Christmas Crafts Sale brings together sisters & old friends

The Annual Christmas Crafts Sale at the Motherhouse today (Saturday) brought out lots of shoppers to enjoy great prices on all manner of arts and craft items, and provided many of those shoppers a chance to become reacquainted with the Sisters of St. Joseph of Concordia.


This year the Motherhouse Relay for Life team held a bake sale in conjunction with the crafts sale, and the Motherhouse Gift Shop was open for anyone seeking a wider variety of purchases.


The crafts sale, which has been an annual event for more than 15 years, was scheduled for 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. today. Sisters Leah Smith, Jackie Kircher and Susan Stoeber work on crafts all year long for the event. They knit and crochet blankets, shawls and baby clothes, create beaded jewelry and rosaries, and invent all kinds of special Christmas decorations — and make and sell some very popular fudge. They are joined in the annual effort by Sister Cecelia Green, who creates a wide variety of woodwork decorations every year.

But it’s not just the sisters who look forward to the annual sale. Many shoppers took the time to chat with individual sisters and to introduce friends and family members accompanying them. Citing previous sales they’ve attended, many noted new items this year, or items they had purchased in past years.


The proceeds from the craft sale, like those from the Motherhouse Gift Shop, all benefit the Sisters of St. Joseph in their ministries throughout Kansas and in 10 other states and Brazil.

The proceeds from today’s bake sale will go to the Motherhouse team for Relay for Life, the annual cancer prevention fundraiser.

Nov. 27, 2009: Thanksgiving can last longer than a day, by First Presbyterian Christian Education Class

We have all heard the story of the first celebration of Thanksgiving by the pilgrims and Indians and how they joined together to give thanks for their harvest. The practice of Thanksgiving is still widely celebrated today across the United States with family dinners and gatherings.

We each have our family traditions that we celebrate each year. These might include watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade or cheering on our favorite football team. However, our traditions always center around food, family, and friends giving thanks for each other and our many blessings.

Many years have passed since the first Thanksgiving and even though the ways that we celebrate have evolved and changed over the decades, the true meaning of Thanksgiving has not been lost. We gather as family and friends bowing our heads together to offer thanks to God for the many blessings we have received.

The fourth Thursday of each November has been set aside by our government as a legal holiday to celebrate Thanksgiving. Although this is the one day that we as a nation step back and reflect on all we have to be thankful for, it should not be the only day that we offer thanks. We should practice Thanksgiving every day to appreciate the many blessings that we have. We can do this by offering our thanks to God daily by prayer and praise like a simple blessing before a meal, or a bedtime prayer. Others may choose to take just a few minutes to pause and quietly reflect on all of the small things that bless their lives each day.

We hope everyone had the opportunity to celebrate Thanksgiving on Thanksgiving Day, and we encourage you to celebrate your blessings each and every day! We wish everyone a safe and Happy Thanksgiving!

— The writers who contributed to this column are Jordyn Gumm, Kacey Gumm, Cassie Lowell, Catherine Wallace and Sharon Wallace. They are all members of the Junior-Senior High Christian Education Class at First Presbyterian Church of Concordia.

Sisters join 20,000+ teens at Kansas City conference

Nine Sisters of St. Joseph of Concordia were among the thousands of participants at the National Catholic Youth Conference last weekend in Kansas City, Mo.

Sister Barbara Ellen Apaceller was there with 1,100 youth and sponsors from the Salina Diocese, Sister Beverly Carlin helped in the effort to manage the crowd and Sisters Janet Lander and Julie Christensen helped with the Federation of Sisters of St. Joseph Vocations Booth. Members of the Leadership Council also came for a very special Diocesan Mass Friday night and the opening session on Saturday morning.

The Vocations Booth was staffed also by Sister Karen Salsbery from Wichita, Sister Zita Iwuoha from Baden and Sister Sarah Heger from St. Louis.

Sister Julie reports that they had “a wonderful time and many laughs” amid the estimated 21,000 Catholic teenagers who attended the conference from around the country. “The time was joyful and all together worth it,” she said

NCYC is held every two years. In 2011, it is scheduled to be in Indianapolis, Ind.

Nov. 23, 2009: History, and the here & now

This synopsis was prepared by the Leadership Council for the Sisters of St. Joseph of Concordia and our family and friends, to address questions you may have about the “apostolic visitation.”

