Peers recognize Sister Mary Fran with Spirit Award

Sister Mary Fran Simons, who has been chaplain at Chandler (Ariz.) Valley Hope treatment facility since it opened in 1986, was honored for her years of service with the 2009 Spirit Recognition Award.


The award highlights a clinical professional in the Phoenix metropolitan area who has assisted clients in different specialty areas such as eating disorders, chemical dependency or mental health.


Some 200 people gathered at Sierra Tucson’s “Gratitude for Giving” breakfast in Phoenix Dec. 11 to honor Sister Mary Fran and the other award recipients. Hers was one of 11 annual awards presented to mental health professionals and social service personnel selected for the honors.


The program director for Chandler Valley Hope, Roger Nelson, nominated Sister Mary Fran. “She is our very own Mother Teresa who has had an enormous impact on the spiritual development of our patients,” Nelson said as he presented the award.

Eulogy for Sister Francis Joseph Hoover: Dec. 16, 1912-Dec. 17, 2009

Eulogist: Sister Lucy Schneider
Vigil: Dec. 20, 2009, at the Motherhouse in Concordia

In the wisdom of God, Sister Francis Joseph Hoover made her way to the next life from Mount Joseph Senior Village Dec. 17, 2009, the day after her 97th birthday. Interestingly, providentially, Dec. 17 was the first day of the Church’s O Antiphons. The day’s antiphon? “O Sapientia, O Wisdom, O Holy Word of God”! As Christmas approaches, these seven O Antiphons — prayers invoking the God-beyond-all-names with titles to be found for God, nevertheless, in the Old Testament — these O Antiphons bring intensity to our Advent longing. And they capture very well Sister Francis Joseph’s lifelong desire for union with God, her Savior. Now, we trust, on the other side of death, she sings in wonder and great joy, “O Sapientia, O Wisdom O Holy Word of God!”

With presumed permission from Sister and from all of you here, I propose to use liturgical and literary license to weave, loosely — very loosely — the other O Antiphons into this account of the life of a very simple, yet complex and prayerful person, Sister Francis Joseph Hoover. The Antiphons correspond to phases of her life and of our own at a deep level, if not a surface one. Obvious connection or not, we can make the Antiphons spiritual “station breaks” in this account of Sister Francis Joseph’s life.

Born in Greenleaf, Kan., to John Anthony and Anna Burke Hoover, she was born again in baptism, Eucharist and confirmation at St. Michael’s Church, Kimeo, just 3½ miles from the Hoover family farm.

“O Adonai, O Lord and Leader, come and redeem us with outstretched arm, for you are the giver of all life, human and divine!”

Speaking metaphorically, something Sister was well attuned to, she, Helen Louise Hoover, was the filling in the sandwich of seven siblings in the Hoover family. As No. 4, Helen followed Marie, Francis and Leo and preceded Margaret, Ed and Joseph.

She claimed a holy parentage, both earthly and heavenly. “O Radix Jesse, O Flower of Jesse’s stem, come to deliver us and do not delay.” In later years she had a passion for preserving the genealogy of her family. The impressive family genealogical book was dedicated to her.

In a life review written in 1983, she demonstrates her way with words. The Hoover children grew up in a time of dust, drought and depression. And she also remembers the “cold climb up the long sloping hill facing northeast in the wintertime, going to country school;” the “kindly and good relative,” a great-aunt who shared the Hoover home and who, Helen sensed, had “a personal contact with God;” the “early desire to be a sister, though I knew little about sisters. Home life often involved singing around the piano; Dad playing the violin.” Who played the piano?

Like so many other good parents of Helen Hoover’s era, John and Anna Hoover were determined their children would have the opportunity for a Catholic education. Knowing they couldn’t afford to send all their children to boarding school — they had done this for the eldest, Marie, at Nazareth Academy and Marymount — they moved when Catholic education was to be found: First to Junction City and then to Manhattan.

“O Clavis David — O Key of David, break down all walls of ignorance, intellectual death and open us to knowledge, understanding and wisdom.”

So. St. Xavier’s, Junction City, and Sacred Heart Academy, Manhattan, became Helen’s keys to knowledge and wisdom from the seventh through 12th grades. She found her teachers to be excellent in the classroom and down-to-earth besides. They included Sisters Crescentia, Nicholas, Aquinas, Stanislaus, Domitilla and Joseph Marie. Learnings? What did Helen gain? A love of Shakespeare and other classical authors; Crescentia-inspired acquaintance with the birds native to Manhattan, thanks to tramps through old cemeteries and woods; shared laughter with Sister Stanislaus, when her parrot mimicked her perfectly.

