Dialog Editor
The members of 38 religious orders of women and men in the Diocese of Wilmington bring God’s light to the people they serve.
Bishop Malooly told a congregation of religious — sisters, brothers and priests — at evening prayer on the World Day of Consecrated Life Feb. 2 at St. Joseph on the Brandywine Church in Greenville that an aspect of the feast of the Presentation of the Lord is Christ’s light revealed to Simeon and Anna in the Temple, the revelation of God’s light to the world.
“Thus, the Candlemass theme and the lighting of candles” on the feast of the Presentation, Bishop Malooly told the religious men and women.
“To me it’s a reminder of what you do in your communities. You are a light to where you are.”
The service on the day for those in consecrated life also marked the beginning of the universal church’s yearlong observance of a Year of Consecrated Life.
“Thank all of you for coming this evening and celebrating this special day, special year actually, for the consecrated life,” the bishop said.
He noted that Franciscan Sister Ann David Strohminger, his delegate for religious, told him the diocese has 310 religious men and women in ministry.
“And each community has a different charism,” the bishop said. Even orders with men’s and women’s groups, “like the Oblates, have different ways of doing their ministry. I think that is so important.”
Bishop Malooly thanked Sister Ann David for “stepping up” as the new delegate and paid tribute to her predecessor in the office, Franciscan Sister Margaret Cunniffe, who also attended the evening prayer.
The bishop also thanked the priests of the diocese and laity who attended to help honor diocesan religious.
Sister Ann David told the religious that, “My hope is this year I may get to know you more and more and learn how as delegate for religious I can better serve your needs.
“I’m very humbled in this position,” Sister Ann David said. “You are my brothers and sisters and we walk a journey of consecrated life together. We serve the church together.
“So I pray that the Spirit will continue to guide us with the gifts of serenity and courage and wisdom.”
Sister Mary Daniel Jackson, one of three Servant Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus serving in the diocese, said after the service that she thinks the Year of Consecrated Life in the church is “going to wake up people to the realities of religious life, what a beautiful consecration it is.”
Sister Mary Daniel, who is the pastoral associate at Sacred Heart Oratory in Wilmington, noted that religious orders in the diocese represent “so many different charisms, as the bishop indicated, and each one brings its own special gifts wherever they’re assigned.”
Brother Robert Perez, a Capuchin currently stationed at St. Francis of Assisi Priory in Wilmington, is a deacon who will be ordained a priest in May.
A native of the Dominican Republic who moved to the United States with his family in 1999, Brother Robert said he expects the Year of Consecrated Life will remind Catholics of the “gift that religious bring to the church” and how the laity “can participate in that gift by close association with religious.”
