Provincial offices of Missionary Sisters move to Founder's Hall

by Bridget Egan staff writer

The Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus could not be happier with their new home.

On Oct. 1, they relocated their offices from the third floor of the

Mansion to the first floor of Founder's Hall in the area formerly occupied by the weight room and the locker. rooms.

Peg Barrett, administrative secretary to the Cabrini Mission Corps, explained why this move was good for their work.

"We feel like we're in the thick of things here," Barrett said. "In the Mansion we were backwater."

The Provincial Mission Offices had been located in the Mansion since 1990, when they first opened at Cabrini.

The new move was spurred by the growing number of faculty and staff at Cabrini who need office space and the desire for the Missionary Sisters to be more visible to the students.

Stephen J. Lightcap, vice president for finance and administration, mirrored Barrett's sentiments.

"The Sisters desired greater visibility on campus," Lightcap said. The college also desired the Sisters to play a more visible role on campus."

The new location of the offices is next to the dining hall, where the locker rooms and weight facility used to be.

The hallway is still open to pub- lie traffic in hopes of increasing the awareness of the Missionary Sisters on campus, according to Lightcap.

The new office is smaller than the one in the mansion, but Barrett said this was actually better because it made the office more efficient.

Alison Arnold Ryan, director of the Cabrini Mission Corps, is also happy with the move.

She said that the student traffic and interaction is a great bonus, especially for her work. Ryan interviews and recruits missionaries who will service those in need.

Her target age group is usually 21-year-olds and recent college graduates.

"This is a population that is vital to who we are," Barrett said.

The space that was vacated by the Provincial Offices will be brought up to the standards of the other offices on campus and house administrative and staff offices.

The Human Resources Department is occupying the space temporarily.

Lightcap said that this move was part of a plan to identify a number of needs on campus and try to fulfill them. One of those vital needs is space.

The relocation of the Provincial Mission offices frees additional square footage and at the same time converts outdated facilities~ like the weight room and locker rooms, into offices.

The convent attached to the Mansion is also being transformed into new office space. Some of the sisters who are permanent residents will move into the gatehouse as a result.

Lightcap claimed that he was not in a position to discuss the funding for the renovations, but stated that it was not coming from students' tuition money.