“O Oriens, O Radiant Dawn — shine on those who enter — even the then-dark halls of Nazareth as a postulant!” (Pardon the revision.)

In February 1937, Helen came to the Sisters of St. Joseph of Concordia. Her band was made up of herself and those who would become Sister Concepta, Rachel, Francis Ellen, Consuela (who left the community) and Lucienne, now the survivor. Helen became Sister Francis Joseph — and stayed Sister Francis Joseph until her death. Of course, she later welcomed being called Frannie Jo, and called Frannie Jo she was. The band’s first vows were pronounced on Aug. 15, 1938, and perpetual vows on Aug. 15, 1941.

Leoville, Silver City, New Almelo, Collyer, Chicago, Salina, Abilene, Leawood, Grand Island: Thus reads the litany of school missions where Sister Francis Joseph taught. In Abilene she was also principal. She had unique and honest things to say about each of those missions. An example: The school building in New Almelo was “a bit primitive. We had a pot-bellied stove and it wasn’t unusual for a snake to slither out of the walls. The new school had not yet been built.”

Donna Otter was a pupil of hers in New Almelo and Mary Fran Simons in Silver City. Chicago brought the cultural advantages of a city plus the challenge of both CSJ Concordia missions there. She says, “My classroom size was never less than 50 and usually came closer to 60 — one year it was 63.”

Ever one to profit from new experiences, Frannie Jo loved whatever opportunities for travel came along as well as educational degrees — first at Marymount College (by way of the multiple summer school route) and later at the University of Detroit. At those places she earned a bachelor’s and a master’s degree respectively. In Detroit, Sister Francis Joseph was especially moved by the racial unrest and injustices of the time.

“O Rex Gentium — O King of all the Nations, come and save the creatures you fashioned from the dust.”

Very much aware of human beings’ inhumanity to one another, she was even more aware of her Lord, the King of all Nations, all the races, all the divisions and camps that separated one person, one class from another. She writes of a major change in her spiritual life when she was teaching in Grand Island. That change, she explains, was from faithfulness to rules and prayers according to the culture of whatever time, being a responsible teacher, to the experience of the charismatic movement. She says, “Prayer, scripture reading, etc., were a constant joy to me. I did not have to work at it.” The next year she made an Ignatian 30-day retreat, which integrated her various spiritual experiences, as her life’s unfolding shows.

Four years of service at the newly established Manna House of Prayer — first in Clyde and then in Concordia — followed. These years she described as “blessed” as well as “sometimes difficult,” words that could describe many a ministry, yes? Moving back to Grand Island in 1979, Frannie Jo gradually found out how to live in retirement and gave herself to a variety of volunteer ministries from 1979 to 1993, at which time she moved to the Motherhouse. A pleasant community presence during her residence here, she did develop what could be called a psychological allergy to bathing. And I ask myself, what will my quirks be, should I live to her age?

Sister’s life at Mount Joseph from 2004 until her death was marked by a friendly smile and regular attendance at daily Mass in the chapel. Sisters and staff alike enjoyed greeting, and being greeted by, Frannie Jo. Her life was a perpetual invitation for the Lord to come. She said the same in her life review, which begins, “Loving Father, I thank you for the gift of life!” and ends with the words, “Yes, I am ready to go whenever the Lord calls.”

The final O Antiphon of the seven is the oft repeated, “O Emmanuel, God with us. Come and save us Lord our God.” We sing in this celebration of your life, Frannie Joe, for you, for us, for all of God’s creations. “O come, o come, Emmanuel,” the gift that keeps on giving — forever! Thanks be to God!

Nurse honored for 40 years of service

Sister Susan Stoeber, who has worked at what is now the Cloud County Health Center for 40 years, was honored for her service in a ceremony earlier this month.

Hospital CEO Jim Wahlmeier presented the service awards to Sister Susan and other employees.

Sister Susan is a registered nurse who works in the intensive care unit and in other areas.

When Sister Susan went to work there, the facility was called St. Joseph Hospital and it was operated by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Concordia, as it had been since its founding in 1903.

In 1985, the Concordia congregation transferred ownership of the hospital to the Sisters of St. Joseph of Wichita, which then transferred it to the Salina Regional Health Center 10 years later. In 2003, the hospital became a stand-alone nonprofit facility.

