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.
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.
CELEBRATING WITH OUR FRIENDS
Flor and Julia were among about twenty senior citizens who enjoyed a hearty lunch at Casa Ursulina on August 24. Most of these "abuelitos" (grandparents, an affectionate name for seniors in Chile) eat in the soup kitchen of our mission chapel every Wednesday.
To celebrate the 14th anniversary of the founding of Casa Ursulina, we invited our senior friends to the Casa for lunch and entertainment. This is our second year for this event, so it's now officially a tradition! For the more photos and story, click here. |
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In the past 14 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, New York, and Washington, D.C.
We welcome you to Casa Ursulina. Come to visit us often!
WHEREVER YOU ARE, YOU CAN BE PART OF THE MINISTRY OF CASA URSULINA!
To get in touch ... to learn more ... to help in any way ... click here!
To support our ministry financially or to make in-kind donations, click here!
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DID YOU MISS THESE STORIES ON OUR WEB SITE?
• To read a story about the Ursuline mission at Casa Ursulina that appeared in La Discusión, the Chillán xdaily paper, click here.
• Our Plato Unico dinner in June 2011 was a great success and raised almost $1000 for the support of Casa XUrsulina and its programs. For story and photos, click here!
• For the story of our solar water heater, a wonderful donation now installed on our roof, click here!
• In summer 2010 we finished an ambitious building project, thanks to a grant from the Raskob Foundation. xxlearn more about the Raskob grant, click here. For a photo story of the development of our building
xxproject, click here.
• You still haven't seen the photos from the February 2010 earthquake in Chile? They're still available . . . xxjust click here. |
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