A blessing for all of God's people: 39 religious jubilarians celebrate 2,555 years

Archbishop Vigneron encourages religious men and women to give thanks for the blessings their discipleship has granted

DETROIT — Before evangelization was all the rage, Sr. Mary Frances, HVM, was doing it. Going door to door, in fact.

The Church’s mission has always been spreading the message of Jesus Christ, but Sr. Frances was going from house to house with the Sisters, Home Visitors of Mary, whom she joined in 1953, a mere four years after the Detroit community was founded.

“We did home visiting, as our name suggests, and I enjoyed that very much,” Sr. Frances told Detroit Catholic. “I felt I was sent to certain people. Each day when we went out, I felt sent to be there with them. It was a wonderful ministry, going door to door, doing evangelization before 'evangelization' was a term. We simply invited people to the church, and it was a friendly invitation and looked for fallen away Catholics.”

Sr. Frances celebrated 70 years with the Sisters, Home Visitors of Mary, during the 2023 consecrated life jubilee Mass on Sept. 9 at Sacred Heart Major Seminary, with Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron presiding.

“I think this feeling of being sent to a particular person, although we went door to door, was what I enjoyed most about my vocation,” Sr. Frances said. “I was sent to interview people, talk to them. Ask about their day and what they needed from us.”

In all, 39 jubilarians were recognized, celebrating a combined 2,555 years.

The Mass with the archbishop was more than an opportunity to recognize the men and women religious who were celebrating milestone anniversaries in religious life, but also a time to reflect on the graces and blessings that came about because they dedicated their life to proclaiming Jesus’ lordship, Archbishop Vigneron said.

“We are here to be the voice of the whole local Church, having the privilege to join our jubilarians in their thanks of the graces of their milestone years, be it 25, 50, 60, 70, up to 80 years in some cases, of graces,” Archbishop Vigneron said. “Think of all the graces, some of these are known more publicly, and others only you know that have come from you being a medium of religious life in this diocese.”

Fr. Pat Brennan, CP, a Passionist priest who now serves as director of the St. Paul of the Cross Passionist Retreat Center in Detroit, said most of the blessings in his vocation have come from guiding people in retreats, particularly those who have been struggling with loneliness or addiction and have come to the retreat center looking for peace.

“The Passionists’ charism is a devotion to the Cross of Christ in terms of the historical suffering of Jesus and the awareness we keep in our hearts to notice the suffering of people around us, the crucified of today,” said Fr. Brennan, who was celebrating 58 years with the Passionists and 50 years as a priest.

“We look today to the people who are poor, the people who are unloved, people who are discriminated against; that's where Christ’s passion is,” Fr. Brennan said. “That is what inspired me to join the Passionists in the first place, that sense of community they had with each other and that sense of reaching out to the forgotten.”

In his time with the Passionists, Fr. Brennan has been a preacher on retreats, a formation director for seminarians at the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, a novice director, and now for the past 10 years, director of the retreat center.

“The greatest lesson I’ve learned is that my own suffering is nothing,” Fr. Brennan said. “The sufferings of others around me are clearly an invitation to me to be Christ for that person, to bring joy. And that is my joy.

"I really resonate with what the archdiocese is doing, calling priests to be joyful missionary disciples, to be a joyful priest," Fr. Brennan added. "That’s what matters most in my vocation, letting people know that you love them, that you are here to serve them, and you are joyful.”

Archbishop Vigneron said the graces experienced by men and women religious are real graces for the entire people of the Archdiocese of Detroit, an example of what it means to be disciples of Christ.

“We give praise and thanks for the acts done for loving of neighbor by the jubilarians, as they sought the things of Christ,” Archbishop Vigneron said, referencing the collect of the Mass, honoring the feast of St. Peter Claver.

For Sr. Mary Cushion, CSSF, a Felician sister in Livonia celebrating 65 years, most of her ministry was very public, teaching in elementary schools across Michigan in Detroit, Livonia, Hamtramck, Bronson, Dorr and Alpena, forming young minds, and in turn, being formed by them.

“Teaching was in my heart; I loved the little ones, loving bringing Christ to them, teaching them in religion class,” Sr. Cushion said. “I learned how you could not teach religion unless you had the spirit with you, because many times I think I said something that I know I wouldn’t have come up with by myself. The Holy Spirit tells you what to say.

“At every school I taught, I would always pray for and cherish the impact I had on students,” Sr. Cushion added. “Especially when they got older — I always was elementary — when they really need it. Because in time they would need to take over their relationship with God. Hopefully what they learned in our Catholic schools is that they have a relationship with God through their lives.”