Bishop celebrates Mass with women religious, calls for delegate

CHERRY HILL – Hope. Kindness. A missionary spirit. 

Such are among the countless gifts women religious bring to those they serve.

“Sisters remind us that God is real. God is good,” Father Jason Rocks, chancellor for the Diocese of Camden, said in welcoming about 50 women religious to Holy Eucharist Parish, where he serves as pastor.

The women, who traveled from every corner of the Diocese, came together Dec. 20 for Mass and lunch with Bishop Joseph Williams. The Bishop – who recently announced that he would be inviting them to choose a Bishop’s Delegate for Women Religious – offered the Mass for consecrated women in celebrating a Jubilee of Religious Sisters.

“God is calling young women to give everything, and not just from foreign countries, but from here, from South Jersey. It might not be easy, it might be difficult, but we have to hope. We have to begin with hope,” he said during the luncheon.

Since becoming the ninth Bishop of Camden, Bishop Williams has made it a priority to promote vocations – to the priesthood, diaconate, religious life, and among the laity. At the luncheon, he asked the religious sisters to begin thinking who among them could serve as his Delegate for Women Religious.

“As you think about someone to nominate, consider, “Could there be a sister who would bring other sisters together?” he asked. “A sister who, in addition, could help young women hear the call to become disciples and move toward a desire – if God is calling – to drop the nets?”

As Bishop Williams spoke, Father Rocks – the current Delegate for Women Religious – handed out nomination ballots. Father Rocks has been the diocesan delegate for five years; Sister Mary McGarrity, IHM, served in the role from 2010 to 2020.

The sisters were encouraged to take the ballots – and the day’s message – back to their congregations and share with those unable to attend. Once nominations are received, the candidates will be contacted and asked to consider discerning the position.

Many of those in attendance asked questions and offered suggestions, all of which the Bishop welcomed, saying, “We do need to reimagine. ‘Ecclesia semper reformanda est.’ The Church is always renewing itself.”

Sister Philomena Nowicka, LSIC, said the gathering was the Holy Spirit working for renewal. “I think there is great hope. Little by little, the seeds are being planted. … But we have to be patient. We can’t ascribe everything to ourselves. We are, after all, just servants – and the Lord is the one in charge.”

Reflecting on the Bishop’s invitation to nominate a delegate, Sister Philomena said, “My hope for this position would be to bring a light to the different communities, to be a bond, with the Bishop and with one another. Like the early Church, to have a tremendous love of Jesus and evangelization.”

As the gathering took place in this Jubilee Year of Hope, hope was at the center of the entire day.

During the liturgy, Bishop Williams first preached on the morning’s reading from Isaiah: “The young woman, pregnant and about to bear a son, shall name him Emmanuel.”

“We’re so familiar with this passage, that we forget how long Israel waited for that hope to be fulfilled: almost 800 years,” he said. “That’s a long time to guard hope. And it also reveals something about hope: that hope really doesn’t become activated as a virtue until things seem hopeless. When everything is going well or as expected or as planned, we don’t really need the supernatural virtue of hope. … But when things get dark, that’s precisely when we see who really has that theological virtue.”

Speaking on the day’s Gospel of Luke, when the angel Gabriel appears to Mary, he continued: “How did Emmanuel find His way into our world when things were so dark and desperate? You don’t manufacture salvation. You prepare for it with hope. You keep hope alive, and hope becomes the way that God enters a hopeless world.”

The Mother Mary’s hope, he said, gave Gabriel a way into her heart. That open heart paved the way for Emmanuel.

“We need that same hope today when we think about consecrated life,” he said. “Jesus is still calling. … We need holy ones like Mary hoping that God can come and renew a vocation.”