Community News

On Sunday, February 16th, several Wheaton Franciscan Sisters, Covenant Companions, IBVM Sisters, and members of our Worshiping Community joined nearly 1000 other volunteers gathered at North Central College in Naperville to pack mobile food packs for the Feed the Need campaign. Using protein powder, vitamins, soy and rice, we were able to fill, seal and box 235,008 Manna Packs during our 2-hour shift, as part of a 6-shift, two-day packing effort.  This is enough to feed 643 children one meal a day for an entire year! The goal for the weekend was to pack 1.2 million meals to be shipped to “Feed [...]

By Sister Glenna Czachor On Sunday, February 2nd the Wheaton Franciscans welcomed Maiga Muga a young man from Tanzania who presented a short PowerPoint presentation and took questions about his culture and his learning experience in the US. He is spending a year in the U.S. as an volunteer/intern with the International Volunteer Exchange Program (IVEP) of the Int’l Mennonite Conference. An essential element of the experience for IVEP participants like Maiga is to have mutual cultural exchanges in a variety of community and church settings.During his stay in the U.S. he is living with host families from the Willow [...]

By Jeanne Connolly, Covenant Companion More than 280 people filled Our Lady of the Angels chapel on Christmas Eve to celebrate Mass with the Wheaton Franciscans. As in recent years, the liturgy began with a procession to fill the nativity scene that would grace the chapel throughout the Christmas season. From young children to our eldest Sister, each piece was brought in with love, and placed with care, in the stable. The choir provided beautiful music and the faith community joined in joyful song. Smiles, hugs, and wishes for a “Merry Christmas” filled the space as people left the chapel. “Joy [...]

On Sunday, January 7, 2020, nearly  400 people gathered at Wentz Hall on North Central College's campus in Naperville for the 15th Annual DuPage County World Peace Day Interfaith Prayer Service. As in past years, the Wheaton Franciscans were one of the sponsors of this event.The theme for this year’s service was "2020 Vision: Seeking a World Where Everyone Belongs."The program celebrated various faith traditions with prayers or songs from representatives of Christian,  Jewish, Hindu, Muslim, Latter Day Saints, Christian Science, Baha'i and Sikh communities. The keynote speaker was Regina Brent, founder and president of the nonprofit Unity Partnership. Her [...]

By Sister Beatrice Hernandez On January 22, 2020, the Wheaton Franciscans flipped the switch on a 203-kilowatt solar energy system that will generate 25% of our energy use from the sun. More than 400 solar panels were installed on the roof of the Motherhouse buildings. This project was a collaboration with Catholic Energies, a program of the Catholic Climate Covenant aimed at helping Catholic organizations implement solar power and energy efficiency projects at no cost to the institution. The solar panels will basically run the chillers, which is the largest producer of energy cost related to the buildings.In addition to [...]

By Mary Ellen Durbin, Covenant Companion On December 8, 2019, the Wheaton Franciscan Community welcomed three new Covenant Companions.  Pat Faivre, Paige Samdal, and Vicki Wojciechowski made their commitment as Covenant Companions at a Sunday Liturgy, in the presence of 83 family members, friends, vowed members and Covenant Companions, as well as over 100 faith community members.The new Covenant Companions were received into the community by Sr. Melanie Paradis, OSF, Provincial Directress of the Wheaton Franciscans.  Each publicly proclaimed their personal covenants and then signed their covenants, along with Sr. Melanie, who represented the Wheaton Franciscan community. All vowed members [...]

By Sister Toby Bonny, OSF Bethlehem Farm is located in West Virginia, over 600 miles from Wheaton, IL. I was fortunate enough to travel with 3 other fine people: Sister Glenna Czachor, OSF, Andy Joseph, and Steve Demaris, members of the Wheaton Franciscan faith community. Steve volunteered to drive us. We had a great trip and conversation on the drive. This was the first trip to the farm for me and Andy. Steve and Sr. Glenna had been there before. Covenant Companion Tom Ruggaber and his wife Pat were also visiting the farm at this same time. Formerly a Catholic Worker [...]