Sisters of the Little Way

“By his wounds we were healed.” — Isaiah 53:5

We begin our annual 8-day silent retreat today. We will be praying for all of your special intentions.

We will be praying for all those on the fringes of the Church especially anyone who has been abused or wounded by members of the Church.

If you have any special intentions, please leave them below or send us a message and we will pray for your intentions daily.

This photo would make a great coffee ad: "The best part of waking up, is Folger's in your cup!"

The first thing Daniel did when we gave him a rosary was to recite the Hail Mary from memory. Then he told us of his faith, and how he has saved people who had overdosed by praying the Our Father over them while doing chest compressions. Daniel told us of the sad spiritual state of many of the addicts: how some believe in nothing and have no hope, how a few are pagans or even satanists, while others are just crushed and confused. He spoke about how he and his girlfriend try to mentor the lost and confused by sharing their faith and restoring a sense of purpose and respect for self and others.

Daniel carries his own wounds, including the collapse of his 16 year marriage. He lives on the streets, but God doesn't waste opportunities, and has clearly used Daniel as an evangelist. Daniel led us in prayer before he departed, praying the Our Father from memory.

May the Lord bless and keep him, may His face shine upon Daniel and lead him to peace.

"We learn from those we serve how to be students in the school of suffering." --- a post about our work on the streets of Portland with the Urban Missionaries

Students of Suffering on the Streets of Portland We are learning how not to be “successful” in our mission. As we serve those on the fringes of the Church, especially those people who have been wounded, scandalized, or abused by members of the Church, we are trying to be responsible and to build something lasting. But more important than striv...

Excerpt from our new post about choosing a symbol for our charism and mission: “Symbols often are degraded in modern branding and in the design of logos because they are communicated or used in ways that manipulate our desires rather than lifting them toward higher things. With all this in mind, we did not want to cheapen our charism in any way by choosing a material design that did not adequately capture spiritual realities.”

Symbols: When Earth Meets Heaven As we begin our mission, Sr. Danielle Victoria insisted that we choose a symbol to represent what the Lord has been revealing to us about our mission and charism as Sisters of the Little Way of Beauty, Truth, and Goodness. “You mean a logo?” said Sr. Theresa Aletheia skeptically.

We are sending out a newsletter shortly. If you would like to be on the Sisters of the Little Way mailing list, please sign up here!

Sisters of the Little Way: Friends & Family Contact Form

Yesterday was the birthday of Sr. Theresa Aletheia (right), who chose to spend her birthday evening witnessing to the many young prostitutes along NE 82nd. Along with the prostitutes, we also greet whomever happens to be around, including this fascinating young man from Guatemala who instantly recognized St. Charles de Foucauld on the back of our shirts. He may join us on future walks.

We wish Sr. Theresa a blessed year full of joy, stability, development of her vocation and communion with the Holy Trinity, angels and saints.

Our statement regarding recent news involving our stories: “One reason we came forward with our own stories of abuse under the same priest’s spiritual direction was that we believed that religious sisters in other communities had suffered similarly. We are saddened but unsurprised to find that this was true.”

The Courage of the Sisters of Life This past weekend, an article in the Pillar revealed that the Sisters of Life submitted a report to the Vatican detailing Fr. David Nicgorski’s predatory behavior during spiritual direction with their sisters: Sources said that Nicgorski allegedly acted inappropriately with members of the Sisters ...

Very few Catholic resources on spiritual abuse exist. Paul’s The Place Where You Stand Is Holy Ground was one of the first (and only) ones we found. This workshop he is running will be another helpful resource. We look forward to it!

Through the Church—the sacrament of God’s infinite love—her Scriptures, her Tradition, her prayers, and her liturgies, people can encounter the living Christ and experience his love, healing, and transformative grace.

But what happens when the men and women tasked with mediating God’s grace, appointed to preach God’s word and preside over the sacraments, do so with carelessness or coercion? What harm is done when the place of healing becomes a source of harm?

I have experienced spiritual abuse and the abuse of conscience in the Church. Sometimes this abuse was caused directly by leadership acting with malice; sometimes I was harmed by leaders being careless or negligent; and sometimes the damage happened indirectly via a Catholic culture that did not respect my conscience. I also worked as a lay minister in the Church for several years, and unfortunately contributed to that same religious culture that put others at risk for spiritual abuse.

This spring, I’m completing a MA in Clinical Mental Health Counseling and intend to work professionally both to help individuals who have been harmed by the Church find healing and to work with ministry leaders to help them make their communities safer. These are also my goals for this workshop.

