A letter from Loretto President Barbara Nicholas SL

Dear Reader,

Greetings on this near-summer day. This season seems to have been a long time coming with its intermittent sunny temperatures followed by snowy afternoons or cloudy mornings. All the while, our editor and authors and photographers have been hard at work creating this issue of Loretto Magazine to be filled with stories of Loretto life.

Writing that sentence reminds me of an experience I had in the early 1970s when a friend and I rode the elevator to the top floor of a recently completed tower of the World Trade Center. The elevator stopped, the door opened to a giant floor-to-ceiling sign that read, “You are about to see one of the most spectacular sights in the world.” It is true that the vision of New York City and environs below and beyond us would turn out to be spectacular. However, I have always thought that there should have been a huge window greeting us rather than a printed sign!

And so, rather than offering a preview, I leave it to you, dear reader, to discover all that these pages have to reveal. I hasten to add that we do not do any of this alone. Your faithful remembrances of us in your prayers and your steady and generous financial contributions are part of these pages. I invite you to linger over a story or photo or name as it calls to mind your special connection with Loretto today.

In I Am the Way, the Constitutions of the Sisters of Loretto, we find many profound and inspiring words that serve the Loretto Community as a guide for our lives. These words from article 33 are meaningful to me these days. I’d like to offer them to you as acknowledgment that with your kindness and support we make strides, as you will see in these pages, to make the words a reality:

“… we strive to bring the healing Spirit of God into our world and we commit ourselves to improving the conditions of those who suffer from injustice, oppression and deprivation of dignity. In this way, we participate in the church’s mission of proclaiming the transforming love of God.”

Thank you, profoundly.

With love,
Barbara Nicholas SL
President of Loretto

To read all the articles in the Spring/Summer 2024 issue of Loretto Magazine, click here.