IN MEMORY OF STEPHANIE
SULLIVAN
Stephanie Natalie Carlson
Sullivan
IN MEMORY OF STEPHANIE
NATALIE CARLSON SULLIVAN (July 27, 1931-May 27,
2005)
March, 1995: One of original three founding
members of the Brothers and Sisters of Penance.
Entered formation in 1998. First Treasurer and
member of Board of Directors.
April 7, 2002 (Divine Mercy Sunday)--First of
our members to pledge for life to live our Rule
of Life.
August 22, 2003 (Queenship of Mary): Brothers
and Sisters of Penance refounded as the
Confraternity of Penitents. Stephanie continues
as Treasurer and Board Member of refounded
group.
February 14, 2004 (Valentine's Day): Officially
transferred life pledge to Confraternity of
Penitents.
May 27, 2005: First of our members to enter
eternal life.
A teacher and librarian with a Masters' Degree,
Stephanie had a ready smile for all.
She was fond of
recalling how she, as the daughter of a Navy
captain, had been at Pearl Harbor when it was
bombed, thus pulling the United States into
World War II. She and her husband Lt. Col.
Robert Sullivan had four children (Robert,
William, Laurie, and Thela) and three
grandchildren (Christina, Ariana, and Austin).
Stephanie
led the Rosary faithfully every day before daily
Mass for many years, then attending Mass and
often bringing up the Offertory gifts. Stephanie
prayed many prayers every day including a daily
Rosary and the full Divine Office. She would
often pray her Rosary while taking extended
daily walks throughout her neighborhood.
She went to confession weekly for years until
her spiritual director told her that it wasn't
necessary, in her case, to confess so often.
In the Blessed Luchesio Chapter, Stephanie was a
formation person in the Brothers and Sisters of
Penance and then in the refounded group the
Confraternity of Penitents. She took her
Treasurer duties very seriously, making sure
that every check was immediately deposited or
written and certifying that the checkbook
balanced monthly. Her monthly monetary donation
arrived like clockwork, and she saved her
pennies for this by cooking frugally.
Stephanie was a wonderful cook who made all her
meals from scratch. The Confraternity of
Penitents Cookbook (available from the CFP Holy
Angels Gift Shop as of Christmas, 2005) is
dedicated to her memory. Several of Stephanie's
often used recipes are in this cookbook. Her
Carmel Sauce recipe was her favorite, and her
children loved her Apple Cake which she
frequently made.
Stephanie had a great devotion to the Blessed
Mother and Saint Francis of Assisi and was a
devotee of Padre Pio long before his
canonization. She was fond of sharing videos,
prayers, pictures, and informative articles
about her favorite saints. Several of her
personal videos and books have been donated to
the Confraternity of Penitents and are part of a
lending library available to CFP members and
associates who have completed all four years of
formation.
We will miss Stephanie whom we never knew to say
an unkind word about anyone. May she rest in the
arms of the Lord, and may she intercede for us
here who are still on our spiritual journey.
Eternal rest grant unto Stephanie, O Lord, and
may perpetual light shine upon her. May
her soul, and the souls of all the faithful
departed, rest in peace. Amen.
Stephanie, pray for us and for all doing penance
world wide! Thank you, dear sister in
Christ!
----------------------
Memory of Stephanie from Richard Hubbell, friend
of the Confraternity of Penitents:
Stephanie went to college and got married and worked
for years as a school librarian in the public
school system. When she retired, she devoted
herself entirely to daily Mass and the Rosary
and to constantly doing acts of kindness.
I met Stephanie by sitting in
her pew at Jesus Savior. I used to like to sit
in her pew because she led the Rosary before
morning (8am) Mass, and I love the Rosary. After
I got so sick, I couldn't get over there in time
for 8am Mass any longer (I live too far away)--that's
when she began to write to me even though I was
too sick to even write back to her.
She is the only one who wrote me when I was so
very sick with lyme disease in the late 90's -
even my family forgot about me or they left me
alone but not Stephanie. She would send me
little hand written letters by mail (not email)
about Padre Pio mostly and she would always tell
me she was praying for me.
I will never forget her kindness to me.
Surely she will definitely hear
those words from Our Blessed Lord which we all
so long to hear "well done, my good and faithful
servant."
