using our re s o u r ce s w i se ly The former convent and Early Childhood Learning Center at the Cathedral of St. Joseph, is now the future home of Sisters in Jesus the Lord. (L to R) Mother Emerita Julia Kubista, Sister Maria Damiana Lee, Sister Joanna Marie Schlies, and Mother Maria Stella Whittier.
By Marty Denzer Photos by Megan Marley
S I S T E R S I N J E S U S T H E LO R D M OV E TO S T. J O S E P H
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ast summer, during the Year of Saint Joseph, the Sisters in Jesus the Lord moved to St. Joseph from Raytown, which had been their home since 2009. The missionary order, founded by Mother Emerita Julia Kubista to help revive the
Catholic Church in Far Eastern Russia, particularly Vladivostok, came to the Kansas City-St. Joseph Diocese in 2009 at the invitation of then-Bishop Robert Finn. The community, offering a missionary presence with the charism of living in Jesus and evangelizing through the parish through liturgy and music, catechesis for all ages and building the culture of life, was decreed a Public Association of the Faithful in 2010, then became an integral part of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Raytown.
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Catholic Key • April/May 2022 • catholickey.org
Some time ago, after much thought and prayer, it became clear that the community might need to move in order to grow and flourish, even though they loved the parish that welcomed them 12 years earlier. As they prayed for a resolution, Father Steve Hansen, pastor of the Cathedral of St. Joseph and St. Mary’s Parish in St. Joseph, contacted Mother Maria Stella Whittier, who had been elected prioress Oct. 2, 2020, with an offer. The convent at Cathedral was vacant, used only as storage, would the sisters be interested in it?
