Greetings and Happy Spring Sisters, Sojourners and Associates, Spring is sooner recognized by plants than by humankind.

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1 Greetings and Happy Spring Sisters, Sojourners and Associates, Spring is sooner recognized by plants than by humankind. - Chinese Proverb Spring brings forth the idea of rebirth, rejuvenation, renewal, resurrection and regrowth, and most people see it as a time of change. The Spirit is always moving among us creating change that we have yet to recognize so let us always be open to the movement. Women In Discernment We are in ongoing communication with three women that are in serious discernment for consecrated religious life, five others that are in the early stage of their discernment and two women beginning the application for Sojourners. There has definitely been an increase in inquiries with the Adorers and lots of communication taking place on many levels via telephone, text, and Facebook. We are not content with only the women who reach out to us but continue to search for a variety of new ways to meet women where they are to begin a conversation. A personal invitation to a woman, BY her family or friends still remains the best way to begin the relationship to introduce religious life in any form. We are very blessed to have three ways to live out our charism to offer women who are searching. Our hope is to continue the personal journey with these women focusing more on personal visits rather than the traditional Come and See s of a group visiting. This allows us to be more flexible, utilize our resources more efficiently and most importantly walk with the woman on her personal discernment journey. The woman s journey is about her own selfdiscovery as well as about us and religious life in general. In addition to personal visits we will be offering volunteer experiences with a Come and See aspect intertwined into a weekend. This allows women to come together in community for ministry and service both of which, research shows, are extremely important to this generation. So I invite you to invite one woman, a group of women or a family in the next few months to have a conversation about the Adorers and ways to live our spirituality in their life or maybe to point out how they are already are. Pray for the following women as we journey with them, Alicia, Bernice, Denise, Heather, Jessica, Kelly, Rebecca, Perla, Rachel, Stephanie and all those searching and discerning God s call.

2 Vocation Resources Are you full of hope and joy about your vocation? How do you share it with others? Following excerpt taken from 2016 Horizon No. 2 Spring, Leadership makes the difference By Sister Mary Rowell, C.S.J. Hope is essential for creating a context that is attractive to new members. In recent years of diminishment, however, it has become a difficult virtue and context to create. So I suggest that leaders in vocation ministry, indeed all leaders formal and informal, need to look for ways to engender hope in all they do. Otherwise our lack of hope will send out negative messages and may itself become a self-fulfilling prophecy with respect to vocation. In my experience offering hospitality in our homes, opportunities for praying with our members, open-houses, social events, for example, not only provide an opportunity for enhancing visibility and for witnessing to our life, but in turn bring hope. A recent open-house for young adults that included contemplative prayer, a vocation DVD, discussion, and a pizza supper, was held in one of our larger communities. It brought great vitality to all the sisters who participated so generously in it, both younger and older members. Vocation leadership that includes affirmation and development of charism and community involving all has the capacity to re-create a sense of grateful identity and an attractive context. For while a new generation has been deeply exposed to change and instability and are, thus, flexible, it is paradoxically those same conditions that attract them to ventures and groupings that know and name clearly who they are and to what they are called. Identity, albeit an identity in transition, is critical. Re-claiming who we are and who we are becoming may even lead us to begin again actively inviting, in an appropriate way, women and men to consider the possibility of a religious vocation. Finally, which one of us, I wonder, doesn t come alive when our gifts are affirmed and called upon or when we are engaged in seeking and claiming the gifts of communal identity? Through these leadership processes vocation ministers, with others, call out a lively and engaged joy, an essential component for a community that attracts. At a 2014 gathering of religious men and women in Korea, Pope Francis said: Joy is a gift nourished by a life of prayer, meditation on the Word of God, the celebration of the Sacraments, and life in community. When these are lacking, weaknesses and difficulties will emerge to dampen the joy we knew so well at the beginning of our journey. Above all, together in mission and in shared leadership, we are called to witness to living joy and to be joy-makers! For, as Pope Francis continued, Only if our witness is joyful will we attract men and women to Christ. Leadership indeed! To read the full article visit: or contact the Ministry of Vocation Office.

