The Hermitages have always held a special place in Sr. Helen’s heart as she was one of the sisters to bring the Rule for Hermitages to the congregation. Now, in her current role, she is responsible for their upkeep before and after use.
After spending many years in education and parish ministry, in 1998, Sr. Helen Budzik became a member of the startup team that began the Franciscan Spiritual Ministries in Aston, Pennsylvania. She has served in various roles with the spiritual center ever since and is currently the hospitality coordinator for the Franciscan Spiritual Center – Aston.
Sr. Helen grew up with her two sisters in the Graceland Park section of Baltimore County, Maryland. She attended Sacred Heart of Mary Elementary School and The Catholic High School of Baltimore. At Catholic High, Sr. Helen first met the Sisters of St. Francis. She said, “I was attracted to the Franciscan sisters because of their genuine interest in the education of young women. They provided so many opportunities to explore and develop our gifts and talents. While I met the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth in elementary school, I was not drawn to them as a congregation even though I had excellent teachers and several friends who entered their congregation.”
Entering the Sisters of St. Francis the summer after her high school graduation, Sr. Helen spent the next few years in formation at the motherhouse and as a student at Neumann University—then Our Lady of Angels College—where she majored in English.
In the early 2000s, Srs. Mary Gurley and Helen Budzik were involved in a program of education for African Franciscans. The two sisters spent three weeks in Nairobi, Kenya.
Her first teaching experience was at Holy Ghost School in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Sr. Helen taught fourth through eighth grade and even taught piano lessons. It was here that she first learned about Individually Guided Education (IGE). This approach used teaming for instruction, shared decision making, and programming instruction to meet the needs of the individual students.
After two years at Holy Ghost, Sr. Helen began to teach sophomore religion at St. Maria Goretti High School in South Philadelphia. She enjoyed the opportunity to team up with other religion teachers from various congregations and introduce aspects of IGE to her students. Sr. Helen shared, “One of my favorite experiences was collaborating with Sr. Damian Marie Jackson and Sr. Annunciata, a Sister of St. Joseph, to create an accelerated religion program allowing students to participate in a specially designed service course during their senior year.” During her six years at Goretti, she and Sr. Pat Hinton became involved in liturgical ministry at nearby Annunciation BVM Parish. This evolved into assisting with adult education and leading a collaborative retreat between the adults and high school students.
Sr. Helen returned to elementary education as principal of St. Aloysius School in Pottstown, Pennsylvania. During this time, she became an instructor to teachers working toward religious certification for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and completed her MA in Sacred Science from St. Bonaventure University.
Srs. Helen Budzik and Rosemary Napolitano were co-homilists at the 2003 merger between the Sisters of St. Francis and the Ringwood Franciscans
Following her years as a principal, Sr. Helen began to minister as a pastoral associate. She served in this role in three different parishes in Pennsylvania over the years—St. Thomas More Parish in South Coventry, St. Cyril and Methodius Parish in Reading, and St. Joseph Parish in York. Speaking of her years as a pastoral associate, Sr. Helen shared, “My ministry in these parishes included supporting religious education programs, offering teacher certification classes, leading adult Bible study, spiritual companioning, and implementing the RCIA program. I became a member of the Diocesan RCIA teams, first for the Diocese of Allentown and later for the Harrisburg Diocese.” While at Sr. Cyril and Methodius, Sr. Helen assisted in getting their Secular Franciscan Fraternity reinstated. During that time, she was one of the congregation’s lottery winners for a pilgrimage to Assisi—an experience that introduced her to the eremitical dimension of St. Francis’ life. Sr. Helen also furthered her education, earning an MA in Pastoral Studies from Loyola University, Chicago. While studying at Loyola University, Sr. Helen studied the life and writings of St. Clare of Assisi. Sr. Kathleen Moffat asked her if she would be interested in writing about her research of St. Clare, and this resulted in Sr. Helen co-authoring a publication for the Franciscan Federation with Sr. Roberta McKelvie, a Bernadine Franciscan, titled Guidelines for the Study of Clare of Assisi.