Richard Hubbell
-------------------------
Homily by
Father Julian Stead, OSB, CFP Spiritual Advisor,
at a Mass said for Stephanie on 2 July 2005:
When I was in Rome last week, I met a boy coming
out of St. Peter's Basilica, and he asked me if I
thought the Church was falling apart. I told him
that I don't think it's ever been bound together
more strongly.
Look at the people who come to St. Peter's, to
Lourdes, to Medjugorge. Catholics are in the
minority worldwide, but we are a strong
minority. I think of the many martyrs who lay
down their lives for the Lord and of all the
saints in this century beginning with Saint Pius
X. The church of St. Bartholomew, which has the
Apostle Bartholomew's sepulcher, has side
chapels along each aisle, each dedicated to the
martyrs of modern times, of communists, Nazis,
of Spain, and Mexico, and not only of Catholics;
Protestants and Orthodox too; there is a chapel
with relics sent by Orthodox bishops, one from
Albania the other from Romania. We have Blessed
Teresa of Calcutta and St. Pio of Pietrelcina.
There have been saintly popes. There have been
Benedictine saints like Abbot Marmion and
Cardinal Schuster. Those were men whose works
influenced popes and religious, not folks
outside the fold.
But just as important as all these great names
in our Catholic history are the little people
who live their faith humbly and heroically from
day to day. Stephanie was one of those people
doing penance for her sins and those of the rest
of the world. In her case, the Lord put old wine
into new wineskins--the old wine of the Rule of
1221 was put into the new wineskin of the
Confraternity of Penitents, and Stephanie
embraced and lived this Rule.
Referring to the first reading of today's Mass
in which Jacob was mysteriously chosen by God,
Stephanie was also elected, chosen mysteriously
like Jacob. She followed Christ closely like
millions of other people who may have been as
holy in God's eyes, or holier, than the names we
have already mentioned. We simply don't know.
While we cannot make any prejudgments about
Stephanie, and it is always good to pray for the
souls of the dead, still we know that she
followed Christ closely. We trust that she, the
wedding guest, can now join the Bridegroom for
all eternity.
---------------------------------
As a tribute to Stephanie and her great
devotion to both St. Pio and the Eucharist, we
share this prayer:
Padre Pio's Prayer
(Usually said after Holy Communion)
Stay with me, Lord, for it is necessary to have
You present so that I do not forget You. You
know how easily I abandon You.
Stay with me, Lord, because I am weak and I need
Your strength, that I may not fall so often.
Stay with me, Lord, for You are my life and
without You I am without fervor.
Stay with me, Lord, for You are my light and
without You I am in darkness.
Stay with me, Lord, to show me Your will.
Stay with me, Lord, so that I hear Your voice
and follow You.
Stay with me, Lord, for I desire to love You
very much and always be in Your company.
Stay with me, Lord, if You wish me to be
faithful to You.
Stay with me, Lord, as poor as my soul is I want
it to be a place of consolation for You, a nest
of Love.
Stay with me, Jesus, for it is getting late and
the day is coming to a close and life passes,
death, judgment and eternity approaches. It is
necessary to renew my strength, so that I will
not stop along the way and for that, I need You.
It is getting late and death approaches, I fear
the darkness, the temptations, the dryness, the
cross, the sorrows. O how I need You, my Jesus,
in this night of exile!
Stay with me tonight, Jesus, in life with all
its dangers, I need You.
Let me recognize You as Your disciples did at
the breaking of the bread, so that the
Eucharistic Communion be the Light which
disperses the darkness, the force which sustains
me, the unique joy of my heart.
Stay with me, Lord, because at the hour of my
death, I want to remain united to You, if not by
Communion, at least by grace and love.
Stay with me, Lord, for it is You alone I look
for, Your Love, Your Grace, Your Will, Your
Heart, Your Spirit, because I love You and ask
no other reward but to love You more and more.
With a firm love, I will love You with all my
heart while on earth and continue to love You
perfectly during all eternity. Amen.
Confraternity of Penitents
520 Oliphant Lane
Middletown RI USA
02842-4600
401/849-5421
bspenance@hotmail.com
copenitents@yahoo.com
