Category: Brother Bob Chiulli

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From the Pen of Br. Bob Chiulli, O.Carm.

Brother Robert Chiulli, O.Carm.
Change. It comes whether we want it to or not, whether we welcome its effect in our lives or choose to ignore it as best we can. Certainly we have recently seen a great deal of change in our country with the election of a new president, and this change has generated a range of emotions from excitement to anxiety and fear. But regardless of how it arrives, change means stepping into an uncertain future, trusting that what has gone before will be a suitable foundation for what is to come. Mother Angeline, by her own admission, was not a bold personality, not one who sought out change for novelty’s sake. She was often described by those who knew her as being somewhat reserved, and perhaps even a bit shy, never seeking to be the center of attention. However, God chose this woman to be brave, to journey out into the unknown and to trust that He would always be there to guide her. Mother Angeline began her religious life as a Little Sister of the Poor, a French Congregation dedicated to caring for the indigent elderly population. And it was in the Little Sisters of the Poor that Mother’s vocation for caring for the elderly matured and deepened. For some fifteen years, Mother served as a dedicated vowed religious, looking after the old people in her care in the manner that the Little Sisters of the Poor prescribed for all their houses.
However, after some time, Mother Angeline began to believe that the method of care the Little Sisters of the Poor required for the aged in their homes did not fit the American mentality, and that a new approach was needed.  At first Mother tried to gradually implement small changes that broke from the uniformity that the Little Sisters mandated, but this was met with disapproval from her superiors. At this point, the internal conflict within her began to swell. She deeply loved her Congregation, and believed wholeheartedly in the vow of obedience. However, she also felt that her vow of hospitality, a fourth vow the Little Sisters profess, was not being lived to the fullest under the constraints she was put under. Changing the style of care for the elderly without her superior’s consent would be disobedient and dishonest; continuing to deny the old people the type of care she believed they were entitled to would empty her vocation of its meaning to serve the elderly as they would serve Christ himself.
The easiest thing for Mother to have done would be simply to do nothing, to accept the situation as it was and hope, in some sort of vague way, that maybe things would change for the better. Why agitate her superiors, why complicate things by insisting things could be done differently? It would have been simpler for all involved just to maintain the status quo. However, being a woman of profound integrity, Mother could not accept such a weak and uninspired solution. To be true to her vocation, the vocation God instilled in her, she had to move beyond what was comfortable and stretch out into something new, something unknown and without any guarantees of success. After consulting with people she trusted and after much deep prayer, she knew the right course, the honorable course, would be for her to leave the Little Sisters of the Poor and to find a new way to live out this vocation of caring for the elderly. The result of this decision lead to the foundation of the Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm.
The path was not always smooth, and there were failures, along with successes, but in time, God was  able to use Mother Angeline to accomplish His will because she trusted in His Providence more than she feared any change. When asked what inspired her to start a new order, Mother responded, “I never intended to start a new order. It was part of God’s plan. It grew from a desire to bring about some changes in the kind of care provided at that time for older persons.”
Mother’s response to a divine invitation is a reminder that God sometimes calls us to venture beyond what we know, beyond what is safe and predictable, so that He can put us on the front line of building up the Kingdom of God.
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From the Pen of Brother Robert Chiulli, O.Carm.

BrRobert  The Motherhouse for the Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm sits serenely on a bluff overlooking the majestic Hudson River, and commands an impressive view of the Catskill mountains. The scenic property of 86 acres was purchased by Mother Angeline in 1946 and renamed Avila-on-the-Hudson. Mother Angeline not only intended it to be a place for the administration of the community, and for the formation of future Sisters, but also a place of beauty and contemplation where the Sisters could be spiritually and physically renewed in their work with elderly.

002 Statue of St. Teresa, Avila Grounds

When the Sisters first acquired the property, there were wide lawns, groves of trees, and a large, white residence of 19 rooms. Certainly a suitable locale for establishing a Motherhouse. Over time, as the Community grew, more buildings were added: a Generalate, a Novitiate, and a gymnasium. However, the most important building, the building Mother Angeline was most eager to have completed was the Chapel. In the span of buildings that comprises the Motherhouse complex, the Chapel is located right in the middle, in the center of everything. This is hardly an accident of design. Rather it is an expression of Mother’s vision, her philosophy that prayer (both liturgical and private) must be at the center, at the core of all we do.

ph-10055 Saint Teresa’s Chapel Chapel

In the Carmelite Sisters’ nursing homes that I have visited, I have noticed that the Chapel is always located in a prominent location, a place that is centrally located and easy to find. This is not always the case in other nursing homes or hospitals, where the Chapel (if there is even one) is often tucked away in an obscure corner of the facility. Again, Mother Angeline’s values continue on in the homes her Sisters administer, as they hold fast to the belief that God must be at the center of all we do, He should be the focus of all our desires, He should be the One around whom we build our lives.

