Category Inspiration

Time to Develop Talents

Sr. Krista von Borstel Leave a comment

October 10, 2020

21 days till National Vocation Awareness Week

St. Mary of the Valley School Photo 1990

In 1982 I began teaching at St. Mary of the Valley High School while also attending Portland State University to get my fifth year and participating in formation classes.  I taught a couple of classes at the high school then went to PSU for the rest of the day until around 4:00 when I returned for classes at the convent.  I was a busy little “first professed” as I continued to learn the ropes.  I enjoyed teaching at the high school very much and could see myself full time in the future.  I really appreciated teaching at our community high school.

My main assignment was to teach religion and I found enjoyment in coaching the jv Softball team.  Prior to 1991, St. Mary of the Valley was an all-girl school which went co-ed and changed the name to Valley Catholic.  My school experience as a youth had been co-ed and I was more at home in that environment.  I think it is good for youth to be with the opposite gender at school while they have their feet under their parent’s roof.  There are a lot of lessons best learned at home.

I realized how fortunate I was to be called to religious life and what satisfaction I got out of it.  A religious who dedicates their life to Christ has the time to do things that a married person with the responsibilities of family would not have in many cases.  I realized the many talents God had given me and I had the time to develop them.

The Rule of Separation

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October 9, 2020

23 days till National Vocation Awareness Week – post 3 of 25

Preparing cookies for Christmas celebrations LtoR: Sr. Ruth Etzel, Sr. Maryann Giesel, Sr. Magdalene, Sr. Adele Marie

Fourty years have passed since I entered Religious Life.  Things have changed as the world changes.  Nothing stays the same and that is for the most part good, I think.  Not in all cases but mostly.  When I was in formation, we had what was called a “Rule of Separation” which mean’t if you were in formation you could not talk with the sisters who were professed.  Why? You are probably asking?  Formation takes place through the interaction with one formation director.  Every single person has a suggestion for how something should be done.  If you want a uniform formation for your members in religious life, best it be done through one, trained director.   In my day there were a dozen of us in various stages of formation and we were able to create a good community of young sisters.

Today, we no longer have the rule of separation, but we do have 4 Sisters in formation, three of whom are under the age of 30.  They are a wonderful group of young women who give me a lot of hope and confidence in our future as a religious community.   The Sisters of St. Mary of Oregon accept women between the ages of 18 and 45.  Even though we no longer have a rule of separation, the older sisters have an understanding of what should be deferred to the formation director.

2020…Reflections on Entering a New Decade

Sr. Krista von Borstel Leave a comment

  • Fresh fallen snow at Camp Howard 1.14.2020

Like many people, I like to usher the new year in by going through my calendar, making notes of the highlights and lowlights of the year, write up the highlights in my Christmas card and do a general self reflection as we turn the corner into January.

With the beginning of a new decade, it seems that deeper reflection is called for. As we look at our personal timelines, some of us are looking at the second half of the timeline, the downhill side! For me, that makes reflection as well as staying on track important!

I would like to share some questions I used from a Google search which I tweaked and made my own. I hope you might find them worthy to consider! Happy New Year!

LOOKING BACK

What was one of my best decisions? How did it impact my life?

How am I thoroughly different today compared to who I was in 2010? How am I the exact same as who I was in 2010?

Which people have been the core anchors of my life over the past decade? Who have I relied on in my moments of need?

What has been my deepest suffering and what have I done to embrace it or heal it? How have I chosen to deny it or run away from it?

What have been my sources of deep wisdom, faith and intelligence?

Where have I already achieved intense excellence? Why did that happen?

What were my peak experiences of the past ten years that lead to joy and peace?

Have I found a tribe that I feel deeply aligned with? If no, what concrete things am I really seeking, and why haven’t I found them yet?

What are the most important memories of the past decade and how will I carry them with me?

LOOKING FORWARD

What do I want to achieve in the next ten years?

Am I willing to embark on a bold adventure if life invites me on a journey?

What will I do for the first time in my life?

What will keep me grounded, mentally and physically in the years ahead?

What am I going to do to heal my traumas? How far am I willing to go to really deal with problems?

How am I going to do a better job of exploring and being my true self? (Spiritually, authentic personality, deepest talents, passions, artistic expression, inner voice.)

How do I see my relationship with God as a factor in how I will live my life the next ten years?

