Eulogy for Sister Mary Leo Zeman, Dec. 12, 1917-Nov. 1, 2010

Eulogy for Sister Mary Leo Zeman CSJ

By Sister Bette Moslander, csj

Nov. 4, 2010, at the Nazareth Motherhouse

We are gathered here this evening to remember and to honor the life of Sister Mary Leo Zeman who died Nov. 1, 2010, at Mt. Joseph Senior Village.

Sister Mary Leo was the fifth of nine children of Frank and Barbara Vopat Zeman. She was born on the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Dec. 12, 1917, at the family farm southwest of Wilson, Kan. Her parents named her Georgina Alice.

Georgina received all of her grade school education in a one-room country school. During the course of those grade school years Georgina suffered a serious attack of ruptured appendix and was near death. On that occasion her mother dedicated her to the Blessed Mother and Mary Leo said that as a consequence she always had a great devotion to the Blessed Virgin.

Mary Leo attended high school at Wilson. Father McManus, the pastor, recognizing her ability, urged her to attend Marymount College when she graduated. She was vacillating between entering the Sisters of St. Dominic in Great Bend and the Sisters of St. Joseph of Concordia when she came to a decision while making a retreat as a student at Marymount that she decided to enter the community of St. Joseph. Her parents supported her decision, so on Sept. 8, 1926, at the age of l8, she entered the Congregation. In her life review she reflects on her own spiritual growth and maturing under the guidance of Sister Sabinus and Sister Isabelle. She remembered her years in the postulancy and novitiate as happy and enriching years. She made first vows on March 19, 1928 and final profession three years later.

Mary Leo’s life review is typical of her simple, direct way of living her life — it captures in small vignettes, her life as the years unfolded.  She writes of her initial anxiety in teaching and her growing confidence in grade school classrooms. As was the custom of the time, Mary Leo spent the school year teaching; every summer was spent at Marymount working toward her undergraduate degree hour by academic hour. Mary Leo was being prepared to teach commercial subjects in the high schools and it was not long before she found herself assigned to high school class rooms.

In 1951 she was asked to go to Creighton University to begin work on her master’s degree, which she completed in 1957. She immediately was assigned as principal and commercial teacher in Beloit and later in Tipton and Junction City where the high school students enjoyed learning to be credible bookkeepers and secretaries. The late ’60s and early ’70s were times of great sadness for her. Her father died in 1969 and her mother a little more than a year later in January 1971. In her life review she speaks of recording her mother saying some prayers and singing a song in Bohemian so that she could relish that memory.

In June 1971 Mary Leo was elected to serve as Secretary General of the Congregation. It was a work she gave herself to with precision and generosity even though she missed teaching the lively high schoolers. When she had completed her four year term, in 1975, she applied for a position at Central Catholic High School, in Grand Island, Neb., as secretary to the principal. She loved her work at Central Catholic where she quickly became a favorite of both students and faculty alike. She served at Central Catholic for 15 years before retiring in the Grand Island convent where she continued to volunteer in the parish, visiting the shut-ins and counting the Sunday collections. One student’s memory of Mary Leo appeared in the UPDATE 91, a school news bulletin: “If you attended Central Catholic in the ’70s and ’80s, you undoubtedly have one of those fleeting images whenever you think of Sister Mary Leo. You might remember her smiling at you over the office counter, or how she scolded you for ‘wasting paper.’ You might remember her bending over the flowers in front of the school preparing for graduation, or defrosting the ice box in the teachers’ lounge. And how many of you remember her lunch bag? It appeared to be such a small bag. And yet out of its depths, Sister Mary Leo could produce a seven-course meal to the wonderment of all.”

In all Sister Mary Leo served in Grand Island for 28 years. It was during these years that Sister Mary Leo realized that she was slowly but steadily loosing her eye-sight and it was this that helped her decide to retire from active duty at her beloved Central Catholic.

In her life review Mary Leo poignantly describes her own spiritual journey during what she calls her greatest years of growth, 1971-1975. She made her first directed retreat in 1971 and after several eight-day directed retreats asked to make the 30-day retreat in Hales Corners. She continued this spiritual journey throughout the years she spent in Grand Island. The Diocese had encouraged and supported the Pentecostal and Cursillo movements. May Leo became deeply involved, serving on Cursillo teams. She commented that for her it was a beautiful experience of praying and sharing.  Her retreats and her work brought her much consolation and strength which helped her through the chaos of the post Vatican II renewal in the community. “That was a time of frustration for me,” she wrote “prayer, community living, clothing, ministry — everything was changing. It took me some time to sort things out and be at ease with it, but as the years have gone on I feel it was one of the greatest things that happened in the Church and in religious life.”

As the years moved on, other members of her family experienced a variety of illnesses and Mary Leo always made the effort to be with them at critical times. The aging process was taking its toll on her and those she loved.  Her reflections on her family reveal the deep felt affection and faithful love of a large, faith filled family. In her memoirs she had written about her 60th Jubilee and the reception that her family hosted in Wilson at the parish center. All relatives and friends were invited. It was a grand affair and Mary Leo remembered it with relish.

She retired from Central Catholic in 2000 and took up work with the RCIA program, giving talks to prospective converts and acting as a facilitator for small groups in discussing the Word of God. She also visited the elderly in nursing homes and in their own homes. She also answered the phone at the rectory one day a week and helped with the cooking in the convent. At the same time she was slowly losing her eyesight.

In 2003 Mary Leo returned to the Motherhouse when it became evident that the convent in Grand Island had to be closed. Here she entered into the life of the Motherhouse community and continued to cope with her increasing loss of sight. Through the years as the limitation in her eyesight was inevitable she adapted well, accepting this diminishment gracefully.

Interestingly enough, Sister Mary Leo wrote an essay for the West Nebraska Register in October 1988 on the Gospel story of the blind Bartimaeus. In that essay she describes how blindness can be a spiritual condition, more serious than the physical handicap. She praises Bartimaeus because he had the faith that he needed to be healed. This applies, she says, to the spiritual healing needed as well as to physical healing. In the end, she states that it is only with the heart that we can see rightly. Her own increasing blindness became a means of ever-greater faith for her. She never stopped praying for faith and for patience and gratitude.

Through the years, Sister Mary Leo filled out her mission commitment statements. Over and over she committed herself to a life in community that was a life lived out of love. Her overall concern that community life was in the words of Psalm 133: “… how good and how pleasant it is when sisters live together in unity. For there the Lord bestows his blessings, even life forevermore” In that framework she promises to live a life of kindness, of loving and sharing, knowing that this will enable her to be a person of joy and peace.

We will miss her! We all remember her pocket. She could pull from her pocket everything from soup to nuts, literally and figuratively. It was just a matter of fact that she would have anything required at any time: screwdrivers and bottle openers, flashlights and glue, notepaper and even a hammer and nails. Capacious and ready for any occasion: that pocket, later turned pocketbook, was just a metaphor for how she lived in the world: ready for anything that was of service to others — with characteristic generosity, patience, congeniality and humility.

Sister Mary Leo Zeman, we remember you with profound gratitude  and joy. May you rest in peace!

Eulogy for Sister Mare Coleman, Jan. 14, 1921-July 3, 2010

VIGIL: July 5, 2010, at the Nazareth Motherhouse, Concordia

EULOGIST: Sister Bette Moslander

We come together tonight to honor the memory of Sister Marie Coleman, and to celebrate her birth into new and eternal life.  Marie died a little after 6 a.m. on July 3, 2010, here in Cloud County Health Center.

Marie was born, Jan. 14, 1921, in St. Marys, Kan., the daughter of Natalie Dagenais and Oscar Joseph Coleman, the seventh of eight children in the family. There were two other girls, Mary and Ruth, and five brothers, Leo, Claude, Eugene, Ernest and William. Her mother Natalie died two weeks after the birth of William, in the summer of 1922, leaving eight young children to the care of their father.

