57 state officials join Concordia in Civility Pledge

When the Concordia Year of Peace Committee earlier this year began its fourth annual drive to gather signatures on the Civility Pledge, members looked to Topeka as well.

For the first time, we asked state senators and representatives as well as members of the governor’s cabinet to join us in making a public commitment to civility in “public discourse and behavior.”

This year’s pledge is will be published in the Concordia Blade-Empire, which has generously donated the space for it each year. It is also available as a downloadable PDF; just CLICK HERE.

People signing the pledge promise to be “civil in my public discourse and behavior” and “respectful of others whether or not I agree with them” and to “stand against incivility when I see it.”

Nearly 200 Concordians signed the pledge this year, along with 57 senators and representatives, including Sen. Elaine Bowers and Rep. Susan Concannon. Members of the Concordia Rotary Club hand-delivered a letter explaining the pledge and a postage-paid signature card to 165 state officials.

For every signed card received, the committee sent a letter to the editor of that official’s hometown newspaper to publicly thank him or her for signing the pledge.

The Year of Peace Committee introduced the Civility Pledge in 2010, explained Sister Jean Rosemarynoski, who chairs the committee.

“Civility means being respectful despite our differences of opinion,” she said. “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.”

The Year of Peace Committee came together in late 2009 as a result of an “interest group” at the Community Needs Forum working lunches hosted by the Sisters of St. Joseph.  Anyone who wants more information about the continuing Concordia Year of Peace or would like to be part of the committee may contact Sister Jean at 785/243-2149 or by email at sisterjean@csjkansas.org.

 

Chapman parishioners honor Sister Carolyn Juenemann

Parishioners at St. Michael Catholic Church in Chapman, Kan., surprised Sister Carolyn Juenemann Sunday morning  (May 5) with coffee and gifts to celebrate her birthday and 50th Jubilee as a Sister of Saint Joseph.

Marita Campbell, Parish Life Coordinator, showed the plaque that will be placed near a tree that was planted in front of the rectory in her honor.  Sister Carolyn served as parish administrator at St. Michael from 1990 to 2001.  Chris Wolf, representing the Knight of Columbus, presented Sister Carolyn with a gift card to Stiefel Theatre.

Many current and former parishioners attended the celebration after Mass.

Concordia sisters represented at global Rome meeting

 

Sister Marcia Allen, president of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Concordia, is among some 800 Catholic sisters and nuns gathered in Rome this week for the triennial meeting of the International Union of Superiors General.

The meeting began Friday and continues through Wednesday. The International Union of Superiors General, a group of nearly 2,000 leaders of women religious throughout the world, meets in Rome once every three years.

The theme for this year’s meeting is “It will not be so among you: The service of leadership according to the Gospel,” with the focus on what it means for women to lead in the broader Church.

 

Author brings ‘Kitty Claus’ to life for preschoolers

Illinois author Terry L. Needham first told the children at Friday’s “Reading with Leaders” how the story came about. Then he recruited two little girls in Hello Kitty shoes as his special page-turning assistants.

And finally he settled down to tell the story of “Kitty Claus” to the nearly 40 preschoolers gathered upstairs at Neighbor to Neighbor.

• • • • • •

Needham, a Kansas City native who now lives in Romeoville, Ill.,, wrote the story years ago when his daughter Angela was a child.

“Every night I’d put her to bed and I’d tell her a story off the top of my head,” he recalls. “When she particularly liked one, she’d say, ‘You better write that down.’ ‘Kitty Claus’ was one of those.”

So while Angela was the inspiration for the story, Needham’s granddaughter is the artist behind the illustrations.

Lizzy Dodig was 15 when her grandfather recruited her to draw pictures to go with his story, and she used the money she earned to take part in a school trip to China. Now a high school sophomore in Lee’s Summit, Mo., Dodig spent about six months completing the illustrations.

Both the author and the illustrator signed the copies of “Kitty Claus” that the children received at the end of the storytelling session Friday.

Needham and his sister Patti are in Kansas on a book tour for his “When I Was a Child,” a historical novel about his uncle Louis. The 2011 book tells the story of his grandparents and their six children, who lived on a farm just north of Hays, Kan., until a 1926 wind and snow storm left the mother dead and the family shattered. The three youngest children — including Needham’s mother, Geraldine — were sent to live in Abilene, Kan., at St. Joseph Orphanage, operated by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Concordia.

