Habemus Papam!

A little thing about me. I love the pope. I love the entire concept of the papacy and my love for it grew even more when I visited Rome for the first time 2 years ago this month and I first saw Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. I was very blessed to see him a total of 7 times during 2 visits to Rome and one of those times, he was a mere arm's length away from me. It was at the conclusion of the Easter Vigil 2011. It was during the recessional hymn that he passed right by me. I could have touched him if I'd tried. But that moment wasn't when I first fell in love with the papacy. I was standing in St. Peter's Square on for the pope's Sunday Angelus with my friends waiting for Benedict to come to the window. As he did, cheers rose from the square and he began to speak. There is no way to describe the feeling of hearing his voice in person for the first time. It was so comforting and I felt like I was in the presence of a shepherd.

I took this picture with no zoom. That's how close I was. 

I am so excited about our new pope. His profound humility has left me very humbled. Pope Francis' episcopal (from when he was just a bishop in Argentina) motto is Miserando atque eligendo (Lowly but chosen). How fitting that he then choose the name Francis. Cardinal Dolan confirmed it in his press conference that it's in honor of St. Francis of Assisi. St. Francis of Assisi was an incredible lover of the poor and was called by God to rebuild His Church.

I'm also very excited that he is a Jesuit. He doesn't have the stigma that most Jesuits have. And from what I have read about him so far, he genuinely lives out the Jesuit motto of Ad Majorem Dei Gloraim (For the greater glory of God). I do my best to live my own life by that same idea.

If you didn't hear, this is what our new Holy Father, Pope Francis, had to say to the world:

"Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Good evening.

As you know, the duty of the conclave was to appoint a bishop of Rome, and it seems to me that my brother cardinals have chosen who is from far away. Here I am.

I would like to thank you for your embrace, also to the Roman Catholic Church and the bishops, thank you very much. And first and foremost, I would like to pray for our bishop emeritus, Benedict XVI.

Let is pray together for him so that he is blessed by the Lord...

Let us begin this journey together...this journey for the Roman Catholic Church. It is a journey of friendship, of love, of trust, and faith. Let us pray always for one another. Let us pray for the while word. Let us have a big brotherhood.

I wish that this journey for the Church, which we will start today...will bear fruits for the evangelizing of this beautiful city.

I would like to offer you my blessing. But I would like to ask a favor first. I would like to pray to the Lord so that the prayer of the people blesses also the new pontiff. Let us pray in silence your prayer for me."

To watch the Holy Father bow down and ask for the blessing of the people he shepherds was absolutely breathtaking. Such profound humility. A true example for every one of us to follow.

I am so proud to say that I work for the Church that this man now leads. I am excited to call him our new Holy Father. I am excited to follow his example of true humility.

God's Plans vs. My Plans

You know that saying, "If you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans"? Well, that's definitely been the epitome of what's gone on the last couple weeks. At the end of February, I was cleared by my orthopedic to go back to Romania. A few days after that, my shoulder popped funny and I was in excruciating pain. I went back to the doctor and he told me that I need to have surgery. So, on Thursday, I'm having surgery on my shoulder with an expected recovery time of 10-12 weeks. PLEASE, PLEASE say some extra prayers for me. I'm actually really nervous about this surgery (it's not the first time I've had surgery, so I don't really know why). My return to Romania has been postponed to June. As extremely frustrated as I have been with all this, I'm doing my best to see this whole situation with eyes of faith. God has a reason for needing me to be in the U.S. for a couple more months. I don't know what it is and I may never know what it is, but I know He has His hand on this whole thing.

Yesterday, I spent time with the Newman family. Mark is the one who interviewed me on Radio Maria in August and then again in January. He's been a huge support in my mission work and knowing him and his family has been a huge blessing to me. Yesterday, we recorded my conversion story and some stuff about missionary life for a podcast for Mark's internet radio station (www.crossroadsradio.us).

Click here for the podcast.

Last week, I was very humbled to find out that a little blurb had been written about me and my mission in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati's Missions Office news letter. I was also interviewed by someone from Franciscan University's alumni magazine for an upcoming article. Right now, I'm working on an article for my parish's newspaper to hopefully be published in June. I'm currently in the process of scheduling some talks around the country. Trying to get to Illinois, Las Vegas, and Minnesota. Pray those all happen! I'm so excited that the word is getting out about this. I LOVE sharing my love of Romania and my kids with people!

Casa de Copii Don Bosco update: At this time (6:02pm on Monday, March 11), I have raised just over $20,170! Praise God, that's so glorious!!!!!!! He has been so amazing and the benefactors have been so generous. Oh my goodness. It's been so overwhelming to me. I wasn't expecting this amount of support this quickly. My initial goal was to raise $10,000 so that I could put in the foundation of the building. Then my next goal was $15,000. We hit that the other day. Then it was $16,250, which was 1/4 of the total cost and today, I received a very generous donation that took me over that to where we are right now. Praise God, He's just so good!! Only $45,000 more to go! If you can help make a dent in that $45,000, please go to the link on the side bar to my donation page and choose the "Romanian Orphanage Fund" designation.