Sister Francis Joseph Hoover dies at 97

Sister Francis Joseph Hoover died Dec. 17, 2009, at Mount Joseph Senior Village in Concordia. She was 97 years old and a Sister of St. Joseph of Concordia for 72 years. She was born in Kimeo, Kan., on Dec. 16, 1912, to John and Anna Burke Hoover, the fourth of seven children, and was baptized Helen Louise. She entered the Sisters of St. Joseph on Feb. 7, 1937. On Aug. 14, 1937, Helen received the habit of the Sisters of St. Joseph and was given the name Sister Francis Joseph. She pronounced first vows on Aug. 15, 1938, and final vows on Aug. 15, 1941.

Sister Francis Joseph received a bachelor’s degree in English from Marymount College in Salina and a master’s degree in Elementary Educational Supervision from the University of Detroit, Mich. She taught in schools staffed by the Sisters of St. Joseph in Leoville, New Almelo, Collyer, Abilene, Leawood and Salina in Kansas and in Silver City, N.M., and Chicago. In 1975 she joined the staff of Manna House of Prayer in Clyde, Kan. In January 1978 she moved with the Manna House staff to the former St. Ann’s Home in Concordia where she helped facilitate new and expanding ministries. In 1993, she retired to the Nazareth Motherhouse, and then moved to Mount Joseph Senior Village in 2004.

Sister Francis Joseph was preceded in death by her parents and her six siblings. A Bible Vigil Service will be held Dec. 20 at 2 p.m. in the Sacred Heart Chapel with Sister Lucy Schneider as the eulogist. The Mass of Christian Burial will be Dec. 21 at 10 a.m. in the Motherhouse chapel with Father Jack Schlaf presiding. The burial will be in the Nazareth Motherhouse Cemetery. Chaput-Buoy Mortuary, 325 W. 6th St., Concordia, is in charge of arrangements. Memorials for Sister Francis Joseph Hoover may be sent to the Sisters of St. Joseph Health Care/ Retirement Fund or the Apostolic Works of the Sisters; P.O Box 279, Concordia KS 66901.

Dec. 18, 2009: Begin the New Year with a pledge of giving to others, by Jordynn Gumm

When I was a child, I was taught that it is important to share. At first I thought this just applied to toys and candy, but as I have grown older, I realized that sharing is much more than a childhood rule. It should be a way of life.

Service and charity are both examples of sharing. Charity is money or other help that is given to people in need, while service is sharing your time or special talents by doing things for other people without any expectation for something in return. There are many opportunities available today to provide service or charity to others and there is no age limit.

Kids can help others in many ways. Collecting items at school for the food bank or participating in programs like “Hoops for Heart” are just two examples of charity. Helping an elderly neighbor or grandparent by mowing their yard, raking leaves or scooping their snow are all ways that kids can provide service.

There are a lot of things that adults can do to help others. These can include being involved in “Big Brothers, Big Sisters,” donating blood, delivering “Meals on Wheels” and helping neighbors and the elderly with home repairs. Volunteering their time to serve in their local churches or community organizations are other opportunities where adults can share their time and talents.

During the holiday season there seems to be an increased awareness of people who are less fortunate. Many people become more active in volunteering and donating during this time of year, but the needs for those less fortunate do not end when the holidays are over. Their needs go on all year long.

With the New Year just around the corner, I would like to challenge each member of the community to include in your New Year’s resolutions a promise to give some of your time or resources for the benefit of others.

— Jordynn Gumm is an eighth-grader at Concordia Junior High School. She is the daughter of Jeff and Ronda Gumm.

Documentary to be shown in January

By Doug Weller,
The Register of the Salina Diocese

SALINA — The film documenting the lives of Catholic nuns behind the Iron Curtain will be shown twice in January in Salina, with discussions afterward led by the executive producers.

“Interrupted Lives: Catholic Sisters Under European Communism,” is a one-hour documentary researched and produced by Sisters Margaret Nacke and Mary Savoie, Sisters of St. Joseph of Concordia.

The two traveled to Eastern Europe after the fall of communism to assist religious communities, but when they heard the stories of their imprisonment, exile and torture, they began documenting the information.

After receiving funding from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the two produced the documentary with NewGroup Media of South Bend, Ind. It was released in September through the Vision & Values series created by the Interfaith Broadcasting Commission for airing on ABC television affiliates.

The Salina Arts Center Cinema will show the documentary at 10 a.m. and again at noon Jan. 16. The cost is $6. There are no advance ticket sales, but the theater at 150 S. Santa Fe seats 90 at each showing.

