For the  parents and families of St. Therese Chinese Catholic School


Our parish has a new name---St. Teresa of Calcutta!
 
With humility and joy, I am pleased to share with you that our unified parish is named St. Teresa of Calcutta, a name that symbolizes new relationship, identity and mission. Mother Teresa is loved by all and continues to inspire all to do good. With this announcement, I invite us all to learn a little more about Mother Teresa's life and to reflect on how her life can inspire our community to focus on the mission that Jesus has entrusted to us.
 
A Life Well-Lived---Getting to know Mother Teresa a little more:
Mother Teresa was born Gonxha Agnes Bojaxhiu on August 26, 1910, in Skopje, Macedonia. Moved by a love for Jesus and missionary service, she traveled to Ireland at the age of 18 and joined the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary, known as the Sisters of Loreto; there she received the name Sister Mary Teresa after St. Thérèse of Lisieux. Three months later, she departed for India to begin her missionary work as a teacher in Calcutta, India. Six years later, she made her Final Profession of Vows and came to be known as Mother Teresa. She continued to teach for the next decade, but she was always troubled by the poverty found outside the school's walls. 
On September 10, 1946, Mother Teresa received her "call within a call," with months of hearing Jesus imploring her to "Come be my light" to "radiate [my] love on souls" by forming a religious community to love and care for the poorest of the poor. After two years of testing and discernment, dressed in her signature white and blue sari, Mother Teresa departed from the convent and entered the world of "the unwanted, the unloved, the uncared for."

Mother Teresa was born Gonxha Agnes Bojaxhiu on August 26, 1910, in Skopje, Macedonia. Moved by a love for Jesus and missionary service, she traveled to Ireland at the age of 18 and joined the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary, known as the Sisters of Loreto; there she received the name Sister Mary Teresa after St. Thérèse of Lisieux. Three months later, she departed for India to begin her missionary work as a teacher in Calcutta, India. Six years later, she made her Final Profession of Vows and came to be known as Mother Teresa. She continued to teach for the next decade, but she was always troubled by the poverty found outside the school's walls. On September 10, 1946, Mother Teresa received her "call within a call," with months of hearing Jesus imploring her to "Come be my light" to "radiate [my] love on souls" by forming a religious community to love and care for the poorest of the poor. After two years of testing and discernment, dressed in her signature white and blue sari, Mother Teresa departed from the convent and entered the world of "the unwanted, the unloved, the uncared for."
 
Mother Teresa spent the next two years working in the slums of Calcutta; inspired by their teacher's love for service and for the poor, her former students also began to join her ministry. On October 7, 1950, the Missionaries of Charity was officially established in the Archdiocese of Calcutta. From there, Mother Teresa sent sisters to other parts of India and eventually all around the world. Today it comprises active and contemplative branches of sisters and brothers, a branch of priests, and lay volunteers known as the Co-Workers of Mother Teresa. In addition to providing education, food, and other services to the homeless and ministering to the poor, they also provide relief after natural disasters and care for refugees, former prostitutes, the mentally ill, sick children, abandoned children, lepers, people with AIDS, the aged, and convalescent. For inspiring and organizing these good works, Mother Teresa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and the highest civilian honors from India, the US, and other countries around the world. Less than two years after her death, Pope John Paul II permitted the opening of her Cause of Canonization in 1999, and she was beatified in 2003. On September 4, 2016, Pope Francis canonized Mother Teresa as Saint Teresa of Calcutta.
 
Inspiration for our parishioners individually and collectively:
Most of us actually remember a time when Mother Teresa was alive, and we witnessed at least the last parts of her evolution. Her name was changed from "Gonxha Agnes" to "Sister Mary Teresa" to "Mother Teresa" to finally "Saint Teresa," and her workplace changed from the classroom to the slums to the world. Now, the communities of St. Barbara and St. Therese are being called to imitate the example of Mother Teresa by:
  1. Cultivating a greater love for Jesus.
  2. Having a greater consciousness of the global realities we live in.
  3. Striving to serve, particularly the poor and the needy.
  4. Being a missionary disciple by sharing the Good News with all we encounter.
  5. Living simply so that others might be able to simply live. 
Finally, I had the honor of meeting with Sr. Justus, Superior of the Missionaries of Charity in Chicago. We had a wonderful exchange. I am truly impressed by her and her Sisters' humility and love. The following three things I invite you to participate:
  1. Sr. Justus has graciously offered to lend our community 20 panels depicting the life story of Mother Teresa. These panels will be displayed at St. Therese Worship site for the weekends of Aug. 17-18 and 24-25 and at St. Barbara Worship Site on the weekends of Aug. 31 and Sept. 1, and Sept. 7-8. I invite you and your family and friends to take advantage of precious opportunity to know more about Mother Teresa.
  2. You are invited to pray the novena to St. Teresa beginning on Aug. 27th. Copies of the prayers will be available at the Church entrance table.
  3. September 5th is the feast day of St. Teresa of Calcutta; join us in a Mass of Thanksgiving at St. Barbara Church at 10am with Bishop John Manz. This will be a historic day for our entire faith community.
"By blood, I am Albanian. By citizenship, an Indian. By faith, I am a Catholic nun.
As to my calling, I belong to the world. As to my heart, I belong entirely to the Heart of Jesus."
 
