Ours isn’t measured in sales. Rather, our living is driven by faith and action: the revelation that God is love, that the two great commandments call us to love and that Christ, who is love incarnate, lives within us.

When the Greek New Testament proclaims love to us — God-love, Christ-love, Spirit-love, neighbor-love — it uses the word agape. The term denotes love that transcends eros (romantic) and is deeper than philia (friendship). When translated into Latin, the word is caritas, or charity. This is the love which Jesus preached and exemplified: selfless, unconditional, sacrificial.

Four groups of religious sisters in our diocese proclaim the gift and call of charity by their very name. We have in our midst Sisters of Charity of Our Lady of Mercy (OLM), Daughters of Charity (DC), a Sister of Charity of Leavenworth (SCL) and Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul (SCV). 

The first three of these are members of the Sisters of Charity Federation, a group representing nearly 1,900 women in the U.S. and Canada, which describes their charism and mission in the one great word: charity. The fourth group originates in India, with sisters in residence in Clover.

The Sisters of Charity we meet around the state are inspired by the life and spirituality of Sts. Vincent de Paul and Elizabeth Ann Seton. The 17th century Vincent de Paul, a French priest, had a heart for the poorest and most neglected. He was firmly convinced that there was a role for consecrated religious women to mix and mingle with the people of God, offering human and spiritual services. The 19th century American Seton is well known to many. A wife, mother, convert and then a widow, she became a sister and founded a community with an eye to spiritual and educational needs of children. The inspiration of these saints has stirred the souls of women for centuries, and Sisters of Charity dedicate themselves to vowed life in community, prayer and expansive apostolic works.

OLM

Those who have delved into the history of the diocese know the great work done by the OLM sisters since their founding in 1829. The community has excelled in education, care of orphans, establishment of hospitals and outreach centers. In the aftermath of the Civil War, they received congressional honors for their care of both Confederate and Union wounded. In the years that followed, their services expanded across the state and beyond. Their heritage lives on in places like Roper St. Francis, Our Lady of Mercy Center on Johns Island, Neighborhood House in Charleston and in the grants they offer to support numerous good works.

DC

The Daughters of Charity, an international group, have been notable teachers and administrators. Today, the Daughters of Charity, whose American base is in St. Louis, Missouri, staff Mercy Mission in Hardeeville, offer guidance services and scholarship grants at John Paul II School in Ridgeland and engage in migrant ministry in the Midlands.

SCL

The Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth are represented here by one sister — previously here on a sabbatical and now a staff member at Springbank Retreat Center in Kingstree. Like all Charity sisters, the SCL mission is wide-ranging. Their concerns include the needs of Native Americans and immigrants, care for creation, racial justice and the plague of human trafficking.

SCV

Finally, the Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul are relatively new in the diocese, having come from Kerala, India, and the Syro-Malabar rite of the Catholic Church. They are active in the upstate and across the border in North Carolina, providing catechesis, faith formation and parish ministry.

Popes like to speak of love. St. John Paul II did repeatedly, and Benedict XVI entitled his first encyclical Deus Caritas Est (God Is Love). In October, Pope Francis released Dilexit Nos: On the Human and Divine Love for the Heart of Jesus Christ. Toward the end of the encyclical, Francis cites St. Vincent de Paul and his advice to those who would become part of the Vincentian family. He asked them to pray that “the heart of the Son of God … that disposes us to go as he went” would inspire and drive them “to bring fire everywhere.”

Among the gifts our Sisters and Daughters of Charity bring are the fire of divine love and of Christian love that has a human face.