In TE rCOM

COnTEnTS

Features

Compassion at the next Level........... 6-7 S. Montiel Rosenthal educates health care professionals. Welcome Home .............................. 8-11 Community gathers for first time since pandemic. Healthy Improvements.................. 12-13 S. Annie Klapheke journeys with clients to a healthier lifestyle. Excellence in Care ......................... 14-15 The Sisters of Charity legacy as nurse educators. Mission Focused............................ 18-19 Associate S. Karen Elliott connects the SC charism to MSJU. Body, Mind and Spirit................... 20-21 S. Mary Fran Davisson’s ministry of massage therapy.

Departments

EarthConnection.................................16 Journeying Toward a Better Future OPJCC ...............................................22 A Call to Action Timeless Treasures ...............................27 St. Aloysius Academy, Fayetteville, Ohio

on the Cover: Sister of Charity Montiel Rosenthal, MD, is in her 18th year as a member of the core residency faculty for the Christ Hospital/University of Cincinnati Family Medicine Residency Program. Read more on pages 6-7. Disclaimer: The information contained in Intercom is intended for general information and educational purposes only. Opinions expressed herein are the views of individual authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or policies of the Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati. When you are an apostolic congregation: How do you continue on when demographics say you’re getting older? How do you serve when you are confronted with a once-every-100-years pandemic? How do you continue when it feels like everything is shut down or is shut down?

This issue of Intercom gives several responses as to how. “A spirituality of work is based on a heightened sense of sacramentality, of the idea that everything that is, is holy and that our hands consecrate it to the service of God. When we grow radishes in a small container in a city apartment, we participate in creation. When we sweep the street in front of a house in the dirtiest city in the country, we bring new order to the universe. We tidy the Garden of Eden. We make God’s world new again. When we repair what has been broken or paint what is old or give away what we have earned that is above and beyond our own sustenance, we stoop down and scoop up the earth and breathe into it new life again, as God did one morning in time only to watch it unfold and unfold and unfold through the ages … when we care for everything we touch and touch it reverently, we become the creators of a new universe …” S. Joan Chittister, There Is a Season

Our ministerial life did not shut down. Our hearts and hands continue to serve God, God’s people and the planet. Admittedly, moving forward has taken more patience and a heavy dose of creativity as to how to do what was once an efficient routine. We look forward to everyone returning to the Motherhouse. We look forward to sharing our pandemic stories and we look forward to showing all the changes that were made at the Motherhouse while you were gone. Congratulations. Hazard Yet Forward. Let us give thanks and celebrate.

S. Teresa Dutcher

In memorIam

Please visit “In Memoriam” at www.srcharitycinti.org for biographical information and reflections on the Sisters of Charity and Associates who have died. May our Sisters and Associates enjoy the fruits of their labor as well as peace with their God.

s. Katrinka Gunn

July 31, 2021

s. elizabeth Jane mann

July 27, 2021

s. Jean Welling

June 19, 2021

s. Florence Cremering

April 22, 2021

s. Kathleen Houck

April 12, 2021

Sisters of Charity Bestow Elizabeth Ann Seton Award

The Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati awarded the Congregation’s highest honor, the Elizabeth Ann Seton Award, on April 10, 2021, to S. Janet Mock, CSJ. The award recognizes individuals outside the Congregation for their significant contributions to furthering the mission of the Sisters of Charity to act justly, build loving relationships, share resources with those in need, and care for creation.

S. Janet, a native of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, is a Sister of St. Joseph of Baden, Pennsylvania. She has served in education, as formation director for her congregation, and in congregational leadership for her community. S. Janet served as executive director of the religious Formation Conference from 1997 to 2007. After congregational leadership, she ministered in urban ministry in association with Carlow High College in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and served as director of the Ecumenical Institute on racism, a collaborative effort of Carlow College (now university) and Christian Associates of Southwest Pennsylvania. S. Janet also served as director of the Institute for Leadership and Mission at Washington Theological union.

In 2012, S. Janet became the executive director of the Leadership Conference of Women religious (LCWr). With remarkable grace, she led the conference during the Apostolic Visitation, influencing the process with a spirit of cooperation, patience, teamwork and integrity. Since completing her position with LCWr, S. Janet has worked with religious communities of women in the areas of facilitation, education and retreat ministry.

The following is an excerpt from the nomination by the Sisters of Charity Leadership Council describing why S. Janet Mock was chosen for the award.

“S. Janet has been indirectly supporting our Congregation for many years. As the executive director of the religious Formation Conference and as the executive director of the Leadership Conference of Women religious during the critical period of the Apostolic Visitation and Doctrinal Assessment, S. Janet has been and continues to be an

S. Janet Mock, CSJ, received the Elizabeth Ann Seton Award, the Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati’s highest honor, on April 10, 2021. influential voice helping to positively shape the reality of religious life in the united States. “In June of 2017, we were fortunate to have S. Janet as our retreat facilitator as we went ‘deeper into divine mystery.’ Since our retreat, we have been blest with opportunities to practice contemplative dialogue with one another in expanding and enriching ways. As a woman who has exhibited courageous and attentive listening to the signs of our times, S. Janet has supported all religious with her gifted leadership.” S. Jeanne Bessette, OSF, former president of Sisters of Charity sponsored ministry DePaul Cristo rey High School (Cincinnati), is also a recipient of this year’s award. S. Jeanne will be honored at a later date.

