, says Father Stash Dailey, who as diocesan vicar for religious is the liaison between Bishop Robert Brennan and the sisters.

“The diocese has a very strong and well-known culture of fidelity to the Catholic Church. With that comes a spirit of joy and commitment to prayer, resulting in many religious vocations,” Father Dailey said. 

“Sisters know this, and it’s one of the reasons they’re happy to come here. We don’t ask sisters what they can give us, and we offer them many opportunities to take part in the faith life of the diocese. There’s something special and beautiful about the faith of Catholics in central and southern Ohio.”

The arrival of the Dominican Nuns of the Perpetual Rosary, the Sister Servants of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Sisters of Our Lady of Kilimanjaro will mean that the diocese is being served by about 210 sisters representing 19 orders. (More about these religious congregations can be found elsewhere in this week’s Catholic Times.)

Since his installation as bishop in March 2019, Bishop Brennan has been encouraging groups of sisters to come to the diocese and see what it has to offer. He appointed Father Dailey, pastor of Columbus Holy Family Church, as vicar for religious in July 2019. 

“Since my first visit to the Diocese of Columbus and then my Installation as bishop, I have been truly excited and grateful for the strong presence of consecrated religious here in the diocese,” the bishop said. “The presence of the many men and women who live the consecrated life through their vows of poverty, chastity and obedience strengthens the whole Church. In our diocese, this is wonderfully confirmed.

“The arrival of more congregations of sisters complements the good and hard work accomplished by the communities already present in the diocese. In the Church, we strive for the fullness of complementarity and unity. The variety of charisms lived out by the different communities of religious reminds us of the beauty of unity that is to be lived by the Church,” the bishop said.

“I would like to draw special attention to the strong culture of vocations. On my visits to parishes and schools and various apostolates and ministries, I am just in awe of how many times I hear about the young people who have entered religious life – young people who were raised in the faith here in the diocese. 

“The number of vocations to the religious life from within the diocese is incredibly high and something for which we must all be grateful and continue to pray. The Church here in the Diocese of Columbus is very much alive. One of the proofs is in the number of vocations. One can never have enough joy and gratitude over such a reality,” Bishop Brennan said.

“The timing of having three groups of sisters arriving here in a short period is something I have to credit to the Lord’s providence,” Father Dailey said. “The bishop and I have been in contact with the Dominicans of the Perpetual Rosary for about a year. I also asked them for help several years ago in spreading devotion to Blessed Margaret of Castello, a Dominican who has a shrine at Columbus St. Patrick Church.

“I was parochial vicar at Worthington St. Michael Church at the time, and they provided relics of Blessed Margaret to the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist who teach at St. Michael School and to the Dominican Sisters of St. Dominic, Immaculate Conception Province, who have a convent on the east side of Columbus. 

“One of the bishop’s priorities was to again have an order of cloistered nuns here because we’d been without one since the Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration left Portsmouth for North Carolina, so we’re delighted to welcome the Nuns of the Perpetual Rosary,” he said.      
“I first met the Sisters of Kilimanjaro five years ago when I visited an orphanage in Tanzania for children with AIDS. I realized about six months ago that they had a presence in Florida, so we began reaching out to them.

“I’ve known about the Servants of the Most Sacred Heart since they came to a Youth 2000 event at the Pontifical College Josephinum about 20 years ago. Sisters from their order cared for Pope St. John Paul II since he was archbishop of Krakow, Poland. The sisters have several ministries around Johnstown and Altoona in Pennsylvania, near Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Maryland, where I completed my theology studies. I’ve seen them there and in Rome and Krakow, where they have their motherhouse,” Father Dailey said.
“It’s great to serve Bishop Brennan as vicar for religious because he’s a strong believer that religious sisters don’t provide a side note but are essential to the life of the Church,” he said. 

“Pope St. John Paul II expressed this in his 1996 apostolic exhortation Vita Consecrata, which begins with these words: ‘The consecrated life, deeply rooted in the example and teaching of Christ the Lord, is a gift of God the Father to his Church through the Holy Spirit. By the profession of the evangelical counsels, the characteristic features of Jesus — the chaste, poor and obedient one — are made constantly visible in the midst of the world and the eyes of the faithful are directed towards the mystery of the Kingdom of God.’

”My own vocation to the priesthood was nourished and protected by several sisters, especially Sister Josephine King, OP, who prepared me for the Sacraments and taught me how to pray during religious education classes at Columbus St. Thomas School, which I attended through fifth grade because I was going to public school,” Father Dailey said. 
“It’s impossible to say how much love came from Sister Josephine to my sister and I. We felt at ease with her and could ask her anything about the Church. Two of my teachers at (Columbus St. Francis) DeSales High School, Sister Helen Flowers, OSF, and Sister Sharon Goodburn, OSF, both Stella Niagara Franciscans, also nurtured my vocation.”

Father Dailey said one more order of sisters may arrive in the diocese before the end of the year. He doesn’t expect any additional groups to be coming during the 2020-21 school year.

“There’s no shortage of places sisters can serve in the diocese,” he said. “Many pastors have expressed the needs of their parishes to the bishop and me, and as they share those needs, I present them. When sisters visit the diocese and see the faith of the people for themselves, it doesn’t take anything more to persuade them to come here.”

Father Dailey said the diocese currently has 14 young women discerning whether they are being called to the religious life and 20 seminarians studying for the priesthood. “Having these young people answering God’s call to a way of life they’ve never experienced is a reason for wonder and awe,” he said. 

“They are looking for something more, for the peace that only God can give them. They have a strong identity rooted in prayer. In this era of isolation and technology, there’s a lot of burnout, and young people are responding to the emphasis on fraternity and community that is part of a religious vocation.

“The whole Church is stronger when active religious life is present,” Father Dailey said. “With the addition of new communities of religious, that strength is growing in the Diocese of Columbus.”