Newspaper Page Text
Thursday, May 4, 2000
The Southern Cross, Page 5
Everyday Graces
Disruptions—unwelcome hut
N o one likes disruptions. Disruptions
are aggravations, obstacles in
accomplishing our goals. Disruptive
behavior gets schoolchildren in trou
ble. In our professional lives, we
form focus groups and work hard to
stay “on task.” Yet disruptions fall
into our lives anyway, sometimes
dramatically and in great numbers,
sometimes just as irritants now and
again.
One place where disruptions are sure
to surface is in a home with children -- the
younger the children, the more prevalent the dis
ruptions. Families with a lot of children become
so accustomed to disruptions they begin to live
naturally with them. Some seasoned parents call
such a life “organized chaos.” When my life
becomes chaotic, as it often does, I would be
hard-pressed to describe it as “organized.” When
I fall into chaos, I fall hard.
As I write this, I’m in the midst of chaos. Our
home is topsy-turvy because we decided to
replace our stained-beyond-belief beige carpet
and our dented, spotted, and tom kitchen
linoleum. This is the first time I’ve overseen a
major home renovation, and I feel as if I’m
entering some important passage of life, almost
like labor and delivery. It’s the sort of experience
that makes other women nod and sigh knowing
ly: “So, you’re having your carpet replaced?
Well, let me tell you...”
Minutes before I sat down to write this
column, I ransacked my teenage daugh
ter’s bedroom to prepare it for new
carpet tomorrow. The men laying our
carpet will move the furniture, but
they expect us to remove all the junk.
Both Katie and I were astonished
by how much time it takes to move
her stuff from one spot to another.
We’re not talking priceless museum
pieces either. We’re talking baskets of
trolls (no longer a fad but may become
valuable one day), stashes of books and maga
zines, old research papers (too time-consuming
to produce to dispose of within the next five
years,) and enough hair products to captivate
Rapunzel.
What makes moving all the stuff even more
irritating is the knowledge that it must be
returned to its place as soon as the carpet has
been laid. The fact that much of the stuff we
moved has not been touched in the last six
months and probably won’t be touched again in
the next six months is significant only in that it
raises the irritant factor a few degrees.
As disruptive as all this change is, I realize I’m
better off because of it. Obviously, I’m better off
because my family will be living in a newer,
hopefully neater, environment. But we’ll also be
better off in that we’ve confronted the uglier side
of our living space. We’ve encountered our junk,
and we’ve been forced to deal with it.
Mary Hood Hart
helpful
All the chaos and temper flare-ups and strange
routines that accompany such domestic upheaval
have been accepted as just part of the process of
change. These disruptions in my household are,
on a smaller scale, of course, similar to the con
flicts and calamities that make up our daily lives.
As much as we would prefer to avoid them, we
realize that, once we’ve suffered through them,
we’ve become better people. Even if, through the
process, the outcome is not what we hoped or
expected.
Indeed, as much as I hesitate to say it (since I
can’t wait to get back to my normal routine), I
should learn to welcome disruptions in my daily
life. It seems to me that one of the greatest obsta
cles to grace, apart from serious sin, is the
human tendency to be too comfortable, too con
tent with the status quo. Every so often we need
to be turned upside down. We need to stop and
take a hard look at the metaphorical junk in our
lives, and, if possible, discover ways to live
without it.
Now and then, it’s healthy to step (or be
pushed) outside our comfort zones. Ultimately,
of course, however unpleasant they may seem,
we can learn to accept most disruptions as inte
gral parts of the plan.
Mary Hood Hart lives with her husband and
four children in Sunset Beach, N.C.
Sisters
(Continued from page 3)
Saint Joseph Hospital 1945-1989.
Of her time at Saint Joseph’s, she
says, “Although my work today is
not as vital as it was when I first
started here in 1953,1 know I am a
vital part of the Hospital Family. I
look forward to getting to my desk to
check what’s on for the day or week.
And one of my favorite things to do
is walk the halls of the hospital and
greet employees and visitors.”