Oscar moved the family of eight to Abilene, Kan., where he was able to place all of the children in St. Joseph Home, an orphanage, owned and staffed by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Concordia. Living in nearby Abilene, he faithfully and frequently visited the children.  Marie would tell poignant and beautiful stories of her father’s visits and how he brought the children small treats when he visited.

One of the sisters, Sister Anastasia, was in charge of the 40 girls who lived at the orphanage. “I was only a year an a half old when my mother died,” said Marie, “So Sister Anastasia became my ‘mother’ for the first four years of my life. By the time I was 6 she was reassigned and for me it was a terrible loss. I felt abandoned for a second time, by my second mother. I am sure that loss marked my young life in ways I have only gradually, through life, come to fully understand. I began my education in the orphanage grade school and came to love Sister Sylvester, my first-grade teacher, who taught me to love reading and opened my young mind to a love for Bible stories. She also taught us to observe nature and to watch for the birds around the orphanage ground. I remember that she spanked me lightly once for talking too much. Those who know me will attest to the fact that it really didn’t work.”

Throughout her life Marie would often recall incidents of her life in the orphanage and told stories of the sisters she knew as a child and loved because of their kindnesses and tender care. Recently Marie, with the help of Sarah Jenkins, published a small book “The Sisters Who Loved Me,” recounting her days while she was at St. Joseph’s Home and her relationship with the sisters who befriended and educated her.

Speaking of her first attraction to religious life, she recalled Sisters Dechantal and Eulalia, who begged from nearby merchants for food and clothing for the 40 girls and 40 boys at the orphanage. She wrote, “I just knew that I wanted to be like them when I would grow up.”

During the summer months, when classes were out, the Coleman children often spent time with their grandmother, Frances Coleman in St. Marys. There they met the Jesuits from St. Mary College, some of whom became lifelong friends of the family. When Marie was 13 years old it was time to leave the orphanage. She moved to St. Marys and lived with her grandmother so that she could take her eighth-grade classes in the Catholic school, where she was taught by the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth.

The sisters had arranged for Marie to attend Marymount Academy in Salina for one year after she graduated from the eighth grade. She then transferred to the Abilene Public High School and she lived with her father and her sister, Ruth. She enjoyed the life of an ordinary high school girl, going to football games, acting in school stage productions, learning to sing and dance.

She graduated from Abilene High School in 1939 at the age of 18, and almost immediately wrote her letter to Mother Mary Rose Waller asking to enter the congregation, which she did on Sept. 15, 1939. She was received into the novitiate on March 19, 1940, and received the name Sister Mary Natalie, in honor of her mother. She made first vows one year later, on March 19, 1941 and final vows on Aug. 15, 1944. Marie celebrated her 70^th anniversary this year. There are two remaining members of her band, Liebe Pellerin and Viatora Solbach.

Marie was assigned almost immediately after making first vows, to the small parish school in Collyer, Kan., where she taught primary grades. As was true of most sisters, at that time, she acquired her education piecemeal during summer sessions at Marymount, returning each September to the elementary school classroom.  This was her life from 1944 to 1969. During those years she taught in several parish schools in the Salina Diocese, and for a short time in Silver City, N.M., and in Aurora, Ill. In July 1944, her beloved father died, bringing to a close his faithful dedication to his family whom he had raised so well without his wife, their mother. “It was the saddest day of my life,” Marie said.

Marie began teaching in secondary and junior high schools in 1969, having completed her A.B. degree at Marymount in 1955. She acquired a Master’s Degree from Kansas University where she specialized in Secondary Learning Disabilities and was certified as a Reading Specialist. 1971 found Marie in Kansas City teaching learning- disabled junior and senior high School students in the Missouri Public School System.

In 1981, Marie began a sabbatical of nine months, at Mount St. Joseph’s College, in Cincinnati where she re-trained as a Prison/Jail Chaplain and Counselor. Upon completion of her sabbatical she moved to Washington, D.C. where she continued her education in Prison Chaplaincy in an Archdiocesan program at Trinity College. During this period she did field work with the Washington, D.C., police certifying as a Prison Chaplain in 1984.  During this same period Marie was participating in a two-year Spiritual Formation Program under Gerald May and Tilden Edwards, co-founders of Shalem Programs. She deepened her own desire for God and developed a deep foundation for contemplative prayer actively lived out on the streets of Washington caring for “her prisoners.”

She was hired full time by the Bureau of Rehabilitation of the District of Columbia as Counselor, Court Advocate and Custody of Jail and Prison Releasees. This work was done through the Superior and Federal Court System. Marie joined the professional organizations for jail and prison ministers and continued to visit the jails and prisons regardless of where she lived. In the course of her active years working with the prisoners and the releasees, in 1987 she took a one-year course in clowning and became a Certified Clown, taking the name “Delight.”

In 1993 Marie qualified for and received a Social Worker Associate Degree. Marie’s insatiable appetite for more and more learning experiences took her into many fields.  In addition to her commitment to prison populations, Marie had an intense interest in any major social justice issue that was current at the time. She wrote and called numerous offices of governors, legislators, politicians and clergy voicing her opposition to or support of given courses of action they were embarked on. She stayed the course of resistance to injustice wherever she might find it. And one thing I remember about Marie’s commitment to peace and justice is that she was always well informed about the position she would take.

Her health began to decline in the early 1990s following three abdominal surgeries for peritonitis and diverticulitis. After a heart attack and open heart surgery in 1999 and breast cancer in 2002, she would return to the fray undaunted, taking up her work either as a paid minister or a volunteer. Not one to give up, she moved first to Grand Island where she continued to regain her strength. In 1996, finding she needed an elevator. she moved to Medaille Center in Salina. There she took on volunteer work as chaplain at Saline County Jail and as a jail visitor and legislative aide at Catholic Charities. She also regularly volunteered at the Diocesan Office to review and respond to issues relating to federal legislation of significance to the Catholic social justice agenda.

The steadily declining state of her health forced her, reluctantly, to reduce her hours of work but she refused to give up her ministry. Her love and respect for the women and men in the jail was genuine but not ingenuous. She knew well that most of them found themselves where they were through their own failure and crime and many would return to the prison system once they were released or paroled. When the Medaille Convent in Salina closed Marie insisted on remaining in Salina where she could continue at some level her lifelong mission of active and inclusive love for the neglected and marginated. Meanwhile her own health was steadily deteriorating.

Life itself has a way of leading us to the self-emptying that our Maxims call for and to which we find ourselves so strongly resistant. In 2007 Marie voluntarily moved to the Motherhouse where she immediately began exploring Concordia for needs she might be able to attend to, but mostly she was gradually letting go of her own need to be actively engaged in ministry.  Most recently after breaking her arm in a bad fall she moved to Mount Joseph Senior Village in order to receive daily physical therapy. She was making some progress and was determined to return to the Motherhouse and to attend an up-coming reunion of orphans and their families in Chapman, come October.  It was not to be!  Another fall resulted in a severe fracture in her other arm and a bleed in the brain that resulted in her death.

So we come to pay our respects and to share our memories of this valiant woman. A Maxim that reminds me of Marie is Number 7: “In the manifestation of zeal characteristic of your very humble vocation, imitate the fervor of the most zealous and embrace in desire the salvation and perfection of the whole world in a spirit replete with a true humility and a generous courage. This will bring you to wish to do everything for the advancement of the glory of God and the salvation of the dear neighbor.”

And so Marie, we gather here to remember your life, to bless you on your way to that kingdom where justice reigns and where we know you will be at peace forever.

Teacher, author Sister Marie Coleman dies at age 89

Sister Marie Coleman died July 3 at Cloud County Health Center in Concordia.  She was 89 years old and a Sister of St. Joseph for 70 years.  She was born in St Marys, Kan., on Jan. 14, 1921, to Oscar Joseph and Natalie Elizabeth Dagenais Coleman, the seventh of eight children, and was baptized Marie Frances.  She entered the Sisters of St. Joseph of  Concordia on Sept. 15, 1939.  On March 19, 1940, Marie Frances received the habit of the Sisters of St. Joseph and was given the name Sister Mary Natalie.  Later she returned to her baptismal name, Marie.  She pronounced first vows on March 19, 1941, and final vows on Aug. 15, 1944.