Terry and Patti Needham are spending several days in Concordia, spending time with Sisters of St. Joseph and also visiting the National Orphan Train Museum Complex, the POW camp and other sites.

Their visit was arranged by Sister Jan McCormick, who lives in Chapman and has been active in collecting information and stories about St. Joseph Orphanage, which closed in the late 1950s.

The “Reading with Leaders” storytelling series for preschoolers (ages 3, 4 and 5) at Neighbor to Neighbor began in September and will conclude with the 13th session next Friday, May 3. The book slated for the final reading is “Green Eggs & Ham.” Advance registration is required, by calling 262-4215.

The “Reading with Leaders” series is coordinated by the Sisters of St. Joseph’s Neighborhood Initiatives office and hosted by Neighbor to Neighbor, and is funded in part with a grant from the Kansas Health Foundation.

 

Fund-raising feast celebrates Cinco de Mayo

May’s “First Monday at Manna” fund-raising dinner will celebrate Cinco de Mayo with a Mexican  feast.

The dinner at Manna House of Prayer, 323 E. Fifth St., Concordia, is scheduled for May 6, and reservations are required by May 2, by calling 785-243-4428 or emailing retreatcenter@mannahouse.org.

There will be two seatings for the dinner — at 5:30 and 6:45 p.m. — and guests are invited to arrive 15 minutes early for chips and salsa, plus beer and sangria punch.

Donations are welcome, with all proceeds going to the numerous Manna House ministries, including Helping Hands, a program that provides emergency assistance for people throughout Cloud County and operates a small food pantry.

The menu for the Mexican dinner includes avocado salad, chicken mole, tamales, refried beans, rice and tortillas, topped off with a special bread pudding — called capiratada — for dessert.

Cinco de Mayo commemorates the Mexican army’s victory over French troops at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862. In the Mexican state of Puebla, the holiday is called El Día de la Batalla de Puebla (The Day of the Battle of Puebla), but the Cinco de Mayo celebration originated in the United States among Mexican-Americans toward the end of the Civil War as a way to commemorate freedom and democracy. Today the date celebrates Mexican heritage and pride.

The “First Mondays at Manna” dinners are part of the center’s 35^th anniversary celebration, and will continue throughout 2013.

The June 3 dinner will feature South American cuisine in celebration of the 50^th anniversary of the Sisters of St. Joseph’s Brazilian mission.

The red brick building that is today Manna House was built in 1884 as the first Motherhouse of the newly arrived Sisters of St. Joseph of Concordia. The building at Fifth and Olive streets served as the convent and a boarding school — but as the number of sisters and students grew, it soon became apparent that a bigger building was needed to house Nazareth Convent and Academy.

So in 1903, the new (and still current) Nazareth Motherhouse opened at the corner of 13^th and Washington streets, and the sisters converted their old home into St. Joseph Hospital.

An addition to the hospital was built in 1915, and the significantly bigger facility remained a hospital until 1951, when the sisters built what is now Cloud County Health Center.

The sisters converted the building into a nursing home and it served as St. Anne’s Home for the Aged until 1977, when the residents there were able to move to the new Mount Joseph Village on the west edge of Concordia.

Renovations began immediately and in just four months — in April 1978 — the building was dedicated as Manna House of Prayer.

Its mission, then and today, is to be a place were people of all faiths come for personal and communal prayer, on-going education, quiet time and counseling. Sisters who live there also provide youth ministry, facilitation services, spiritual direction and counseling.

In 2013 Manna House is home to seven Sisters of St. Joseph and has a staff of four laypeople. Throughout the year there are workshops on everything from “seasonal spirituality” and the ancient art of bobbin lacemaking to “meditation and movement” and the meaning and mystery of the rosary.

To learn more about Manna House, its ministries and upcoming events, go to mannahouse.org.

 

 

April 2013 Messenger now available!

The newest issue of The Messenger is in the mail today — and it’s also available here as a downloadable PDF for those who just can’t wait! We’ve created three separate files; click on which pages you want to download.

PAGES 1-7 Sister Marcia’s column, Development Office events, Brazil Mission anniversary, etc.

PAGES 8 & 9 (centerspread) Federation Novitiate

PAGES 10-16 Saving Katherine Hart’s music, Recognizing Catholic Youth, Coming Events, Homecomings

 

 

Sister Evangeline Thomas honored for lifetime achievement

SALINA — Two women with ties to the community will be honored with Salina Women of Achievement’s Lifetime Achievement Award. Terry Hoyt Evans and the late Sister Evangeline Thomas will be honored at the recognition banquet, Thursday, April 11, 6:00 pm, at Salina Country Club.