Seton Hall’s Footprint

By S. Joanne Burrows

In the fall of 2020, the Leadership Council invited the Environment and Grounds Committee to design a “green space” in the footprint of Seton Hall. The committee, chaired by S. Winnie Brubach and comprised of Sisters Kathryn Ann Connelly, Annette Muckerheide, Joyce richter and Joanne Burrows and Plant and Grounds staff Jim Franz and Eric niehaus, agreed early on to engage the services of landscape architect Gayle Frazer, who was already designing the long-delayed landscaping around the solar array, to help with the project.

Fine details of the design are still being determined but we can tell you the “big things,” including: • A cover crop of annual rye grass and red clover currently fills the footprint and it will be tilled under next spring to provide additional organic material for the soil.

• An ADA compliant walking path with seating areas in various locations will traverse the garden space making it easy for Sisters and visitors with canes, walkers, wheelchairs and scooters to enjoy its many plants and the beautiful scenery. Additional paths will wend their way through the various areas of grasses and plants. • The vast majority of the trees, grasses and flowers in the space will be native to Ohio. red cedars (the only native evergreen) and a variety of redbuds will be the featured trees. We are working hard to retain the trees currently in the space. Plants that attract hummingbirds, butterflies and other insects will also be featured.

• The space will include a dry creek bed with a pondless water feature and a terrace with a gas firepit for us to enjoy gathering near or around them. Sorry but no goldfish swimming about or cooking marshmallows over an open fire. • The limestone pieces retained from the front entrance of Seton Hall, including the “Seton Hall” lintel stone and the cherub head, will be recrafted into a bench and decorative feature in the far northwest corner near regina Hall.

The timeline for the project will stretch out over this summer to next spring. The limestone bench and lintel feature along with plantings around it will be completed this summer. The remainder of the space will be installed and planted next spring and early summer. We look forward to dedicating the Seton Hall garden in the summer of 2022.

This nun Has Big Dreams

for Ending Poverty in the Tri-State

By Tanya O’ Rourke

Throughout the past decade, S. Sally Duffy (back), pictured with S. Jackie Leech, has been involved with Nuns Build, a rebuilding effort of religious Sisters from around the country and the St. Bernard Project in New Orleans, Louisiana.

The following article is reprinted, with permission, following a May 5, 2021 segment and online article on WCPO9 News.

There are countless women in our communities working behind the scenes to make a difference. It’s possible you’ve never heard their names, but you should know them. Throughout 2021, WCPO’s Tanya O’rourke will introduce you to nine influential women breaking glass ceilings or asserting their influence to make the Tri-State a better place to live.

The first woman in our series is Sister Sally Duffy, a nun with the Sisters of Charity who is using her influence to end poverty in local communities.

Moira Weir, president and CEO of united Way Greater Cincinnati, describes Duffy as essential to the fight against poverty.

“Everything I think about when I think about poverty and what we’ve done, Sister Sally has been a part of it, or has an influence in or has recommended something that’s come out of it,” Weir said.

Weir said Duffy is humble but passionate. Motivated by her faith, she’s fought to raise wages in the healthcare system where she worked and helped hungry children get access to food. Duffy hopes her efforts are most noticeable in the lives of children.

“I think I’ve seen it manifested somewhat through the child poverty collaborative. Least I hope it has been,” Duffy said. “This pandemic has shown us, it has totally ripped open and revealed, you know, the inequities in the disparities that exist here. And especially for people of color.”

She’s been fierce in pushing her ideas for years. When Duffy began discussing her agenda with people in power, she faced some blank stares.

“More than a fair number,” Duffy said. “At times, I felt like, ‘Well, we’ll just let Sister talk, and then go on.’”

Weir said she’s encouraged Duffy to use people’s expectations about nuns to her advantage.

“She’s a sister, so who is gonna be mean to her?” Weir said. “So I mean, like sometimes I say to her, ‘You go say that, because you can say that and they’re not gonna get mad at you.’”

Duffy said her work won’t be over any time soon.

“We’re called to make a just and inclusive society and an equitable society, and God knows it’s been inequitable for a long time, and we have a lot of groundwork to make up,” she said.

Her steady resolve is what Weir believes makes her so effective.

“She quietly gets things done and I love that about her,” Weir said. “She just keeps doing her thing and things get done, and she doesn’t need a lot of accolades. She shied away from it. And she doesn’t like to tell you all the things she’s doing. She just quietly continually plods along, and things are happening because of her.”

Her work is part of her promise to God. It isn’t just poverty she wants to eliminate. She would like to get rid of the death penalty and is working on a way to do that in the state legislature. She’s also been visiting the border and trying to find a pathway to citizenship for immigrants.

“The border is only a symptom,” Duffy said. “It’s not where the crisis is. And so I definitely believe, you know, like, right now, we have potential legal permanent residence and pathways to citizenship.”