Buildings are quite literally concrete expressions of our values and priorities as a society, and if we take a cursory survey of architectural history, we see how our values have shifted over the years. For example, in medieval cities, the dominant structure was the cathedral, usually an impressive edifice of stone and glass which provided the medieval imagination with a taste of heaven. With the industrial revolution of the 18th and 19th centuries, massive factories with towering smokestacks dominated the horizon. Wealth, and the acquisition of material goods, took on a new prominence in people’s lives. And now today, our cities contain glass and steel skyscrapers, where transactions of high finance are carried out, and where millionaires (and billionaires) take up residence. It seems that our cities no longer have a place for God; or maybe, more accurately, God no longer has a place in our lives. And as creatures of flesh and blood, we need concrete (or brick or stone) reminders of faith and worship; we need to constantly recall this world is just passing, and that we are meant for eternity. This is why the first building Mother Angeline constructed after she purchased the property for the Motherhouse was a Chapel. Without a firm and solid grounding in God, she knew all her plans and dreams were in vain, as she herself said, “Our work with the aging will only be successful to the extent that it is the fruit of our prayer”. Let Mother Angeline be a reminder to us about keeping what is truly important at the center of our lives, even in the midst of all the distractions around us.

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From the Pen of Brother Robert, O.Carm.

BrRobert

As I write this article for this edition of the Mother Angeline Society Bulletin, I can’t help but be grateful for the technology that allows me to be able to carry out this task with relative ease. The software automatically corrects my spelling, the margins and tabs are automatically set, and I can always go to Google, rather than dust off my dictionary, when I want to look up a word.  It wasn’t so long ago though that when we wanted to write something, we would have to use the typewriter, and when we wanted to carry out some research, we would head to the library and open up the encyclopedias.  Yes, technology has done great things to speed up our lives and make things more efficient.  Just recently, I was in one of the Carmelite Sisters’ Nursing Homes and saw that they had just recently placed flat screen computers on all the floors as a way of modernizing and facilitating all the laborious record keeping involved with resident care.

But with all technological developments, there are benefits, and there are downsides.   For example, social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) allows us to connect with family and friends all over the world.  We can keep track of who’s on vacation, who is heading off for college, and who just got married.  We can learn about the sad events that happen in life, and offer prayers and support for those who are sick.  It has made the world seem that much smaller, knowing that we can instantaneously connect to anyone, anywhere on the planet.  On the downside, however, all this technology has so pervasively worked its way into our lives, that for many people, as soon as they open their eyes in the morning, they reach for their phone, desperate to find out what happened in the virtual world while they were slumbering. This obsession keeps on all day until they go to bed. Who hasn’t been to a restaurant where there isn’t a table full of people, all looking at their phones, not talking to one another?

Along with this, social media has precipitated a level of personal sharing never before seen in modern society.  All day, every day people put up pictures of the most banal events, hoping that someone will “like” them.  Younger people love to post “selfies” of themselves, hastily composed self-portraits taken with their phone.  Relentless self-promotion has become the norm as we all scramble for more and more ways to expose our lives to the world, seeking approval and affirmation.

In this “look at me!” culture that we currently inhabit, where people can become their own “brands”, I sense that Mother Angeline would have us reevaluate the role that technology has in our lives.  Mother certainly was in favor of using modern techniques and advances in the Nursing Homes that her Congregation administered, particularly if they enhanced the lives of the residents living there. It was one of the founding principles of the Congregation that their homes be “up to date” and equipped with best possible facilities.

But when technology increases our human tendencies for narcissism and self-absorption, it impedes our relationship with God.  When we continually focus on ourselves, our accomplishments, our desires, we close ourselves off from the deeper relationship that God wants to share with us.  Mother wrote what she believed true happiness to be:  “The secret of happiness for me is self-forgetfulness and continual self-denial.  My love for God should be strong enough to destroy all love for self and bear weariness and sickness with no outward signs.“   Mother knew and believed that the Christian life was to be patterned after Christ’s own life, who lived not for Himself but for his Father and for our salvation.   His miraculous works were not intended to glorify Himself, to garner attention for Himself, but as signs of the Kingdom of Heaven.