Sister Evangaline Thomas, born Mary, moved from Carbondale, Penn., to Concordia to attend high school at Nazareth Academy, where she began to feel drawn to both the sisterhood and college. She received the habit of the Sisters of St. Joseph and the name of Sister Mary Evangeline on March 20, 1922.

She began her career in the parochial schools in Beloit; Plainville; Clinton, Mo.; and Silver City, N.M. and spent her summers and one full year at Marymount College earning a degree in English. After completing her bachelor’s degree, Sister Evangeline continued her education at Catholic University of America where she completed her master’s and doctorate degrees in history.

In 1936, she joined the faculty of Marymount College, eventually becoming head of the history department, a position she held for 32 years. She also served as dean of students for seven years during the war, overseeing the students’ social activities, arranging and disarranging engagements between girls and servicemen, dried tears, and counseled the young men who came calling on her students.

She helped found the Salina Youth Symphony and began the Marymount College Artists Series. She created a few waves in the Salina hotel and health care business, exposing the then hidden racism that refused to care for people of color. She served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Kansas Historical Society and then became the organization’s first woman president, was a member of the Executive Board and vice president of the American Catholic Historical Society, served as president of the Kansas History Teachers Association, and became a recognized author.

In 1968 she became the Director of College Relations and Special Projects, a post to which she devoted tireless energy for eight years. When Marymount became co-educational, Sister Evangeline set about developing an athletic department.

In 1976, at the age of 73, Evangeline completed her full-time duties at Marymount and began updating her book “Footprints on the Frontier,” traveled to Brazil, served on the Federation Committee of Historians and directed a major national project for the Leadership Conference of Women Religious

In 1983 she published “Women Religious History Sources: A Guide To Repositories In The United States,” winning recognition and acclaim from religious and secular universities across the country.

Sister Evangeline continued working and advocating until her death in December 1990.

Throughout her 41-year career as a photographer, Terry Evans has been widely acclaimed for her images of the Midwest. The Chicago artist captures, with stunning nuance, the strong relationship between people living on the prairies and the landscapes they inhabit.

The daughter of the owners of a successful portrait photography studio in Kansas City, Terry earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in drawing, painting, and design from University of Kansas in 1968. The first “real” photograph she took was of Bobby Kennedy during his visit to the KU campus.

She began taking photographs of the prairie around Salina in 1978 and has continued to capture the beauty of the prairies and plains of North America as well as the urban prairie of Chicago, using both aerial and ground photography.

Terry has exhibited widely including one-person shows at the Chicago Art Institute, the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, and The Field Museum of Natural History. She is a Guggenheim Fellow and a recipient of an Anonymous Was a Woman award. Her work is in major museum collections including the Chicago Art Institute, Museum of Modern Art, N.Y., San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Whitney Museum of American Art, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Museum of Contemporary Photography, and many other collections.

Beyond her work documenting the Midwest, Evans did a photo series on the glaciers of Greenland and Antarctica. However, she is best known for her relationship to Chicago. In a previous photo series, she captured the lakefront, neighborhoods, and steel mills of her adopted town. In the end, though, her photographs of people do not vary from her photographs of American landscapes; instead, there is a fluidity between all of her images, as each photograph tells a rich, thoughtful, and compelling story of the land and its residents.

Terry and her husband, Sam, lived in Salina for 26 years with their children, David and Corey.

Tickets to the banquet may be purchased at the Girl Scouts of Kansas Heartland Salina Office at 3115 Enterprise Drive Suite C, or by calling 785-827-3679.

Sisters will take part in documentary discussion

Filmmaker Mary Fishman and two Sisters of St. Joseph of Concordia will be part of a panel discussion of the documentary “Band of Sisters” when it opens in Salina.

The 1½-hour film will be shown at the Salina Art Cinema, 150 S. Santa Fe Ave., from Friday, April 5, through Thursday, April 11.

The panel discussion will follow the 5 p.m. Saturday showing, and will be in the Salina Art Center, a block south at 242 S. Santa Fe Ave.

FOR A DOWNLOADABLE MOVIE POSTER FOR “BAND OF SISTERS,” CLICK HERE.

Father Frank Coady, pastor of the Sacred Heart Cathedral Parish in Salina, will facilitate the panel, which will include producer/director Mary Fishman and Sisters Jean Rosemarynoski and Pat McLennon. Sister Jean is the current vice president and development director of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Concordia, while Sister Pat is a former president of the congregation and one of the three sisters who staff the Neighbor to Neighbor center in downtown Concordia.

