Thursday, 18 October 2012 09:30

IHM sister appointed to national advisory council
WICHITA – Immaculate Heart of Mary Sister Maria Jacinta Weide has been appointed to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ National Advisory Council.
According to the USCCB, the council is “a continuing instrument of understanding and unity in assisting the bishops in the United States in their apostolic service to Christ’s church.” Members of the NAC serve the bishops, specifically by advising on matters referred to them.
Sister Maria Jacinta said she is looking forward to serving the bishops. “I am excited to serve the church in this manner and I am expecting to learn more than I contribute. It is a great gift to have Catholics from all over the country gather to share insights in service to our bishops.”
Mother Mary Magdalene said: “When the opportunity was offered us, that a sister of our community serve the bishops on the National Advisory Council, we readily accepted so that, along with our prayers, we could show our support for the bishops and offer them the assistance they desire. Sister Maria Jacinta has an array of qualities that can be of service to the NAC and thus to the bishops.”
The National Advisory Council was formed by the bishops in 1968, just three years after the close of the Second Vatican Council, to provide the bishops help in meeting their responsibilities through a shared responsibility at the national level.
Sister Maria Jacinta’s membership is for a four-year term ending in September 2016. The council is comprised of bishops, priests, women and men religious, permanent deacons, and laity. Only four women religious are members of the NAC. Sister Maria Jacinta is one of the two which were designated by the Council of Major Superiors of Women Religious, a council in which Mother Mary Magdalene O’Halloran, IHM general superior, and Sister Marie Bernadette Mertens, IHM vicar general, hold membership.

Adorers to commemorate 20th anniversary of deaths of five Martyrs of Charity Oct. 21
The Adorers of the Blood of Christ will commemorate on Sunday, Oct. 21, the 20th anniversary of the deaths of the ASCs’ five Martyrs of Charity: Sisters Mary Joel Kolmer, Shirley Kolmer, Agnes Mueller, Kathleen McGuire and Barbara Ann Muttra, who were killed in October 1992 in Liberia, West Africa, while serving the people there.
Oct. 21 also is “World Mission Sunday,” a day set aside for Catholics worldwide to recommit to the Church’s missionary activity.
The anniversary celebration will take place at the ASC Wichita Center, 1165 Southwest Blvd., in Wichita. It will include a Mass, prayer service, presentation and reception, all of which are open to the public.
The day’s theme is “the raising of consciousness concerning the plight of the Liberian people,” according to Sister Rita Robl, one of the event’s planners. The celebration will open with Mass at 10 a.m. at the Center’s Chapel of the Woman of the New Covenant. Wichita Center chaplain Precious Blood Father Thomas Welk will celebrate Mass and give the homily. On display in the chapel’s gathering space will be a photo of the five martyrs and various articles, such as a fish net, soil, cross, stamps and coins.
A prayer service will begin at 2 p.m. in the chapel. This will be followed by a presentation in the center’s Assembly Hall on the martyrs and Liberia by Sister Janet Sue Smith, who formerly served as a missionary in Liberia and now is the Wichita Center’s director of community life and mission. The day’s events will conclude with a reception in the ASC dining room.
The Adorers’ General Leader Sister Mariamma Kunnackal, in a recent letter she wrote to all ASCs worldwide on the upcoming 20th anniversary and the five martyrs, noted, “With hearts full of gratitude we remember their loyalty and their commitment to keep alive the covenant established with the people of Liberia. These Sisters willingly chose to stay close to the people of Liberia, standing in solidarity with them in some of their darkest times. Their faithfulness to God’s call ultimately brought them to give their lives, to pour out their blood for the sake of those they served.”