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Sister Roberta Fulton elected president of National Black Sisters


BY CHRISTINA LEE KNAUSS | THE CATHOLIC MISCELLANY


COLUMBIA - Sister Roberta Fulton, SSMN, was elected president of the National Black Sisters Conference during the group's annual meeting in Philadelphia July 27-31.

Sister Roberta is a member of the Sisters of St. Mary of Namur and has served as principal of St. Martin de Porres School in Columbia since 2006.

The conference, founded in 1968, is a national networking group for black women religious, and also provides support for black women considering and discerning vocations as women religious.

Sister Roberta said she joined the conference in the early '70s and has been an active member since then. Fifty women religious attended the Philadelphia event.

"I was humbled by the election," she said in a recent interview with The Miscellany. "This came from a lot of good women and faithful founding mothers, and it's humbling and an honor for me to have an opportunity to serve God in yet another way."

Sister Roberta is a native of Kingstree who entered religious life in  1967. She was a teacher and principal at schools in Texas and Alabama and at St. Jude School in Sumter, which closed, and taught at Niagara University in Buffalo.

Kathleen Merritt, director of ethnic ministries for the Diocese of Charleston, said her election is an honor both for Sister Roberta and for the diocese as a whole.

"The conference is going to benefit greatly by her leadership because she's hard-working, energetic and has a lot of great ideas," Merritt said. "Also, when you're a leader of a group like that, you're going to have a lot of different personalities to deal with. She has a natural ability to calm the waters and be able to get things done."

Sister Roberta will serve a five-year term as president, and her responsibilities will include attending board meetings three times a year at the conference offices in Washington, D.C.

She said she also would supervise the conference's main office from a distance and help organize their undertakings, such as the Black Women's Project, a networking group for black Catholic laity that offers support and a chance to bring attention and focus on issues the women face in the United States.

She wants to continue the conference's mission of offering support for black women religious, and to raise awareness of the work they are doing in communities nationwide.

One of her biggest challenges, she said, is to help the conference in its goal to develop more vocations among black Catholics, especially young people.

"I'm honored that the sisters have the confidence in me and feel I can work to continue the growth of vocations and membership around the country," Sister Roberta said. "Our sisters are aging, and the founding members of the organization are getting older."

She said the key to nurturing vocations in general is providing strong faith formation for children at home, and in their churches and Catholic schools. This is a special challenge among black Catholics, she said, because many young people have peers from different religions and many parents who were raised in the church have become distant from it over the years.

"We believe the Lord really is calling young women to vocations, but parents have to encourage vocations and we as sisters need to be a presence in the community," Sister Roberta said.

"So many of us in the conference are the only, or one of the only, African-American members of our communities," she said. "It's amazing the witness you can give to the young people through ministries and through dedication to the church. Young people are looking for other people who are doing things in the community in the name of Jesus."

Published Aug. 20, 2009, The Catholic Miscellany

 


Sister Roberta Fulton
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Summer Assembly '09

Several times each year, the Sisters gather at St. Mary Center for several days together to reconnect, to pray, to learn, to make decisions, and to celebrate. This year the four days of gathering were marked by deeping our understanding of the Scriptures with the help of Rev. Bill Dols, PhD., who lead us in a new method of penetrating the Word. Sharing together and prayer deepened that experience. We looked at significant trends in our life together in order to be "good stewards" of all with which we've been blessed. The Sisters are focusing their lives through the lens of "Peace and Justice," and we shared the many and varied ways efforts for peace and justice have become concretized in our lives, from demonstrating against war to recycling, and everything in between. These wonderful days of renewal concluded with a July 4th Mass, picnic and concert by Nan Hoffmann.

Festive July 4 Celebration!
Summer Jubilee Celebration

On June 28th the Sisters gathered with family and friends to celebrate the Jubilees of seven of our Sisters. Sr. Mary Jane Sharkey celebrated 75 years of religious life and celebrating 50 years were: Sr. Katherine Marie Bogner, Sr. Susan Bowles, Sr. Patricia Brady, Sr. Kathleen Kane, Sr. Helen Anne Wolf, and Sr. Claire. Each of these Golden Jubilarians has lived some of her 50 years of religious life in another of our Provinces including Congo, Rwanda, Brazil, Great Britain and Belgium and so, in a way, the celebration extended to every corner of the Congregation. The celebration began around the Eucharistic table at Our Lady of Hope Parish and continued around the dinner table at Classics V.


