The many languages of prayer and life

Monroe - Sister Michele Ruggiero is a Pallottine Sister at Queen of Apostles Center in Monroe. She grew up in the Bronx, attended Catholic Schools, and entered the Pallottine Community (Sisters of the Catholic Apostolate) after graduating from high school in 1961. Educated to be a teacher, Sister Michele took her first vows in 1968. Her 12 years of teaching took her to schools in Harlem, Brooklyn and Highland Mills here in Orange County. After doing some recruiting for the community, she worked in Maryland where she matched missionary volunteers with mission projects. Back in Monroe, Sister Michele felt the need to go in another direction in 2005. “I saw the increasing numbers of Spanish-speaking residents in our area,” she said. So she requested sabbatical time from her religious community in order to take courses providing intensive immersion in the study of the Spanish language and Hispanic culture. Her request was granted and she attended the Maryknoll Language Institute in Cochabamba, Bolivia, from January through June of this year. “My time at the institute proved to be a series of new adventures and formative experiences,” she said. Residing in a Bolivian convent of the Daughters of Charity, Sister Michele participated in colorful town fiestas and church celebrations. “I went with the Sisters on their evening runs to feed the street children,” she said. “I learned about their culture, their political systems and the indigenous people.” Sister Michele returned to become part of a Catholic community in Orange County that is serving the area’s growing Hispanic population. The churches of St. Anastasia in Harriman, Sacred Heart in Monroe, St. Patrick in Highland Mills and St. Mary’s in Washingtonville are all sharing in the ministry of Father Ben Palacio to the Hispanics, which includes a Spanish language Mass. The Sisters of Charity in Harriman also have started a program of outreach to the Spanish-speaking community. They have been joined by the Pallottine Sisters in Monroe and the Religion of Jesus and Mary in Highland Mills. Every Thursday evening for the past two months, students of English as a Second Language have attended classes at Queen of the Apostles Center in Monroe. The instructors are Sisters Isabelle McCann, Kathleen Thompson and Eugenia Ziegler. Sister Michele is now on a two-week mission trip to Arusha, Tanzania, with a group of 14, including high school and college students and adult advisors. They are at a center that serves young children, including orphans, and reaches out to adults living in mud huts who are in need of spiritual and material assistance. Laura Garry is a teacher in the Monroe-Woodbury School District. “I’m going for the experience and to see the difference between teaching here and teaching over there,” said Garry. “I want to find out how they get along.” Sister Michele was asked if she had any second thoughts about flying in light of the recently discovered terrorist plot to blow up transatlantic airliners. “The trip is already planned, and we are going to continue the mission and our lifestyle,” she said.