How am I going to fully activate in the years ahead? How am I committing to live the most dynamic, intentional, profound, authentic and aligned years of my life?

THOUGHTS ON THE EXAMINATION OF OUR LIFE

Bill Gates said, “We overestimate what we can accomplish in a year and underestimate what we can accomplish in ten years.”

“The unexamined life is not worth living.” Plato

The unexamined life is not worth living, but the unlived life is not worth examining.” Andrew Klavan, The Great Good Thing: A Secular Jew Comes to Faith in Christ

Tim & Gina O’Neill Chair Champions of Faith 2019

Sr. Krista von Borstel Leave a comment

Thank you, Tim and Gina for chairing our 2019 Champions of Faith Dinner October 15 at the Oregon Convention Center!!!  Your participation is greatly appreciated!

Tim & Gina O’Neill

Click on the links below to read more about the O’Neills and CYO/Camp Howard!

http://www.cyocamphoward.org/content/17544/Register-for-2019-Benefit-Dinner

https://cyoch.ejoinme.org/MyEvents/COF2019/2019DinnerChairsTimGinaONeill/tabid/1038487/Default.aspx

Galen Rupp 2019 COF Speaker

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Announcing Galen Rupp – 2019 Champions of Faith Keynote Speaker

I am thrilled to announce that Galen Rupp will be our Keynote speaker for our October 15th Champions of Faith Benefit Dinner. We are so proud that Galen got his start in CYO Track & Field. It has been amazing to observe his incredible running career and I can’t wait for him to share his personal story with all of us.

Please mark your calendars for Tuesday October 15th.  Your presence at our 2019 Champions of Faith Dinner will make a difference in the lives of our youth!

Check out our Mater Dei Radio interview announcing Galen Rupp and our wonderful dinner chairs: Tim & Gina O’Neill.

https://materdeiradio.com/morning-drive-guest-sister-krista-cyo-champions-of-faith-dinner/

Giving the Best of Yourself

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https://zenit.org/articles/giving-the-best-of-yourself-the-vaticans-new-document-on-sport/

I was thrilled to find this wonderful document about the Christian perspective on sport and the human person. I have long believed that sports are crucial to the school day, that contests help promote schools AND that occasional games on Sunday’s, outside of Mass times, are a wholesome and appropriate activity for youth. Please enjoy the following short excerpt taken from the document:

“The Church has been engaged in dialogue with sport from the earliest years of its existence. It is well known that St. Paul used sports metaphors to explain the Christian life to the Gentiles. In the medieval period, lay Catholics played games and sports on feast days, which accounted for a good deal of the year, as well as on Sundays. Such play found theological support in the writing of Thomas Aquinas who argued that there can be “a virtue about games” because virtue has to do with moderation. A virtuous person, by this account, should not be working all the time, but also needs time for play and recreation. The humanists of the Renaissance and the early Jesuits made use of Thomas Aquinas’ understanding of virtue when they decided that students needed time for play and recreation during the course of the school day. This was the original rationale for the inclusion of play and sports in educational institutions in the Western world.”

The beautiful document is worthy of a read by of us! Enjoy!

Time Out for the Nuns Convention!

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As you may know, my day job is at CYO/Camp Howard.  This organization is a Catholic Charities Agency in the Archdiocese of Portland.  I am a member of the Sisters of St. Mary of Oregon, employed by CYO/Camp Howard.  My blog covers mostly my work at CYO/CH but from time to time I give you a glimpse of my religious life.  This is one of those times!

My night job is Archivist for the Sisters of St. Mary of Oregon and this weekend I am in Louisville, KY attending a conference with the Archivists for Congregations of Women Religious (ACWR).

I am meeting with 150 women who do the same sort of archival work that I do.  We are the “keepers of the stories” for our religious congregations.  It is extremely interesting work and the stories are powerful.  Archivists know the stories!  Maybe that should be a bumper sticker!

We are attending classes on various topics and today (Friday) we had a choice of three tours to attend including a tour of the Ursuline Sisters of Louisville.  Of course that was my choice and you might be surprised since one of the choices was Churchill Downs Archives.  I was a bit torn because I would have loved to have gone to Churchill Downs but I really wanted to see how other communities solved similar issues we deal with such as how they file their photos of Sisters.  Seems like a simple question but it can be complex.

Below: One third of the convention visits the Archives of the Ursuline Sisters of Louisville, KY

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Below: A clever way to organize Sisters’ scrapbooks!

