The Wheaton Franciscans had a wonderful summer leading up to the 2024 Season of Creation, including visits to projects that we collaborate with through the Ministry Fund.

Several Sisters and Covenant Companions visited Bethlehem Farm, a rural center where inner city, as well as rural youth spend time camping and communing with nature. For some it is a life-changing experience.

They also visited Hungry World Farm, which teaches and practices regenerative farming methods, thus restoring soils that were once depleted of nutrients back into productive, nutrient rich soils, teaming with biodiversity. In addition to growing fruit, vegetables and flowers, they also raise cattle, sheep, goats and chickens. The farm also contains a meadow and woodlands rich in biodiversity.

This year, our Indigenous Seed Keepers project is growing a patch of corn for the Chickasaw Nation.  The Chickasaw people have had a difficult time finding a place to grow their sacred corn seed.  Because we were so successful growing Kickapoo red flint corn in the past, we were asked to grow Chickasaw corn this year.  Surprisingly, we have been successful thanks to the efforts of our postulant Paige Samdal.  We will soon be harvesting the corn crop to return it to the Chickasaw people.  We are grateful to be able to rejoice in the harvest in late October.

During the 2024 Season of Creation (SOC), our theme was “Journey Together: To Hope and Act With Creation.”  To open the SOC we created a prayer card to share with our motherhouse faith community so that families, sisters and covenant companions could pray with it at home throughout the season.  At the opening liturgy on September 1, we shared a video based on the SOC prayer in place of the homily.  It was then posted on the website as an ongoing reflection that could be prayed with anytime.  To see it, go to wheatonfranciscan.org/2024/08/28/season-of-creation-2024/

Each week during the SOC, we shared brief reflections in our weekly newsletter. These are also available on the above website link. John Niemet, a covenant companion, offered a guitar concert in the St. Clare Garden at noon on September 19 so that anyone who wished could join him in the beauty of nature during their lunch hour.  The beautiful weather made it extra special!

Since this year’s theme called us to hope and act with creation, about 10 of us joined a group of 30 Loyola University students in Woodstock, Illinois at the university’s retreat and ecology center on Saturday September 21.  We participated in a work project to help remove invasive species from the meadow, woodlands and stream on the campus.  This is a years-long project that eventually will restore the natural environment of the area, which had been heavily altered over the past 160+ years.  It was wonderful to learn about the hickory, oak and hemlock forest that was the predominated ecosystem in this area.  It is hoped that by restoring the native forest, the stream and wetland, and the meadow that were once here, biodiversity will slowly return balance to this beautiful place.  It was so wonderful to see young people so committed to restoring the health of our planet in whatever small ways they can.  It was also good to be able to collaborate with them.  We are actively looking for ways to continue working and learning from one another in the future.

Written by Sister Beatrice Hernandez