Our Easter podcast is being released on Holy Thursday. As Catholics, Holy Thursday celebrations around the world focus on the night Jesus celebrated the Passover Seder with His disciples, the Last Supper. So, this month we focus on the Jewish roots of this sacred celebration with Sister Nancy Stiles, Holy Union Associate, Kathi Jeffra, and a good friend of Holy Union, Saralee Salk, a Jewish woman steeped in her faith and deeply knowledgeable on the traditions, symbolism, and rituals of Passover and the Seder meal. Our discussion reminds us of the significant overlap between Catholic and Jewish ritual, prayer, and tradition. It serves to unite us as a faith family who share significantly our, religious practice and spirituality.

This year, as we adjust our podcast's focus to spirituality, Sisters Nancy Stiles and Alice Michael explore the season of Lent and its three traditional practices: prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. With insights and observations from Popes Francis and Leo, local priests, a Holy Union Associate, and our own Sisters, this discussion unfolds how these Lenten practices deepen our spiritual journey, help us draw closer to God, and ultimately bring about spiritual growth through change.

This month's episode marks the beginning of our podcast's fifth year! Sr. Alice Michael hosts Marilyn Crum, Jeanette Borg, and Joan DiMarco, three women with whom she has worked in various capacities associated with Holy Union's ministries in New York over the years. Though Holy Union's initial ministry was focused on teaching children in the classroom across several schools there, the discussion traces their presence and impact as their work broadened to include new and even non-traditional roles within the parishes where they worked. These included adult religious education, caring for the homeless, the elderly, the sick, and special needs children. The episode concludes with a heartfelt remembrance of Holy Union's departure from Astoria, and the sadness the Sisters, parents, parishioners, and children felt as they pulled away. As with all endings, new beginnings and new opportunities for all lay just ahead.

As we begin the season of Advent, we hope this episode of "Called to Be..." inspires you to set aside a few minutes to reflect on the simple question: "What does Christmas mean to you?" We asked our Sisters, Associates and friends to send us their thoughts on this question and we were surprised and delighted by the broad range of responses we received... some profound, others nostalgic, and others were insightful. Sisters Alice Arsenault and Fran Cavey take turns reading the responses aloud and providing their own as well. We pray that everyone has a lovely Advent season, and may you all enjoy a Blessed Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Sr. Nancy Stiles moderates a fascinating discussion about a project that spans three countries, two continents, three generations, and multiple cultures. In this episode we hear directly from Sisters Shallotte Kum and Veronique Metiendjo from Cameroon, and Eugenia Mshana and Scholastica Mhea from Tanzania about their participation in the US Bicentennial Project, a long-time dream which became a reality in August 2025. Responding to the call from Holy Union's Collegial Assembly in 2023 for new orientations in all stages of formation, the Holy Union US Area created its Bicentennial Project. Paired with our congregation's celebration of 200 years (1826- 2026), this nine week enrichment program called for four participants to travel to the United States and immerse themselves in an intensive program of study, focused on advanced writing skills, spirituality, creativity, and culture. Newly completed, the fruits of this project could last decades or even centuries!

This month, Sister Alice Arsenault leads a discussion with Sisters Tess Horvath and Joan Guertin for the first of two sequential episodes on our Bicentenary Jubilee Year of 2026 which marks two hundred years since our congregation's founding in Douai, France by our founder, Jean Baptiste Debrabant. We will be reminiscing about pilgrimages made by several of our Sisters to significant sites in Lecelles and Douai, France where Fr. Debrabant was born and also where he gathered with the first group of women for religious instruction who became the foundation of our congregation. Written memories submitted by several of our Sisters will be shared and discussed.

This month's episode teeters on the brink of miraculous. Sisters Marilyn Gignac and Jane Newcomb, who spent many decades as missionaries in Cameroon, are reunited with a man, who was then a small boy, little Joseph Lukong, from the village of Kumbo where they ministered. That little boy is now Father Joseph Lukong, and he is ministering in a parish within driving distance of where these Sisters live today in New England! This astounding story is a testimony to the Good which comes from missionary work, and the global long-term impact of revealing God's love to those in need. So today, many decades after Holy Union sent missionaries to Cameroon, they are sending them back to help us here in the U.S., the NEW mission territory!

This month, we had the pleasure of speaking with Sr. Cecilia Fukah Echo, SUSC, one of our Cameroonian Holy Union Sisters who is living here in the United States as she attends classes at Devine Word College in Epworth, IA. Sr. Fran Cavey learns about her experience growing up in Cameroon and her decision to become a Holy Union Sisters, as well as her remarkable academic adventure coming to America to futher her education and how she hopes to use it once she returns to Cameroon in a few years. Join us in praying for Sr. Cecilia as she continues to use her gifts to continue to reveal God's love both here in the US and once she returns home to Cameroon.

This month, Sr. Alice Arsenault shares the rich story of her vocation, ministries, and life as a woman religious for the last 65 years. Sr. Alice delivered her talk to a group of Holy Union Associates in Tauton, MA and discussed her family background and how she decided to "answer the phone" when God's call came! She also discussed her commitment to her vows during troubled times, the painful decision to close a school where she was Principal, and her election to work in Rome with Holy Union Sisters from around the world. Later, as Provincial of the Groton Province, she oversaw the reunification of our two Provinces (Groton and Fall River) in to one US Province. Her current ministries involve healing and spiritual formation. And her journey continues....

As the sadness of Pope Francis' death fades, it has been replaced by the joy of a new Pope from the United States of America. And this month we share our thoughts on our new Pope, our hopes, our first impressions, and our reflections on what the future may hold given this new reality. Sister Nancy Stiles leads a discussion which includes Holy Union Associate, Tina Silvestro, and podcast producer, Ken Gustin. Then we open the discussion to include Sisters Christine Lacroix, and Fran Cavey as well as Fall River Associate, Nancy Dube and New York Associate, Leida Toro. We are filled with hope for this new shepherd, chosen under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.