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Associates

The lay associates of the Sisters of St. Mary residing in WNY recently gathered for their Spring meeting at the Spring Lake Winery in Lockport, NY.  Surrounded by the beauty of the setting, they had a time of prayer and a lively discussion on Pope Benedict XIV's January 1st message on peace.  The meeting finished with a tour of the winery, supper, and a long time to relax and enjoy one another's company.


ANTI-TORTURE VIGIL

On Saturday, June 27th, 
thirteen Sisters of St. Mary stood
 amongst an ecumenical gathering of approximately 3 dozen persons on the 
corner of Main St. and Niagara Falls Blvd.
 witnessing their disapproval of the use of torture by our nation and throughout 
the world. This event coincided with the National 
Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT)
 Torture Awareness month and activities. 
Many passers-by waved or honked their approval and others stopped to ask questions
 of the vigil keepers and their motivations. 
In all, it was considered a simple, successful
event.


The Sisters are all packed up and ready to leave for their project among the Haitians living in the Dominican Republic




SUMMER PROJECT IN THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC


An international group of our Sisters has left for a summer project in the Dominican Republic among Haitians who are living there in poverty. Among them are Sr. Patricia Brown who is the Director of Family Life in the Diocese of Savannah and Sr. Rose Ann Cappola who serves in our missions in the Dominican Republic, sponsored by our Canadian Sisters.


 


Mobilization to End Poverty


Five sisters attended the Mobilization to End Poverty in Washington, DC, April 26-29 hosted by Sojourners Magazine and sponsored by World Vision. It was an historic gathering of Christian and anti-poverty leaders, a transformative experience of education, worship, community, and activism. They met with our Congressional delegation, heard many speakers including Jim Wallis and Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, and attended training sessions to prepare attendees to engage in the mobilization against poverty when they returned home. The sisters who participated were Sisters, Rosemary, Lori, Susan, Caroline, and Kathleen Kelley.
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Workshop on Non-Violence


On March 28, 2009, the Sisters of St. Mary sponsored a workshop, Disarming the Heart, Disarming the World: Gospel Nonviolence in a World of Violence, given by Fr. John Dear, SJ, peace activist and author.
 


Rwandan Sojourn


Sister Mary Veronica White and Sister Sandra Makowski recently returned home from six weeks in Rwanda where they helped our Rwandan sisters learn English. The country has recently adopted English as the official language of education and business, replacing French and so our sisters there are working diligently to learn English quickly.
Sisters Sandra and Mary Veronica with our Sisters in Rwanda
 
SSMNs Honored

On May 17, 2009, as part of their 150th anniversary celebration as a parish, St. Mary Parish, Lockport honored  the Sisters of St. Mary of Namur at the 10:00 am Mass for their presence  in the parish for so many years and in the larger Lockport community since 1863.  After the Mass, a memorial plaque was installed in the Parish Center Chapel. 
 
New Orleans Project 2009

New Orleans for a second year in a row! Throughout the month of July, two groups of sisters, eleven in all, spent two weeks in New Orleans to help with the ongoing restoration of that devastated city. They were involved in tutoring, GED preparation, and in helping with the food pantry and serving of meals at St. Jude’s community center. Some were also  involved in a variety of ways at the Rebuild Center.


 
Other recent events


Day of Reflection:

Sister Theresa Kane, RSM
joined the Sisters on April 18, 2009 to facilitate a day focused on “Spirituality and Justice for Religious W omen in the 21st Century.” It was a stimulating day of reflection and sharing of ideas.


Intercessory Prayer Services:

This year the lay associates of the Sisters of St. Mary are sponsoring prayer services in several Western New York parishes, praying for those who are impacted by our current financial downturn. Prayer services have taken place in St. John the Baptist, Kenmore and St. John the Baptist, Boston, NY. Future prayers are scheduled at St. Mary, Lockport and Our Lady of Hope, Buffalo.


Sisters of St. Mary of Namur . 241 Lafayette Avenue . Buffalo, New York 14213 . (716) 884-8221