For many American Catholic sisters, 2009 may very well be called “the year of the apostolic visitation.”

As we near the end of the year, we want to recap what this has meant to the Sisters of St. Joseph of Concordia and let our family and friends know where we stand now. This is a very brief outline; links to more detailed information from throughout the past months may be found at the bottom of the next page.

EVENTS THIS YEAR

➣ In January 2009 we learned that the Vatican had begun an “apostolic visitation,” or comprehensive study, of women’s religious orders in the United States. The action was initiated by Slovenian Cardinal Franc Rodé, head of the Vatican’s Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life. The announcement said the visitation would examine “the quality of the life of women religious” in the U.S.

➣ Appointed as “visitator” was Mother Clare Millea, a Connecticut native who is Superior General of the Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, an international religious institute headquartered in Rome.

➣ The visitation applies to the nearly 400 apostolic religious congregations of women in the United States, which include about 59,000 vowed sisters. (Communities of cloistered, contemplative nuns and monasteries are not part of the study, unless they do apostolic work.)

➣ In the spring, Mother Millea interviewed the heads of more than 125 American orders, including an in-person interview with Sister Marcia Allen, president of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Concordia, in Chicago on June 9. Another 50 or so congregations responded by letter to this first phase of the visitation.

➣ Mother Millea also began soliciting volunteers to form teams for on-site visits to selected congregations. In a letter dated May 19 and sent to orders’ leaders, she asked each to give her up to three names of sisters or members of other religious orders to serve on the team. Mother Millea’s letter noted that those who take part in the work “will be acting in the name of the Apostolic See” and for this reason “they must be willing to make a public profession of faith and take an oath of fidelity to the Apostolic See.”

➣ During the summer, the congregation received the “Instrumentum Laboris,” or working document of the visitation. The Sisters of St. Joseph ensured that all sisters received copies.

➣ Phase II of the visitation began in late September, with the arrival of an in-depth questionnaire.

The first section of the questionnaire delivered to leaders of congregations across the coun¬try requires 36 detailed answers that “quantify” membership in women’s religious orders — everything from how many vowed members, when each entered the congregation and her age at the time, to specifics on any facility that provides care to infirm sisters.

The second section is made up of more than 80 essay questions, ranging from some that are simple to answer (“Are your superiors elected or appointed?”) to many others that combine canonial and lay language and require theological and philosophical responses (“What are your hopes and concerns about the future of your religious institute in living its charism in the Church?” or “Describe your sisters’ commitment to praying with the Word of God in Sacred Scripture, to the practice of Marian devotion, and to communal and personal prayer.”)

The third section requires that each congregation provide copies of a wide range of documents, including its constitution, a list of all properties owned by the congregation and financial statements and cash flow reports. In mid November, however, Mother Millea changed the directions; she wrote:

“I have determined that documents number 5, 6, and 7, requested in Part C of the Questionnaire, are not to be submitted … The documents not to be sent to the Apostolic Visitation Office include:
5. A list of each sister, year of birth, address and type of ministry (full time/part time)
6. A list of properties owned and/or (co)sponsored by your unit.
7. A complete copy of the most recent independent audit of your religious unit or your last internal financial statement if an external audit has not been made. This should include a statement of financial position, statement of activity, statement of changes in net assets and statement of cash flows.

WHERE WE ARE NOW

➣ We are taking the apostolic visitation very seriously.

➣ We recognize that the results of the visitation may have a significant impact on women religious in the United States, now and into the future.

➣ We are a “pontifical institute,” approved directly by the Vatican. As called for by the Second Vatican Council, we began a “renewal chapter” in 1969; ultimately, that led to a new constitution based on our original mission from our origins in 17th century France. That constitution, which remains our living document today, was approved by the Vatican in 1987.

➣ An apostolic visitation means an official investigation by the Vatican — a “canonical document of inquiry” is the legal term. The Resource Center for Religious Institutes noted in March 2009 that an “apostolic visitation is not merely a ‘friendly visit’ (as the terms ‘visit’ and ‘questionnaire’ imply). While it may be framed within the context of a pastoral or paternal visit … it is being conducted because of a perceived need to correct or amend.”

➣ The legal term for that “need to correct or amend” is “cause,” and there has been no stated “cause” for this visitation. While that sounds benign — and some might argue that the “cause” is to consider the quality of life of American women religious, as stated by Cardinal Rodé and Mother Millea — “cause” has a specific meaning in the law: a charge that will be resolved in a court.

