Palms by Anna Hanson Dorsey

I would like to recommend the novel Palms by Anna Hanson Dorsey. It’s the story of St. Nemesius of Rome and his daughter Lucilla. The book is based on the account that can be found in the book The Victims of the Mamertine by Augustine O’Reilly. This novel is a moving fictional account, something like Cardinal Wiseman’s Fabiola. It may be slow-moving at points, but it gives an excellent perspective on how the persecuted Church was seen in those days when Valerian was Emperor.

The book Palms is available as a free Google e-book or through archive.org, while Victims of the Mamertine can be found as a text at the link provided to archive.org.

Lucilla is called Claudia through most of the novel because Lucilla was her baptismal name.

LCWR Buzzwords

What are some examples?

“Prayer experiences”
“evolving consciousness”
“global unity”
“generate a force that has transformative power”
“positive energy”
“energizing actions”
“deep integrity”
“expansive sense of self”
“facilitate the connectivity”

In other words, New Age.

Note to sisters: young Catholics don’t talk this way. Note to young Catholics: in case you didn’t notice, this isn’t Catholic stuff.

Certainly not all LCWR sisters are in this scene, but there are some major leaders that are indeed!

Mother Elvira

The thoughts of Mother Elvira (foundress of Comunità Cenacolo) have not been available in English for the most part, but now, a book of some of her catechisis has been printed in an English translation called Sparks of Light: From the heart of Mother Elivra. Here’s a sample:

Since we are so different, every so often I ask myself how God can love every single one of us with a unique, specific, and personal tenderness. He can, because He even knows every cell in our body. He created us and wanted us. He calls us by name, and we must discover who we are in His eyes: risen, new creatures, who have welcomed the love of God in that grandiose space that is our life. He comes, because He is a God who loves to be welcomed. He stands outside the door of our freedom and knocks. Let us not leave Him outside like a beggar; let’s open that door so He can enter!

from “Meeting Jesus is Our Feast Day” in Sparks of Light, pg. 42.