Felician Franciscan Sisters

Rome? A Secretary? Five Years?

S Melanie Marie Bajorek (PA) writes about her ministry at the Vatican What did I get myself into? Do I really want to do this? What is life like in the Generalate? These are some of the thoughts that were going through my mind after I learned that I was selected to fill the place of Felician Sister Anita Marie Louise Taddonio of Livonia. The consolation was that the Vatican would be the place for my apostolate and that had to be something worth getting excited about. When I arrived, the first question that I began to get an answer to was about life in the Generalate. It is a very welcoming community comprised of 24 Felicians, seven of whom are members of the General Administration which adds its own dynamic, one a student from Kenya, 11 English-speaking and 13 Polish-speaking. Four more Sister students representing three different congregations in India and still another in Nigeria also reside here.

It is a privilege to work in the Apostolic Palace and to be saluted by the Swiss Guards at each entrance and on the various floors of the building. I love the artwork by Rafael and his students that fill the halls and the view of Rome that we can see from the windows. My office window looks out to the Papal Residence and down to its front door. We have watched the Holy Father bid farewell to many before he left for Africa and again to the Holy Land. He even waved to us in our windows. I have yet to meet him personally but our eyes have met in processions at several Masses which he celebrated that I attended. Our workroom window looks out to Saint Peter's Basilica and the Square so we are entertained, and sometimes distracted, by the General Audiences held there on Wednesday mornings October through April. It also means we can receive the Papal blessing each week which we appreciate very much.

The combination of the holy and dedicated priests, sisters and laypeople with whom I minister, the environment, and the service to the Church that I am privileged to give keeps a smile on my face and joy in my heart. I participated in five World Youth Days so that the students could experience the Universal Church. Now I am seeing firsthand the workings of this body and visiting Saint Peter's Basilica almost daily. I am still awed by what I see and still pinching myself that this is real! I go home smiling each day!

I was hungry and you gave me to eat

. . . The sisters in the Generalate volunteer four hours on Saturday mornings at the Jesuit Refugee Center for Families in Rome, March through May. On Holy Saturday, Sisters M John Fryc (CT) and Melanie Marie Bajorek (PA) spent the first two hours cleaning a shower room and a corridor on the top floor of one wing of the building. They spent the remainder of the time in the kitchen on the first floor preparing lunch for 15 children and some of the workers there. The meal consisted of salad, pasta, sauce and hamburgers. This outreach experience gave them the opportunity to interact with three little girls: one showed them her skill on her scooter and played peek-aboo, another shared some of her chocolate bunny with them, and the third showed them her album of stickers. According to Sister Melanie, it was a very good experience for both sisters.

Justice and Peace in Action

In the last days of Advent sisters from the general council and the Generalate local community decided to do something more than is usually done for the poor in Rome. It is a Generalate tradition to gift those who are coming to our door asking for food with bigger and nicer package at Christmas. Added to the daily packages of two sandwiches, are a fresh homemade bread prepared by Sister Zyta and some sweets, drinks and oranges. This year the sisters also went out to the streets of Rome to those who do not come to our door.

This year, two days before Christmas, Sister Zyta baked 30 additional of homemade breads and the sisters of the Generalate local community donated sweets. In the morning sisters gathered to make beautifully wrapped Christmas packages decorated with an attached paper manger scene and Christmas wishes from the Felician Sisters. In the afternoon six sisters, carrying big bags of these gifts, some extra sandwiches and oranges from the Generalate garden, headed for Termini, Rome’s train station. There are many homeless people living along the train tracks usually at the end of the platforms where they are able to have some protection from the rain and wind and are not in the way of the travelers. Like Jesus’ disciples the sisters went out by twos. On the way they distributed some Christmas packages to those they met at bus stops and along the Tiber River. It did not take long to distribute the packages on the streets and at Termini.

It was a very rewarding experience to see their faces light up when they saw the beautiful Christmas package, like those in the store windows, extended toward them with a smile and words of Christmas wishes. In many cases this gesture was also an invitation for them to share their stories or to ask us for prayers. We returned home with many faces, names, and stories that we took before the Lord and shared with the rest of the sisters in the Generalate.

An additional interesting experience was to see the Italian people watching us with the poor on the streets on our way to Termini. Some would stop their cars and some would even approach us asking for prayers for themselves. Normally, when we go to the city to shop or visit places, this would not happen or happened very rarely. This time each pair of sisters had this experience. May God be praised and may we learn from these experiences!

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