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Sisters Servants of Mary Immaculate
Sisters Servants of Mary Immaculate Congregation – Sloatsburg, NY
Sisters Servants of Mary Immaculate
Sisters Servants of Mary Immaculate Congregation – Sloatsburg, NY
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Sr. Dennys Clara Polovischak’s Eulogy
We Sisters Servants of Mary Immaculate for the second year are hosting a "Follow Me" weekend from May 17-19, 2013 for young women from ages 19-40 at St. Mary’s Villa in Sloatsburg, NY. There is no cost for this weekend and it is for young woman who wants to follow Jesus closer however she is being called. It is an opportunity to develop new friendships, deepen your relationship with God as well as enjoy yourselves with other young women and Sisters Servants. You may download the fyer and registration form here or with your Pastor. You may send your registration via email to Sr. Eliane: ilnitskieli10@yahoo.com
Come and join us. Give yourself an opportunity to be blessed and feel the presence of God in silence and peaceful moments…
<div><img src=”/images/M.jpg” border=”0″ width=”207″ height=”122″ align=”left” />March 2013</div><div> </div><div>Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,</div><div> </div><div><span class=”Apple-tab-span” style=”white-space: pre”></span></div><div>This year the story of “Zacchaeus” was left out of the pre-Lenten Gospels in the Liturgical calendar, and I felt a little cheated. I love Zacchaeus because he didn’t let the fact that he was a man of wealth (no matter how he got it) and had a certain social position or a certain standing among the people, stop him from stepping out of character when he had the impulse to “see Jesus.” He simply had to see Jesus and open himself to the invitation of grace and repentance. When he did, he was never the same again.</div><div> </div><div>The Great Fast (Lent) is a wonderful time for us to experience our “Zacchaeus moment.” It is a moment we must all earnestly pray for. Like Zacchaeus we need to “desire” Jesus to be a part of our everyday lives, not just on Sunday or when we are praying for a job or for healing for our loved ones. Lent gives us the opportunity to let go of our comfortable life by praying more individually and as a church family, by fasting and by charitable giving, to help us reconnect with Jesus.</div><div> </div><div>As we prepare for the journey of the Great Fast or Lent, we Sisters Servants invite you to add your needs, joys, and sorrows, to our prayer intentions by using the enclosed form. We also invite you to join us in prayer during the Lenten Novena which is from March 19 – March 27, 2013. May you experience your “Zacchaeus moment” and open yourself to the invitation of grace and repentance during the Great Fast (Lent.)</div><div>Sincerely in Christ,</div><div><br /></div><div>Sr. Kathleen Hutsko, SSMI </div><div>Provincial Superior</div><div><br /></div>
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<img src=”/images/Sr.%20Mary%20Ann%20Botsko1.JPG” border=”0″ width=”412″ height=”406″ align=”right” style=”width: 246px; height: 190px” />The first time that I thought of being a Sister was when I had made my First Holy Communion on April 19, 1964. The seed was planted by the good example of my parents, John and Mary Botsko, but even more so by my grandmother, Pauline Wolsnovich. My grandmother would pray the rosary every day, and her intention was for vocations. Little did my grandmother know that my twin brother Jerome George Botsko would be entering the Priesthood, and I, Mary Ann, would enter religious life. Yes, my parents, family, relatives, and friends were supportive of my decision of becoming a Sister. <p>I am the youngest in the family. Father Jerome George and I, Sister Mary Ann, were 13 minutes apart. I also have an older brother John Michael, and Thomas who passed away on June 12, 2004. All of us went to public schools through elementary, and high school. On Saturday mornings, I would have to attend class in our parish, St. Michael’s Byzantine Catholic Church in Donora, PA, and this took place in the church basement. When I was in the sixth grade, we were asked to write an essay describing "What career we would choose in life?" At that time I felt the tiny whisper of God calling me to be a Sister. I remember sitting down and discussing with my parents that I wanted to join a community that honored the Blessed Mother. <img src=”/images/DSC_0312.JPG” border=”0″ width=”331″ height=”327″ align=”left” style=”width: 265px; height: 175px” /></p><p>I visited the Sisters Servants of May Immaculate for almost two weeks and remember talking to the Provincial Superior who at that was Sister Stephanie Sema, that I would like to keep in contact with the Sisters Servants of Mary Immaculate. After much discernment I enter the Sisters Servants of Mary Immaculate on May 14, 1981. </p><p>God has blessed me in many ways, during the various ministries I had serving in parishes in Passaic, NJ, Spring Valley, NY, Auburn, NY, at St. Josaphat’s Seminary in Washington, DC. <img src=”/images/DSC_0418.JPG” border=”0″ width=”306″ height=”151″ align=”right” style=”width: 220px; height: 151px” />I enjoyed serving the retreatants at St. Mary’s Villa Spiritual and Educational Center, and serving the elderly residents at St. Joseph’s Adult Care Home, where they taught me patience, and I learned from their words of wisdom.