Fishman is expected to be on hand for showings throughout the weekend, to talk with filmgoers about her work.

“Band of Sisters” premiered in Chicago in September 2012 and has been shown in Dubuque and Davenport, Iowa, Hartford, Conn., Louisville, Ky., and South Bend, Ind. Upcoming screenings include Seattle and New Orleans.

The documentary was produced in Chicago about the journey of Catholic sisters in the United States from sheltered “daughters of the church” to citizens of the world.

The two main characters are Pat Murphy and JoAnn Persch, both Sisters of Mercy well-known in activist circles across the country for their efforts to assure basic human rights for immigrant detainees and deportees. Other congregations of women religious included in the documentary are the Adrian Dominicans, Sisters of Providence, Sisters of St. Agnes, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word, Caldwell Dominicans, Amityville Dominicans, Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, Sisters of Loretto and the Congregation of St. Joseph.

The filmmaker, Mary Fishman, attended an elementary school run by the Springfield (Ill.) Dominican Sisters and a Sisters of Mercy high school. After graduating from the University of Notre Dame, she was an architect and urban planner before switching to filmmaking. She began work on “Band of Sisters,” which is her first film, in 2004.

For details about the Salina Art Cinema’s screening times and admission, go to salinaartcenter.org/cinema/. More information about the documentary can be found online at bandofsistersmovie.com.

‘First Monday’ vegetarian feast honors Earth Month

As Earth Month begins, the sisters at Manna House of Prayer in Concordia will serve a vegetarian feast for their fund-raising dinner April 1.

Reservations are required for the “First Mondays at Manna” dinners and may be made by calling 785-243-4428 or emailing retreatcenter@mannahouse.org.

There will be two seatings for the dinner — at 5:30 and 6:45 p.m. — and guests are invited to arrive 15 minutes early for appetizers, wine and punch.

Manna House is located at 323 E. Fifth St., Concordia.

Donations are welcome, with all proceeds going to the numerous Manna House ministries, including Helping Hands, a program that provides emergency assistance for people throughout Cloud County and operates a small food pantry.

The menu for the April dinner includes veggie chips and dips for the appetizers, followed by chilled strawberry soup, asparagus frittata, hash browns, green beans almondine and whole-grain bread and topped off with peach crumble for dessert. All the dishes except the bread will be gluten-free.

This year will be the 43rd observation of Earth Day, on April 22. Globally, more than 175 countries recognize it as a day to increase awareness and appreciation of the earth and the environment, with many communities and organizations celebrating Earth Week or Earth Month throughout April.

Another special event at Manna House next month will be an Anniversary Open House on Sunday, April 21, from 1 to 4 p.m. The public is invited to visit, meet the sisters, tour the historic building and learn more about the programs offered there.

The “First Mondays at Manna” dinners are part of the center’s 35th anniversary celebration, and will continue throughout 2013.

The May 6 dinner will be a Mexican feast in celebration of Cinco de Mayo, which marks the anniversary of the French defeat at the Battle of Puebla in 1862.

The red brick building that is today Manna House was built in 1884 as the first Motherhouse of the newly arrived Sisters of St. Joseph of Concordia. It has been in continual use since then, and in April 1978 was dedicated as a spirituality and retreat center.

Its mission, then and today, is to be a place were people of all faiths come for personal and communal prayer, on-going education, quiet time and counseling. Sisters who live there also provide youth ministry, facilitation services, spiritual direction and counseling.

In 2013 it is home to seven Sisters of St. Joseph and has a staff of four laypeople. Throughout the year there are workshops on everything from “seasonal spirituality” and the ancient art of bobbin lacemaking to “meditation and movement” and the meaning and mystery of the rosary.

To learn more about Manna House, its ministries and upcoming events, go to mannahouse.org.

Eulogy for Sister Leah Smith, Feb. 13, 1935-Feb. 21, 2013

VIGIL: 7 p.m., Feb. 26, 2013, at the Nazareth Motherhouse, Concordia
EULOGIST: Sister Anna Marie Broxterman

 

TO VIEW VIDEOS OF THE VIGIL AND MASS FOR SISTER LEAH, CLICK HERE. (This will take you to another page where you will see thumbnail versions of each video. Click and the “Play” arrow in the center of the one you wish to view; you can then enlarge to full screen, if you choose. Make sure your speakers are turned on to hear the sound.)