3 Your Presence Matters Sisters Bernadine Wessel, Barbara jean Franklin, Michelle Woodruff and Krystal Funk attended the biannual National Catholic Youth Conference (NCYC) and the National Catholic College Conference (NCCC) in Indianapolis, IN last November. The Spirit-filled theme, Here I Am Lord/Aquí Estoy Señor attracted over 23,000 Catholic high school and college students from across the country. The Oblates of Mary Immaculate have invited us to participate in several events held at the Shrine of Our Lady of the Snows in Belleville, IL. They periodically hold vocations fairs in the gathering space at the Shrine Church before and after the weekend liturgies. Sisters Barbara Jean Franklin, Krystal Funk, Joan Hornick, Anne Irose, Pat Schlarman, Janet Marie Wilhelm, and Olivia Woltering helped out with the fairs held during the winter months. Genarose Buechler, Joan Hornick, and Olivia Woltering also helped with the vocation booth during the Confirmation Spectacular at the Shrine in February. Wichita Diocese hosted a 6th Grade Diocesan Vocation Fair sponsored by the Serra Club. The Adorers were asked to give to two talks to over 100 girls each: Sister Marsha Wilson, Discernment to Religious Life and Sister Betty Adams, Life as a Sister, Adorers have had a number of opportunities to visit at Catholic schools in the Belleville Diocese. We have given talks to several classes and visited informally on the playground and in the lunchroom at Mt. Carmel (Mary Catherine Clark, Barbara Jean Franklin and Marita Toenjes), Mascoutah (Barb Biver and Raphael Ann Drone), Freeburg (Annette Embrich), and New Athens (Barb Biver) as well as a Parish School of Religion class in Red Bud (Barb Biver). Sisters Mary Catherine Clark and Barbara Jean participated in the Regional Vocation Awareness Day for 5th and 6th graders in five Catholic schools in the Mt. Vernon, IL area. In all of these, we were responding to invitations from lay teachers and principals who want their students to know about consecrated life. Sisters Betty Adams, Renee Kirmer and Fran Schumer staffed a table at the annual Career Fair on Highway 54 hosted by Newman University and Friends University in Wichita, KS. It provides an opportunity to converse with those searching for a career opportunity and make new connections. Sister Angela Laquet is an ASC presence at lots of vocation opportunities most recently at St. John Vianney Parish in Sherman IL. ASC, Franciscans and Dominicans met with the PSR students and the Confirmation class as they came by their tables. Sister Angela was asked to speak about vocations after communion at the Sunday mass as well. At the initiative of a lay staff member at St. Elizabeth s Hospital in Belleville, a celebration of consecrated life was held for the hospital staff. It included a special liturgy, an ice cream social and an opportunity to visit displays on various religious communities. Sisters Georgia Kampwerth and Rose Anthony Mathews, who volunteer at the hospital, represented the Adorers at the event. Sister Bernice Klostermann engaged in conversations with the young and old after 4 masses at St. John Newman in Lancaster, PA which hosted a parish vocation day sponsored by the Serra Club. Sister Bernice said I told myself from the beginning that if I touched just one person, this event was well worth the effort. I know I touched a number of folks. I, myself, felt blessed in doing this work. Sister Alicia Drone was part of the Vocations Gala at St. Peter Grade School in Qunicy, IL. Over 300 students grades 5th 8th attended. Benedictine College in Atchison, KS hosted a vocation Fair which Sisters Patty Owens and Bernadine Wessel attended. The vocation fair was well attended by students and approximately 20 religious communities. Each year the St. Louis Archdiocesan Vocation Office holds Focus 11 Days for 6th-8th graders in the Catholic schools. For each of three days a different group of youth pray together and hear presentations on living their Catholic Christian vocation. Barbara Jean Franklin was one of the presenters on the life of a Sister. Lori Benge personally interacted with several college women at the Kansas Catholic College Student Conference in Lawrence, Kansas. Over 300 college students attended with four women s religious communities along with one men s. The local community at the Ruma Center has enjoyed viewing and discussing the DVD Religious Life: Absolutely Millennial! They shared on a segment of the DVD at each of their monthly house meetings during the past several months. Information on this DVD was shared in the Fall 2015 Ministry of Vocations Community Update. Sisters Betty Adams, Becky Balthazor, Sophia Kammer, Josie Mendoza, Nylas Moser, Diana Rawlings, Janet Rowley, Rita Schilling, Deborah Schovanec, Marsha Wilson and Bernadine Wessel and Lori Benge participated in the Our Lady of Guadalupe parade in Wichita, KS. The sisters rode a float actually the bed of a truck and smiled and waved to the crowd while handing out Adorer materials along the 3-mile parade route. Recently Barbara Jean had the opportunity to share about the Adorers Ministry of Vocations at a local Serra Club meeting. Our partnership with the Serrans was stressed. Each year the Serra Club has a special lunch and game day for the men and women religious who minister in the Belleville Diocese. This event and the commitment of these faith-filled lay men and women is much appreciated by the Adorers who make up the largest group of participants.

