CHURCH SOCIAL TIPS
Hearing the news that the Pauline Book and Media store was closing in Honolulu made me a little sad. But I also know that the Daughters of St. Paul who have been assigned to Hawaii will carry the culture of aloha wherever they go, reflecting the diversity of this amazing religious order.
At a time when many religious orders are shrinking in membership, the Daughters of St. Paul are downsizing the number of locations to strategically create evangelization centers that will redefine what religious life looks like for a new generation.
“While we never have enough sisters to meet the vast and growing needs of our mission to proclaim Christ using the media today, the Lord has been blessing us with young women who have joined and continue to join our community. We are grateful to God!” said Sister Donald Lynch, superior for the U.S. and Toronto province, in announcing the decision.
“It is true that our membership is a factor in this redesign. The fruitfulness of our religious vocation and mission as Daughters of St. Paul thrives in an active community life steeped in prayer and working together,” she said. “By reconfiguring our communities and apostolic initiatives, we will focus our mission more effectively while continuing to invite others to join us. Please join us in prayer to ask the Lord to send more laborers for his harvest!”
As a child growing up on the mainland, I was educated by the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary who came from Hawaii. But I have also been inspired as an adult by the charism of the Pauline sisters since they share my mission of sharing faith in the digital realm.
It was my work with the Damien and Marianne Catholic Conference that first led me to the Pauline Books & Media store in Honolulu. I needed a book on St. Damien de Veuster that was only available there.
I have also written about the store and the sisters who have a connection to Hawaii or the Pacific Islands for the Hawaii Catholic Herald as my way of supporting them. Pauline Sister Lusia Lelonimo, from Samoa, is one of the sisters here in Los Angeles. And I have written about Pauline Sisters Margaret Timothy and Fay Pele who are based in Boston and have island connections.
Here on the mainland, I serve on the board of the Catholics in Media Associates, an organization that has been led by Pauline Sister Rose Pacatte for many years, a Pauline sister who is celebrating her 50th anniversary of being professed. The Pauline bookstore in Los Angeles feels like a nook inside the expansive Center for Media Studies that hosts events and serves as home to the order.
The evangelization centers the Daughters of St. Paul envision will serve our church by providing parish communities with opportunities to learn, lead and live a Catholic life in alignment with the mission of St. Paul who inspires the order’s charism. Part of the Daughters’ reconfiguration plans include growing lay members who commit to living the Pauline spirituality and mission as “Pauline Cooperators.” It is this kind of innovative thinking that ensures the legacy of this order. Others should follow the lead of these “nuns on the move.”
To learn more about the mission of the Daughters of St. Paul and how you may support or join them, visit connect.pauline.org.
