By Mary Stadnyk | Associate Editor

Ever since the Missionaries of Charity arrived in the Diocese of Trenton 14 years ago, the sisters, whose community was founded in 1960 by Blessed Teresa of Calcutta, have maintained a commanding presence, providing rich and selfless service in areas of Monmouth County. With elegant grace, genuine humility and warm, gracious smiles, they continue their ministry which includes visiting residents in nursing homes in Asbury Park, Neptune and Bradley Beach, and serving as catechists in Asbury Park’s Mother of Mercy Parish. 

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For the five sisters currently living in Asbury Park – Sister Carmelina, Sister Regis, Sister Carmel, Sister Vandita and Sister Franslily – Aug. 22 however, was a day for them to pause from their customary work – for a little while – and instead, welcome Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., and his episcopal secretary, Father Jason Martin Parzynski – into their home.

The bright and early beautiful Saturday morning visit began with Bishop O’Connell, Father Parzynski and the sisters gathering in the convent chapel where the Bishop celebrated Mass. The Aug. 22 date also held added meaning for the sisters, for it was the day when they joined with members of their community throughout the world in renewing their vows in religious life and reflected on the life and vocation of their founder and her tireless efforts to serving among the poorest of the poor.

For Bishop O’Connell, the visit was meaningful.

He told The Monitor after the visit, “Being with the Missionaries of Charity here is like being in the presence of God. Their holiness, their joy, their love for the poor surrounds them,” he said, then became sentimental as he reflected on having encountered the sisters in Washington, D.C., during the years he was president of The Catholic University of America.

Whenever he is in the presence of the Missionaries of Charity, he said, “It is as though I get a little glimpse of heaven.”

A Special Day

Sister Carmelina spoke with enthusiasm about how “beautiful” it was to have the Bishop celebrate Mass and preside over the sisters’ renewal of vows. She then shared  that while Aug. 22 is the day when the universal Church observes the Memorial of the Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary, a Marian feast celebrated that affirms Mary’s unique role as Mother of the Church, the Missionaries of Charity, instead, observe the day as the Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. She said that Mother Teresa held such devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary that she had appealed to the Holy Father many years ago, who granted the community permission to observe it as a feast.

Bishop O’Connell, in his homily, reflected on the various feasts that are celebrated in Mary’s name and how, “after her Son, the Lord Jesus himself, the Virgin Mary is the most perfect human being the world has ever known.”

“From the moment of her conception, she was without any stain of sin. At the moment of her Assumption, no sin had ever touched her. In all the moments in between, Mary lived a life of perfect fidelity, perfect obedience, perfect love of God,” said Bishop O’Connell. “She is the first witness to the grace and presence of the Lord Jesus Christ in this world.”

Reflecting on the day’s Gospel reading from St. Matthew, (Mt. 23: 1-12), Bishop O’Connell said that it “reminds us of the primacy of humility in the life of the Christian: you have but one Master, the Lord Jesus Christ. The greatest among you must be the servant of all. Whoever humbles herself…will be exalted.”

“As we renew our vows today – as Missionaries of Charity – in the presence of Christ and his Mother, Our Queen, let us pray for the humility – as individuals and as a community – the humility required to live simply, chastely, obediently, all in the faithful service of and love for God’s poor,” said Bishop O’Connell.

History of Humility, Service

Mother Teresa, who was born Gonxha Agnes Bojaxhu Aug. 26, 1910 in Skopje (present day Macedonia), founded the Missionary of Charity Sisters, which was officially erected for the Archdiocese of Calcutta, India, Oct. 7, 1950. She died Sept. 5, 1997 in Kolkata, India, and was beatified on World Mission Sunday, Oct. 19, 2003, by Pope John Paul II in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican.

According to the 2015 Official Catholic Directory, there are 5,029 professed Missionary of Charity sisters in the United States who serve in soup kitchens, emergency shelters for women; homes for pregnant women; shelters for men; religious education programs; after-school and summer cam programs for children; homes for AIDS patients; prison ministry nursing homes; hospital and shut-in ministry; family counseling and ministry, and foreign missionary work.

The Missionaries of Charity have served in the Diocese of Trenton since 1999 when they responded to an invitation from Bishop John C. Reiss to begin their ministry working among the poor in Asbury Park.

Four years earlier on June 18, 1995, Mother Teresa had visited the Diocese and attended a Mass celebrated by Bishop Reiss in St. Mary of the Assumption Cathedral, Trenton. During the Mass and before a congregation of some 10,000 people who filled the Cathedral proper, the dining hall located in the cathedral’s undercroft, where the Mass was televised, and the surrounding streets where the Mass was broadcast via loud speakers, Bishop Reiss presented a letter to Mother Teresa “formally and canonically” inviting the Missionaries of Charity to establish a residence in the Diocese.

“The presence of your sisters in our Diocese would be a tremendous blessing in our mission to serve the poor and needy in our midst. I hope and pray, Mother Teresa, that we can welcome you and the Missionary Sisters here in the Church of Trenton,” Bishop Reiss wrote in the 1995 letter.

The Missionaries of Charity responded to Bishop Reiss’ invitation when they arrived to begin ministry in Asbury Park in 1999. Their arrival was heralded with a quiet Mass celebrated by Bishop John M. Smith in St. Peter Claver Church, Asbury Park, and attended by a handful of sisters, parishioners and lay volunteers from the Diocese who have worked in various ministries with the Missionaries of Charity.

In addition to visiting nursing homes in Asbury Park, Neptune and Bradley Beach and teaching religious education in Mother of Mercy Parish, Sister Carmelina mentioned how she and her sisters rent a bus and transport underprivileged children to Mass in Mother of Mercy Parish and provide them with religious education instruction. The sisters also have a unique program that is available to area teenagers. Each week on a given day, the sisters invite girls to attend Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament in their convent chapel then on a different day, the boys of the area are invited to attend Adoration.

Sister Carmelina noted that the sisters are looking forward to the arrival of another sister to the convent -- Sister Lee Foong.