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Maureen Chicoine, rscj, was installed October 31 as pastoral
coordinator of two parishes in San Bernardino, California. Some called
it “the future of the church,” according to a report by Sally Furay, rscj, who attended the event.
“This is the future of the church and we are on the cutting edge, “
said a Religious of the Sacred Heart who attended the installation
ceremony on October 31, 2004, for Maureen Chicoine, rscj, as pastoral
coordinator of Christ the King and Our Lady of Fatima parishes in San
Bernardino, California.
Others declared the event a ground-breaking moment and a sign of hope,
with clear support of a humble and visionary bishop. She was appointed
to her new post by Bishop Gerald Barnes of the Diocese of San
Bernardino.
Sister Chicoine's new position will require her to carry out the
delicate and daunting task of building a new parish community out of
the two congregations, as well as adding a third to the mix. Her
assignment is to merge, by next summer, into a single congregation, two
low-income, heavily Hispanic parishes, both growing exponentially in
numbers without space to expand, plus a largely Anglo parish with a
different culture. The three parishes will move into a new and larger
church structure.
Members of the two parishes and their families, plus a number of
Religious of the Sacred Heart from San Diego and Palm Springs, joined
Sister Chicoine for this occasion. The ceremony, conducted in two
languages, English and Spanish, was inspiring and filled with hope for
the Church.
Bishop Barnes (who is Hispanic in spite of his Anglo name) spoke in his
homily, also in two languages, about Sister Chicoine's mission to bring
the congregations together and help them accept the new model. He
reiterated at least twice that he had personally chosen Maureen for
this role. He has entrusted to Maureen some of the most difficult and
sensitive work in his diocese, and he expressed to all present his
strong conviction that she is the right person to lead the
congregations in this merger. Toward the end of the liturgy, Maureen
herself spoke graciously, in both languages.
“She shows great courage and generosity in her willingness to assume
such a ministry,” said one participant in the installation event.
Another noted that the combined parish staffs have already arranged for
religious instruction to be handled in such a way that the two parishes
have to mix the children, of whom there are already over 550, and who
will have different first languages, when the third parish gets
involved.
At the reception following the Mass and installation, one of the two
vicars of the diocese, who has known Maureen during the more than nine
years she has worked in the diocese, asked an RSCJ, “Haven't you got
several more Maureens who could come to this expanding diocese to do
what she does so well?”
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