4 Office Happenings MirandaCaulkins, Communication Assistant, is now working 5 hours a week for Vocation Ministry. We are really enjoying having her as a part of our team as she shares her gifts and passion for vocation ministry. Adorers Women in Formation Poster was distributed in February around Maria s birthday. They were created for a wider audience this year. They are still available so if you need more to distribute contact Lori. Heart to Heart, Adorers Discernment E-newsletter: We have created a discernment e-newsletter for anyone who is searching. We have approximately 50 women receiving the newseltter via twice a month. It contains a variety of discernment resources including reflections, articles and links to other information. If you know anyone that is searching and might have questions on how God is calling them, have them visit our website to sign up or have them call/text Lori Benge, NRVC Vocation Ambassadors program The Adorers as a member of the NRVC were invited to submit an application for a special program they are offering. In March we were selected along with 13 other vocation teams composed of a vocation director, communication contact and a Catholic young adult (ages 20-30) We will work together to develop a consistent message about vocations to religious life as a viable option in the Catholic Church. The Adorers team, Lori Benge, Miranda Caulkins and Diana Stanley, will travel to Holy Cross College, Notre Dame, IN, June 10-13, 2016 to begin this wonderful opportunity. If you would like to hear more about this contact Lori. Vocation Ministry Team invited several Sisters, Associates and Sojourners to create a new committee and together the committee came up with the following expectations: 1) Help to generate ideas, provide insights and hone an ever expanding focus for vocations ministries 2) Assist the quest of women to discover their calling, encourage women to consider religious life as a viable option, and continue to evolve in our approach to reach women where they are utilizing technology and communications 3) Supporting, challenging and encouraging participation by the community. The committee members are: Sisters Barbara Croom, Raphael Ann Drone, Sara Dwyer, Barbara Jean Franklin, Cecilia Hellmann, Angela Laquet, Regina Siegfried, Bernadine Wessel, Michelle Woodruff and Rosemary Niedens and Connie Vincent, Miranda Caulkins and Lori Benge. Catholic Volunteer Network s Response In continuing to collaborate with our Precious Blood Family and to keep inviting and expanding our circles we have decided to collaborate in placing a new ad for Vocations Website - We are slowly but surely working on a vocation-focused website. The more accessible we make information for women searching online for answers to their questions and communities to consider, the more opportunities we have to make interpersonal connections as a result. THANK YOU to those who responded to our website questions: Sisters Mary Catherine Clark, Anitawa Fearday, Bertha Fisher, Anne Irose, Joan Hornick, Sophia Kammer, Therese Anne Keifer, Laurentia Kohler, Rachel Lawler, Rose Anthony Matthews, Nylas Moser, Fran Schumer, Morgan Schweitzer, Margaret Washington, Jacinta Willenborg, M. Alan Wurth and the Metro LCN (Celine Birk, Margaret Heimann, Therese Anne Kiefer, Elizabeth Kolmer, Hedwig Neff, Kate Reid, Joan Shalapin, Regina Siegfried, Marita Toenjes) Other happenings include: the redesign of Vision and other vocation advertisements, several posters and displays and a constant supply of new ideas to spread the reach of this ministry. Lots of NEW things happening...it is difficult to share everything that is going on in vocation ministry and even more difficult to convey the energy and passion among us. So we encourage all conversations surrounding vocation ministry whether you would like more information about what is going on, or you have an idea, question or concern please never hesitate to contact anyone on the Vocation Ministry Team.

5 Upcoming Opportunities June10-13, Vocation Ambassadors Program, Notre Dame Indiana June 17-19, ASC Assembly, St. Louis, MO June 29 July 2, 2016 Serra International Gathering, St. Louis, MO July 5-8, FIAT Days, Harrisburg, PA July 25-31, World Youth Day 2016, Krakow, Poland Late July Early August (TBD) Adorers Volunteer Experience, TBD October NRVC Convocation, Overland Park, KS November Diocesan Adult Enrichment Conference, Springfield Diocese, Decatur, IL Let us know of any activities in your area. Stay Connected! Social Media: follow us and invite others to do the same! Click on links below: Blog: Connecting with others by sharing what Adorers are doing and thinking. Consider sharing...what you have to offer is important! Heart to Heart Discernment E-newsletter - Know someone searching for direction in life? Suggest they subscribe to our discernment newsletter. They will receive an twice a month with a variety of resources for their journey. Text their or phone number to How can I tell my vocation/ministry story? Write it...video it...blog it...just SHARE IT...IT IS PRICELESS! Contact the Ministry of Vocations to share it! click on link above to The Vocation Ministry Team would like thank all of you that have communicated your thoughts, ideas and concerns. It is not possible for us to be everywhere so we encourage your input and participation. We also want to thank you for your time and prayers for OUR ministry. Vocation Ministry includes everyone, Sisters, Sojourners and Associates. We all are called to spread our Spirituality and invite all into our family.