Sisters of the Resurrection

Heard so many good stories about this place, but what I've seen here, at the Sisters of the Resurrection compound in northern Chicago, is beyond my ability to describe properly. This place is a silent witness to the power of the faith of these women of a few many generations, who believed that to God nothing is impossible and that Risen Christ is able to do whatever He wants, that is why with the prayer on their lips and the faith and unshakable hope the Sisters created this remarkable place, which has so many faces...


Let me quote from the website of the Sisters of the Resurrection right here in Chicago:

(quote)"Celine Borzecka and her daughter Hedwig founded the Sisters of the Resurrection in Rome in 1891. It was the fulfillment of a lifelong desire of Celine, who had felt a calling to religious life since she was a child. Celine obeyed her parents’ wishes that she get married, and she remained devout in her religion and active in social issues while being a devoted wife and mother. When Celine’s husband died after almost twenty years of marriage, she decided to travel to Rome with her daughters in the hope of broadening their education. It was in Rome that Celine met Father Peter Semenenko, the Superior General of the Resurrectionist Fathers, who became her spiritual director. Father Peter soon became aware of how God was working in the soul of this woman, and he encouraged her to begin the community of the Sisters of the Resurrection.

Celine’s daughter Hedwig joined her mother, and when they and their small group of women finally were able to profess their vows in 1891, it was the first time in Roman Catholic history that a religious community was founded by a mother and daughter. The new community began immediately to broaden its ministry by opening homes in Poland. After only nine years, Mother Celine accepted the invitation of the Fathers of the Resurrection to send sisters to America.

While Celine and Hedwig remained in Europe, four sisters, led by Sister Anne Strzelecka, left Italy for Chicago in 1900. The sisters arrived at St. Mary of the Angels Parish and immediately began preparing for the opening of the school. Within a year, the sisters had also begun ministering at St. Casimir Parish in Chicago. Over the years the sisters responded to requests to minister in states throughout the country, spreading their work into Alabama, Connecticut, Florida, Indiana, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Massachusetts, Ohio, Oklahoma and Wisconsin.

In 1912, Sister Anne bought some land on Chicago’s northwest side, where the sisters soon opened Resurrection Academy, a school for girls. A few years later Sister Anne purchased additional land, which today includes the site of Resurrection Medical Center. Under Sister Anne’s leadership, the Province of the Immaculate Conception was established in 1928, and she became its first Provincial Superior.

Today, the Provincial Home for the Sisters of the Resurrection is on the same land that Sister Anne purchased in the early 1900s. Resurrection Academy has grown to become Resurrection High School, and the sisters’ health care ministry, which began with Resurrection Hospital in 1953, is now part of Resurrection Health Care, the largest Catholic health system in Chicago, and is co-sponsored with the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth" (unquote).

Sister Stephanie, the same who started the secondary school at Buturu, close to Kiabakari, gave a thorough tour of the whole compound and I was left with awe and respect to the people and the history of this place. And, at the same time, my heart and mind went straight to Kiabakari, my place, and I thought that Kiabakari may become one day something like this Resurrection compound... Nothing is impossible to God!

Sisters created their church, their house, the school, the high school, the pre-school, the hospital, nursing homes, housing for retirees - all this by the power of their living faith, prayer, hope and spirit of service to the people etc... This is exactly the same path of heart and mind that I have been following for the past twenty years in Kiabakari. The Divine Mercy Shrine, the health center, the center for education and formation, parochial hotel, housing for sisters and volunteers... The same idea, the same Divine Mercy of the Risen Lord who touches and embraces the whole human person...

Jesus, I trust in You! I trust and believe that for You nothing is impossible! Please, make the vision of Kiabakari come true...