In 1955, Sister Marie received a bachelor’s degree in education from Marymount College, Salina, and in 1971 received a master’s degree in education from the University of Kansas.  Sister Marie taught elementary grades in the Kansas cities of Salina, Collyer, Tipton, Pfeifer, Oakley and Cawker City; Silver City, N.M.; and Aurora, Ill.  She finished 30 years of teaching elementary and began teaching learning disabled students at the secondary and junior high level in 1971 in the Kansas City, Missouri Public School System.  Upon finishing her teaching career in 1981, she trained to be a prison/jail chaplain and counselor.  She practiced her prison ministry in Washington, D.C., Mt. Rainier, Md., Grand Island, Neb., and Salina.  In 2007 Sister Marie retired to the Motherhouse.  She remained active in her retirement by writing a book “The Sisters Who Loved Me” telling of her memories as an “orphan” in the care of the Sisters of St. Joseph at the St. Joseph Home in Abilene. Her book was published in May 2010.

Sister Marie was preceded in death by her parents, five brothers and two sisters.  A Bible Vigil Service will be held Monday, July 5,  at 7 p.m. in the Sacred Heart Chapel at the Nazareth Motherhouse with Sister Bette Moslander as the eulogist.  The Mass of Christian Burial will be Tuesday, July 6, at 10:30 a.m. in the Sacred Heart Chapel with the Rev. Jim Dalen presiding.  The burial will be in the Nazareth Motherhouse Cemetery.  Chaput-Buoy Mortuary, 325 W. 6^th St., Concordia, Kan., is in charge of arrangements.

Memorials for Sister Marie Coleman may be given to the Sisters of St. Joseph Health Care/Retirement Fund or the Apostolic Works of the Sisters; P.O Box 279, Concordia KS  66901.

Sister Mary Julia leaves long legacy of loving care

EULOGIST: Sister Virginia Pearl, csj

VIGIL: April 20, 2010, at the Nazareth Motherhouse, Concordia

One day several years ago when we had been called because the signs seemed to indicate that Sister Mary Julia would die very soon, Alfreda Maley, one of our nurses, asked her if it was time to put out a sign-up sheet so the sisters could come and sit with her each hour.  Sister Mary Julia responded, “Oh not yet, because Jesus is sitting here visiting with me now.”

My gift to us tonight is to unfold for all of you glimpses of this valiant woman whom Jesus would come to visit, perhaps on a regular basis; glimpses of our own Sister to whom we are saying goodbye for now; for whom we are mourning.  But in the same breath, we are rejoicing over our beloved Sister Mary Julia’s death and resurrection calling us to live ever more deeply.

Maxim 24:  “To be utterly given to God by a holy self-surrender; Utterly for God by a love pure and completely unselfish; Utterly in God by a continuing effort to be more conscious of God’s presence; Utterly according to God by a will, a life, and everything conformed to God.”

Sister Mary Julia modeled this for us ever so deeply.  This eulogy tonight is a collaborative work of Sister Mary Esther Otter and me.

Several years back in the 1980s, Sister Mary Julia cornered me and asked if I would do her eulogy.  One day I read it back to Sister Mary Julia.  I have used almost verbatim what Sister wrote in her life story.  Sister responded to it, “Did I write that?  It is all so accurate.”

What I saw in Sister Mary Julia Stegeman was that she was utterly given to her God.  She was a valiant, strong woman, a woman unto herself.

I first met her when I was a student at Marymount College.  I was out walking one day, and Sister was pushing a cart full of laundry back to the Administration Building.  She was having a struggle because she was pushing the cart uphill and the wind was blowing.  I ran up to her and asked if I could help her push.  So together we pushed the cart of clean sheets through the hallway past the kitchen.  The aroma of freshly baked cookies was upon us.  The cook offered us some cookies.  The next day several of my friends joined Sister Mary Julia and me to help; they had heard about the cookies at the end of the trail.  Since then — for more than 50 years — I have loved those dark, sparkling eyes that were one of her trademarks.

Anna Magdalena was the second daughter of Cecelia Mumm from Gelena, Ill., and John Stegeman from Belleville, Iowa.  She was born Sept. 6, 1910.  Anna was baptized on Sept. 8, our Blessed Mother’s birthday.  She was welcomed by older sibling Theresa, who would become our Sister Rose Cecelia.  Other children were Mary Elizabeth, who would become our Sister Louis Marie, Helen, who would become Sister Ermenilda, a Benedictine in Clyde, Mo., and Edward Paul, born in 1915.  He died several days after birth.  They always knew Edward Paul was a saint.

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They were raised in Selden and Leoville, Kan. Sister Mary Julia would often say, “We had a good upbringing.  Both our parents were very spiritual and each had been in a religious order for a while.  We prayed the Litany of the Blessed Virgin before we went to school.  Mother knew it by heart.  We did a lot for the sisters and the church.  Sister Callista used to take us under her big cloak when it was cold.  She would go to the nearby church and teach us how to make a visit to the Blessed Sacrament.  Visiting Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament is still a great blessing for me.  Things went well in our family until I was 12 years old.”

The church in Leoville was only 8 years old.  One night there was combustion in the coal bin and the church burned down.  “Our papa was a carpenter and a blacksmith.  He had helped build the original church.  So Papa and we kids cleaned the bricks that had been burned, getting them ready to be used in the new church.  It was a cold, damp fall and winter that year.  Papa contracted pneumonia.  The doctor was a long way off.  Papa died nine days later.”

Sister Mary Julia went on to say, “This began a new chapter in our lives.  Our cousins, the Brueggmans, lived only a mile away, and they became a strong support for Mama and our family.  Mama took in washing and did the laundry for the church.  We girls took music lessons from the sisters and gave them milk in return.”

Anna Magdalene always wanted to be a sister.  So five years later on Valentine’s Day at the age of 17, she and her aunt, Mary Karls, came to Concordia to enter the Sisters of St. Joseph.  The trip took two days, so they stayed the night at Marymount.  Sister Mary Julia recalled, “Sister Renilda made all the clothes I needed to enter.  I was so thankful to have all I needed because we were poor.  The sisters were so good to us. Sister Clarice and Sister Rose Estelle joined my Aunt Mary (who became Sister Rose Ann) and me.  We were called “The Depression Band.”  The sisters in Leoville were my mentors. Sister De Pazzi made us learn our lessons, believe me.  But, I am most grateful for her faithfulness to duty.”

Sister Mary Julia’s first mission was in St. Peter where she cooked for six sisters.  The Abilene orphanage, St. Joseph Home, was her second mission for eight years.  She taught the girls how to iron their dresses and also helped the boys in the milk house with Sister Xavier and Sister Celeste.  Sister Xavier was gentle with the boys. Sister Marie Coleman’s brothers were there at this time.  They helped with the milking.

Next, Sister was missioned to the St. John’s Hospital in Salina to run the laundry.  She especially liked St. John’s because she could visit the new babies and other patients.  Atwood was Sister Mary Julia’s next mission.  She remembers the “dust bowl” storms during these years. Sister made a lot of friends, many of whom she still wrote to.

“Then I was called to Marymount for 29 years,” Sister said.  These were wonderful years. Sister cared for the “sunken garden” and worked in the laundry.  “The greatest joy of my life was the awesome privilege of becoming a Eucharistic minister at Marymount,” she recalled. “I was in charge of the chapel.  It kept me close to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.”  Students continue to remember how much Sister Mary Julia helped them when they were struggling spiritually or with their studies.

One remarked, “You did not need to get an appointment and wait for help.  Sister was always in the sunken garden or the chapel.  She was a special friend who always had time to visit with us.”

Sister’s profound faith in God was reflected to everyone at Marymount.

