“When Pope Francis declared the Year of Consecrated Life, which ends on Feb. 2, 2016, the purpose was to have a renewed look at religious life, for Religious to Wake up the World, to be witnesses of a different way of doing things, of acting, of living. I do believe it has awakened people to Consecrated Life in a positive way, but also as something that has been taken for granted: thinking that priests and nuns would always be around.”

I am grateful to Archbishop William and honored to have been asked to speak on the topic “Family: the foundation of Consecrated Life,” and to share my personal confirmation of this statement. I have been a member of the Sisters Servants of Mary Immaculate for 35 years, and my two brothers [Joseph and Basil] are priests of the Phoenix Eparchy and Parma Eparchy respectively.

I am the youngest of the four children born to Mary and Basil Hutsko, grew up in Whiting, Ind., parishioners of St. Mary’s Byzantine Church. My parents are deceased as well as my sister MaryAnn, who died at the young age of 30. We were the typical family: 2 boys, 2 girls, a mom whose occupation was homemaker, as she had to give up her court stenographer job when she married my Dad, who worked at Standard Oil. My parents worked diligently to instill in us the importance of being honest, hardworking, loyal and always to do our best. But more importantly, we – along with other Catholic families in our neighborhood – were reared with the values of Family and Church and they were the focus of how we lived our lives. Continue reading →