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October 18, 2021, Detroit – Sister Rosalie Esquerra, OP, was recently recognized for 48 years of dedication and commitment and for the lives she influenced for the good through her ministry at Life Directions. The Detroit-based organization – which Sister Rosalie co-founded – encourages young people in high school and beyond to work with and inspire their peers, helping them to recognize their own gifts and lead productive and happy lives.
Sister Rosalie was honored during Life Directions’ Spirit of Hope Tribute Gala.
“It’s been a wondrous journey,” she said of her ministry at Life Directions. She was one of the founders of the organization with Father John Phelps, CSsR, President and CEO; Father Alexander Steinmiller, CP; and Alexander and Judith MacDonald.
“Father John had initiated a conversation about the poor in Southeast Detroit,” Sister Rosalie recalled. “The five of us were caught up by that vision, so we initiated various programs,” including working in public schools. At the time, Sister Rosalie said, she was already involved in public schools, walking with the students through their various challenges, including local gangs.
Very early on, the co-founders began what has been their focus for much of their history: “peers inspiring peers.” Sister Rosalie, Father John, and Father Alex each began working with one high school in Detroit. “We initiated conversation groups with at least 15 students” in each school, Sister Rosalie said. “We asked teachers to send us students who are positive and have goals and students who are ambling along. The idea was peers inspiring peers.” During the first session, participants were invited to express their concerns, and the three leaders from Life Directions created modules based on those concerns.
“The impact on the schools was incredible,” Sister Rosalie recalled. Among the students who had been less purposeful, “grades went up, attendance improved, and the spirit in the school was positive.”
But, Sister Rosalie said, the focus of Life Directions was on young people in Detroit who were past the age of high school. Young adults were invited to a retreat, “Focus Life,” which helped them to see that each is a gift.
The focus during the retreat was still on “peers inspiring peers,” with groups formed of seven to nine achieving and non-achieving young adults. “They’d work in small groups and encourage and support each other,” Sister Rosalie said. “Their role was to share their journey, the journey dealing with hurts and heals, the joys and the special things that happened in their lives.”
After the retreat, Sister Rosalie said, the participants were invited to stay connected as a circle in their neighborhood. Married couples would continue to listen to, guide, encourage, and support them, she added.
In both programs, the staff of Life Directions focused on low-income neighborhoods in which gangs and gang violence were prevalent, Sister Rosalie said. “Years later, the neighborhoods are still doing well,” she said. “The impact in the neighborhood is still evident.”
The success of the program in Detroit led Life Directions to begin programs in Chicago; New Orleans; San Antonio, Texas; Tucson, Arizona; and Salem, Oregon. Since then, with the success of the program established in these areas, Life Directions turned its own focus solely on Detroit and Chicago, she said.
“One of the core values we hold is that you are a gift and I walk with you to help you see your gift, grow in your gift,” Sister Rosalie said, adding that seeing the gifts in others is also important. “All of us are gifts, and many times the focus that is given is on the downside of people’s lives rather than on their gift side, their caring side,” she said. “Sometimes that caring side is just a spark. By walking with people, recognizing them, encouraging them, they actual begin to value the gift they are.”
Many of the people Sister Rosalie worked with attended the gala tribute to her. “The people at the celebration were people we worked with in high school 50 years ago and people from retreats,” as well as from parish missions that Life Directions conducted, Sister Rosalie said. “It was really special to be there and see people who had met me at a retreat when they were a young person or had met me at school because of the peer motivation program.”
Many others who were influenced by Sister Rosalie could not attend the celebration because of COVID-19 restrictions. These include a group of Adrian Dominican Sisters, who created a video in tribute to Sister Rosalie. Watch the video by Sister Suzanne Schreiber, OP, and hear more about Sister Rosalie’s impact and influence.
Note: This article was updated on October 22, 2021, to include the video of the award ceremony.
September 8, 2021, New Orleans, Louisiana – While many Americans watched the furor and aftermath of Hurricane Ida from their television sets or computers, Sister Judith Zynda, OP, experienced it firsthand – from the home in New Orleans that she shares with Dominican Sister of Peace Jeanne Moore, OP. But Sisters Judy and Jeanne experienced not only the fury of Ida but the care and concern of neighbors and the people they encountered in the aftermath.