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Recently, at Melvin Hammeke’s funeral, Kay Schulte Hammeke from Hays asked me how Sister Mary Julia and Sister Redempta were.  Kay remarked that both of these women had made a beautiful mark on her life.

Sister Mary Julia was profoundly intelligent.  She was drawn to the library.  She read writings of Hildegard, Theresa and other mystics. This sustained her contemplative prayer.  Wherever the Stegeman sisters were, they helped begin and sustain a charismatic prayer group.

Sister’s next mission following Marymount was Grand Island, Neb.  She assisted the prayer groups, visited the nursing homes and hospital, and engaged in other pastoral work.  She assisted in the garden and helped can and prepare food for the winter.

“My last move was to our beloved Motherhouse.  I have cared for our greenhouse with Sister Mary Esther’s wonderful help.  I was her sight at times, and she was my hands and knees, tending the plants. Sister Francis Margaret Otter has taken loving care of my volumes of correspondence, for which I am most appreciative.  Both sisters have been angels of mercy for me.  Both will tell everyone how much my mother, Cecelia, was an angel of mercy for their family.”

Franz Gruber, who wrote the music to “Silent Night,” was Cecelia Mumm Stegeman’s great uncle who lived in Bavaria.  Sister Mary Julia was visiting with me one day about her funeral.  She said, “Even though Franz Gruber is my relative, if I die in July, don’t let them play ‘Silent Night’ for my funeral.”

The Stegeman and Otter families have been closely connected since childhood.  Sister Mary Esther has written a reflection that includes how their families helped each other:

“Sister is a jewel of a person, as you know.  I have enjoyed living near her here at the Motherhouse and working with her in the greenhouse.  She is so close to creation, to the people, and to the creatures great and small.  She is close to the sounds of nature, the changing seasons and everything associated with them.  She is in love with her God.

“I had learned of Sister in 1952 when I entered the convent.  My older brother had stayed with her mother, Cecelia, in Leoville for two years while attending high school.  My sister, Sister Francis Margaret, had stayed with her one year while attending her freshman year.  Mrs. Stegeman was a prayer-filled woman and had passed this gift onto her four daughters who had also joined the convent.  My brother spoke of their mother as being silhouetted by the window praying every day.  Prayer was just part of the family routine.  Sister Mary Julia was, to me, an image of that same prayerful woman whose small and dark joy filled eyes were quite similar to her mother’s.

“I began working with Sister Mary Julia when I came to the Motherhouse in 2001.  She worked in the greenhouse caring for plants that had been culled from the Motherhouse décor as well as starting fresh plants as slips or from seeds.  No plant was too sick or fragile to be given to compost.  Each plant was given ‘a chance.’  She would say, ‘God is that way with us. We have another chance … and another.’  On certain occasions, I would tease and say, ‘I think this one has tried very hard.  Her eyes twinkled and she’d say, ‘Isn’t it beautiful?  I knew this was a renewed reminder to place it in another area of the room.

“Her joyful spirit was renewed daily.  As we left the Motherhouse, she would often sing, ‘Oh what a beautiful morning, Everything’s going God’s way.’  It took us a longer time to arrive at the greenhouse than another might proceed.  Her 96-year-old body did demand a slower pace, but her young spirit noticed everything and everyone.  The moon that had not fully left vision’s view, the changing season, the temperature, dew, the sound of a train (until about two years ago when her hearing lessened), or a greeting to an employee who was also in the yard.  Sister Mary Julia knew no strangers.

“She had no nieces or nephews.  Her brother and sisters were deceased after 2001 when Sister Louis Marie died.  Sister was the only living member of her family.  Cousins were well known to her and often sought her striking memory for genealogy assistance.  She loved to be with her relatives and often attended special gatherings. She had an immense list of addresses and kept in touch with her own relatives and friends and those of her two sisters. She was mentor of a candidate who will begin the Agrégée formation soon.

“Yes, I treasure knowing Sister Mary Julia.  Having lost my central vision, I could assist with many areas of the greenhouse ministry of placing and replacing plants as well as misting, watering and filling buckets with water, etc., but it was Sister Mary Julia who often first noticed the plant pests or knew what type of illness a particular plant had when it was brought to the greenhouse for nursing.

“Sister loved God’s people as she loved her God.  As she de-cluttered her already frugal possessions, except the pictures and letters from her correspondence ministry, I knew she was in her continued joyful spirit, awaiting her cherished Rabboni.  How glad she would be to die with the thought of a welcome from thee.

“The greenhouse is full of plants given to her and us from friends, and a haven for those kept over the winter and many small starts from plants that had been invited for restart or considered for compost.  Sister Eileen Farley also worked with Sister Mary Julia and enjoyed the changing seasons and the new blossoms.  Sister Eileen kept the floors swept as well, and assisted with the annual thorough cleaning.  Both of us wanted Sister Mary Julia to continue her ministry to the plants as long as she could.  We will often remember Sister Mary Julia with her flowerpots and watering cans, especially the one that was her favorite, given to her for her 70th Jubilee by Sister Virginia Pearl.  It had a longer spout, allowing her to reach the plants with greater ease.

“Yes, her Lord in Heaven has surely greeted her, along with cherished friends and no doubt new acquaintances in whom her Lord is present.”

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We all know that Sister Generosa Walker and Sister Mary Julia were twins — both born on Sept. 6, 1910.  Sister Generosa, we will be with you 100-fold this coming Sept. 6, God willing.

Sister Mary Julia had said, “I have tried during my life to be the kind of Sister I had experienced in Leoville when I was a child.”  What a wonderful tribute to all of those sisters!

As we move into deeper refounding, Sister Mary Julia’s comments about “hope” come from Romans 5:5 “And this hope will not leave us disappointed because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.”  After Sister Louis Marie’s funeral, Sister Mary Julia was feeling like an orphan, and she told me that Jesus came to her and assured her she was not alone.

There is a quotation that says, “If the only prayer you ever say is, ‘Thank you, I am grateful,’ that will be enough.”

Sister Mary Julia had “grateful” engraved in her heart.  On every page of her memoires she said, “I am so grateful for my vocation, my community, my faith, my mission, my sisters and on and on.”

One of her favorite passages was Isaiah: 40:31 “They that wait upon The Lord shall renew their strength.”  Surely, dear Mary Julia, you have waited and waited and waited so patiently (most of the time).

This last week one night, Sister Ann Glatter and I were with Mary Julia and we were praying the rosary.  We were on the third mystery, The Descent of The Holy Spirit.  Sister had not been speaking for many hours. She rose up her arms and said, “At last, at last, at last” three times.  We both knew someone from heaven was letting her know that her waiting was almost over.  What strength are you now going to send all of us (who love you so deeply) as we move into deeper union and communion with each other and our Jesus?  Our hearts are open!

Another one of Sister Mary Julia’s favorite scriptures was Ephesians 2:10 “We are God’s work of art.”  Yes, Mary Julia, and you were a masterpiece glowing with love that just seemed to ooze out of your beautiful eyes, collecting any unrest, any need of peace, any hurt or injustice, and any need for condolence.  Your loving heart and arms had a way of holding the negative, and shining love and compassion into any given situation.

We all know that we are just getting glimpses of 100 years (well, almost) of loving, living and living lovingly.  I feel Sister Mary Julia’s life is like a gorgeous flower garden.  Her faith is the bedrock center.  The petals of her favorite flowers are:

• Her prayer
• Her poetry
• Her family
• Her friends
• Her sisters
• Her cousins
• The needy
• Her flowers
• Her prayer groups

Thank you for your love and the bouquet of gifts. I love you.

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Eulogy for Sister Joseph Ann Vap, May 11, 1931-Feb. 26, 2010

Eulogist: Sister Pat McLennon

Vigil: Feb. 28, 2010, at the Nazareth Motherhouse in Concordia

This is what we are all about:
We plant seeds that one day will grow…
And we water seeds already planted,
Knowing that seeds from the past
Have within them what is needed
For the transformation and new life
That is taking place.

