IN THIS ISSUE:

• Companions on the Journey Retreat 2016
• NACAR 20th Anniversary Celebration
• Associate Community 2016 Upcoming Events
• East Three - Service
• East Three - Faith-Share
• What's Going on at MoonTree Studios This Summer?!
• PHJC Associates Beyond Our Borders
• In Memory of Our Sister and Associate
• Upcoming Events at John XXIII Retreat Center
• For Whom The Bells Toll

Sister Magdalen Hellmann (Lorraine) PHJC passed away on June 17, 2016 at the Catherine Kasper Home in Donaldson, Indiana, after a life spent appreciating and nurturing the lives of children and all growing things entrusted to her care.

Sister Magdalen was born in Aviston, Illinois to Henry and Elizabeth (Ottensmeier) Hellmann who preceded her in death along with her brothers Joseph, Cletus and Stephen and her sisters Genevieve Hellmann and Bernadine Kussatz. Her sister Rita Heimann survives along with many nieces and nephews. Sister Magdalen credited her father and life on the family farm for introducing her to the miracle of birth and growth in both nature and humankind. She entered the Poor Handmaids of Jesus Christ Community as a postulant on December 8, 1948, professed her first vows on June 25, 1951, and celebrated 65 years as a Poor Handmaid Sister this year.

Sister Magdalen earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Sociology and Psychology from Loyola University in Chicago, Illinois in 1960. From 1951 until 1976 Sister ministered as a childcare worker in Chicago (Angel Guardian Children’s Home) and in Belleville, Illinois (St. John’s Children Home). From 1976-1990 she ministered in management at Ancilla Domini Convent in Donaldson, Indiana. From 1990 until 2003 she served as a Sacristan at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart at Notre Dame University. After retiring from Notre Dame and working with college students she returned to working with the younger set…caring for babies at Nazareth Home in East Chicago, Indiana. Following her 11 years at Nazareth Home Sister Magdalen “officially” retired to the Catherine Kasper Home in November 2014.

All who knew Sister Magdalen appreciated her gentle sense of humor, her caring ways, her skills with handicrafts, gardening, and quilting. As she appreciated the miracle of growth of the tiny seed into its full potential with God’s help, those who knew her found in her a nurturing, caring, special friend.

Visitation will be held at the Catherine Kasper Home on Tuesday, June 21, 2016 beginning at 4:30 p.m. (EST) A Prayer Service will be held the same evening 7:00 p.m.

Funeral Liturgy will be held in the Catherine Kasper Home Chapel on Wednesday, June 22, 2016 at 11:15 a.m. (EST) Burial will follow in the Mt. Carmel Cemetery, Donaldson, Indiana.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Poor Handmaids of Jesus Christ, PO Box 1, Donaldson.

Co-Founders of the social enterprise startup Handtoheart, an online border-less market allowing refugee women free access to sell their handicrafts to an international audience, paid a visit to the St. Joseph Community Health Foundation May 5. HandtoHeart gives refugee women the ability to work from their homes or community centers in Istanbul. The non-profit organization was the recipient of Istanbul’s first Borderless Hackathon prize, an award sponsored by the U.S. Consulate and Kolektif House. They were in Fort Wayne to learn more from area non-profits who help refugees.

HandtoHeart was invited to the United States under the auspices of the Department of State’s International Visit Program. The group ranged from age 19-29, and are from all over the world. They are united by their humanitarian effort to help Syrian refugees in Turkey

St. Joseph Community Health Foundation in Ft. Wayne, Indiana, is a ministry sponsored by the Poor Handmaids of Jesus Christ. 

When I asked my brother-in-law for some old jeans to use for a project, my sister quickly put together a bagful that I brought back to Donaldson from a weekend visit with my family. Collection bins were placed near the serving line of our dining room for people to contribute their old, clean jeans.

Maria Center residents, Sisters, co-workers, friends from the area who had read about the event in the local newspapers, joined on March 30, 2016 and worked for two hours cutting apart the jeans and then cutting parts traced on the denim that would be assembled as shoe parts for children in Uganda.

Those who gathered watched a video from the Sole Hope organization that explained how people in Uganda usually wear flip-flops, but there are no flip-flops small enough for the very young and growing children.  As a result, children often get jiggers in the soles of their feet that cause infection and health-related problems.

Using cut up tires, the actual sole is made of a piece of rubber and the denim parts are sewed to that piece of rubber as the upper part of the shoe and the heal.  The shoes are assembled by local people in Uganda and given to the children.

This project made all of us aware of how we can help people we have never met by just giving a few hours of our time to work together on a project that helps people to be healthy.  Some of the women attending from local churches were going to take the project back to their churches. 

Another afternoon will be scheduled so that people continue this project here at The Center at Donaldson.