 

“Come, my beloved, my beautiful one, come!” Sister Leah Mae Smith responded to that invitation as she completed her journey to new life Thursday, Feb. 21, 2013.

Leah was the sixth of 10 children. She was born in Junction City, Kan., Feb.13, 1935, to Walter and Elnora Farmer-Smith and was baptized Leah Mae.  Her three bothers and four of her sisters preceded her in death.  She has two living sisters, Laura and Nona.

The weather prevented Laura from being physically present for Leah’s vigil and funeral Mass but she is with us through live broadcasting. Nona and her husband Gill Mendoza are here and with them are Nona’s two children, Paul and Karen and Karen’s daughter Lindsey. To each we extend our heartfelt sympathy with special recognition of Laura, Nona and Gill.

We, like you, will miss Leah’s presence though we give thanks that she is freed from the burden of her illness, which had taken from her so many normal functions of daily living. The strength and depth of her spirit, however, only grew stronger and endeared us to her and her loving manner. Who will ever forget her signature greeting of two thumbs up?

Leah, Laura and Nona all spent a number of years in their youth at St. Joseph’s Home, an orphanage at that time in Abilene, Kan. It was from there that Leah entered the community on Sept. 8, 1950. She was only 15 at the time. Her dad gave written permission for her to enter. His letter to her reads: “In regard to your request, I would say this, if you are going to be happy as a Sister of Saint Joseph, and if that is what you want, then I want it also and I give you my consent.” It was signed, “Your loving father.”

Entering the community with Leah were seven other women. Three of those band members are here tonight: Sisters Cecilia Green, Anne Martin Reinert and Rosalyn Juenemann. One band member preceded her in death, Sister Benedicta Moeder, and three came to know that God’s call was elsewhere. Leah entered the novitiate March 19,1951, and received the name Sister Hubertine. Later she would return to her baptismal name.

Because she was so young upon entrance, she could not make final vows with her band members on March 19, 1955, because she was not yet 21 (a canon law requirement at the time). So she made her final vows Feb. 14, 1956, the day after she turned 21. In her comments written for The Messenger in 2011 on the occasion of her 60^th jubilee, she had this to say:

“…When it came time for my final vows, in 1956, the chaplain at the Motherhouse had promised to say a Requiem Mass for someone and he would not change his schedule just because I was making my profession. I may have been unhappy with his inflexibility – but then I realized that I would be the only Sister of St. Joseph to make her profession with a Requiem Mass, and I was proud of that fact. I made a pact with the poor souls in that Mass that I would pray for them daily if they saw to it that I would be able, God willing, to continue my entire lifetime with the Sisters of St. Joseph. So far, so good – and my life will end with a Mass said for me.”

Sister Leah taught in grade schools from 1953 to 1974. Her journey as a teacher led her to schools in Salina, Kan.; Chicago; Silver City, N.M.; Gladstone and Lake Linden, Mich.; and Grand Island, Neb.; her first year on mission was at Tipton, Kan., where she served as cook.

A letter in her file from a student back in the 1950s or early ‘60s was written to her in response to a letter she had sent him.  He had told Sister Betty Suther that Sister Hubertine (Leah’s name at the time) was “unforgettable.” So Leah wrote to him, asking him what “unforgettable” meant.

His letter in response, written in 2004, gives a flavor of her relationships with the students and her teaching skills:

 “… You are unforgettable to me because I believe now, as I did those many years ago, that you were one of the best teachers I ever had. … By the time I got to be an old man of the sixth grade, I had had a number of teachers, and I already knew a good teacher when I had one. And please take this as a compliment when I say your entire demeanor as a person and teacher at St. Joseph and St. Ann’s always made me feel as if you were my mom. You know you had a reputation as being pretty tough, and you were, no nonsense, most of the time but you could also laugh heartily, and your smile lit up the room! You always had time to help a student when he needed it, you cared. We were all pretty intimidated by you, but we also knew you cared about us and our education. You were great, that’s why I’ll never forget you…”

A number of community members who lived with Sister Leah during her teaching years spoke lovingly about their local community experience.  One of the Sisters exclaimed, “What a humble and loving person full of energy and fun!” Others who knew her during those years have messages on Facebook speaking about her sense of humor. There is, however, a rumor that she was not fond of local community meetings and she made herself scarce at our annual congregational assemblies. Obviously her absence was our loss.