— Archbishop Oscar Romero

Some of you may not know that Sister Joseph Ann was an avid gardener.  In conversations with her it seemed to me that gardening was what grounded her and actually served as a spiritual guide for her throughout her life.

Winifred Sylvia Vap was born May 11, 1931 to Joseph and Anna Kacirek Vap on a small farm in Western Kansas.  She was welcomed into the family by her two older brothers Leonard and Melvin. The family grew and Winnie, as she was called, had four younger sisters, Ramona, Geraldine, Yvonne, and Virginia, and two younger brothers, Leo and Eugene.  She is survived by her sister Geraldine Lane and her brothers Leo and Eugene.

Sister Joseph Ann said that her older brothers Leonard and Melvin lost no time showing her the farm and introducing her to the cows, horses, pigs and chickens.  Wherever her brothers went she was sure to follow. She said that her mother found it almost impossible to give her a job in the house because she always wanted to be outside, and so she helped her mother feed the chickens and pick the eggs.  Winnie liked little chickens very much.  When she was in seventh grade her mother gave her some little chickens to take care of.  She said, “How proud I was of them, I even went so far as to make them a little house.  The roof was flat, but it served the purpose, and that’s all that mattered.”

About the time Winnie was ready to begin school the family moved to Atwood, Kansas and lived across the street from Sacred Heart Church. She really liked school and met new friends to play with.  It was about that time she planted her first flower garden.

Joseph and Anna Vap, were very loving parents and instilled the beliefs and values of their catholic faith in their children. Catholic school education was one of their values.  When Winnie was ready for eighth grade her parents sent her and her sister Ramona to Notre Dame Academy in Omaha, Nebraska.  It was staffed by the Sisters of Notre Dame. During the five years that she attended school there she developed a devotion to Mary, the Mother of God.  She became a Child of Mary on December 8, 1945.  She said that it was the most solemn ceremony she had ever attended at that time.

When she was a junior in high school she felt a call to religious life but resisted it because she wanted to be an airline hostess.  She said she wanted to fly all over the world!

After she graduated from high school she and her sister Ramona attended Marymount College in Salina to become nurses.  Once again the vocation question surfaced for Winnie.  She said that she talked about it with Sister Mary Leon who helped her “face the facts that she really had a vocation and she needed to do something about it”.  That year during the annual student retreat she had a profound experience of God’s presence.  She knew with certainty that God had always been the ground of her being, loving her unconditionally and gently luring her to a vocation as a catholic Sister. She made a decision to follow her call and become a Sister of St. Joseph.

Winnie entered the community on February 5, 1951.  She was received as a novice and given the name Sister Joseph Ann on August 15, 1951.  She pronounced first vows on August 15, 1952, and final vows August 15, 1955.

Sister Joseph Ann received her diploma from Marymount School of Nursing in 1955, and then took State Boards to become a registered nurse.

During her 46 years of hospital ministry, Sister Joseph Ann served at St. Joseph Hospital in Concordia, Seneca Hospital, St. Anthony Hospital in Sabetha, Kansas, and St. Joseph Hospital in Belvidere, Illinois.   Her great love was St. Joseph Hospital in Belvidere, Illinois where she served for 37 years as a pediatric nurse, medical and surgical nurse, and in 1992 she became a certified Patient Relations Representative.

In one of her early reflections about her ministry she wrote; “I may not do great work in the eyes of the world, but I will be ever mindful of the suffering Jesus as I minister to the patients”. Years later she wrote; “Suffering is a part of life’s journey and each of us is a partner in service to others along that journey.”

As she ministered to patients, families, and the hospital staff, she said that she practiced attentive and compassionate listening as she believed listening is an essential element in the healing process. Recently, she told me that her Maxim is taken from Mx. 80. “Be aware that holiness consists in something utterly hidden and known to God alone.

Writing about her years at St. Joseph’s she reflected: “Since I have been here over 30 years I find myself called upon for the needs of many patients.  I am on call at night if needed by dying patients or their family members.

My nursing background has provided me with a great compassion for both the physical and spiritual needs of the people of Belvidere who the Sisters of St. Joseph, Concordia, Kansas were called to serve in 1900.” And I planted a lovely garden in the grotto and cared for it throughout the years.

OSF St. Joseph’s Hospital closed September 30, 1999.  Sister Joseph Ann and Sister Mary Luke were the last two Sisters living and working at the hospital.  I was invited to the closing celebration. Yes, it was a celebration.  The people of Belvidere celebrated the almost 100 years of healthcare service by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Concordia and expressed their gratitude with the greatest possible solemnity in spite of the loss and sorrow they were all feeling.  After a lovely dinner we all went to the Community Building of Boone County.  The auditorium was filled to capacity.  There were speeches given by the Mayor, doctors, nurses, hospital officials, funny skits, lovely music, gifts, and light displays by the Belvidere police and fire departments.

Sisters Mary Luke and Joseph Ann were invited to speak to everyone.  I was touched as Sister Joseph Ann took Sister Mary Luke by the hand and gently led her to the microphone.  S. Mary Luke was no longer able to speak to a large audience.  Sister Joseph Ann gave a lovely and gracious response to the Belvidere Community.  She and Mary Luke both knew that it was time to leave and did so with acceptance and dignity.  At that moment I recognized the quiet strength of a woman who had the courage and trust in God’s providence to let go of a familiar and wonderful place of ministry.

Sister Joseph Ann moved to Medaille Center when she returned from Belvidere. She didn’t waste any time getting involved with residents at Kenwood Nursing Home in Salina.  She visited and prayed with residents living there each week.  Her sister Ramona Hanson lived in Salina and so she had time to be with her during her last years.  S. Joseph Ann and Ramona had been very close throughout their lives. During these last years they were both diagnosed with cancer.  Ramona died in November.

As people have been remembering Sister Joseph Ann these days I have heard over and over how hospitable and gracious she was to the employees…she always made a point to greet them and call them by name.  How considerate she was of Sisters who were sick or incapacitated; and how her lovely smile just made everyone feel so good.

I was not going to include this story in the eulogy, but after I heard so many comments about her smile…It seemed important to include it.  This picture of S. Joseph Ann was taken by her mother.  S. Joseph Ann said that she never liked to have her picture taken…but her mother got her to stand still enough to take this one.  When her mother went to pick it up from the man who developed the film he encouraged her mother to send it in to a contest in Chicago.  Her mother did not take the picture to enter it into a contest but she finally decided to send it in.  The picture won 6^th prize and was entitled “SMILES”.

During these last months, living between life and death, Sister Joseph Ann found hope in the faithful love of God and the support and love of her family, friends, and community. She died peacefully February 26, 2010 at the Motherhouse.

This is what Sister Joseph Ann was all about:

She planted seeds that one day grew…
She watered seeds already planted,
She knew that seeds from the past
Had within them what she needed
And now…the transformation and new life
Has taken place
in the fullness of God’s Great Love.

Eulogy for Sister Stanislaus Porter, May 3, 1916-Feb. 2, 2010

Written by Judy Stephens, CSJ and Mary Jo Thummel, CSJ
Given by Mary Jo Thummel, CSJ
Feb. 5, 2010, at the Nazareth Motherhouse in Concordia

“The time is here for me to leave this life.   I have done my best in the race, I have run the full distance, and have kept the faith, and now there is waiting for me the victory prize…”

(2 Timothy 4:1-8)

Doris Porter was born May 3, 1916, in Edmond, Kan. She was one of six children born to Thomas and Alice Porter – Larry, Jerry, Alice Ault, Doris, Betty Reichert, and Catherine Byers. (all deceased)

Doris entered the Sisters of St. Joseph on May 26, 1942, and was given the name Sister Mary Stanislaus. She made final profession on Aug. 15, 1947.

