Opportunities for Support

Imagine growing up in a family so poor that you cannot go to school because you have help bring in extra money to feed your family. This is the reality for the street children of Querétaro, Mexico. Without an education, the challenge of lifting themselves out of poverty, and away from the violence of their inner city neighborhood, is nearly insurmountable.

Our Sisters in our Mexico Region are serving these children, their families and others in need in Querétaro, Morelia and Mexico City through core programs that improve quality of life and help pave a road out of poverty. Since the street children cannot go to school, the Sisters and others are taking school to the children. Escuela Movil, an initiative of the Sisters in Mexico, provides educational resources in a mobile unit which brings teaches and education materials directly to the street people, primarily children and youth. The program has a profound impact and a tremendous reach. For example, over a fifteen-week period last year, through forty unique visits, more than eight hundred individuals were served. Escuela Movil is made possible through a collaborative effort with the food bank, ALVIDA, in Queretaro, Mexico.

In addition to Escuela Movil, our Sisters partner with ALVIDA to distribute food to the hungry, and minister to the elderly, providing skilled nursing care, comfort and support. As a Partner in Mission, your financial support allows our sisters to continue these ministries in Mexico, in service to those in very great need.

As trends show more young Catholics are interested in exploring religious life, religious communities like the Sisters of Divine Providence have an opportunity and a responsibility to grow new membership by helping young women and men discern a possible vocation. The formation of women becoming Sisters is very important not only to the Congregation, but also to all whom they will serve in the future. Our Vocation and Formation Ministers in Texas and Mexico work with these individuals to assist them in discerning God’s call in their lives.

Your contribution to the formation of future Sisters and the work of the Vocation and Formation Ministers is an investment in the future of our Church, as well as an investment in the future ministry of each young woman entering formation.

In 1868, the Sisters of Divine Providence established their first Motherhouse, now Moye Retreat Center, in Castroville, Texas. While the Sisters eventually moved their Motherhouse to San Antonio, Moye has continued to play a part in the search for spiritual growth for countless individuals, first as a school and now as a retreat center, faithfully and carefully maintained by the Sisters who built it.

Moye is a sacred place to many today as it was to those who walked its grounds more than a hundred years ago. Hundreds of individuals come to Moye for retreats each year, most of these being participants in A.C.T.S. retreats. Though most guests are with Catholic groups from the west side, south side and rural parishes of the Archdiocese of San Antonio, the Center is available to non-Catholic groups, as well.

Through the support of our community, Moye has continued to be a long-standing spiritual retreat ministry, helping others to seek and celebrate the powerful presence of our Provident God. Gifts to Moye Retreat Center provide critical funding to help the Sisters improve and maintain their former Motherhouse and the rich history of the Sisters of Divine Providence in Castroville.

Since the Sisters of Divine Providence came to Texas, they have dedicated their lives to educating adults and children, feeding the hungry, caring for the sick, sheltering the homeless and ministering to those in need. For years they labored for little or no pay and with little thought of their own welfare. Any surplus funds were reinvested in ministry and educational costs for younger members of the Congregation. As a result, many of our Sisters lack retirement savings. The Providence Trust is a fund designated to ensure the future comfort and safety of all our retired Sisters. If necessary, the Trust provides resources to pay for skilled nursing care for Sisters in their later years through our highly rated McCullough Hall Nursing Center. Providence Trust and the critical care it provides are funded through the generosity of our Partners in Mission. Your gift to the Trust ensures every Sister who spent her life in service to others will in turn have the care, comfort and security she needs in her retirement years.

It is a tradition and an obligation of the Congregation to care for its sick and elderly members. To meet this need, McCullough Hall Nursing Center was built in 1972. While established to provide care for the sisters, eventually the center began accepting parents and siblings of Sisters, Sisters and priests of other congregations and now other lay people in need of its services.

Placed in the heart of San Antonio’s West Side, McCullough Hall Nursing Center, Inc., a 51-bed licensed, not-for-profit nursing facility, provides high quality, affordable care to the community in what has traditionally been a low income, chronically underserved area. The mission of McCullough Hall is to continue the healing ministry of Jesus Christ in such a way that both givers and receivers of its services experience God’s love and compassion. McCullough Hall respects and promotes the wholeness of the human person by providing for the spiritual, physical, intellectual and emotional needs of the residents and their families.

McCullough Hall Nursing Center, Inc. strives to keep its rates low in order to make services accessible to residents of the low income, under-served neighborhoods on San Antonio’s West Side. As health care costs continue to rise, it is only through the generosity of our Partners in Mission via our Providence Trust that this healing ministry is able to continue.

The Sisters of Divine Providence are committed to caring for Earth and God’s creatures. This awareness moved the Earth Care committee to reflect seriously on how they can contribute to the sustainability of the most precious resource, water. The committee has purchased a rain barrel collection system, but has aspirations to build a 50,000 gallon underground rainwater collections system that will provide water in the garden, pecan grove, and cemetery areas.