Home of the Mother

On August 13th, a group of young people met in Fonda, New York at the Shrine of Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha. The group consisted of four young people, two Brothers, and three adults.

The occasion was to celebrate the 125th anniversary of the foundation of the Shrine of Our Lady of Martyrs at nearby Auriesville, New York. This Shrine was the old Indian town of Ossernon where Saint Isaac Jogues first entered into Mohawk territory and the place of the martyrdom of Saint Rene Goupil.

The Home of the Mother Youth boys had their summer camps in Ocala, Florida and Blairsville, Georgia. There were 29 boys from ages 8-13 and 31 boys from ages 14 - 17. The younger boys stayed at the Lake in the Forest campsite at Halfmoon Lake in the Ocala National Forest. The older boys went to Vogel State Park in Blairsville, Georgia.  In both camps, the boys had to make the effort to come out of themselves and find the beauty of a life centered on Christ. This was done through a daily dose of adoration before our Lord with points of meditation, mass, rosary, and talks given by the brothers.

This summer, the Servant Sisters of the Home of the Mother here in the United States led two summer camps.

The first one was from July 25-30 in Ocala, Florida. About 70 girls, ages 8-13, attended. Thanks be to God, there were also 6 team leaders who came to help us out, too. Without their help it would have been nearly impossible. Each one of them served as a team leader and there were a total of 8 teams.

On the occasion of the Confirmation of María Angélica Pérez on May 23, the Solemnity of Pentecost, the members of the Home of the Mother in Canada were happy to receive a visit from Cheryl de la Cruz and Jennifer Abendroth, members of the Home who live in Florida. The activities were diverse and our guests headed the youth group on Friday, the Saturday morning children's group, and afternoon activities with the girls.

We are very happy to announce that we held a presentation of the Home of the Mother in the Parish of Saint Margaret in Waterbury, Connecticut. Eva, Marina, and Ray Hernandez; Laura and Marilee Perugini; Jose, Marta, and Klarisa Pezo, took great delight in preparing the presentation. Thanks to our efforts, the power of the Holy Spirit, and the Blessed Virgin Mary, and your prayers, we think that the encounter has been a fruitful event.

This year, for the first time in the history of the Home, there was a Holy Week Encounter held in Canada. Thanks to the great efforts of Jaime Arturo and his wife Maria Consuelo, and others who generously gave of their time and efforts, this has been made possible – even despite the anger of the devil who made every effort to stop it from happening by placing obstacle after obstacle and difficulty after difficulty. And yet, as Christ has already overcome him, he was unable to do anything and the encounter brought many spiritual fruits, especially in the form of a greater knowledge of the Home, union among its members, and a greater consolidation of the group.

Around two hundred and thirty people gathered together for the Home of the Mother Holy Week Encounter, in Ocala, Florida. The theme of the Encounter was "Ecclesial Movements Within the Church". Extracts from books written by Cardinal Ratzinger and Cardinal Angelo Scola were used for the talks.

The third talk given by Father Félix López, Servant Priest of the Home of the Mother, explained the role of the Home of the Mother within the Church.

This past March, Fr. Rafael visited the communities of the Home in Florida. During his stay at Ave Maria University, we had a meeting with members of the Home in which we watched the film “Alter Christus.” Fr. Rafael commented on several points afterwards and many mentioned that it had helped them a lot.

On March 19, Feast of Saint Joseph, we had what we call “Fireside with Father,” with Fr. Rafael, as well as Fr. Felix, Fr. Colm, and Fr. Henry. They spoke to us about a little of everything, but the main theme was St. Joseph. Some 80 students from the university attended.

50% of the students at the University of North Florida (population about 18,000) are baptized Catholics. Statistics have shown that at least 70% of incoming Catholic freshmen will lose their faith completely within the first two weeks of coming to college.

There is a great thirst on campus for the hope that comes from Christ alone that will brighten the darkness they see all around them and even feel within themselves.

For Spring Break 2010, the AMU Men's Outdoors Club, accompanied by the Servant Priests and Brothers, traveled to North Carolina to spend some days together in the mountains.  We were 15 altogether.  When we arrived the morning of March 6, we spent the morning hiking to the bottom of the tallest waterfall in the eastern U.S.: Whitewater Falls.  A few men even braved the ice cold waters of the stream below!

This past weekend, March 6-7, we had a walking pilgrimage from Jacksonville, FL to St. Augustine, FL. A total of 19 girls came, 10 from the Jacksonville area and 9 from Ave Maria University.

On Sunday, February 28, we had a retreat for young women. On Friday, there were only two girls signed up and we had decided to cancel it. But then, it became obvious that Our Blessed Mother wanted this retreat to happen...because on Saturday, we suddenly found out that several girls who we thought would not be able to make it, were coming. In the end, there were 15 girls all together.

We now have information available on this year's Holy Week Encounters. This year, as in the past, there will be Encounters in Ecuador, Florida (USA), and Spain. For the first time, there will be one held in Canada.

The Holy Week Encounters began in Toledo, Spain. They were organized by a group of young people of the Home of the Mother who wanted to live Holy Week in an atmosphere of greater reflection and profound joy.

On Friday, February 12, the Sisters and girls from Jacksonville went to Tampa for a get-together for girls and lay members of the Home of the Mother. We stayed at the Rectory of St. Anthony's Parish, where we also met up with some of the girls from Tampa.

The girls from the Home of the Mother residence in Jacksonville organized a retreat for young men and women from the 29th to 31st of January 2010. 55 young people attended.

The retreat was lead by Fr. Colum Power and with the help of Fr. Eamon MacManus. God who is abundant in generosity gave many graces to all those who opened their hearts to Him. The following are testimonies of some of the young people who attended the retreat.

On January 21, 2010, the Sisters in Jacksonville drove by van, along with 9 girls, to Washington, DC, for the March for Life, which would take place the next day. On January 22, we started the day with a Mass in the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. It was the third Mass being celebrated that day, but even still there were thousands of people at the Mass.