Sr. Helen completed her ministry at St. Joseph and took a sabbatical year to explore the contemplative dimension of evangelical life. She then spent six months caring for her mother. Sr. Pat Hutchison—then director of sponsorship—hosted meetings with sisters interested in exploring offering spiritual ministry in Aston. Sr. Helen participated in meetings and applied to be part of the startup team that would bring the vision to birth. She was delighted to be selected for the team and has continued in this ministry.
Staff members from the Franciscan Spiritual Center in Aston pose for a photo in 2013. Many are still on staff today, ensuring the programming continues in some way into the future.
“Since the startup of this ministry, my responsibilities have varied,” said Sr. Helen. “For the first two years, we worked as a team on several areas, with each of us having a primary focus. My focus was finances and assisting with advertising. Over the years, my responsibilities have included bookkeeping, advertising, website initiation, registration and data organization, scheduling hosted groups, collaborating with housekeeping and food services, and establishing and coordinating the hermitages. I have also served as a presenter for programs both on and off-site, as a spiritual director, and as a supervisor of spiritual directors for Neumann University.” For several years, Sr. Helen worked part-time for the Franciscan Spiritual Center while also serving as the candidate director for the congregation.
When asked about the challenges of her ministry at the Franciscan Spiritual Center, Sr. Helen said that the biggest challenge has been “responding to the changes that are always part of this ministry.” She explained, “The blessings have been and continue to be many. Among them are the many dimensions of collaboration that involve ministering to such wonderful people. Another blessing is the various ways of incorporating our Franciscan charism. Having participated in creating and offering retreats on Mother Francis Bachmann and the Franciscan Theological Tradition/God’s Extravagant Love, I’ve had the privilege of ministering with our sisters in various parts of the United States, Ireland, England, and Kenya. The gifts of these experiences are innumerable.”
Sr. Helen on a family trip with her Brother in-law Tom Furrer, sister Terry Budzik-Furrer, sister Barbara Budzik-Douglass, and niece Elizabeth Furrer.
Over the years, Sr. Helen has been very dedicated to providing experiences of St. Francis’ Rule for Hermitages, also known as the Document on Solitude. Introduced to the tradition on her first pilgrimage to Assisi, she was asked by Sr. Rose Cecilia Case, then congregational minister, to introduce the sisters to experiences of the Rule for Hermitages, along with Srs. Mary Catherine Gurley and Joyce Helfrich. In addition to offering solitude experiences to sisters, Sr. Helen introduced the Rule for Hermitages to St. Joseph’s Parish, where she was a pastoral associate. This led to her writing an article, “The Rule for Hermitages for a Parish,” published in Franciscan Solitude, edited by André Cirino, OFM, and Josef Raischl. When Franciscan Spiritual Ministries, Aston began, Sr. Helen and Sr. Mary Catherine were able to offer the Franciscan Solitude experience to an even wider audience. These experiences continued as the Franciscan Spiritual Ministries became the Franciscan Spiritual Center. When André Cirino, OFM, and Josef Raischl, OFS, were publishing a new anthology, Prayer of Franciscan Solitude, they asked Sr. Helen to contribute once again. Her article was titled “Hermitages in a Spiritual Setting: A Franciscan Experience.”
Sr. Helen enjoyed a “girls trip” with her sister Terry Budzik-Furrer and niece, Elizabeth Furrer.
Sr. Helen is a woman of many talents and enjoys reading, researching her family’s genealogy, cardmaking and other crafts, music, cooking, and baking. She is a people person who enjoys participating in congregational activities, especially the Mother Bachmann Committee. She also enjoys spending time with her family through visits, FaceTime, and phone calls. In speaking of her many hobbies, Sr. Helen shared, “To me, these are another kind of ministry since they all bring me into relationships with so many people.”
