Who could I be?

This blog was created by a former volunteer with the help of the volunteers and sisters involved in the 2010 Charity in the City summer program, sponsored by the Sisters of Charity of New York for women ages 18-30.

As a volunteer last year, I found the experience of service in the city remarkable because it challenges volunteers to ask the question pictured in the mural above-- Who Could I Be? They ask this question of themselves, but also from the humbling perspective of the people they serve over the course of two weeks. People on the fringes of their communities must ask, "Who could I be if I had a home? Or if I had an education? If I were healthy?"
At the end of the program and long after, we as volunteers ask the question with greater consciousness of others, and consequently of our own gifts, graces, and privileges. Who Could I Be? becomes How Can I Be?
Then, with greater strides, our journeys continue.

Welcome & Hospitality by Sister Kati Hamm, program coordinator

Welcome from the Sisters at Mount Carmel
Planning for Charity in the City, the two week immersion in ministry program involves finding a place to live and opportunities to minister. This year Charity in the City made its home in Our Lady of Mount Carmel Convent, East Harlem. Our Mount Carmel neighborhood was only quiet for a few hours in the early morning, yet God was surely in this place. The convent on the corner of 116th and Pleasant Avenue puts you just a few minutes from the thoroughfares that can take you to Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx or Downtown. The sisters who live there opened their doors and hearts to welcome the six gifted young people who participated in the program and the two assistants. Think what a shock this could be to your system! Instead it was a mutual admiration society.

Through good times and bad Connie, Claire, Carmel and Lorraine have seen the face of this part of New York as it has changed. They know the people in their neighborhood and their families. With these veteran Vincentian women, the young women had opportunities to share the history of the area, prayer, and conversations which were nourishing for all. During the theological reflection times, questions, observations and exchanges reminded everyone of how challenging it is to give truly Vincentian service whether young or old. There are no easy answers.

Welcome from the City
     The sounds of East Harlem I heard were church bells, music, sirens, buses, store gates closing and opening, car alarms, happy voices catching a breeze on a hot summer night, and the Spanish language. The sights of East Harlem are stores, street markets, bodegas, apartments for sale, construction, street repair, murals, community gardens, and all kinds of people-- all ages, all ethnic groups. High points for me were using a shopping cart, exchanging a glance with a woman cautioning me to stay away from a group on the corner, thanking a man who offered a quarter for a meter, and seeing families enjoying a sidewalk barbecue and making music on the streets. With the number six subway just a few blocks away this location was perfect for a taste of NYC!


Welcome from the Sisters of Charity New York
     The young women’s encounters with this particular community of sisters and the many others who invited them into their ministries, homes and lives have been a blessing. While telling about how she came to be in the program, one young woman gave a beautiful tribute to the many sisters who have befriended and supported her over these last year, saying she has seen in them Vincent’s way of service. The virtue of hospitality so dear to Elizabeth Seton is a disposition that grows in proportion to our desire to embrace all whom we meet. I believe that Welcome! was heard loud and clear by the Charity in the City 2010 volunteers and it will stay with them for a long time. We continue to pray,  ”Open our Hearts Lord, Help us to love like you. Open our Hearts Lord. Help us to love.”
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