This workshop is for:

- Individuals trying to understand and/or heal from experiences of spiritual abuse in the Church
- Clergy and lay leaders interested in safeguarding their communities from spiritual abuse and abuse of conscience
- Therapists working with clients who have been spiritually abused

This workshop will help you:

- Recognize and prevent spiritual abuse and abuse of conscience in the Church
- Know the symptoms of spiritual abuse, religious trauma, and moral injury
- Respond to individuals who have been spiritually abused

Details:

This is a five-part live workshop that will be held virtually on from 7:30-9:00pm (EST) on Wednesdays beginning May 15 (5/15, 5/22, 5/29, 6/5, and 6/12). The cost to participate in the workshop is $125. The group will include 5 - 12 participants which will be filled on a first come, first serve basis.

Register here:

https://www.popefrancisgeneration.com/p/i-myself-will-shepherd-my-sheep

The joy is real. Serving Jesus on a long walk on a sunny day.

“It was Mary in her lowliness who first gave praise and adoration to the risen Christ.” - Saint Bridget of Sweden

For those of you in the Portland area, we want to invite you to our Lenten Mission at Visitation Parish in Forest Grove on the evenings of March 19-21. We also wanted to let you know about a recent development in our community. Please see our most recent post for details: https://open.substack.com/pub/sistersofthelittleway/p/a-farewell-and-our-lenten-mission

A Farewell and Our Lenten Mission For those of you in the Portland area, we want to invite you to our Lenten Mission at Visitation Parish in Forest Grove on the evenings of March 19-21. You can find all the necessary information for attendance on the poster below. We hope you are able to make it!

After publicly sharing our experiences with a predatory spiritual director, we were deeply grateful for the supportive and encouraging messages that followed. Over the past weeks, we have been humbled by the countless messages we have received from people across the globe. Read our full message here:

Our Recent Pillar Article: A Follow-Up From Sr. Danielle Victoria and Sr. Theresa Aletheia

Tending the wounds of the homeless is the most natural thing for the Christian soul. There is no hesitation or doubt. There is a desire to dote upon them as upon a favored child, to lavish them with affection and care. Somewhere in the back of the mind is the awareness that the Gospel is coming to life, here and now. The saints from past centuries and civilizations are looking on. The soul stirs with the conviction, "This is where I should be. This is what I should be doing. This is what I was made for."

Happy Birthday to Sister Danielle of the Sisters of the Little Way!

A statement from Sr. Danielle Victoria and Sr. Theresa Aletheia regarding the The Pillar article that came out today with our stories. We are grateful to JD Flynn for telling our stories with sensitivity and care.

https://www.sistersofthelittleway.com/p/some-important-news

“Please understand that to love Jesus, to be his victim of love, the weaker one is, without desires or virtues, the more apt one is for the operations of that consuming and transforming Love.” // Saint Thérèse of Lisieux

A huge thanks to all the donors who bought wound care supplies for the Urban Missionaries street ministry. We’re so grateful!

We've come a long way in ten years. At first all we could afford to give away was "free drinks". Now we've got everything the homeless need. In the photo are wound care kits, courtesy of the Sisters of the Little Way and their donors. Glory be to God.

We are filled with gratitude for the many people who donated to Urban Missionaries’ street ministry in Portland by buying medical supplies through our Amazon list.

We're grateful to be recognized by The Sisters of the Little Way (Sr. Theresa Aletheia Noble), a new private association of the faithful formed to reach abused and marginalized people, who is working to learn from Awake.

Read more about the sisters' ministry here: www.globalsistersreport.org/3-sisters-form-sisters-little-way-private-association-faithful

Many thanks to Greta at Global Sisters Report for writing this article on our new ministry:

https://www.globalsistersreport.org/3-sisters-form-sisters-little-way-private-association-faithful?fbclid=IwAR0vWE-TXwTEfFv8Rn9eiAMkeNIbwrivBxxWx2jyW3lYgk8MEZXAxyW9KjU_aem_AcT7nFFe2OU6AmlRfFyKewBRwi79srou5jyhPd34X_rgIuEHHjt445VeOw4sTSSZCWI

3 sisters form Sisters of the Little Way, a private association of the faithful Three former Daughters of St. Paul sisters have founded the Sisters of the Little Way of Beauty, Truth, and Goodness. They plan to minister to the wounded, the doubting and the marginalized.