THE LOVE OF CHRIST IMPELS US

The love impels us to go wherever we are sent, wherever we can best love and serve God's people. In this issue, I want to introduce you to our houses and the various ministries our sisters are engaged in the United States.

PALLOTTINE RENEWAL CENTER: Florissant, Missouri (north of St. Louis)

As you can see from the enclosed postcard, the Renewal Center is located on 80 acres of woods and farmland. What the picture does not show you is the cows in our pasture and the wildlife in the woods (deer, opossum, coyotes, squirrels, rabbits, etc.) This particular house serves three purposes (not including the apparent wildlife refuge.) We built the Center in 1969 to serve as our provincialate or headquarters for the U.S.A. province. This is where our provincial lives when she is not visiting and meeting with our other houses.

This facility is also used for retreats. As many as 94 can come to spend the night at our home. We have been honored to serve many different groups with various needs--the disabled, churches having no where else to worship because of relocation problems, married couples, men and women, religious orders, teenagers and ecumenical groups. This is our way to increase faith and love in the St. Louis area. Two of our sisters are closely involved with this ministry--as well as Friends of Pallottine which is a lay organization.

Our house of formation is located here, too. Not shown on the postcard is a small house where our postulants and novices live, along with their directors and a dog named Ginger. We fondly call this house Nazareth. (In a future issue, I will explain more about formation.)

FRASCATI COMMUNITY: Lonedell, Missouri

This is our newest house. The sisters who live in this small residence are involved in various ministries: counseling, college education, grade school education, and social work. The sisters enjoy living in a more rural setting., and are actively involved in the local parish. The house is located in the Ozark foothills nestled atop a wooded hill that overlooks the Meramec River. (Remember that solitude is just as important to us as is community and apostolate.)

Once again, I would like to invite you to come and visit. Just give me a call and we can get our calendars together.

NEXT ISSUE: We'll continue our tour and go out East.