Hurricane Ida hit New Orleans and areas of Louisiana on August 29, 2021, and went on to wreak havoc on the Northwestern part of the United States. Sister Judy shared her experience in an email to Adrian Dominican Sisters and Associates and during a September 3, 2021, telephone interview.
Sisters Judy and Jeanne decided to ride out the storm after hearing earlier predictions that Ida would be relatively mild. At the last minute, however, forecasts changed: Ida was predicted as a Category 4 hurricane, edging on a Category 5. In the end, Sister Judy said, Ida was probably a Category 3 edging 4.
“The winds started about 8 Sunday morning, and the worst was overnight [into Monday],” Sister Judy recalled. “I woke up at 4 in the morning and what woke me up was the silence. [Ida] was moving so slowly that it had a lot of chance to do a lot of damage because it sat on us.” She said the winds were high, but their house was sturdy and on high ground, only sustaining damage to the roof, a leak through one of the ceiling receptacles in the kitchen, and several downed branches. Areas to the west of New Orleans suffered worse damage, she added.
Although they lost power – and it isn’t expected to be restored for two to three weeks – Sisters Judy and Jeanne at first did fairly well at home. With their gas stove and water heater, they were able to cook and take hot showers. They worked for two days, clearing the yard and emptying the refrigerator and the freezer.
In the end, however, the heat became too much. “If the temperature had been 20 degrees lower, it would have been okay,” Sister Judy said. But the heat index reached 108. “People can get by, but they have to be able to take the heat.”
At the invitation of a friend, Sisters Judy and Jeanne left their home to stay at Sacred Heart Monastery, the home of the Benedictine Sisters of Cullman, Alabama. They share one of the monastery’s three guest houses – an 11-bedroom house normally used by retreatants – with three other Dominican Sisters of Peace. Four Sisters of Notre Dame share a second guest house. She said they will stay there as long as they need to – at least until their power is restored. “Once they tell us it’s safe to go home, we’ll go home,” she said.
Although she feels she is still in some form of shock from the experience of the hurricane, Sister Judy is inspired by the care and concern shown by the Benedictine Sisters at Sacred Heart Monastery. “We could not have asked for a better place to come,” she said. “The Sisters seem to know that we kind of need to be left alone to process things,” but they also invited their guests to Mass and opened their laundry to them. “It’s total hospitality.”
Sister Judy also feels that hospitality and kindness from the people in the surrounding community – from the people she encountered when she was running some errands in town. One woman at the pharmacy told her that they took in 1,200 people from New Orleans at the time of Katrina. “All you have to say is you’re from New Orleans and they can’t do enough for you,” Sister Judy said.
That same sense of concern and care for people in need was evident during their drive to Cullman, Sister Judy said. “The parade of linemen coming down I-59 was so moving,” she recalled. “We saw trucks with generators and trucks with telephone poles; 25,000 electrical workers are on their way to New Orleans.” Each time they passed a truck with electrical workers, she said a prayer for them. “I think God wants us to know that community and watching out for one another is really important,” she said. “God took care of us.”
Asked what people could do to help and support those affected by Hurricane Ida, Sister Judy said, “First of all, pray for everybody.” She also suggested donating to organizations that offer relief efforts for those affected by the hurricane:
Catholic Charities USA, headed by Adrian Dominican Sister Donna Markham, OP, is the official domestic relief agency of the U.S. Catholic Church.
The Hurricane Ida Relief Recovery Fund, was established by the Archdiocese of New Orleans to aid in the area’s recovery.
The Saint Bernard Project offers relief services and community resiliency training in communities throughout the nation and beyond. Originally established in New Orleans six months after Hurricane Katrina, the organization started a response fund for those affected by Hurricane Ida.
A native of Dearborn Heights, Michigan, Sister Judy first ministered in New Orleans in 2011 as an AmeriCorps volunteer at Saint Bernard Project and was moved by the experience of the people trying to rebuild their homes and their lives. She currently ministers on the pastoral team for Christopher Homes, a senior housing ministry of the Archdiocese of New Orleans. After her personal experience of Hurricane Ida, Sister Judy said she feels a kinship with the people who suffered from Hurricane Katrina.
Feature photo: Hurricane Ida is pictured as a category 2 storm from the International Space Station as it orbited 263 miles above the Gulf of Mexico. (NASA Johnson – CC BY-NC-NC 2.0)