Photos by Nora Edinger Ileana “Ily” Fernandez of the Sisters of St. Joseph community in Wheeling fled Cuba at age 17 with only a suitcase. She said such experiences have combined with her faith to help her view the crises of the day from a peace-keeping perspective.

WHEELING — Do nuns have any special take on how to have peace in a world that seems to produce a major crisis on a daily basis? Maybe yes, maybe no.

Three Sisters of St. Joseph shared a glimpse of their external and internal lives while pondering that subject. And, interestingly, all three particularly noted that membership in a religious order doesn’t slow life down.

During the run up to their interviews, for example, one was running late for a court hearing, simultaneously talking on the phone, texting and fishing for a calendar.

Another was fielding a multi-afternoon conference and dealing with the death of a fellow sister. And, all of their schedules included work, multiple appointments and even things as mundane as helping a friend move.

Yet, as the emails and phone calls flew back and forth, a picture began to emerge before the first interview questions were asked. Their brand of busyness included a variety of counterbalances that they suggested even those regional residents who aren’t Roman Catholic nuns could put into use.

Here are their stories:

FIRST SPRING

Sister Ileana “Ily” Fernandez recently experienced her first spring. Not just at Mount St. Joseph — the sprawling religious community’s “motherhouse” near Oglebay Park.

It was her first true spring anywhere.

A native of Havana whose family fled Castro’s communist revolution when she was just 17, Fernandez lived in Venezuela and Puerto Rico before joining a religious community in the U.S. Until 2021, she was based in subtropical Baton Rouge.

Seeing the Mount green up after a long winter felt like a miracle.

“I was attracted to this community because our mission is about God’s inclusive love, including, for me, not only humans but the plants and trees — everything,” Fernandez said. She noted the setting was part of why she wanted to make a location change and work with the community’s retreat ministry.

That natural beauty helps keep her spirit and mind calm, she said, noting that it works in tandem with her faith.

“If I didn’t have faith, I would be very depressed,” Fernandez acknowledged. She said it’s faith that makes her want to look for evidence of kindness and love in the world and to bring more of the same to the table.

She mentioned a line of poetry by a writer going by only the name Rosemerry that inspires her: “The sorrow is great. Let us learn to love greater.” Fernandez said the experience gained through her own sorrows also helps her keep a peaceful perspective on the troubles that seem to have snowballed since COVID-19 began.

“We just took a little suitcase, and that’s it,” she said of leaving Cuba with her family, which scattered by necessity after their flight. “We thought we were coming back.”

Her father’s job capabilities as a chemical engineer gave them a type of elite “exile” status, she said, but Fernandez added that she can still empathize with today’s refugees. “Been there, done that, and my heart bleeds,” she said.

It’s a past that matches the present in other ways, she noted. Russian interests were openly in play in Cuba, she said, noting her father, then a professor, was personally aware of Castro’s activities while a student.

And, today’s racial division also strikes a familiar chord. She is American, yet she is also a native of Cuba and of recent Spanish descent. She feels home stirrings in Caribbean culture and, after so long in Louisiana, with the Cajun community, as well. She said it is hard to even decide what to label herself on U.S. Census records.

“I have like a bigger picture of the world. I have been everywhere,” she said of those experiences informing her news intake, her prayers and the need to regularly touch base with small joys such as gumbo or jambalaya.

TOGETHER MATTERS

Two other sisters from the Wheeling-centered community — Rose Ann “Rosie” Hefner of Charleston and Karen Kirby of St. Clairsville — said another thing that helps them stay at peace is making time to be together.

Both regularly connect with the community for honest communication about their current state even though they reside away from the Mount.

“Maybe the good thing about COVID is it let us appreciate it when we can be together,” said Kirby, who works in pastoral care at the Continuous Care Center of WVU Medicine Wheeling Hospital. “Isolation is not good for anyone.”

During the height of COVID, Kirby said nuns largely continued their ministries, which were considered essential work. But, as they were otherwise isolated, meeting as a community via Zoom left a lot to be desired.

“We’re dealing with the same kinds of stuff,” she said of that time of quarantine and today’s world, whose manifold divisions she sees as a great irony given the pandemic. “We should have learned from COVID that we need to come together, not fly apart.”

Hefner, likewise, said she meets regularly with her microcommunity of two other Sisters of St. Joseph also serving in Charleston. While their ministerial schedules vary — Hefner works part time in restorative justice programming — they often pray together and share meals.

Both Hefner and Kirby said they are careful to set aside quiet time each day, as well.

Hefner likes to walk in nature in addition to spending about 20 minutes each morning and evening at her home to reflect on God and offer what she called a “centering” prayer.

Kirby said she has a touchstone verse from the book of Proverbs that helps her when the world’s troubles seem overwhelming. It concerns guarding what gets access to the heart and protecting it as the wellspring of life.

“People want to have control over things, but the only thing we have control over is to guard our hearts,” Kirby said. “That’s when you will find out that peace is not the absence of war and all these difficulties. It’s inside.”

Each of the three sisters shared another peace-keeping strategy they would like to see spread. All mentioned intentional kindness.

Hefner noted this can be small things. She recently helped a new immigrant get a library card, vouching that the young woman was living in the community even though she had yet to amass enough proofs of residency to get the card.

Kirby agreed kindness is something that needs hot pursuit, although she cautions those working around her to not burn themselves out in their well doing.

“We need to salvage each other … In this very trying time, we need to heal, hold each other up,” Kirby said of having a deliberate mindset. “There’s so much tearing people down.”