(As an example, in 2004 — in the wake of continuing sex abuse charges against numerous American priests — the “instrumentum laboris” for the apostolic visitation of American seminaries, said, “Special attention will also be given to the criteria for admission of candidates, and to the programs of human and spiritual formation aimed at ensuring that they can faithfully live chastity for the Kingdom.”)

➣ Because there is no stated “cause” for the canonical inquiry of apostolic communities of women, the reasons behind the visitation remain unclear.

➣ We are committed to live our lives as consecrated religious within the Catholic Church, according to Gospel values and the Catholic faith, as described in our Constitution.

➣ Just as we have since arriving in Kansas in 1883, we continue to love God and the dear neighbor without distinction. Today Sisters of St. Joseph of Concordia serve missions in nearly 20 cities and towns in Kansas, plus others in Arizona, California, Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, Texas and Brazil.

TO LEARN MORE

➣ The official web site for the Apostolic Visitation is www.apostolicvisitation.org

➣ Both the Catholic News Service and National Catholic Reporter have provided continuing coverage throughout the year. Search either of those sites for the word visitation. www.catholicnews.com and www.ncronline.org

Nov. 20, 2009: Take time to be grateful for what we have, by Meghan Cook

Thanksgiving is all about giving thanks for all that we have in our lives. When you give thanks you appreciate the things in life and are thankful for things that you already have.

When you are thankful you look at what you have, not what you want. Being thankful is looking at yourself in perspective, compared to people less fortunate, whether in Third World countries, or just down the street.

So many of us take the little things in life for granted, yet Thanksgiving is a time where we all come together and show our appreciation toward all that we have as well as our families. Many of us even take our families for granted. At times I don’t like my sister, but I know that I love her very much, and life without her wouldn’t be the same.

Jealousy can counteract being thankful; we get so caught up in what others have. In this situation we only see what we don’t have, not what we do have.

We all should take time to help others who are less fortunate than us.

We all have hard times, we all have our lows, but we should realize how much we really have, we should sympathize with those who are now going through hard times. We should always remember that if we believe in ourselves and are confident, things will get better.

We are lucky that we don’t have to worry about our home being bombed everyday. We don’t live in fear that our mother, brother, father, sister, son or daughter won’t come home from work everyday. We don’t live in as much danger as many of the people in other countries.

We are all fortunate that we have a country that is free. This is something that we should all be very thankful for.

We rely so much on others. Not all of us realize how much help we receive from teachers, police officers, firefighters, doctors, nurses, lawyers and even our parents. We take many of these people for granted every day. Without these people, our lives would be completely chaotic.

During November, especially around Thanksgiving, we should all take some time to slow down and be thankful for what, and who we have by our side. Then we may just realize how much we truly have.

— Meghan Cook is an eighth-grader at Concordia Junior High School. She is the daughter of Jeff and Lori Cook.

Annual crafts sale set for Nov. 28

Don’t spend all your Christmas shopping cash (and energy) on “Black Friday”! Save some for the next day, and the Annual Christmas Craft Sale at the Motherhouse.

The sale — set for 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 28 — features arts and crafts created by Sisters of St. Joseph who live and work in Concordia. Jewelry, handcrafts and woodwork are all included.

And this year, if you need an energy boost to keep on browsing, there will also be a bake sale to support the Motherhouse Relay for Life Team. Sisters from throughout Concordia are donating cookies, pies, breads and other treats for the sale.

The Motherhouse Gift Shop will also be open 9 to 2.

Nov. 13, 2009: A view of peace from an old rocking chair, by Ryan Hahn

“There never was a good war or a bad peace,” wrote Benjamin Franklin.

Now as then, “peace” is something everyone wants to have, but no one can ever completely accomplish it. Out of all the smart people in power, no one can come up with a solid plan that will sustain peace.

When I think of peace, I think of smiles of everyone’s face, everything just running smoothly and no problems in the world. Peace is having people at your side and nothing on the brain except what’s ahead, just pure tranquility. I think of tranquil surroundings, such as green grass, green trees, and just the smell of pure untouched air. This peaceful place has the most beautiful view at sunset, just sitting on my father’s old creaky rocking chair rocking to and fro on the porch, looking at all of the beautiful colors. While I sit there and watch the sun turn red and fall behind the trees in my backyard, I can hear all the wildlife because the whole area is dead quiet. It’s almost as if the world is standing still.

