Bicentennial celebration

Blessed Pauline von Mallinckrodt

MENDHAM  The Sisters of Christian Charity at Mallinckrodt Convent have decided to “go big” in celebrating the 200th birthday of their order’s founder, Blessed Pauline von Mallinckrodt. It will include an array of festivities in June and July to reconnect them with her example of Christ-centered concern for the poor that keeps inspiring them to promote her mission to the wider world. These birthday events will include an Eastern Province-wide Mass with Bishop Serratelli on Saturday, June 17 at 11 a.m. in the Chapel of Mary Immaculate at the convent here.

“We wished to celebrate Blessed Pauline’s 200th birthday [which takes place on Saturday, June 3] to renew within ourselves the spirit and charism [spiritual gifts for the good of the Church] of our founder and spread that charism to the people we serve,” said Sister Marie Pauline Demek, provincial councilor. “She began our congregation to glorify God and perform works of charity of any kind. The Sisters of Christian Charity minister in education, healthcare, retreat work, social justice outreach and parish ministry. If we are able to do it, we will take it on,” she said.

Bishop Serratelli will visit Mal­linckrodt Convent on Saturday, June 17, to serve as main celebrant and homilist at the Mass to celebrate the bicentennial of the birth of Blessed Pauline, who founded the Sisters of Christian Charity in Germany on Aug. 21, 1849. Attending will be priests from the parishes in which the sisters serve, staff persons, friends of the community, and the Companions of Pauline, lay people who have answered the call to proclaim Christ to the world by living out the charism of Blessed Pauline in their life. Afterward, the order will host a dinner in the motherhouse and present “My Soul Proclaims,” a presentation of the founder’s life, ministry and the charism as it is lived today by the congregation, Sister Marie Pauline said.

On the German-born nun’s 200th birthday, June 3, the sisters will kick off their celebrations with the fourth annual Run for a Nun 5k race, which starts at 9:30 a.m. in Lewis Memorial Park, Morristown. The event benefits the education of young women in the community in the initial stages of formation. Runners will receive a special black and white T-shirt that displays the face of Blessed Pauline, unlike shirts from previous years that had displayed an image of a nun running in sneakers. Registration opens at 8:30 a.m. and closes at 9:15 a.m. and costs $30 for adults and $10 for children. Walk-ins are welcomed, according Sister Bernadette, the order’s vocation and formation director.

After the run on June 3, the Sisters will continue celebrations of Blessed Pauline — who was born June 3, 1817 in Minden, Germany — on the grounds of the motherhouse in Mendham. They will start with a presentation on her life and ministry, showing her life caring for the poor and sick. Then, the sisters and young people will host a birthday party, complete with lunch, cupcakes and ice cream for the runners and children and adults in attendance from parishes and schools they serve. Festivities will continue with indoor games — including a scavenger hunt and “Pin the Bow on Blessed Pauline” — and a 4 p.m. closing Mass celebrated by Benedictine Father Hilary O’Leary, formation director at St. Mary’s Abbey, Morristown,

“We want to celebrate the birthday of Blessed Pauline, because she was the ultimate expression of how someone can live for and love God’s people. She spoke about the needs of the poor but then found ways to bring them God’s help, both spiritually and concretely, and alleviate their sufferings,” Sister Bernadette said.

The sisters’ birthday festivities continue into July, when they participate in Response 200: “three days of prayer, study, creativity and community, rooted in the charism of Blessed Pauline.” On the final day, the sisters have invited Sister Anna Shwanz of the German Province to visit and to speak about “In Response to God’s Call,” her book about the congregation’s history from Blessed Pauline’s death on April 30, 1881 to the present day. Four different sessions have been scheduled on various days throughout the month.

“Response 200 will explore the stages of Blessed Pauline’s life, her spirituality, our history and our current realities,” Sister Marie Pauline said.

The birthday celebrations, called Pauline 200, grew from the work of a planning committee that began last October to update information about Blessed Pauline, which can be found on the Eastern Congregation’s web site, www.scceast.org, and about the congregation in brochures, bookmarks and on their website. The sisters and the Companions of Pauline received a booklet, which contains reflections from Scripture and Blessed Pauline’s writings, from Ash Wednesday to Pentecost. The sisters also assembled biographical sketches to be published in parishes’ Sunday bulletins, Sister Marie Pauline said.

The Eastern Province represents sisters serving in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio, West Virginia and New Orleans. The global congregation now ministers on four continents: North and South America, Europe and Asia, according to the Eastern Congregation’s web site.

Among those local Sisters of Christian Charity still inspired by Blessed Pauline is Sister Joan Daniel Healy, diocesan chancellor and delegate for religious, who was taught by the sisters.

“There was something about the sisters that just attracted me and helped to foster my vocation to religious life. I now know that it was the charism that Blessed Pauline left us: love for the Eucharist, a deep prayer life, love for the poor, the willingness to take risks when necessary and much more,” Sister Joan Daniel said. “She was woman on a mission for Christ and the Church. To this day her charism still attracts young women to religious life and through her intercession we pray for the perseverance and the grace that others may continue to follow in her footsteps.”

[Information: www.scceast.org or call (973) 543-6528.]