It is this interior life, not a superficial virtual one, which gives life its meaning and worth.  It is with a spirit of detachment, a very Carmelite theme, do we move ever closer to God, as Infinite Mystery.  Again, Mother found this to be true in her own life:  “When we make it the habit of living in the Presence of God, we soon learn to live retired interiorly in complete silence and abandonment.  We feel moved by a mysterious action which directs, supports, and influences us.  To dwell within our own soul is to have heaven on earth, to become the intimate companion of Jesus and to contemplate the Blessed Trinity assiduously.”

Mother’s words are quite a contrast to some of our contemporary values; not many today people speak about self-denial and abandonment in any kind of positive way.  Yet, they have been known as key elements of the spiritual journey since the foundation of Christendom.   As we continue through this 2016, may Mother’s wisdom and guidance help us to seek out what is really of value and not to be lured by only what is passing.

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From the Pen of Brother Robert, O.Carm

 BrRobert

As you can read from the cover of this issue’s edition of the Mother Angeline Society Bulletin, the new Mother Angeline Heritage Center was dedicated on May 16th. It was an exciting and genuinely moving day, with numerous sisters, supporters of the sisters’ ministries, various clergy, and members of the McCrory family all present to celebrate the completion of this impressive facility. The heritage center is intended primarily to tell Mother Angeline’s story; a story of how a young girl from Ireland responded to a divine invitation to start a congregation dedicated to the care of the elderly and infirm; a story of how the grace that initially inspired Mother Angeline continues to live on in the congregation, the sisters, and facilities that the sisters staff and sponsor. I imagine the task of trying to capture the life and vision of Mother Angeline must have been daunting for those responsible for designing the heritage center. Mother accomplished so much in her life; what to choose to include in the exhibits and what to leave out? How to communicate how this young Irish immigrant was able to discern the “signs of the times” and establish a new kind of place that looked after the working and middle class aged in a comfortable and home-like environment? And probably most importantly, how to show that all through Mother’s life, it was her unswerving trust in God and His Providence that made possible what she is credited with.

In walking through the Heritage center, there are numerous displays which recount Mother’s story in photographs and documents, with explanatory notes. There is a large stained glass window which shows the expansiveness of Mother’s accomplishments, with images of several of the nursing homes she founded, as Mother is surrounded by her six initial companions. A particularly poignant part of the Heritage Center is the recreation of Mother Angeline’s room and office at Avila (the sisters’ Motherhouse). As we gaze upon a simple bed, a simple desk, and a few religious images, we are reminded that Mother Angeline lived her life of sanctity in the most ordinary of circumstances.

The high point of the Heritage center is found by walking outside. As one steps out the door, one finds a life-sized statue of Mother Angeline sitting on pew, facing a monstrance. The sisters chose this pose for Mother rather than a traditional statue pose ((i.e. standing) because the sisters who knew her personally collectively remember Mother spending many hours, sitting in chapel, looking adoringly at the tabernacle. The day of the dedication, sister after sister, said, “Oh yes! I remember Mother always in chapel ” and then said that this statue perfectly captured Mother’s spirit. This statue is also a powerful sign and reminder that Mother found her strength, her consolation, her peace in the Eucharist. Never did she believe that the success of the congregation she founded depended only upon her skills and abilities. Rather she entrusted everything to God, and continually called upon the assistance of the saints, mostly especially Mary, Mother of Carmel.
When the Heritage Center is open to receiving visitors, I recommend spending some time here as both an educational and spiritual experience. I am confident that the spirit of Mother Angeline we all felt on the day of center’s dedication, you also will feel.

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From the Pen of Brother Robert Chiulli, O.Carm.

BrRobert

Pope Francis recently declared 2015 to be a year dedicated to consecrated life. By doing so, he wishes to highlight “beauty and preciousness of this unique form of Christian discipleship”. There are many forms of consecrated life: cloistered nuns, active sisters, hermits, consecrated virgins, teaching brothers, lay missionaries,etc, but one thing they all have in common is a sincere desire to respond to an invitation God has placed in their heart. And if you were to ask any of these sisters, priests or brothers about their vocation, I think that most would say that they are humbled that God would choose someone as weak and sinful as themselves to carry out His will. And then they would say that they couldn’t imagine doing anything more worthwhile or fulfilling with their lives. Continue reading “From the Pen of Brother Robert Chiulli, O.Carm.”