{"id":12718,"date":"2026-10-30T09:54:08","date_gmt":"2026-10-30T08:54:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cenacle-gen.org\/2026\/10\/30\/bicentennial-feast-in-the-united-states\/"},"modified":"2026-10-30T15:37:27","modified_gmt":"2026-10-30T14:37:27","slug":"bicentennial-feast-in-the-united-states","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cenacle-gen.org\/en\/2026\/10\/30\/bicentennial-feast-in-the-united-states\/","title":{"rendered":"Bicentennial Feast in the United States"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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A magnificent sunny autumn day dawned for the festivities. Cenacle Sisters from Chicago as well as from around the country, Auxiliaries of the Cenacle, Cenacle Associates, friends, retreatants, benefactors and Felician Sisters gathered to give thanks to God for 200 years of Cenacle mission. <\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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On behalf of the Sisters in the Province, Sr. Pamela Falkowski, Provincial Leader, gave a warm welcome to those gathered in the chapel or who were watching through the Livestream in the many parts of the country and around the world. She called attention to the beautiful golden cloth that adorned the altar and shared that the pattern was created by the people of Togo specifically for the Bicentennial and that this particular cloth was a gift to the North American Province from Sr. V\u00e9ronique Fabre, Superior General and her team. <\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Festive red, orange and gold banners led the entrance procession of Mass, followed by the Cross of the Resurrected Christ, a handmade clay firepot set aflame to represent the Holy Spirit, the Constitutions of the Sisters, the Constitutions of the Auxiliaries, the Formation Book of the Associates, a large clay pot with trails of gold painted upon it and the Book of the Gospels. Most of the items were set at the foot of a statue of Our Lady of the Cenacle that stood in the sanctuary. <\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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The Music ensemble included musicians playing the organ, piano, flute, violin, drums and tambourine in addition to the cantor, Sr. Mary Peters. What a joyful noise they made! <\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Longtime friends Fr. Peter Bernardi, SJ and Fr. Richard Baumann, SJ concelebrated the liturgy, and both of them preached the homily. Fr. Peter set the context of the founding of the Cenacle with stories of Mother Th\u00e9r\u00e8se and the mission of retreats while Fr. Richard spoke of the Bicentennial theme \u201cOf Clay and Gold\u201d. <\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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After the homily, our guests witnessed the renewal\/profession of vows and promises by the Sisters, Auxiliaries and Associates.<\/p>

The Bicentennial song \u201cSurrendered Hearts\u201d was sung as a post-Communion meditation. Now many more people have experienced the beauty of this song. <\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Following the Mass, everyone enjoyed refreshments in the Wellspring Room (hot hors d\u2019oeuvres, delicious pastries and fresh fruit) as well as conversation and visiting with one another. <\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Sr. Pam gave a brief power point presentation about the Bicentennial and the internationality of the Congregation, conducted in the form of a dialogue between Mother Th\u00e9r\u00e8se and Father Terme.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Afterwards, Sr. Susan Arcaro and Auxiliaries Maureen Reimer, Ann Frearson and Lee Prescott gave a power point presentation on their experiences at the Bicentennial celebration at Lalouvesc back in August. Their photographs were filled with lively memories of the events and people of that wonderful celebration. <\/p>

As we look back with joy and gratitude not only on this special day, but on God\u2019s fidelity through 200 years of Cenacle mission, we can say with Mother Th\u00e9r\u00e8se,<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\u201cGod is good, God is more than good, God is Goodness itself.\u201d<\/h5>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Sr. Mary Guido rc<\/h6>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The North American Province celebrated the Feast of Our Lady of the Cenacle and the Bicentennial of the Congregation on October 24. The Mass and reception took place in Chicago at 3800 West Peterson Avenue, where a community of Cenacle Sisters lives among the Sisters of St. Felix of Cantalice (the Felician Sisters). <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":12699,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[98],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bicentenary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cenacle-gen.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12718","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cenacle-gen.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cenacle-gen.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cenacle-gen.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cenacle-gen.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12718"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/cenacle-gen.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12718\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12721,"href":"https:\/\/cenacle-gen.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12718\/revisions\/12721"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cenacle-gen.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12699"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cenacle-gen.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cenacle-gen.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cenacle-gen.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}