Heritage
Expansion
|
|
CDP Superiors General |
The establishment of Our Lady of the Lake College with its increasingly extensive teacher-training programs gave further impetus to the expansion of the Congregation’s educational ministry. CDP teachers opened more missions in Louisiana, Oklahoma, Indian territories, Texas, and Arkansas. These ventures helped the Congregation to meet the needs of minority cultural groups.
Missionary Catechists of Divine Providence
In the late 1920’s in Houston, Texas, where there were thousands of
impoverished Mexican Americans, Sister Benitia Vermeersch, CDP organized a
group of young women to do catechetical work. This pious society was the nucleus
of the San Antonio-based Missionary Catechists of Divine Providence (MCDP),
granted papal approval in 1946 as a branch of the Congregation. They are engaged
in Ministry of the Word, in social ministry, and in diocesan and parish leadership
positions in the Southwest. On December 12, 1989, the Missionary Catechists
of Divine Providence became an independent religious Congregation with the
approval of their Constitution.
Health Care Ministries
Health care ministries became part of the work of the Sisters. The Congregation
opened clinics in San Antonio and Houston and several small hospitals in Texas.
Sisters served in other Church-sponsored healthcare facilities as well as
public clinics and hospitals. In 1935, the Congregation broke ground for a
new building, St. Joseph Hall, on the grounds of the Motherhouse, to serve
as an infirmary for Sisters who were ill and who were aging.
Expanded Ministries
Midway through the 20th century, the confluence of cultural, religious, national,
and international shifts and upheavals led to profound changes in the U.S.,
in the Church, and in the Congregation. Along with changes in the Sisters’
daily practices and dress came a broader understanding of their call. The
Congregation widened its ministerial path to include diversity and opportunities
to network with public and religious organizations in reaching out to disenfranchised
groups—migrant workers, sugar cane workers, African “bush”
people, mountain folk, bayou folk, abused women, deaf people, homeless people.
Sisters trained adults and young people for community leadership, established
a social justice office, assisted in housing for the poor, and opened a home
for HIV/AIDS-infected children. In all of these works, the Sisters continue
Father Moye’s directive to perform the works of mercy wherever they
go.
The Needs of Today
Today’s world shows needs to be met not dreamed of in Moye’s time.
His Sisters are now entering fields in which their influence can make for
moral, social, and economic reform, and for spiritual renewal. Some of these
Sisters work without remuneration, supported by the Congregation and benefactors.
The large group of retired and ill Sisters of the Congregation find their
ministry in prayer and patient suffering with Jesus for the sake of His work
on earth.