By Doug Bean
Catholic Times Editor 

The Order of the Most Holy Savior of St. Bridget, better known as the Bridgettines, has quickly established its presence as a spiritual force in the Diocese of Columbus and is ready to expand its hospitality and prayer ministry here.

Nearly three years after arriving in the diocese at the invitation of then-Bishop Frederick Campbell, the sisters have launched a capital campaign to raise funds to build a new chapel and guesthouse as part of an expansion project at the sisters’ convent at 40 N. Grubb St., which is adjacent to Holy Family Church in the Franklinton area just west of downtown.

The phases will include renovation of the existing structure, which has already begun, followed by construction of an 8,000-square foot, 150-seat chapel modeled after the sisters’ motherhouse chapel in Rome and then a guesthouse with up to 30 rooms.

Meyers + Associates Architecture of Columbus is in charge of the design. Chris Meyers, the principal architect and founding owner of the firm, is working with the sisters and expects the chapel project to take approximately 10 to 12 months to complete.

Meyers, a parishioner at Worthington St. Michael Church, has assisted on projects at Damascus Catholic Youth Summer Camp in Knox County and for several parishes, including Columbus St. Timothy and St. Aloysius, Newark Blessed Sacrament and St. Michael, where his company designed the parish center and adoration chapel.

Father Stash Dailey, vicar for religious in the diocese and the pastor at Holy Family Church, said the start date for construction of the chapel is still to be determined. The Franklinton Area Commission has approved the plans, and a general contractor has been selected, but the next steps include fundraising and obtaining building permits.

The Catholic Foundation has established the Bridgettine Sisters Donor Advised Fund for financial assistance. The website is https://catholic-foundation.org/BridgettineSisters.
“It’s the prayer and the hope of everyone that phase two begins this year,” Father Dailey said.

The Bridgettines, who wear a distinctive habit and veil that includes a crown with five red jewels representing the wounds of Christ, have just one other house in the United States, located in Darien, Connecticut, on Long Island Sound, that is utilized mostly for retreats. Their charisms focus on Christian unity and hospitality. 

The order is based in Rome, and Bishop Robert Brennan and Father Dailey have stayed in the sisters’ facility during visits to the Eternal City.

“Their guesthouse in Rome is a very beautiful place with simple rooms, where they provide meals and help pilgrims to make their visit in a very spiritual way – different than just any hotel,” Bishop Brennan has said. “There is a chapel on site. It is a place of prayer.”

In Columbus, the sisters hope to welcome travelers and visitors but especially those accompanying loved ones on extended hospital visits. Father Dailey sees the downtown location as providential because the guesthouse will be accessible from the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Nationwide Children’s Hospital and OhioHealth Grant Medical Center.

“When the sisters first came here, we were (wondering) whether this is the best location for them,” Father Dailey recalled. “But they’re needed right here.

“Right now, the guesthouse is planned for three stories. The third story would be rented out to women who need a place of residence, whether they’re professional women, single or older women. There are just so many different possibilities.” 

Not only do the sisters welcome guests and travelers, but they also reach out and touch souls. Father Dailey has seen firsthand the impact the Bridgettines have made in a short time here on Catholics and individuals who are lukewarm to religion or have lost their faith.

“Their whole spiritual thrust is Christian unity, and they have yet to meet someone they haven’t converted,” Father Dailey said. “The conversions are really amazing.”

The sisters dig into souls, Father Dailey said. He cited one instance where their witness prompted a woman to return to the Sacrament of Reconciliation for the first time in more than 40 years.

“And, literally, it looked like she was 15 years younger after making that confession,” Father Dailey said.

“They take these people who are interested in the Catholic Church literally by the hand, walk with them, speak with them, pray for them, give the book on (St. Mother Maria Elizabeth Hesselblad, who in the 1900s revived the order started by St. Bridget of Sweden in the Middle Ages) or a saint, and they’re toast. They really are. And it’s not through coercion or intellectual conversion.

“They just take them in, they love them. They don’t overlook their faults. They help them realize that if you take that fault to the Lord, and you pray and you do penance, then that fault becomes a great gift, like a treasure you offer Jesus.

“You can preach, you can teach, in RCIA you can make all the arguments you want, but some of the toughest nuts to crack I just send them over here. The sisters melt them like butter. I should just put a big sign on the front door at Holy Family that says, ‘Interested in the Church? Don’t like Catholics? Go next door.’

“Their phrase is, ‘My love is crucified,’ and every single person they meet, their whole goal is to bring that person to their beloved, Jesus on the cross.”

The first phase of the Columbus project involves renovation to the space where four sisters currently live, including additional rooms to eventually house more nuns. That’s due in part to a sudden rise in vocations the order is receiving here.

In the 60 years the Bridgettines have served in North America, the order had only one vocation until the sisters arrived in Columbus. But now, because of their devotion and witness, three women are joining the order to begin formation, and Father Dailey anticipates four to five aspirants entering next year.

“They don’t look at you like you’re a project that ‘I need to help this poor girl get to Jesus,’” Father Dailey explained in describing the reason women are attracted to the sisters. “They just embrace you as a family member. It’s just a totally different approach. It’s like you can’t help but fall in love with them.”

In addition to rooms for the sisters, the convent currently houses their chapel, which is open for Eucharistic Adoration to outsiders but only on a limited basis because of COVID-19 restrictions. Once the new chapel is built and the pandemic eases, adoration will take place there, and the sisters’ living area will become cloistered except for an area to entertain visitors or family members.

Father Dailey pointed out that no churches in the surrounding area have an adoration chapel. “So, as far as people who live downtown or even west or south, if you want to make an hour of adoration, this is it,” he said.

Situated at the north end of the existing convent is a large room that is open to the public and can accommodate meetings, small gatherings and speakers. Some events have already taken place there, and inquiries about the space can be directed to the sisters at info@bridgettines.com.

Bridgettine sisters now assigned to Columbus hail from India and Mexico. Mother Eunice, who was appointed to a leadership role here by the order, is a native of India.

“I really do know that the Lord is blessing everything going on here with the sisters,” Father Dailey said. “It’s such a beacon of light.” 

For more information about the Bridgettines in Columbus, visit bridgettines.com or contact the sisters at info@bridgettines.com. To learn more about the Bridgettine order and St. Mother Elizabeth Hesselblad, who was canonized in 2016, go to bridgettines-usa.org.