Sister Stanislaus has a long and distinguished list of achievements in the field of education. She graduated from Marymount College in 1950 with a bachelor’s degree in English and from Marquette University in 1958 where she earned her master’s degree in speech with psychology as a minor. She also attended many other universities for refresher courses throughout the years.

Sister Stanislaus taught school in Jewell and Saline counties before entrance into the community. Her first mission after entrance was to St. Vincent’s parochial school in Silver City, N.M. There she helped organize this new school.  (One of the sisters who lived with her there mentioned that they were very poor but always had a good time.)

Following that she taught at Catholic schools in Concordia and Cawker City and then served as assistant director of the Apostolic School for young women here at Nazareth Convent from 1954 to 1959.  From there she went to Abilene, Kan., where she helped organize a school in St. Andrew’s parish. Then it was on to Central Catholic High School in Grand Island, Neb., where she taught speech and drama.

From 1966 to 1978 she returned to Silver City, N.M., as principal of St. Mary’s grade and high school. These were years of great transition; the school became a day school and no longer provided boarding facilities for students. A kindergarten was opened and a lay school board was formed. Programs for youth in the area were developed under the direction of the EI Paso Youth Department.  Search and Antioch retreats were held at St. Mary’s for high school and college students.

In 1980, Sister Stanislaus returned to Kansas where she served as administrator of Medaille Center in Salina until 1984. From there she served as parish minister in Beloit, Glasco, Cawker City, Mankato, Esbon and Smith Center for the next 16 years.  Then she retired to the Motherhouse, and in 2004 moved to Mount Joseph.

As this brief resume of Sister Stanislaus’ life isn’t enough, I will mention that she also received numerous awards during her life. Probably her proudest moment was being named “Outstanding Citizen of Silver City and Grant County” in 1978 for ‘holding aloft the light of education for people of all faiths and circumstances.”

Sister Stanislaus is quoted in the newspaper as saying, “I was very happy and very surprised at receiving the honor. The real credit for this honor goes to the parents, all of the community, all of the civic clubs, all the businesses, who have seen what we are doing and are helping. They have shown an appreciation for our efforts in continuing Christian education.” The paper notes that Sister Stan (as she was referred to at St. Mary’s) said all this in a gentle, persuasive, disarmingly enchanting way, known by every citizen and business in the community.

Sister was honored at the annual chamber of commerce banquet on April 25, 1978.  Chamber President Leona Skillman said the large stack of letters nominating Sister came from a general cross section of the community.  They spoke of Sister Stanislaus’ enthusiasm and strong support of education for children of all faiths

I believe we still have a mission and presence today in Silver City, thanks to “Sister Stan.”  She stayed on and stood her ground at a time in the 1970s when everyone else was leaving the Southwest and it looked like we would close that mission. For a few years she was the only Sister living there at St. Mary’s. Then gradually a few others returned and a variety of ministries have continued. In June 2006 the mission celebrated its 80th anniversary and Sister Stanislaus was remembered often by many.

In between the lines of this brief history, we see a bold and courageous woman, and one who didn’t hesitate to break out and do what she needed to do!   This two-sided gift of hers led her far, and she usually left no stone unturned.  Stanislaus lived life “large.”  She knew no stranger and reached out her hand in hospitality to all.  She truly lived our charism of bringing the love of God to all among whom she ministered.  She probably came by this trait naturally from her home training.  She is quoted as having said that once when they were having a snowstorm, near her home and people were stranded, her father brought the people to their house and her mother put them up until they could be on their way.

Her uniqueness of character deserves to be mentioned! She was always vivacious and full of life. She had a twinkle in her eye that folks could not refuse and she won the support and help of many. She was a whirlwind of activity and quite hard to keep up with!  The quote which I used to open the eulogy tonight reminds me of these qualities.  Stan was my teacher in the Apostolic School and she probably reminded us to conduct ourselves with the greatest possible decorum because she seemed to always be racing somewhere to accomplish something.  Nothing that she did was done in small measure.  She conducted great stage dramas, in many of the places where she was missioned, with all the dressings.  Part of her ability to do this might have come from her talent for sewing, which wasn’t much mentioned, but was evident in her productions and the way in which she kept her person.  I hear that she designed and sewed many coats and dresses for her nieces and even created hats, which she wore.  She decorated with great flair.  In Beloit, at Christmas she would dress up the front porch and put up a beautiful outside Nativity scene.  Some of her parishioner friends would go to the country with her to get the trees and greenery that she needed.  She received prizes and special recognition several years for the beautiful scene.

One of Judy Stephens’ favorite memories of Stanislaus is the trips back to Kansas she would make yearly for meetings here at the Motherhouse. She and Sister Neria, whose vision was clearly fading, would travel together. Sister Stan had a rather heavy foot at the wheel, and Sister Neria would be posted in the front seat as a look out for “cherry-tops” on the highway to avoid any possible speeding tickets. The two of them were quite a pair.

I had my own experiences of Sr. Stan’s fearless driving ability when I lived with her in Silver City. Stanislaus loved to explore the surrounding areas and some of our outings took us along steep mountainous roads. Stan talked and drove vivaciously with at least two wheels on the road at all times — at least that’s what it felt like to me as I fervently prayed for safe passage.  What I really took away with me from those times was Stanislaus’ sense of adventure, love of life, and importance of taking time for fun. She truly loved life and everything about it!

Sister Stanislaus’ faith matched the strength and determination of her other undertakings in life.  The importance of prayer to her is evidenced by her well worn and much used Bible with many passages underlined and notes written in the margins. Many of her Commitment statements speak to surrendering herself to the will of God that Jesus may work in and through her.  She sought the guidance and intercession of God’s mother Mary. She speaks of faith as a journey in which she cooperates with God’s grace in ministering to and working with God’s people to build up the Kingdom. Summed up in her own words, “Love must begin within me as one of God’s unique creations. My mission is to strive for complete self surrender to my loving God, so that Jesus may live within me, to minister, as He will to His People. I unite in prayer with the Perfect Christian – God’s Mother Mary.”

On the occasion of her 50th Jubilee she wrote of gratitude for the gifts of her faith, her vocation, her band members and all her Sisters of St. Joseph.  She says, “Life is a Journey of Faith.  There will always the joys and the pains on our journey.  Yet as I live each day, I learn a little more about the real meaning of life and the path I have chosen.  In spite of the trials and difficulties, joy has always come through.”

In her later years, Sister Stanislaus seemed delicate as a fine doily, still always the lady, yet more and more quiet and gentle. Bit by bit her life was more and more surrendered to God until its completion at her death this past Tuesday. She expresses all this in a message she wanted shared with all of you and which harkens back to the scripture with which we began:

<em>“I wish to thank God for my faith, for grace to be a Catholic and member of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Concordia, I ask for prayers.  I ask that the Bible Vigil and Mass be filled with great joy that I have finished my “Journey of Faith” on planet Earth and have gone to my resurrected Lord.  Alleluia.  The Bible readings I choose because they have been of great strength in my life.”
</em>
Dear Stanislaus you have indeed “done your best in the race, you have run the full distance, and have kept the faith…” And we commend you to God for your victory prize.

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!

Eulogy for Sister Eileen Farley, Sept. 23, 1932-Oct. 25, 2009

Eulogist: Sister Mary Fran Simons
Vigil: Oct. 28, 2009, at the Motherhouse in Concordia


Soon after I heard of Eileen’s death and learning of the intense suffering of her last days, there rose up within me these words:

Arise, my beloved, and come
For the winter has passed,
The rains are over and gone.
The flowers appear. Summer has come.

Eileen’s great desire has come to fulfillment. Her deep passion and generous, loving heart has been freed to give and receive full expression.


Sister Eileen Farley died October 25, 2009. She was 77 years old and a Sister of St. Joseph for 56 years. She was born in Fowler, KS on September 23, 1932 to James and Anna Murphy Farley, the eighth of nine children, and was baptized Eileen Agnes. Eileen entered the Sisters of St. Joseph on September 1952 and pronounced her final vows on March 19, 1957.