Jesus (very smartly, I mean duh! He's God, remember?!) said in the Gospel of Matthew "Do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Let the day's trouble be sufficient for the day." I'm clinging to that verse and the promise of Philippians 4:13 - "I can do all things through Him who strengthens me."

Pray for me, but most especially, pray for the people that this mission serves. Pray for the kids God will place in our care. I'll be praying for you.

St. John Bosco and St. Raphael, ora pro nobis.

Where We Are

Well, 6 months ago today, I got on a plane in Cincinnati for my 25 hour journey to the little Romanian town that has held such a special place in my heart since April 2011. I miss it like crazy. I miss the chaos of the orphanage. I miss the kids like crazy. I look at some of the pictures I have of them hanging up over my desk and man, my heart aches for them. I look at the picture of a dragon that Beni drew me and I long to hold him in my arms. I long to hold them all in my arms. I've been back in the U.S. for 2 months now I can't wait to get back to the country I love so much.

Right now, the question is when that will be. Well, I'm not completely sure at the moment. Four days before I left Romania, I hurt my shoulder. I waited until after the holidays to have it looked at, and now having the diagnosis, well, it's going to take some time. At this point, I can't pick up more than a few pounds with my right arm, which is a problem. I wouldn't be able to pick up any of the kids or George (Fr. Remus and Iulia's  2-year-old son). I recognize that I can't do my job without more strength and less pain in my shoulder. And I can't really get adequate orthopedic care for it in Romania, so I made the decision to stay in the States until things are at least to where I can pick up the smaller kids. I'm hoping that I can be back by the end of March, but I honestly don't know. Please pray I can heal correctly so I can get back.

Onto the REALLY good news! I wanted to raise $10,000 so that we could begin putting in the foundation for the new orphanage when I get back. Well, at this moment, thanks to some very generous donors, I have raised $14,100!!! Praise the Lord! It's so amazing. And I could not be more grateful to God, our donors, or St. John Bosco (I prayed a novena to him. Looks like we're going to be naming the orphanage after him after the way he came through for me). Of course though, I still need to raise $50,900 more to make this happen. If you can donate, even just $5, please go to https://www.egsnetwork.com/gift/gift.php?giftid=F7E26965-8FDC-4418-863E-EF472F4950E9 and choose the "Romania Orphanage Fund" designation.

I wanted to share this song with you. It was written by the guys of Audio Adrenaline about the kids at the orphanage that they built in Haiti. So much of this song resonates with me, having gone to Haiti on a mission trip last March and also with our new project. Check it out and get even more pumped up about the building of Casa de Copii "Don Bosco"!!

Please continue to pray for me and for the kids at the orphanage in Halmeu and the kids that God will place into the care of our new orphanage. I will be praying for you.

Radio Maria and Blueprints

Last night, I was on Radio Maria, a worldwide Catholic radio station, talking about my time in Romania and what the plans are for the new orphanage. It was such a blessing to have met Mark Newman, the host of the radio show, this past summer at Franciscan. I was first on his show right before I left for Romania. He has been a huge support of my mission work and I wouldn't have been able to do it without him. Here is the link.

http://radiomaria.us/crossroads/2013/01/08/january-8-2013-catherine-england/

So, I'm excited to be able to share this with you. These are the blueprints for the orphanage. Fr. Remus and I met with the architect just before I came home to get an idea of what the new orphanage is going to be like. This is a building plan designed based off a house that the architect designed not too long before we met with her. This isn't the final design, but it will be similar. So, here you go :) Click on the photos to enlarge them.

Main Entrance - left side of the building

Front of the building

First Floor

Second Floor

We are still deciding on what to call it. We are trying to decide on whether to name it after St. John Bosco or the Blessed Mother. I prayed a novena to Our Lady promising that if she helped us, we'd name it after her. So, It's between John Bosco or Our Lady, the Immaculate Conception. We will see.

Talking about this new project makes me so ridiculously excited for what God has in store for the future of my mission in Romania. It's definitely not going to be easy, but I know that this is what He wants for the children. I'm humbled everyday that God called me to Romania and placed this project in my hands. It means that He trusts me with the care of his precious children.

The Experience

First of all, Merry Christmas. It's 7am here in Ohio and I'm still slightly jet lagged, so that's why I am awake. We agreed that we'd get up at 8:30 to do gifts, so I have to wait. Hahaha. May the newborn Christ child bring you hope, joy, and especially peace.

I want to share with you a blog post written by one of the WONDERFUL students that came on mission to Romania in October. Her name is Megan and I am so blessed to have been able to share my love of Romania with someone like her. She is a student at Belmont Abbey College and transferred to Franciscan just for the semester so that she could study abroad in Austria. She is someone with an amazing heart. Check out her blog post about her experience on mission in Romania:

http://createdforhim3.blogspot.com/2012/12/romania.html

Megan and Isabella

Megan had a similar experience to what I had, but it was in my experience that I found my calling to missionary life. I'd never been on a mission trip before and actually, I had no idea where Romania was. I agreed to go before I even looked at a map to find it. I cannot be more grateful to God for His leading me to Romania in April 2011 and His guidance in establishing a permanent mission in Romania and now - the new orphanage! It was while in Romania that I found my purpose in life. I knew God created me to love on these babies for more than just a week while on a mission trip. He has called me to this for at least the next few years.