But we all know the world never stands still; it’s always buzzing with people too busy to pause and appreciate the small things.

The dictionary defines peace as “a state of mutual harmony between people or groups, esp. in personal relations.” If we could achieve that “mutual harmony” with other groups in the world the number of catastrophes might lessen and all the things most people fear would evaporate.

Every day would be joyful and stress free, people all over would get along and all the hate and deceit in the world would disappear. Peace would become reality.

But too many world leaders only see things their way. And even those who want to make peace can cause damage that starts new trouble. No, with all the hate going on in the world right now, peace seems to be a highly unattainable goal and certainly will not be attained anytime soon.

I’m just grateful I can always go back to my porch and rock myself into tranquility.

— Ryan Hahn is a student at Cloud County Community College.

Foundation gives $75,000 to new center

The new Neighbor to Neighbor center in downtown Concordia has received a $75,000 boost from the Sunflower Foundation — the largest one-year grant ever awarded in Cloud County by the statewide organization.

The one-time grant comes from the foundation’s 2009 “Finding Solutions in Challenging Times” program. The money will be used for health-related programs at the new center, scheduled to open at 103 E. Sixth St. in February.

Neighbor to Neighbor, a project of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Concordia, will offer a wide array of programs and services to women and women with young children. The three women who are the driving force behind Neighbor to Neighbor — Sisters Pat McLennon, Jean Befort and Ramona Medina — envision it as a resource and education center as well as a place to meet and connect with other women in the community.

The Sunflower Foundation grant will go toward programs that focus on exercise, nutrition and school readiness, and will help pay for start-up materials and furnishings in the building.

The “Finding Solutions” grants grew out of the foundation’s recognition of the tough economic times facing nonprofit health and human service organizations as they work to meet increasing needs among Kansans.

Sunflower received more than 100 grant applications for the “Finding Solutions” grants and awarded fewer than 50, according to Larry Tobias, the foundation’s vice president for programs.

Tobias noted that the Neighbor to Neighbor request “was not an exact fit” with the goal of the one-time grant program, “but we recognized the merit, and saw that this was a response to the needs identified by the community.”

Those needs were first formally identified in a survey the sisters compiled from a series of lunches with community leaders in the fall of 2008. Since then, the Sisters of St. Joseph have hosted community forums and working lunches to identify a wide range of challenges for Concordia and to help find solutions.

More than 70 individuals representing some three dozen agencies and organizations have taken part in those meetings this year.
“With this program, we were looking at (grant) requests directly linked to solutions,” Tobias added. “And that’s what we saw with Neighbor to Neighbor.”

The Topeka-based Sunflower Foundation was created in August 2000 as part of a $75 million settlement between Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas, the state attorney general and state insurance commissioner. The foundation’s goal is to serve the health needs of Kansans with an emphasis on programs that serve the poor, uninsured, underinsured; promote preventive health care; and support activities aimed at reducing the number of Kansans who use and are addicted to tobacco products.

In its first six years of operation, the Sunflower Foundation provided more than 500 grants worth more than $20 million.

Neighbor to Neighbor has also received $2,500 grants from the Community Foundation for Cloud County and the Orscheln Industries Foundation, as well as private contributions from more than 150 individual donors.

Nov. 6, 2009: ‘Random acts’ spread kindness to strangers, by Haley Bowers

Kindness, “the state or quality of being kind.”

When a person is helpful, generous, sympathetic, or compassionate for no other reason than to be kind, it is a random act of kindness.

Many of us will go out of our way for family or friends, but when it comes to someone we don’t know… That’s harder — and yet that’s the point of a random act of kindness. For example, I was heading to one of our home football games and was looking for a decent parking stall. After a few laps, I found an exceptionally good one next to the entrance, but then I noticed a family van packed full of kids also looking for a close place to park. I decided to take a few more laps, allowing the family to claim the one I’d spotted.

Another “random act” can be to greet someone with a smile. It’s easy to spot someone having a bad day walking through our high school hallways. I believe that offering them a simple smile, or some assistance if that’s what’s needed, we can make all the difference. Kindness like this can have a great effect on a person’s life, no matter how small or big the deed it is. This is why we need to continue this kindness everywhere we go.

