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CURRENT ISSUE: June 19, 2006 • VOL. 44, NO. 12 • Oakland, CA
Mother Teresa’s Sisters to
open convent in Richmond
The Missionaries
of Charity, an international religious congregation founded by Blessed
Mother Teresa of Calcutta in 1950 to care for “the poorest of the
poor,” is opening a convent in Richmond.
Four Sisters will officially take up residency in their new home, located
a few blocks from St. Mark Church on June 29, said Sister Rochelle, director
of her community’s Bay Area province.
Bishop Allen Vigneron will say a welcoming Mass in the church for the
Sisters at 4:30 p.m. that day. The liturgy will be followed by a procession
with the Blessed Sacrament to the new convent and a parish reception.
The celebration is open to all clergy and laity in the diocese.
Sister Rochelle is a native of Kerala, India, who worked with Blessed
Teresa in Calcutta for many years.
She said the new convent will serve as home for Sister Manju, the superior,
as well as three Sisters yet to be named. The four-bedroom dwelling is
being leased, initially for a year.
The Sisters will attend Sunday Mass at St. Mark’s but plan to go
to daily Mass and prayers in a private chapel to be located in the convent.
The provincial said the Sisters will begin their ministry by doing home
visits, going to nursing homes and hospitals, and “talking with
people in the streets” to assess what the area’s most pressing
needs are.
The Missionaries decided to direct their efforts to Richmond, rather than
to Oakland, “because when we looked around, Richmond was the neediest
place,” explained Sister Rochelle.
Richmond is the latest Bay Area outreach for the Missionaries as well
as the 17th house in their west coast province. The community’s
provincial headquarters is located on the grounds of Good Shepherd Parish
in Pacifica. The Sisters also have a 37-member novitiate there as well
as a hospice for AIDS patients and a home for unwed mothers in San Francisco.
Since the order’s founding by Blessed Teresa 56 years ago in Calcutta,
the Missionaries of Charity have established 743 tabernacles, (the name
Blessed Teresa gave to her convents) in 134 countries. Approximately 50
are in the United States. The Missionaries have over 4,700 active and
contemplative Sisters, as well as a number of active and contemplative
Brothers and priests.
The Sisters carry on their ministry by visiting families, shut-ins, prisoners
and hospital patients. They also run soup kitchens and shelters for the
homeless. They engage in street ministry, organize catechetical instruction
and operate summer camps.
The Missionaries in Richmond will live their foundress’ simple lifestyle,
said Sister Rochelle. That means washing clothes by hand, not using a
clothes dryer or dishwasher, and not having a computer. They’ll
call upon a manual typewriter for their correspondence.
During the chilly, rainy East Bay winter, the Sisters will turn up the
convent’s thermostat only when it is absolutely necessary, said
the nun. They’ll get a car only if they need transportation to carry
out their works of charity.
The Sisters will support their ministry through private, unsolicited donations
and “the Providence of God.” The community does not allow
people to use Mother Teresa’s name or the Missionaries of Charity
name for fundraising, said Sister Rochelle.
Sisters of the Missionaries of Charity pray in one
of their Bay Area chapels.
MICHAEL COLLOPY PHOTO
