Section:
companions
The past year (September 2005 – August 2006) for the Portland companions has been an eventful one. As we looked back on our year at our June meeting, we could see that we had grown as a community of women and men in our
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Portland companions gather to share faith and Franciscan charism. |
understanding of Franciscan spirituality through our study of the first four units in “Build with Living Stones.” Our sister companions shared their perspective on the mission and vision statements of the congregation as well as telling us their personal vocation stories. During our monthly faith-sharing meetings, we had the opportunity to grow in faith together and to be challenged by our call to live the Gospel. Jackie Bell, one of our companions, died in February. She was a light to us all and is dearly missed. Her sense of humor and her determination to come to the meetings despite her illnesses were an inspiration to us all. One of the highlights of our June meeting was to have Pat Langon and Nancy Opalski, companions from Trenton, New Jersey, join us for the evening. They brought us gifts of poetry and photographs and lots of good humor! Pat and Nancy were in Oregon to participate in the Franciscan Hermitage Experience offered by the Franciscan Spiritual Center, Milwaukie, Oregon.
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East meets West: Companions Candy Philips and Nancy Opalski share news of their respective faith-sharing groups. |
As we look toward our new year, we hope to deepen our knowledge of Clare of Assisi by reflecting and praying with the book Praying with Clare of Assisi by Ramona Miller and Ingrid Peterson. We will also continue our study of the next three units in “Build with Living Stones.” We hope to engage more directly in service to those who are poor and marginalized this year by our work with several agencies in the Portland area that do work directly with the poor. The sisters will continue to share their lives through what we are calling the “Sisters Corner.” During this time of our monthly meetings, the sisters present will have the opportunity to share on topics related to being a Sister of St. Francis of Philadelphia, including living in community, the challenges of being a Franciscan sister in the 21st century, communal and personal prayer, etc. The heart of our meetings remains our time for faith-sharing. Nine of us are going to participate in the October Mother Francis Retreat to be held in Portland in October. In addition, we are very fortunate to have Pat and Paul St. Clair join us this year. Pat has been a companion in Philadelphia since companions began; she just recently married Paul and moved out West. At our October 3 meeting, six new companions made their commitment for the year, thirteen recommitted for another year, and six Sisters of St. Francis recommitted for the year. At that meeting we also celebrated Transitus with our brothers and sisters from the Secular Franciscans in St. Clare’s Fraternity located in Portland.