Celebrations of her sixtieth jubilee
included her family, the Sisters of
Saint Joseph, and her hospital
friends. Saint Mary on the Hill Parish
celebrated with her and her 80 or so
guests at the 5:00 p.m. Mass on
Saturday, March 18. A reception after
mass was held in the narthex. Mrs.
Anne Proctor, Sister’s niece, nosted a
dinner at her home after the recep
tion.
Monday, March 20, continued the
celebrations of jubilee and Saint
Joseph’s Day at Saint Joseph Hospital.
At the 7:30 hospital breakfast, Saint
Louis Province Director, Sister
Barbara Dreher, addressed the guests.
During the hospital’s 12:00 noon
Mass, Sister Rose Margaret and all
other Sisters of Saint Joseph in
Augusta renewed their vows. Pastoral
Care then invited the Sisters to a lun
cheon. At the annual Employee Award
celebration at 2:00, William Paugh,
Saint Joseph Hospital
Chief Executive
Officer, gave Sister
Rose Margaret a beau
tiful porcelain statue of
Saint Joseph along
with a vase of flowers.
Sister Loretta Costa,
a native of Athens,
Georgia, celebrated 60
years as a Sister of
Saint Joseph of
Carondelet on March
19. Daughter of the
late Lawrence Costa
and Loretta Callahan
Costa, Sister Loretta entered the
Sisters of Saint Joseph at Mount
Saint Joseph in Augusta on Septem
ber 18, 1939, and was received into
the community on March 19, 1940.
She began teaching in 1942 at
Sacred Heart in Savannah, where she
taught all or most grades. For one
year, beginning in 1949, she taught at
Saint Francis Xavier in Brunswick.
Sister Loretta moved to Saint John the
Evangelist in Valdosta in 1950; to
Sacred Heart in Milledgeville in 1954;
then back to Saint Francis Xavier in
1956. Later she would go to Saint
Anthony’s in Atlanta for three years.
In 1960 and for six years following,
Sister Loretta became school adminis
trator at Saint Francis Xavier. After
wards, she taught intermediate grades
at Saint Mary on the Hill
in Augusta.
After her six years’
service to the Sisters of
Saint Joseph ended in
1984, Sister Loretta
returned to Georgia, but
this time as Purchasing
Agent at the Village of
Saint Joseph in Atlanta.
Later she became
involved with geriatric
administration, first at
Saint Thomas Personal
Care Home at East
Point and then at Saint
Teresa Manor in Riverdale.
Today, Sister Loretta lives in
Decatur. Not quite as active as she
once was, she continues to serve as a
volunteer reader for the blind, work
ing for the Georgia Radio Reading
Service, based in Atlanta. Always an
avid reader herself, Sister Loretta says
she loves reading for the blind. “I
can’t imagine what it would be like to
have had sight and then to lose it,” she
says. Reading for those who cannot
read keeps her in touch with the gifts
she has been given. She also volun
teers for the Glenmary Mission
Office, helping with their mailings as
needed.
Of her vocation to the religious
life, Sister Loretta says, “As the years
go by, I am more and more con
vinced that religious life is where I
am meant to be.”
Editor’s note: The Sisters of Saint
Joseph did not provide a picture of
Sister Loretta.
Monsignor
McSweeney to step
down as director of
The Christophers
Erie, PA (CNS)
or the past four years, he has
hosted scores of television pro
grams, written a weekly newspaper
column and used other media to ear
nestly promote the idea that it is bet
ter to light a candle than to curse the
darkness.
Now, Monsignor Thomas
McSweeney, director of “The Chris
tophers” in New York City, is prepar- |
ing to bring the light of his experi- \
ence and talents back home to the
Diocese of Erie. “I really am eager to j
plug in whatever I’ve learned, con
tacts I have made, and the gifts (the j
diocese) has allowed me to accrue,”
said the priest, who was named a
monsignor earlier this year. His col
umn “Light One Candle,” distributed
by The Christophers, has appeared
on these pages.
Sister Rose Margaret
Schweers, CSJ