Pentecost: The Gift of the Holy Spirit, Yesterday and Today
Release Date: 05/26/2026
Pentecost: The Gift of the Holy Spirit, Yesterday and Today
Called to Be...
Having just celebrated the feast of Pentecost, this month's episode explores the Holy Spirit, perhaps the most enigmatic person of the Holy Trinity. Sr. Fran Cavey moderates a discussion among Sisters Alice Michael, Alice Arsenault, and Holy Union Associate, Tina Silvestro, during which they outline the Holy Spirit as depicted and discussed in Scripture, both Old and New Testament, as well as how the Holy Spirit continues to play a significant role in our lives and our world today. This thoughtful exchange shines light on the many ways the Spirit moves among us, sometimes...
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The Last Supper and the Passover Seder
Called to Be...
Our Easter podcast is being released on Holy Thursday. As Catholics, Holy Thursday celebrations around the world focus on the night Jesus celebrated the Passover Seder with His disciples, the Last Supper. So, this month we focus on the Jewish roots of this sacred celebration with Sister Nancy Stiles, Holy Union Associate, Kathi Jeffra, and a good friend of Holy Union, Saralee Salk, a Jewish woman steeped in her faith and deeply knowledgeable on the traditions, symbolism, and rituals of Passover and the Seder meal. Our discussion reminds us of the significant overlap between...
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The Embodied Spirituality of Lent
Called to Be...
This year, as we adjust our podcast's focus to spirituality, Sisters Nancy Stiles and Alice Michael explore the season of Lent and its three traditional practices: prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. With insights and observations from Popes Francis and Leo, local priests, a Holy Union Associate, and our own Sisters, this discussion unfolds how these Lenten practices deepen our spiritual journey, help us draw closer to God, and ultimately bring about spiritual growth through change.
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Remembering Holy Union’s Ministries and Presence in New York
Called to Be...
This month's episode marks the beginning of our podcast's fifth year! Sr. Alice Michael hosts Marilyn Crum, Jeanette Borg, and Joan DiMarco, three women with whom she has worked in various capacities associated with Holy Union's ministries in New York over the years. Though Holy Union's initial ministry was focused on teaching children in the classroom across several schools there, the discussion traces their presence and impact as their work broadened to include new and even non-traditional roles within the parishes where they worked. These included adult religious...
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What Does Christmas Mean to You?
Called to Be...
As we begin the season of Advent, we hope this episode of "Called to Be..." inspires you to set aside a few minutes to reflect on the simple question: "What does Christmas mean to you?" We asked our Sisters, Associates and friends to send us their thoughts on this question and we were surprised and delighted by the broad range of responses we received... some profound, others nostalgic, and others were insightful. Sisters Alice Arsenault and Fran Cavey take turns reading the responses aloud and providing their own as well. We pray that everyone has a lovely Advent season, and...
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A Dream Come True! - Holy Union's US Bicentennial Project
Called to Be...
Sr. Nancy Stiles moderates a fascinating discussion about a project that spans three countries, two continents, three generations, and multiple cultures. In this episode we hear directly from Sisters Shallotte Kum and Veronique Metiendjo from Cameroon, and Eugenia Mshana and Scholastica Mhea from Tanzania about their participation in the US Bicentennial Project, a long-time dream which became a reality in August 2025. Responding to the call from Holy Union's Collegial Assembly in 2023 for new orientations in all stages of formation, the Holy Union US Area created its Bicentennial...
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Holy Union's Bicentenary Jubilee Year, Part 1 - Reminiscing on Pilgrimages to Lecelles and Douai, France
Called to Be...
This month, Sister Alice Arsenault leads a discussion with Sisters Tess Horvath and Joan Guertin for the first of two sequential episodes on our Bicentenary Jubilee Year of 2026 which marks two hundred years since our congregation's founding in Douai, France by our founder, Jean Baptiste Debrabant. We will be reminiscing about pilgrimages made by several of our Sisters to significant sites in Lecelles and Douai, France where Fr. Debrabant was born and also where he gathered with the first group of women for religious instruction who became the foundation of our congregation. ...
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The God of Surprises Sends Us Forth
Called to Be...
This month's episode teeters on the brink of miraculous. Sisters Marilyn Gignac and Jane Newcomb, who spent many decades as missionaries in Cameroon, are reunited with a man, who was then a small boy, little Joseph Lukong, from the village of Kumbo where they ministered. That little boy is now Father Joseph Lukong, and he is ministering in a parish within driving distance of where these Sisters live today in New England! This astounding story is a testimony to the Good which comes from missionary work, and the global long-term impact of revealing God's love to those in...
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Sr. Cecilia Fukah Echo's International Academic Adventure
Called to Be...
This month, we had the pleasure of speaking with Sr. Cecilia Fukah Echo, SUSC, one of our Cameroonian Holy Union Sisters who is living here in the United States as she attends classes at Devine Word College in Epworth, IA. Sr. Fran Cavey learns about her experience growing up in Cameroon and her decision to become a Holy Union Sisters, as well as her remarkable academic adventure coming to America to futher her education and how she hopes to use it once she returns to Cameroon in a few years. Join us in praying for Sr. Cecilia as she continues to use her gifts to continue to reveal...
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"My Story" - Sr. Alice Arsenault, SUSC
Called to Be...
This month, Sr. Alice Arsenault shares the rich story of her vocation, ministries, and life as a woman religious for the last 65 years. Sr. Alice delivered her talk to a group of Holy Union Associates in Tauton, MA and discussed her family background and how she decided to "answer the phone" when God's call came! She also discussed her commitment to her vows during troubled times, the painful decision to close a school where she was Principal, and her election to work in Rome with Holy Union Sisters from around the world. Later, as Provincial of the Groton Province, she...
info_outlineHaving just celebrated the feast of Pentecost, this month's episode explores the Holy Spirit, perhaps the most enigmatic person of the Holy Trinity. Sr. Fran Cavey moderates a discussion among Sisters Alice Michael, Alice Arsenault, and Holy Union Associate, Tina Silvestro, during which they outline the Holy Spirit as depicted and discussed in Scripture, both Old and New Testament, as well as how the Holy Spirit continues to play a significant role in our lives and our world today. This thoughtful exchange shines light on the many ways the Spirit moves among us, sometimes unnoticed, and can even change the course of our lives and effect our own spiritual journey, and those with whom we come in contact.