</p><p>It has truly been a life filled with many experiences that I could never have imagined. Why religious life – it is a mystery. Why God called bother my twin brother and me, – this, too, is a mystery, but, I cannot imagine another kind of life and will always be grateful for my grandmother’s prayers, my parents’ good example and support and the whisper that I heard and recognized as a child.</p>
The call to follow Our Lord, Jesus Christ is as complicated as it is simple. I came from <img src=”/images/Sr.%20Thomas%20Dorothea%20Hrynewich3.JPG” border=”0″ width=”334″ height=”500″ align=”right” style=”width: 220px; height: 314px” /><br />a good Catholic family. I am the oldest of four children born, June 2, 1924, to Tessie and Michael Hrynewich. My grandparents (Theodore and Rosalie Kulczycki) and parents were very active in the parish and attended church services regularly, which meant that we children did also. We attended catechism lessons given by the parish priest, Reverend Kopachuk. When the Sisters Servants of Mary Immaculate arrived in our parish in 1940, their enormous impact on the parish and on my family was plainly seen.<br /><br />I was a senior in Ambridge High when I had this thought of being close to God and serving others. The feeling of wanting to serve the church by teaching our Ukrainian people, of being close to Jesus and spend more time in prayer really bothered me. In order to get rid of this thought, (because I was having grand time with the "teenage gang" I was hanging our with), I prayed a number of novenas to rid myself of this thought. However, to no avail, the more I prayed against the thought, the stronger it got. Then, during a Great Fast mission given by Father Markiw, OSBM, I finally gave in and decided to belong to our Lord. Since my sister Irene and I were always at the convent helping the sisters, they thought we were interested in joining. One day Sister Lawrence said she was writing to the Provincial Superior in Canada and wondered if she could ask the Provincial Superior to accept us to the novitiate. I quickly answered, "Sure." My sister said, "No," and scolded me for not asking my mother first. At first, mother said I could not go. It was too far away, and she did not think I knew what I wanted. After much discussion and my constant crying at home, my mother finally gave in. I found out that the day before my announcing I was going to the convent, my dad made the remark that "God gave them such good children, if He wanted one he would give one of them to Him."<br /><br /><img src=”/images/DSC_0554.JPG” border=”0″ width=”495″ height=”365″ align=”left” style=”width: 355px; height: 242px” />I entered the Congregation of the Sisters Servants of Mary Immaculate on June 21, 1942. After the blessing of the buildings and property in Sloatsburg, New York, I traveled 3,000 miles to Mundare, Alberta, Canada, with Sister Athanasia (one of the first seven girls to enter the Community). After two and a half years in the novitiate, I pronounced my first vows and was missioner to Detroit, Michigan. I then taught at St. Mary’s Villa Academy in Sloatsburg, NY and St. Mary’s Academy in Ancaster, Ontario, Canada. My studies took me to University of Detroit; Fordham University in New York; St. Paul’s University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada; Regina Mundi in Rome, Italy and Catholic University of America in Washington. I spent six years in Rome, Italy, studying and in the General Curia. During the days of the "Iron Curtain," I was privileged to accompany our Superior General to Germany, Austria, Poland, Ukraine, and Russia to visit our Sisters there. (My Mother used to laugh and say that I joined to see the world!) <p>I returned to the United States as Provincial Superior, serving a five-year term. I was the Chancellor of the Ukrainian Catholic Metropolitan Archeparchy of Philadelphia for twenty-five years. My mission today has me in Minersville, PA, at St. Nicholas School as the Principal.</p><p>All this was great but, the joy, peace, and love that are found in the complete surrender to God and serving others as Our Lord Jesus did is the most satisfying. </p><p> </p>