Darbas ranka rankon – Švč. Mergelės Marijos Nekaltojo Prasidėjimo vargdienių seserų kongregacijos Šiaurės Amerikoje rėmėjai

Abstract

This article discusses the supporters, in the United States, of the Sisters of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The latter is a Lithuanian women’s congregation whose history in North America began in 1936, when a small group of Sisters arrived in the U.S. to assist the Marian Fathers in their work. As the congregation expanded the area and nature of its activities, it strengthened its ties with members of the Lithuanian diaspora in North America: the Sisters’s endeavors to work in areas important to Lithuanian emigrants (youth education, assistance to elderly persons, fostering Lithuanian traditions) were favorably received and were supported by volunteer groups. These volunteer supporters have been and are an inseparable part of the Sisters’s community (in a broad sense). The Sisters of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary have been supported in diverse ways: by the provision of financial resources, goods, and labor; and by the offering of prayers. The congregation has been supported both individually and in organized groups. The activities of these supporters have gone beyond initiating material support for the sisters’s congregation. The supporters of the Sisters of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary have strengthened the solidarity of Lithuanian-Americans as a whole by helping to implement projects of importance to the entire Lithuanian diaspora and by fostering philanthropic attitudes and skills.