The Dianna Ortiz Ursuline Center for Women
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lives about four blocks from Casa Ursulina. Juana lives with her husband, José, and their three children in a house built in the back yard of her
mother's house . . . a common living solution for young families with minimal resources. 
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CASA URSULINA began with a dream — a deep desire in the hearts and minds of Ursuline Sister Mary Elizabeth Ballard and seven Chilean women who worked to build a place where women could come together to work, to learn, and to find community and mutual support.
These are women who live in the Población Vicente Pérez Rosales in the city of Chillán in central Chile. It's a sprawling place that to American eyes might look like a vast government housing project, including some neighborhoods of extreme deprivation. For some 17,000 persons who live here, poverty and struggle are a daily fact of life. Many are unemployed or underemployed. The minimum wage in Chile is about $250 . . . per month.
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In the mid 90s, while serving as a pastoral minister in Chillán, Sister Mary Elizabeth — "Mimi" to her family and friends — began to teach women to make crocheted pieces and other kinds of needlework which she had learned growing up. The eager women learned fast and began to teach one another. In fairs in and around Chillán, they found a market for their beautiful creations. For many of them, this was the first time they had been able to earn anything to help support their families. They were encouraged by their success and enriched by the spirit of community that was growing among them.
The first workshop was a crowded room in the home of Carola Pulgar, who from the beginning had worked with Sister Mimi. The women dreamed of a house, a center — a place with more space for more activities for more women. By 1997, with support from Sister Mimi's home parish — St. Joseph, Bardstown — and a campaign led by the Ursuline Sisters of Mount Saint Joseph, the Ursuline congregation was able to purchase half of a duplex house in the población. Sister Mimi and the core group transformed this limited but promising space into the Dianna Ortiz Ursuline Center for Women — Casa Ursulina.
Women of Casa Ursulina made over 300 empanadas for the annual Plato Unico benefit on July 10. Volunteers make things happen at Casa Ursulina! For the story, visit our page dedicated to VOLUNTEERS, or click here. |
In the past 13 years, Casa Ursulina and its ministries havenever stopped growing. Physical expansion has included the purchase of the second half of the duplex and the replacement of attached wooden shacks with sturdy additions to the house.
From the original eight, the number of women coming to the center has increased to near 200. More than 30 of these are volunteers who give their time, energy, and talents in teaching, providing childcare for children of women in classes, extending hospitality, and other tasks that keep the work of Casa Ursulina going.
Freeing and nurturing women and children, the primary focus of the ministries of the Ursuline Sisters of Mount Saint Joseph, is at the center of the ministry of Casa Ursulina. Now we invite you to come in, to get to know the women of Casa Ursulina, and to be amazed at the many ways in which God's love is shared among them.
You will also learn more about Chile and Chillán, and about the Ursuline Sisters of Mount Saint Joseph, who also serve God's people in Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, New Mexico, Minnesota, Louisiana, Tennessee, and Washington, D.C.
We welcome you to Casa Ursulina. Come to visit us often!
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