You can have "The Experience" if you want to. This summer, Missions of Hope is having a 2 week or 4 week trip to Romania. If you are interested or know someone who may be, let me know or send the director of M.O.H. (Kevin Kacvinsky) an e-mail at kevin@bringhope.org. 

Update

So, I haven't written in over a month...my bad. No, I didn't die. We've just been super busy doing awesome things!

We had another group of 8 American students come from Austria, 2 of whom had been here with the first group. It has been such a blessing for me to have had 14 Americans come during my first long-term stay here. It was the revamp I needed.

I now teach English to 60 kids at the community school. On Tuesdays, I teach 5th and 6th grade and on Thursdays, I teach 7th and 8th grade. It's good time - but crazy. The younger kids like to play "Simon Says" A LOT. It's hard to get them to work sometimes. Hahaha.

I was extremely blessed to be able to spend Thanksgiving at Franciscan University's Austrian campus. It was so great to be able to be with some Americans for the holiday (although, Fr. Remus did offer to grab one of the turkeys from a farm near Satu Mare so that we could have our own Thanksgiving here, but I told him no. Hahahaha). It was amazing to be back where I grew up a lot both emotionally and spiritually.

The Kartause in Gaming, Austria that houses Franciscan's Austria program

This past Saturday was Romania National Day. That day memorializes the unification of the 10 small countries into Romania. Nothing big happened in Turt, but we watched the huge military parade in Bucharest (the capital of Romania) on tv. It was cool to watch because I realized that I really don't know all that much about Romania as a whole.

Showing some birthday love to my new home with my 4ft. by 6 ft. Romanian flag

On Thursday, I will be going to Satu Mare with Fr. Remus and 2 other people from our church to deliver gifts to an orphanage for St. Nick's Day. It's a much bigger celebration here than it is in the States. I'm super excited :)

I am headed back to the United States on December 14 to spend Christmas with my family and to do some serious fundraising for our new project: a Catholic orphanage in Turt that I am going to be the director of! I am so excited for this. It means I am going to be in Romania more long-term, but it also means I have the huge task of fundraising the costs: an estimated 50,000 euro, or about $65,000 for the building costs. The Blessed Mother, St. Padre Pio, and Blessed Mother Teresa have all been called upon to help me out with this, so I know we'll get there. If you would consider donating (and I'm not joking when I say that $5 goes a long way in Romania), little baby Jesus would be very happy ;)

Missions of Hope, the amazing organization that helped me start my mission in Romania, launched its new website last night and it's AWESOME. Check it out: www.bringhope.org

I just finished reading the book Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers (phenomenal book, BTW. Everyone should read it) and at the end, she makes a statement that I am adopting as my new slogan of sorts: "I want to bring the truth to those trapped in lies and darkness, to tell them that God is there, He is real, and He loves them - no matter what." That's EXACTLY why I am here.

So, as I near the end of my first stay in Romania, please continue to pray for the mission. I can see the change in the children at the orphanage in Halmeu. I know (because I have been told) that my presence in Turt has given the older people hope and I have been a good influence in the lives of some of the local teens. I am looking forward to seeing my family, but I am going to miss Romania like crazy. I will be back at the end of February/beginning of March.

Also, if you or someone you know may be interested in the missionary life for at least 6 months (it's the best job EVER, fyi), just let me know. We can make that happen!!

Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam!

P.S.- Happy Advent!!

P.P.S. - If you or someone you know has computer graphics skills, I'm looking for someone to design a logo for my mission. I'd be willing to pay a little something (I'm a poor missionary, so it won't be much, but something). Please e-mail me at catherine.e.england@gmail.com.

An Amazing Mission Team

I didn't post last week because nothing out of the ordinary really happened. This past week though, oh man. It's been so great. A group of students studying in Austria spent their 10-day break here in Romania. I was so happy to have some Americans around for a while. Fr. Remus and I took them to Maramures to some of the wood churches and to the Happy Cemetery, to Satu Mare for a little sightseeing, and to the castle in Carei.

It was so good for the kids at the orphanage to have 8 more people to play with. Sometimes it's really hard for me to be able to meet the attention needs of each kid every time I am there and it was so great to have extra help. At the orphanage yesterday, the kids were asking me when my friends were coming back. They miss them already. 

 

I am not even exaggerating when I say that the Lord sent me the most amazing mission team of all time. I know this is a short update, but no words can really describe the week. It was super blessed and the Lord definitely worked throughout their time here.

Lauren, Emily, Jake, Jimmy, Megan, Nicole, Mary, and Anna: I just want to thank you all for taking your 10-day here in Romania. You could have traveled around Europe, but instead, you chose to give of your time to serve the people of Romania. It was so amazing to have you all here and I am so grateful to have been able to share my love of Romania with you guys. I can't wait to see you all in Austria for Thanksgiving!