January 17, 2017

Cathedral grad professes first vows as Handmaid of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

REGIONAL
By Peggy Weber

WYNCOTE, Pa. – “I didn’t ‘want to be a nun’ for quite a while,” said Sister Emma Catherine Kirwan-Avila, in an email interview and in-person comments to iObserve after she professed her first vows at Ancillae-Assumpta Academy, here, Jan. 14.

“I actually found the prospect quite frightening, but that fear has given way to a deepening trust in the way that God draws us into the spaces and paths that he has laid out for us,” she said, “and that trust has been rewarded with a deepening of joy, peace and gratitude which are confirmation for me of being on my particular path.”

Sister Catherine, as she is called by those her community, professed her vows to the Handmaids of the Sacred Heart of Jesus during a special Mass. Almost 200 people attended the special celebration.

The Handmaids are contemplatives in active ministry, in keeping with their Ignatian roots.

When asked to explain why she chose to become a religious sister, Sister Catherine said, “I have come to believe that this is where God calls me to live out my relationship with him and I believe that it is where I will be most fully myself and, hence, most effective as a sign and instrument of his love.”

Sister Catherine is the daughter of Mary Kirwan and James Arthur Avila (she is pictured with them at right). She is a graduate of the former Holy Cross Grammar School and Cathedral High School, Class of 2000. She also is a 2004 graduate of the College of the Holy Cross and holds a master’s degree in social work from Boston College.

One of the major influences of Sister Catherine’s life and her vocation was her experience as a Jesuit Volunteer Corps (JVC) in Bolivia.

“My experience in JVC was very formative, particularly my work with the Jesuits and the sisters in Tiraque. The sisters there were the Missionaries of Christ Jesus, coincidentally another Ignatian order founded in Spain. The sisters in particular were alive and engaged in their relationship with God and in the lives of the people in the community in a way that really attracted me,” she said. “Several of them were well into their 70s and were still so curious and questioning and attentive to what God wanted of them.

“Looking back with more Ignatian vocabulary, I would say that they lived in a dynamic of ongoing discernment, always seeking to listen and understand what God was doing in and around them and to second the movement of the Spirit,” Sister Catherine said.

“I also fell in love with the place and the spirituality that was informed by the history and the current reality of the people in Latin America and more concretely in Bolivia,” she continued. “Seeing faith practiced in a culture and environment very different from my native one widened the image of God that I had and gifted me with a sense of awe at the richness and wideness of God.”

Sister Catherine chose the Handmaids of the Sacred Heart of Jesus after meeting them in Georgia. “The Handmaids’ Ignatian Spirituality was an attraction and definitely continues to shape me. I met them through a friend who had worked with them t and who suggested that I contact them because she knew that my faith life was deeply influenced by the Ignatian formation that I had received through Holy Cross, JVC, spiritual directors, the Contemplative Leaders in Action Program and, to some extent, BC. Her instinct was good,” she said.

The Jan. 14 Mass was celebrated by Jesuit Father Daniel Joyce of St. Joseph University in Philadlephia. Deacon Kevin McCarthy of the Diocese of Springfield served at the Mass and proclaimed the Gospel. Deacon McCarthy taught Sister Catherine when she was in the 11th grade at Cathedral.

Also attending were many people from western Massachusetts, including several high school classmates and many family members. Also attending was Gov. Tom Wolf of Pennsylvania.

Sister Catherine said she was honored and humbled by the outpouring of love and support she received.

She explained the vows ceremony, saying, “It occurs at the end of the novitiate. The novice consecrates herself to God by professing vows of chastity, poverty and obedience. This directs her whole life to the service and praise of God.

“Handmaids have an extensive initial formation process which lasts about 10 years total, and we make temporary vows two times (sometimes three depending on the ministry of the sister) during that period,” she continued. “Each set of temporary vows last for three years. The vows formula is almost identical to that of the Jesuits and I think it ties together beautifully the acknowledgement of our desire to serve God, our human frailty and need of grace to do that, and our love and gratitude for God’s goodness.

“While many orders profess vows at the moment of the offertory, we do it at the moment of the Eucharist as a sign of our dedication to making Christ known and loved in the Eucharist, a central desire of St. Rafaela Maria and of Handmaids still,” Sister Catherine explained. “Personally, I have come to appreciate the Eucharist in new ways, as the place where Christ loves to the extreme, offering himself fully for love of his people, holding nothing back… and where we are empowered, over and over again, to partner in his work of healing, liberating and fostering life in abundance.”

In a few days, Sister Catherine will depart for Spain. “For the next three-and-a half years, I will be in Madrid, where I will join five other ‘juniors’ from Spain and Portugal and will study theology at Comillas Pontifical University,” she said. “I will renew my vows there in three years.  After that, I will return to the United States and be engaged in full-time ministry in one of the Handmaid ministries here for a couple of years. 

“Before making final vows, I will spend six months in Rome with other Handmaids from around the world who are preparing for perpetual profession. We call that phase the tertianship,” she explained. “I will return to the U.S. to make vows here and then receive my first mission as a fully professed sister.”

When asked to reflect on her vocation, Sister Catherine said, “I am very grateful for having been led to the Handmaids and am often struck by God’s gentleness, generosity and creativity all along the way. I too often forget and then am reminded again that God is the most resourceful and capable teacher, who understands his pupils totally and loves them boundlessly – no exceptions! 

“I am coming to appreciate more and more the truth that we have nothing to fear and everything to gain in following where he leads and in opening ourselves to the truth that he desires to reveal to us,” she said. “God leads us into our own truth and makes us capable of seeing one another with clear eyes, recognizing our oneness, and leads us into the reconciliation, solidarity and service that are the natural result of understanding ourselves as kin to all others. He teaches us how to live fully human lives and gives us the grace to follow him. What a gift!”