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Below: More Scrapbooks!  We have several at Sisters of St. Mary of Oregon too!  I like this idea!

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Below: The Archives of the Ursuline Sisters of Louisville are in the basement of their Motherhouse and have a wonderful brick surface to work around.  It is cool, clean and organized!

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Below: Information is kept in files pertaining to living and deceased sisters and women who once belonged but left.

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Below: My friend, Sr. Caritas Strodthoff OSF, a Franciscan Sister of Christian Charity in Manitowoc, WI checks out how they file photographs and slides.

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A New Sister of St. Mary of Oregon – Sr. Alexa Weight

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AUGUST 14, 2018 BEAVERTON, OREGON SISTERS OF ST. MARY OF OREGON

Sr. Alexa Weight joins Sr. Thanh Pham as a novice with the Sisters of St. Mary of Oregon. Sr. Alexa took the white veil, and constitutions of the Sisters on August 14th as she progressed from candidate to novice on her 7 year journey to becoming a fully professed Sister of St. Mary of Oregon.

Sister Alexa and Sr. Thanh began their “canonical year” on August 15, 2018.  The year will be filled with a balance of prayer, study and work.  This special year, set aside, allows a novice to learn the rudiments of religious life under the guidance of a professed sister known as her “Formation Director.  Sister Thuy Nguyen currently serves as the Formation Director for the novices.

BELOW: Proud Parents, Mr. & Mrs. Weight, await Alexa’s ceremony!

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BELOW: Candidate Alexa Weight asks for the community of sisters to support and teach her in her quest to become a novice.

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BELOW:  Sr. Charlene Herinckx, Superior General of the Sisters of St. Mary of Oregon, accepts Candidate Alexa’s request as Sr. Thuy prepares to present her with the white veil, a symbol of a novice.

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BELOW: Candidate Alexa is now known as Sister Alexa as she receives the white veil, and constitutions of the community.

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BELOW: Sr. Thanh Pham joyfully welcomes Sr. Alexa Weight to the ranks of Novice!

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BELOW: The Sisters of St. Mary of Oregon are filled with joy at the sight of two novices!

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BELOW: Sister Alexa’s parents and grandparents share in her joy on August 15, 2018 at the convent of the Sisters of St. Mary of Oregon in Beaverton.

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BELOW: Mom and Dad joyfully congratulate Sr. Alexa on taking her next step in Religious life!

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BELOW: Sr. Colleen Schmitt serves the ice cream cake at the reception for the family and Sisters!

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BELOW: Mother, Daughter and Grandmother!  Congratulations Sr. Alexa and family!

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Part 6: The Mural up Close

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Wayne Chin put the finishing touches on Mary’s Lodge with his spectacular mural painted for the youth of Camp Howard in July of 2018.  Check out his masterful individual animals that come to life before your eyes!

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The Cougar is the symbol of Camp Howard, built in 1953 on Cougar Mountain.  The Cougar Award springs from the location of the camp.

Part 5 Dedication: The Lodge

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Mary’s Lodge is the first component of a four part improvement plan for Camp Howard.  Built in the early 50’s, the major buildings at the camp, dining hall, chapel and adult housing are slated for replacement.  An additional building, the Franz Finley Welcome Center is scheduled to be built in 2019 followed by the Chapel and adult lodge.

Mary’s Lodge affords a variety of comforts and views:

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Welcome to Mary’s Lodge at Camp Howard!  The building was designed by Henry Fitzgibbon of Soderstrom Architects and built by Todd Construction.

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The beautiful mural in the building was painted by well known Northwest artist, Wayne Chin.

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Sister Michael Francine SSMO gazes on the mural as she visits the new facility.

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The new fireside room at the entry to the building adds a remarkable warmth and comfort to the camp.

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The fireside room at Mary’s Lodge includes a meeting space and lounging area.

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The dining hall portion of the facility combined with the outdoor eating spaces will accommodate in excess of 350 individuals.

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The kitchen, designed by the camp cooks, makes cooking for large numbers an enjoyable experience.

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New to the kitchen includes two grills, a combi oven and a steam kettle.  Other equipment was brought from the old kitchen.

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The outdoor seating area includes space for 200 guests.

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Outdoor fireplace and patio area makes a wonderful evening party spot!

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Landscaping including grass and rhodies will be added this fall to enhance the facility and provide fire suppression.

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