Challenge yourself and watch how it can brighten someone’s day and in return you get the feeling of self satisfaction.

— Haley Bowers is a senior at Concordia High School. She is the daughter of Charlie and Elaine Bowers.

Sisters’ delegation meets with Kansas governor

Concern for the poor, the immigrant, our earth, and the marginalized led a dozen representatives from the various religious communities in Kansas to met with Gov. Mark Parkinson at the Capitol Wednesday.


Those taking part were Sisters Beth Stover, Judy Stephens, Christina Meyer and Esther Pineda from the Sisters of St. Joseph of Concordia; Sisters Sue Miller, Maureen Hall, Nancy Bauman, Linda Roth and Therese Bangert from the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth; Sister Barbara McCraken from the Sisters of St. Benedict, Atchinson; Sister Tarcisia Roths from the Adorers of the Blood of Christ, Wichita; and Sister Mary Ellen Loch from the Congregation of St. Joseph of Wichita. The sisters’ concerns focused on immigration, the coal-fire energy plant at Holcomb, Kan., the death penalty and the state budget.

Before meeting with Parkinson, the sisters gathered at the Kansas Action for Children building for a briefing on the topics they expected to address with the governor.

At the Capitol, Sister Judy Stephens called on Parkinson to support what she called an urgent need for “comprehensive reform of current immigration law.”


“(Immigrants) are employed in jobs not wanted by most US citizens,” Sister Judy said. “In restaurant kitchens, dish rooms, cleaning hotel rooms, digging ditches, highway construction, roofing, 24-hour dairy operations, confinement feedlot operations, etc. In the community and the census polls they are often hidden and missing.”


But, she noted, “One place where they do feel welcomed is in our Church… the four Kansas bishops have spoken publicly on their behalf.”

She ended by posing specific questions to the governor:

1) Will you continue to support the in-state tuition bill? And if a bill to rescind it comes to your desk, will you veto it?
2) Will you encourage our Kansas congressional delegation to support comprehensive immigration reform?
3) Would you veto the voter ID law, as then-Gov. Kathleen Sebelius did in 2008?

Parkinson described himself as “completely aligned” with the sisters on the issue.

Sister Barbara McCracken also had specific questions about the Holcomb coal plant.
In early May, Parkinson negotiated a deal with Sunflower Electric Power Corp. to allow construction of a coal plant in exchange for adoption of renewable energy legislation. That legislation was approved two weeks later.

The Sunflower-Parkinson settlement requires the utility company to build a wind farm and support pollution-mitigation projects. The new energy legislation requires net metering for small power producers, renewable portfolio standards for large producers, and mandatory efficiency rules for state buildings and vehicles. It also prevents the Kansas Department of Health and Environment from imposing regulations on air quality no tougher than contained in federal law.

Noting the potential damage to the environment and to the health of Kansans, Sister Barbara asked, “Why did you feel compelled to initiate a new deal with Sunflower for one coal-fire plant?”

“We had reached an impasse in the legislature,” Parkinson explained. “We did have enough votes to stop the building of a coal-fire plant but (without the deal) it would have been harder to pass legislation for alternative forms of energy such as the Renewable Energy Standard.”

Sister Esther Pineda asked about weakening the authority of the state Department of Health and Environment in monitoring the plant’s emissions. But Parkinson said that the state still has authority to protect Kansans’ health, “but (that) authority should not be harsher or stricter than those of the federal government.”

When the subject shifted to the state’s death penalty, the governor was less definitive.

Kansas reimposed the death sentence in 1994. According to the Topeka Capitol-Journal, there are 10 men currently on death row, but no one has been executed in the state since the reimposition of the law.

Given that, Sister Tarcisia Roths asked if the death penalty really serves as a detriment.. She also asked Parkinson whether Kansas afford the cost when research has shown that it is cheaper to incarcerate the prisoners for life and for his opinion on the possibility of an innocent person being executed.

The governor said he would be willing to reconsider the state’s death penalty law.

Before the end of the meeting, Parkinson had a topic of his own to discuss.

“The budget affects people’s life greater than any issue,” he told the sisters. “It is important to be attuned to what is happening in the state level on the budget.”

He also challenged the faith leaders to strongly advocate on social issues affecting the poor and disenfranchised of the state. Those are groups that don’t have lobbyists working on their behalf, he noted, so that responsibility falls to concerned groups like religious communities.

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