Eileen was preceded in death by her parents, four brothers and three sisters. She is survived by her sister, Betty Wygant of Grand Junction, CO, her sister-in-law, Mary Farley of Hutchinson, KS., and her many nieces and nephews.

Eileen was a woman who never lost the sense of her own humanity. She loved watching tennis matches on TV, playing bridge, dancing, laughing and a good story.

Eileen was authentic. What you see is what you get: delight—that beautiful twinkle in her eye, the sweet smile and hearty laugh. Sadness, anger or hurt—these, too, could be seen and heard. I, and I suspect others, sometimes might not like what or how Eileen expressed her thoughts and feelings, but if listened to closely, almost always there was more than a kernel of truth in it and something I did not want to see or deal with.

Eileen was a woman who was lured by a love and drawn by a dream to become a Sister of St. Joseph. For over 50 years, Eileen lived as a Sister of St. Joseph. In one of her commitment statements she wrote,

I ask the Congregation to accept my commitment to struggle with the Holy Spirit of love to live out the Heritage Statement of our Founder, Jean-Pierre Medaille, especially to move always toward profound love of God and love of neighbor without distinction in humility, in sincere charity always in a spirit of gentleness, peace, and joy.

True to the ideal of a Sister of St. Joseph, Eileen always was doing seemingly little tasks in a hidden manner. Her faithful visiting and caring for her Mother at Mt. Joseph for many years, the respectful and loving way she visited our Sisters who are there now manifested her awareness of the power and grace of presence.

Ministry and service were her driving force. From teaching little ones, caring for the aging as a nurse aid to taking on the structures of society, Eileen was always in a mode of service.

But most of all, Eileen loved us, her biological family, and us, her chosen family of religious women. The shaping of human history and her own personal culture and history limited the expression of this love, just as it does for each of us, but her strong passionate love is now free of those limitations. We welcome you, Eileen, into the company of our family and friends who have gone before us into the eternal loving presence of God and we trust your continued care and blessing of us.

And so we pray: Arise, Beloved one of God, come. For see, the winter is passed, the rains are over and gone. The flowers appear. Summer has come.

Sister Mary Keller, Feb. 12, 1917-Sept. 19, 2009

Eulogist: Sister Christella Buser
Vigil: Sept. 21, 2009, at the Motherhouse in Concordia

It was an honor when Mary asked me to give her eulogy. Her death is a loss, but also a gift to us.

Sister Mary’s parents, Peter and Mary Volk Keller, and most of her siblings, came from Russia to America in May 1908. She was born Feb. 25, 1917, in Collyer, Kan., and was given the name Mary Magdeline. She was the 11th of 14 children; all of her brothers and sisters preceded her in death.

Her childhood and teen years were lived on a farm 1½ miles east of Collyer, and she attended grade and high school there. From 1935 to 1938, Mary and her sister Sue went to Denver to find work. They managed to find something with very minimal pay. On their days off a group of them got together to go to the movies, dances or amusement parks.

In 1937, she decided to join the Sisters of St. Joseph of Concordia. After much prayer and discernment, on Feb. 12, 1938, she joined two of her sisters who were a1ready in the community: Sisters Francesca and Renilda. In her Life Story, she wrote: “Sister Sabinus, the Postulant Mistress, took me upstairs and had me dress in the postulant uniform. I immediately experienced a deep peace and joy and a feeling of “Yes, this is the place for me and this is where I am going to stay.’“ She received the habit and the name Sister Anthony on Aug. 15, 1938.

She recalled, “The novitiate years were good, but 1 had no desire to do them over.”

Mary’s first mission was Fairbury, Neb., where she was housekeeper for two years. The following year, she began her studies toward a bachelor’s degree to qua1ify to teach grade school. Her 33-year teaching career took her to Chicago and Aurora, Ill.; Concordia, Beloit and Salina in Kansas; Silver City, N.M.; and Grand Island, Neb.

After Mary received her master’s degree in education, she was assigned as principal of the grade schools in Grand Island and Salina.
In 1973, she changed her ministry from teaching to parish work. About her years of visiting the elderly and shut-ins she said, “They were very appreciative of everything and they were life-giving to me.”

In her yearly commitment statements, Mary repeatedly committed herself to praying for justice and peace in a world of violence and war, for the whole world that human rights and freedom may be respected everywhere: “To be a loving presence to one another and to be united in heart and spirit through our charism and the Eucharist.”

In her Life Story, she wrote, “I have always valued my religious life highly and have appreciated community life. I considered the renewal in the Church and religious life a great blessing. I welcomed the changes wholeheartedly.”

I visited Mary every week while she was at Mt. Joseph. Each time she would ask me to water her plant even though it did not need it. She would always ask me when I was coming back.

Toward the end of her life, she was not able to react to conversation, but her eyes always responded to the blessing I gave before leaving her.
Mary, this is my last blessing, but you will always continue to be a blessing to me. May you rest in God’s love.

Sister Helen Urban, July 10, 1914-Sept. 17, 2009

September 20, 2009
Eulogy by Bette Moslander CSJ

We come together this evening to honor and to celebrate the life of Sister Helen Urban, a Sister of St. Joseph for 75 years who died around supper time on Thursday, Sept. l7 at the Motherhouse. Helen’s death comes as something of a shock, not because she was not ready to die, but as far as we knew she was neither the oldest nor the sickest. As a matter of fact I remember with clarity that as we were leaving the Chapel to go to the cemetery for the burial of Sister Venard a few weeks ago, Sister Helen and I coincided in each other’s space as we were reached the chapel door. At that time she reached up, pulled me down to her level and smiling, her eyes laughing, she said in a loud clear voice, “I’m the next one. Remember what I say, I’m the next one.”

In her characteristic direct, no-nonsense manner Helen has left a long and beautiful “life review”. It is a very human account of the woman she has become. She recounts the ups and downs of her growing-up years on the plains of western Kansas. She writes with uncompromising honesty about her life as a young woman as she attempts to adjust to the rigors and restrictions of convent protocol, and the pain of frequent moves in her early teaching career. An earthy kind of woman, Helen never hesitated to say it the way she saw it. So let us reflect on her life.

Helen was born in Topeka, Kansas on July 10, 1914 and baptized at St. Joseph’s Church. Not long after her birth the Urban family returned to Pfeifer, Kansas to live on a farm that Helen’s grandmother had given them. Helen’s two sisters, Irene and Marcelle and her brother Raymond were born there. Her family, like that of so many of our Sisters from western Kansas, was not well to do, but they were a close family and faithful and dedicated to the Church and their Catholic faith. The small town of Pfeifer was a school mission of Sisters from Concordia, and each fall the sisters came to teach in the parish. Several of the incidents Helen records in her life review give insights into day-by-day parish life in those days: baptisms, first communions and first confessions; pastors and sister teachers; births and deaths; real life, lived in the flow of seasons in a rural community and in the dynamic and very human reality of a small Catholic village on the plains of Kansas.

Recalling her schooling in the elementary school there, in Pfeifer, Helen remarks “As I studied conscientiously under the supervision of the Sisters they planted the seed of my vocation. Their deep faith and love far surpassed their human limitations. The Sister who stands out in my memory was Sister Helena Robben, a fine teacher who ruled with an iron hand, but at heart was a real friend for us, especially outside the formal school time.”

One touching memory of those early days, was the death of her little brother Raymond who was crushed in a farm accident, “He lived three days,” she says, “but there was no hope. Dad blamed himself and became a changed man; my mother grew old before her time. Our deep faith in God finally triumphed and we came to see the accident as a part of God’s plan, strengthening our trust in God’s Providence.”