Mother Teresa, pray for us and our faith community.
 
Peace,
Fr. Francis
加爾各答聖德肋撒堂區

我懷著謙遜和喜樂的心情 , 很高興告訴大家 ; 新堂區名字為加爾各答聖德肋撒堂區。它象徵新的關係、身份和使命 , 聖德肋撒受所有人愛戴 , 啟發人們行善。 我想大家透過她的生平反思她如何啟迪 我们的新 堂區聚焦於耶穌派遣給我們的使命。

         聖德肋撒豐盛的一生
原名阿涅澤·岡婕·博亞久生於1910年8月26馬其頓共和國首都科索沃州斯科普里18歲(1928年)那年,她終於選擇奉獻生活,追隨天主的聖召。隻身到愛爾蘭洛雷托修會做初學生, 在那裡得稱瑪利德肋撒三個月後她從愛爾蘭到印度加爾各答任職教師, 六年後在達耶林城發永願,決定成為終身職的修, 成為有名的肋撒。她往後十年継續任教, 但卻常常為學校牆外的貧民窟而苦惱, 1946年9月10感覺到耶稣在呼喚她成為祂的光, 把愛傳遍世人, 她便成立信仰團體為貧窮的人服, 兩年後獲得批, 德肋撒修女穿上白布鑲上樸素的藍邊的沙麗, 進入"被遗棄和沒人關愛的人"的世界。肋撒在加爾各答工作兩年, 她的學生受到老師對貧苦大眾的愛所啟發, 開始加入行列, 1950年10月7日教宗批在加爾各答主教府下成立仁愛傳教修女會, 德肋撒修女派人到印度其他地方, 最後遍佈世界。
今天有不少弟兄姊妹、神父和義工們成她的志工, 除了提供教育、食物和其他服務給流浪者和貧窮者, 更救援難民、娼妓、精神病患者、孤兒、病童、痲瘋和愛滋病人、老弱和復康者。由於她的善行, 德蘭修女贏得諾貝爾和平 獎和 印度及世界各地政府的褒 , 肋撒 修女去世後不到两年,在 1999 教宗 若望·保祿二世 批准 肋撒 修女宣聖。在 2003 10 月,把德 肋撒 修女列入了 真福 名單。在 2016 9 4 教宗方濟各 德蘭 進行封聖 , 名為 加爾各答聖德 肋撒

給堂區教友的啟發
我們大部人都會記得 肋撒 女在世的日子 , 大家最少能見証她的成聖歴程, 她的名字由 阿涅澤 ·岡婕·博亞久變成 瑪利德 肋撒 , 再成為真福 肋撒 , 最後冊封為聖 肋撒 , 她的工作地点由課室到全世界的貧民窟 , 現在聖芭芭拉和聖德力 的教友们 要效法聖 肋撒 的榜樣 :
一、    培育耶穌的大愛。
二、    對現今世界現實有更多的醒覺。
三、    盡力為人們服務。
四、    成為褔傳的教友 , 將福音分享給大家能接觸到的人。
五、    生活得簡樸 , 從而影響別人。
最後鳴謝 Sr. Justus (Superior of the Missionaries of Charity in Chicago). 我們有很好的交流, 她們的謙遜和愛心令我印象深刻。 請大家參與以下三項事情 :
一、      Sr. Justus慷慨地借出 二十 聖德 肋撒生平的展板 , 8 17 日至 18 日會在聖德力場地展覽 , 8 31 日至 9 1 日和 9 7 日至 8 在聖芭芭拉場地展出 , 我邀請您和您的家人藉這機會加深認識她。
二、      請參與由 827日開始的 聖德 肋撒九日敬禮 , 禱文可以在聖堂門口檯上找到。
三、      95日為 聖德 肋撒主保瞻禮 , 請參加上午 10 時在聖芭芭拉場地由 John Manz 主教主持的感恩祭 , 這將會是整個堂區的歴史性日子。
"血緣上我是
阿爾巴尼亞人, 國籍上是印度人, 信仰上我是天主教修女, 基於我的召喚, 我屬於全世界, 基於我的心, 我屬於耶穌聖心。"
聖德肋撒請為我們和我們的信仰團體祈禱。
平安
                                                                        
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     St. Therese Campus:  247 W. 23rd Street, Chicago, IL 60616    
St. Barbara Campus: 2859 S. Throop Street, Chicago, IL 60608 
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