After each viewing, Sisters Margaret and Mary will discuss the documentary, which was filmed on location in Ukraine, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, Hungary and the United States.

The two sisters, who are pastoral associates based in Belleville, have been traveling the country since the documentary’s release, conducting seminars and leading discussion groups about the film.

For more information about the project, go to interruptedlives.org. For more information about the Salina screening, call cinema director Heather Smith at (785) 452-0526 or e-mail heathersmith@cox.net This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Concordia pledges to be more civil in 2010

“Incivility is the new secondhand smoke,” wrote Los Angeles Times columnist Tim Rutten earlier this year. “Everyone feels impelled to disdain it, but nobody is willing to do away with it entirely.”

A growing number of people across the country — and in Concordia — would disagree with the second part. They are making a personal pledge to do away with incivility and bring civility back to public debate and behavior.

The Concordia Year of Peace Committee is doing its part by introducing The Civility Pledge, in time for New Year’s Resolutions.

The pledge — which says, “I will be civil in my public discourse and behavior, I will be respectful of others whether or not I agree with them and I will stand against incivility when I see it” — is available to be printed out and signed. The version for individuals is available HERE, while the one for groups is available by clicking HERE.

Bob Steimel, chairman of the Community Foundation for Cloud County, suggested the Civility Pledge to the Year of Peace Committee after seeing a newspaper article about the pledge and The Civility Project. “I just thought this would make people think about civility,” Steimel said.

“It’s a nationwide effort, and it’s something we can do here.”

The Year of Peace Committee was excited to add the pledge as its next project, said Sister Jean Rosemarynoski, who is chairing that group.
The committee grew out of the community forums that have been hosted by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Concordia throughout 2009.

“The idea for a Year of Peace evolved from the original community needs study,” Sister Jean explained. “People in Concordia were concerned about the levels of domestic violence, sexual assault and community discord, and looking to ways to focus on nonviolent communication. From those came an emphasis on nonviolence, and from that came the Year of Peace idea.

“Civility — being respectful despite our differences of opinion — fit right in with that,” she added. “We want to get the message out, and then encourage everyone to live that message: That all people must be treated with dignity and respect.”

While the Concordia Year of Peace idea is a relatively new communitywide effort — it officially began in September, with a proclamation from Mayor Greg Hattan — the emphasis on civility in public decision-making has been around for more than a dozen years.

In a landmark study at the University of Colorado in 1997, researchers Guy and Heidi Burgess defined a return to public civility this way:

“Clearly, civility has to mean something more that mere politeness. The movement will have accomplished little if all it does is get people to say, ‘excuse me please,’ while they (figuratively) stab you in the back. Civility also cannot mean ‘roll over and play dead.’ People need to be able to raise tough questions and present their cases when they feel their vital interests are being threatened. A civil society cannot avoid tough but important issues, simply because they are unpleasant to address.”

But, the researchers added, “People need to recognize that other thoughtful and caring people have very different views on how best to address their community’s many complex problems. Constructive debate needs to focus on solutions and not upon personal attacks leveled by adversaries against one another.”

“Civility allows us to truly debate issues without attacking each other,” Sister Jean said. “We believe it can allow us to work toward solutions, and do it together.”

In the next couple of weeks, Year of Peace committee members will be asking people throughout the community to sign the Civility Pledge as a New Year’s Resolution. Then after the first of the year, the committee will compile all those signatures as a demonstration of community support for civility.

“It isn’t about one person making a statement,” Steimel said, “It’s about all of us saying that this is important.”

Civility is just one aspect of Concordia Year of Peace

The Civility Pledge is just the latest project of the young Concordia Year of Peace Committee, a grassroots group that came together late this summer.

The Sisters of St. Joseph of Concordia have taken the lead in the 16-month-long “year” to celebrate peace and teach about living a nonviolent life, but the organizing committee has about 10 active members — and another 20 on the committee roster — from across Concordia.

The Year of Peace actually began in September, with a proclamation by Concordia Mayor Greg Hattan and then the city’s Fall Fest. The committee invited local groups and service clubs to show their support with a Year of Peace float and the Concordia Rotary Club, the Concordia Lions Club, the Frank Carlson Library, Catholic Charities, Domestic Violence Association of Central Kansas and Manna House of Prayer rallied to the cause.

There was also a Year of Peace booth where volunteers handed out buttons, sold T-shirts and played two songs written for the committee by Patrick Sieben of Cloud County Community College.