Helen wanted to go on to high school but there was no high school in the town. Eager for learning she took the 8th grade over again and Sister Alcantara gave her extra supplementary work. Her fortunes changed when Sister Helena was assigned to Tipton as principal of the high school there. Recognizing Helen’s ability and desire for an education, her family with Sister Helena’s help, made arrangements for Helen to board with the Hake family and go to school. After graduation, and a few months of discerning and hesitating, Helen decided that she really did want to become a Sister of St. Joseph and set her plans in motion. She arrived in Concordia on a beautiful, clear, cold day in February, put on the postulants’ uniform and her life in the convent was underway.

“I did find the postulancy and novitiate a big challenge,” she wrote, “but I took it all in stride, not considering anything too difficult or unreasonable. Some times however it seemed such a waste of time to ask so many trivial permissions. All seemed routine and I don’t remember ever spiritualizing them.” The early years of Helen’s life in the convent were a mixture of wonderful experiences of closeness to God, and difficult experiences of putting up with the all too human limitations and trivial injustices of the hierarchical rules and customs of religious life of that time. Frank and uncensored in her memories, Helen reflects on the first year on mission where she was assigned as a cook and music teacher, and in both departments found herself untrained and overburdened. Mid-year the Sister who taught the upper four grades fell ill and Helen was asked to take over her classroom. She concludes her account of her first mission experience in these words, “So the year passed. I had acquired a great deal of missionary experience, had my first taste of teaching and procured my precious teaching certificate.”

The following summer Helen began the process of achieving her college education. That fall she began a three-year assignment in Michigan where she taught the seventh grade, returning to Marymount each summer for a few more hours toward her degree. In the years that followed Helen experienced short term assignments in various western Kansas schools. Her story of those years provides a good historical account of the rigors and the poverty of the Church in western Kansas in the first half of the 20th century. It was an immigrant Church and each small town had its own character determined by the concentration of ethnic majorities, Volga German, French, and Irish, the people, strong in the faith, but poor in most other ways.

In 1943 she was needed as an upper grade teacher in Aurora, Kansas, where in Helen’s words she experienced some feeling of security in her life. One senses that it was here that Helen began to come into her own as an educator. During these years,” she writes, “I experimented with ability groups within the upper four grades. Parents cooperated beautifully because they could see that their children were experiencing success. Monsignor Fraser practically lived in the school and often gave me points in teaching techniques.”

Six years later, on to Junction City to teach in the 8th grade! “The students there were very lively and it took a great deal of scheming to keep ahead of them,” Helen remembered “but I enjoyed them very much because they presented me with a real challenge.” There were added duties teaching at the Fort every Sunday.

In 1952 Helen returned to Herndon, this time as Superior of the mission for six years. Reflecting on that experience Helen said, “During those six year I always did the best I knew, but looking back I see that I unknowingly made many mistakes. It was a great learning experience.” During her time in Herndon Helen lost both of her parents in a short period of time. It was a great blow for her. By the time her two terms of Superior were over she was able to acknowledge, “I knew that I loved the place, the people and the school and I hated to leave. I had found peace there, in the midst of tears and fears.”

Returning to Junction City in 1958, Helen was appointed principal at a time that the enrollment in the school was bursting the seams. “I felt extremely handicapped in administering the school in a professional way. First of all I was expected to teach full time; I had no office; there were no files or records. There were constant withdrawals and new enrollments due to the Fort Riley school population.” These were hard years but gradually Helen organized the school, setting up a central library, creating an office and a good record system. By the end of her term as principal the school was in better order.

Vatican II 1963—65 was a critical event in Helen’s life. On one page that she left in her personal file she wrote, “The Holy Spirit has been very present in my life since Vatican II. I welcomed the word freedom, but I was not sure of the real meaning at first. I came to realize that it meant the right choices, the right values in living my religious life. I soon became aware that I was the one to make the ordinary decisions in my life, not my superiors. It was a great feeling and my self-image developed tremendously.”

She seems to have come to a new love for the Church and a new sense of herself. She continued “The Church took on an entirely new meaning—The People of God. It seemed that I became one with every person and my commitment to make the reign of God evident became very, very real. From here on my vows became very special for I could see the purpose of each as being related to God’s People.”

Her mission life went on and she breathed a sigh of relief when she was moved to Plainville where the enrollment was less than half that of Junction City. Once again the school office and records called for Helen’s administrative skills but three years later she moved on to Grand Island where she served for the next nine years until the grade school closed. “I learned to love Grand Island, the place, my work, and the Sisters that touched my life. It was there that The Lord came to share with me his many graces and blessings. I learned what real love for God and neighbor meant, due to the many spiritual advantages, wonderful confessors and meaningful liturgies. It was there that I discovered that it is not the work that matters so much, but how much love for God and neighbor is brought to the work.”

Following her years in Grand Island and saddened by the close of the grade school in 1975, Helen returned to Manhattan for another six-year term. By 1985 Helen, feeling herself moving toward retirement from the classroom took on work in Junction City directing the Renew Program for the Parish, and helping with the religious education program. During those years she also enjoyed and actively assisted Sister Viatora and Sister Mary Esther at St. Clare House, a home for women in need of shelter and assistance.

In 1991 Helen retired at Medaille Center where she served as a Hospital Visitor and was active in the parish. Reluctantly, she retired to the Motherhouse in 2002, having spent 50 years in the parish schools, and several more years in various volunteer services in Junction City and Salina.

These few vignettes of Helen’s life, moving much too frequently, from one school to another, provide a telling account of the energy and the self-emptying love that characterized the lives of many of our women who contributed toward the education in the faith of hundreds of children throughout this central plains country. Her life, not unlike that of hundreds of other grade and high school teachers, was spent laying the foundation of the Church here in Kansas.

So now, we remember Helen, her steadfastness and her tireless energy in serving others. Her life reminds us of the letter Paul wrote to Timothy (II, 1: 5-10). “We find ourselves thinking of your sincere faith—faith that first belonged to your family…and which we are confident you also had…The Spirit gave you no cowardly spirit, but rather one that made you strong, loving and wise…” Helen, your life has been poured out generously, lovingly, in the service of the Church and God’s people. We give thanks for you and for the simple, direct forthrightness of your life. As you surrender your life into God’s loving hands may you delight in the fulfillment you know now, hearing the voice of your Divine Lover, “Come my beloved, enter into my everlasting peace.” We join you in your own great “AMEN.”

MY LIFE AFTER VATICAN TWO
By Sister Helen Urban

The Holy Spirit has been very present in my life since Vatican Two. I welcomed that word freedom, hut I was not sure of the real meaning at first. I came to realize that it meant the right choices, the right values in living my religious life. I soon became aware that I was ‘the the one to make the ordinary decisions in my life, not my superiors. It was a great feeling and my self-image developed tremendously.

The Church took on an entirely new meaning- The People of God. It seemed that I became one with every person and my commitment to make the reign of God evident became very very real. From here on my vows became very special for I could see the purpose of each as being related to God’s people.

My vow of poverty gives me the freedom to become very in¬volved in helping spread the Good News in so many ways. Only by relinquishing possessions can I minister to the poor. My vow of chastity makes me free to keep moving. I can Lake risks which married people with concern for their families and for each other cannot be asked to take. Obedience is a public statement. that I bind myself to 1 I stun within and am commissioned by a community through its leaders.

Prayer has always been very important to me, but during these years after Vatican Two, my prayer became important in developing a contemplative attitude toward life. It helps me keep a proper perspective of life. It helps me focus on the most important values of the kingdom. Sincere and regular prayer returns me to the center, love which is the greatest gift and the greatest commandment.

Finally our culture is characterized by segregation and alienation. My religious community, by living the Gospel. can challenge these structures that depersonalize and alienate; it proclaims an alternative way. “This is how all will know you For my disciples, your love for one another” (Jn 13:35).

The Eucharist has always been the heart, of my spiritual life as long as I can remember. However, when the Mass was allowed in the vernacular, my longed for dream was fulfilled. It is now and always will be the most fundamental expression of the reality of my life.

For me the vowed life after Vatican Two was a deep call and a deep grace. LUMEN GENTIUM called me to enrich, challenge, encourage and stimulate the Church by my life and my action.

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