Following her years of teaching, Leah worked at the Motherhouse as a receptionist. Having served there for six years, she began her work in 1980 at St Joseph’s Hospital, which later became Cloud County Health Center. She worked as secretary and aide in the Physical Therapy Department. She retired from there in 2009.

Somewhere along the way, she also studied graphoanalysis and became skilled under the tutelage of MGA, International Graphoanalysis Society, in Chicago. There is no written evidence that Leah used that skill in professional analysis although she was called upon to share her wisdom in more casual settings.

Leah’s creative talents were well known through her preparation for and participation in the Motherhouse Annual Crafts Sale the Saturday after Thanksgiving. She along with Sisters Susan Stoeber, Jackie Kircher and Cecilia Green hosted that event for many years. Their crafts were exceptional, and folks came from miles around to do their Christmas shopping.

In 2010, Leah’s friends in community were the first to notice her faltering speech which was quickly diagnosed as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, often called Lou Gehrig’s disease. ALS is an incurable and progressive disease of the nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord that control voluntary muscle movement.

For Leah, the progressive disease led first to not being able to speak.  Then she was unable to swallow, necessitating the insertion of a feeding tube. Ultimately she needed the care offered at Mount Joseph Senior Village. Initially she was able to get around in a motorized scooter, but then her loss of balance prevented that freedom. She retained the ability to write notes, though in the past month, that too had become more difficult. None of that means that she lost her indomitable spirit, which remained attractive until she moved into unconsciousness within 14 hours of her death.

It was her indomitable spirit that created a desire in me to write about her for the Concordia Blade-Empire as an “unsung hero,” this year’s focus for the Year of Peace columns. The column appeared in print Feb. 1, 2013. The rest of the eulogy draws upon that column.

As Leah traversed the halls at Mount Joseph on her scooter, she had a sign placed on it reading, “I cannot speak but I can wave Hi” And that she did; it became the means for establishing relationships not only with the staff but also with other patients.  Eventually that sign was placed on her door and her wave turned into her signature “thumbs up” greeting.

So you see, Leah was not only creative in arts and crafts, she was creative in establishing relationships. That quality did not begin when she was at Mount Joseph, her department chair at the hospital, Marci Rogers, spoke of Leah’s smile and her ability to make others smile, which enhanced the hospitable and gracious demeanor with which the department served their clients. Leah’s relationships at the hospital were not limited to the physical therapy department; rather, other hospital personnel would recognize her presence through kind gestures that appeared anonymously on their desks. Sometimes they would find an unexpected casual note, an apropos cartoon, a piece of chocolate candy or some small creative art piece. There was never a signature, but everyone knew Leah had been there.

Upon visiting Leah in recent weeks, she always had background music playing. When asked about the origin of the music, she told me it had been created for her by Marci’s adult children, in recognition and gratitude for the “travel kits” they had received years ago as young children. Children of other personnel in that department also were recipients of such favors.

An anonymous note came to me from one of the employees in the Physical Therapy Department upon knowing of the forthcoming Blade-Empire column.  It read:

“After her battle with ALS had led to her being hospitalized, I was amazed at her ability to smile so big and so beautifully… Seeing the hope in her smile made us feel like everything was going to be all right. Is this the testament of her faith in the Lord or just the product of heroic courage in the face of a deadly disease?”

“Heroic courage” is an apt description of Leah’s response to a debilitating disease. A particular quality of heroes is the ability to make a difference wherever they are; their personalities are magnetic and they often possess a distinctive creativity that attracts others. Leah possessed those characteristics. The miracle is that she gave permission for the article to be published. The timeliness of its publication reflects, for me, the loving providence of God who chose to have a faithful servant recognized.

I was privileged to be with Leah in the immediate hours prior to her death. The staff nurse on duty that morning was administering the routine tube feeding and commented that doing so was difficult without Leah’s help.  She then spoke about Leah’s sign language experienced in earlier days during that procedure. Among the things shared was that if the person doing the feeding was tapped three times, it meant, “I love you.”  At the time of Leah’s death, three members of the staff were with her.  Their tears reflected that the love was mutual.

Leah has taught through unspoken words the depth of the beatitude, “Blessed are the peacemakers.”

Thumbs up, Leah, you did it!  You completed your journey to new life as a Sister of St. Joseph and you did us proud!

 • • • • • •

 Memorials for Sister Leah Smith 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. Or you may make a donation in Sister Leah’s memory online, through a secure server with PayPal, by clicking on the DONATE button below.

 

 

 

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