For the past several years, our international Congregation has been reexamining our worldwide presence. After prayer, meetings, and outside consultation, we concluded that reconfiguration is necessary for our sisters in the U.S. and Toronto, Canada to be more faithful ministers of the Gospel to the people of today.
As missionary sisters sent forth in the spirit of Saint Paul, we are always on the move to proclaim the Gospel. After taking stock of the many opportunities we have to evangelize with the communications media today, as well as the reality of the gifts and talents of our sisters and the young women entering our community, we are reconfiguring our presence across the U.S. and Canada. This move will help us respond more faithfully and effectively to new opportunities for evangelization.
We are:
We will be closing our physical locations in Honolulu, Hawaii; Chicago, Illinois; Charleston, South Carolina; and our convent in San Antonio, Texas.
Eleven sisters are involved in this move. The three sisters in Honolulu, four in Chicago, and four in Charleston will be relocating to other existing Daughters of St. Paul communities in the U.S. and Canada. At present there are no sisters in San Antonio.
Boston and Dedham, Massachusetts; Alexandria, Virginia; Los Angeles, California; Miami, Florida; Menlo Park, California; New Orleans, Louisiana; New York, New York; St. Louis, Missouri; and Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
The closings of the four locations will be staggered to provide adequate transition time for the local communities and the sisters who are part of this move. The Pauline Books & Media Center and convent in Honolulu will close in the summer of 2022. Our location in Chicago will follow in the fall of 2022, and Charleston will close in early 2023. Our San Antonio convent has been empty for some time now.
The sisters in Honolulu, Chicago, and Charleston will be programming events such as a Mass of Thanksgiving and sales in the Pauline Books & Media centers. We will also be meeting with our friends and collaborators in San Antonio. We want to personally connect with everyone who knows us in these locations to thank you for your support and collaboration in mission, and to talk about how our Pauline mission will continue in your areas. We invite you to subscribe to our newsletter and select your nearest Pauline Books & Media location, so we can notify you directly about events in your area as we concretize the dates, times, and locations of these events.
Throughout the decades that we've conducted our ministry, Pauline communities have formed that include promised Pauline Cooperators: men and women who personally commit to live the Pauline spirituality and mission. The Daughters of St. Paul will continue to collaborate with and support these Cooperators as they carry out their discipleship. We also intend to keep lines of communication open with the communities we are leaving and engage the local Church through our digital presence, traveling in-person ministry, and creative outreach. For the latest updates on where we are and what we're creating, we invite you to sign up for our newsletter or follow us on social media (@DaughterStPaul).
Pauline Books & Media publications are available on our webstore (paulinestore.com), where our sisters operate a live chat feature to assist you with browsing and reading recommendations. You can also find our publications at many local Catholic bookstores and some parish gift shops.
Yes and no. We began our discernment process well before the COVID-19 outbreak. However, the pandemic sharpened our awareness of societal shifts and confirmed for us the need to reconfigure our presence to better serve the people of today. We see this reconfiguration as an opportunity to invite more people into a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ through our media apostolate.
While we never have enough sisters to meet the vast and growing needs of our mission to proclaim Christ using the media today, the Lord has been blessing us with young women who have joined and continue to join our community. We are grateful to God! It is true that our membership is a factor in this redesign. The fruitfulness of our religious vocation and mission as Daughters of St. Paul thrives in an active community life steeped in prayer and working together. By reconfiguring our communities and apostolic initiatives, we will focus our mission more effectively while continuing to invite others to join us. Please join us in prayer to ask the Lord to send more laborers for his harvest!
We had to discern many factors in this reconfiguration, including the health and well-being of our sisters and our financial capabilities. We are constantly evaluating our choices so that we wisely use the resources we have received and continue to receive either through our apostolic activity or through the generosity of donors. We decided to close these locations to ensure that we are able to:
Pauline Cooperators are lay men and women who personally commit to live the Pauline spirituality and mission. They have been part of our Pauline family from the very beginning and, along with our dedicated friends and volunteers, are missionaries on the ground. For more information about Pauline Cooperators, please click here.
The easiest way is to give online at donate.pauline.org/onthemove. Your donation will be directed to our general fund and help us address the areas of most need as we restructure ourselves for mission.
Friends, volunteers, and benefactors are welcome to stay in touch with the sisters with whom they have been in contact already. Your continued financial support will help these sisters you know, as well as those you may not know personally, to go forth and bring the Gospel to those who still need to hear it. We are so grateful for your friendship and participation in our Pauline mission through the gift of your prayer, service, and financial support. You can give at donate.pauline.org/onthemove.
© 2022 Daughters of St. Paul. All rights reserved. Privacy policy.