At the same time, the Blade-Empire also began publishing weekly columns focusing on peace and living a nonviolent life. Those columns are written by Year of Peace committee members and local students, and are published each Friday.

The committee has also launched a blog to make those columns available to a wider audience and to encourage discussion about topics of peace and nonviolence. For more, go to http://concordiayearofpeace.blogspot.com

KNCK radio has also given the committee airtime each month to talk about its projects.

The Frank Carlson Library partnered with the Sisters of St. Joseph and the Year of Peace Committee to present an eight-week workshop that has just concluded at the library. “Engage: Exploring Nonviolent Living” attracted more than 20 participants, and will be offered again beginning Feb. 7 at the Nazareth Motherhouse. (For information on that workshop, contact Sister Anna Marie Broxterman at 243-2149 or at annacsj@csjkansas.org.)

The library has also asked the group to present a workshop on nonviolent communication.

And the word about Concordia’s Year of Peace is apparently spreading.

Professor Susan Allen, director of nonviolence education at Kansas State University’s Women’s Center, has asked the committee to make a presentation in Manhattan in February about its projects. Dr. Allen believes that the Concordia effort could be a model for other cities.
The committee continues to seek ideas for projects throughout 2010.

The Year of Peace Committee received a $500 grant from the Community Foundation for Cloud County, to help cover some of its initial expenses, and then generated about $825 at a fundraiser in October.

For information about the Concordia Year of Peace or any of the planned events during the year, contact Sister Jean Rosemarynoski. She can be reached at 785-243-2149 or by email at sisterjean@csjkansas.org. Or, the Concordia Year of Peace blog is on the Web at http://concordiayearofpeace.blogspot.com.

Sisters welcome friends to Christmas Open House

The weather outside was frightful, but inside the Nazareth Motherhouse it was warm with friendship and hospitality as the Sisters of St. Joseph welcomed friends and neighbors to their second annual Christmas Open House this afternoon.


The highlight of the informal event was the drawing for a colorful quilt, which was donated to benefit the new Neighbor to Neighbor program. Sister Jane Guenette had the honor of drawing the winning name from a basket overflowing with entries — and the winner is Edna Flood of El Paso, Texas, who is the sister-in-law of Sister Kathleeen Flood.


Throughout the two-hour Open House, visitors chatted, sampled homemade treats and wandered through the 107-year-old Motherhouse, which is on the National Register of Historic Places. Sisters were stationed throughout the public areas of the building to offer information about its history and answer any questions visitors might have.


In the auditorium, holiday music was provided on the piano by Sisters Janis Wagner, Beth Stover and Lucy Schneider. The event was organized by the sisters’ Development Office.


Proceeds from the quilt drawing go to Neighbor to Neighbor, a new center for women and women with small children now in the process of renovation at 103 E. Sixth St. The sisters hope to have the renovations complete and the center open by February 2010.

Dec. 11, 2009: Concordia Year of Peace shifts focus away from hate and war, by Jake Karschimkus

In the words of Indian diplomat and politician Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit, “The more we sweat in peace the less we bleed in war.”

This year people want us to try our hardest to stay peaceful because it is better than losing lives in war. This is why this year in Concordia has been designated “the year of peace.” Whether we are having personal issues with others or we, as a nation, are sending our troops to war, this year we should try to stay peaceful and avoid conflict.

The dictionary defines “peace” as “a state of mutual harmony between people or groups.” This is the definition that I believe is most appropriate for our year of peace. We are supposed to avoid conflict as well as be in this “state of mutual harmony” and get along with other people.

The reason for designating a year of peace is to counteract the war and hate in the world right now. There are wars going on between countries as well as hostilities and confrontations between races and people with different beliefs. Some would turn to religion to get away from all this conflict, but there are even differences between religions causing feuds.

By declaring a Concordia Year of Peace and focusing our attention on that, I believe we can begin decreasing hate from here instead of increasing it the way it has been.

— Jake Karschimkus is a student at Cloud County Community College.

Storm cloaks Motherhouse in white

The snowfall that began Monday night shows no sign of letting up, as of 1:30 p.m. Tuesday. And while it has wreaked havoc on drivers and created shoveling chores for homeowners, it has also given the Motherhouse a seasonal cloak of white. For your enjoyment — assuming you don’t have to be out in this weather! — here are three views of the front of the Motherhouse, taken about 1 p.m. Tuesday.

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