Ursulines Alive Spring 2003

Spring 2003 Volume 1, Number 2

Ursuline Sisters of Mount Saint Joseph Proclaiming Jesus through Education and Christian Formation

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From Our Congregational Leader Sister Rose Marita O’Bryan, OSU

In this issue Dear Friends, We, the Ursuline Sisters of Mount Saint Joseph, sustained by prayer and our vowed life in community, proclaim Jesus through education and Christian formation in the spirit of our founder, Saint Angela Merici.

With these words of our Mission Statement, and with the concepts mirrored in our constitutions as backdrops, I compose this letter for the Spring 2003 edition of Ursulines Alive, which features our teaching mission. Since the time of Saint Angela Merici, her daughters have found their primary ministry within the teaching mission of the Church.

Our vow of instruction, a heritage from the Ursulines of the Congregation of Paris, preserves and strengthens us today in this traditional Ursuline ministry. We believe that the vow of instruction directs our efforts as we respond to the call of all Christians to share in the redemptive mission of Jesus. We strive for excellence in our teaching mission, and call ourselves to continuous personal and professional growth.

Continually we evaluate and adapt our ministry in the light of the Gospel, our charism, and the Church’s mission in contemporary society. We recognize that the fruitfulness of our ministry springs from our deep personal love for Christ, and that our union with Him and with one another is strengthened by our common dedication to the coming of the Reign of God.

Teaching as an Ursuline Way of Life Ursuline teachers proclaim Jesus in the classroom

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Without a Vision, the People Perish

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Contemporary Woman Program celebrates four decades A Place of Compassion and Love Saint Joseph Villa offers physical and spiritual care to elderly, infirm

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In the Joy of Eternal Life Our Sisters go before us in faith

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Remembering Father Volk A humble German priest brought God’s love to the wilderness

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Soli Deo Gloria 11 We rejoice in the gifts of our Sisters, given for the kingdom of God Celebrating in 2003 Ursuline Sisters celebrate jubilees and a special birthday

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Central to Ursuline pedagogy, which is based distinctively on the insights and counsels of Saint Angela, is the uniqueness and giftedness of the individual. Like Angela, we are enthusiastic about preparing the individual for responsible and authentic Christian citizenship. With persistence and passion, we contribute to the Ursuline achievement through our influence on the total intellectual and moral formation of the individual in society. We are Ursulines Alive, who delight in sharing our stories in words and pictures with you.

Lovingly in Saint Angela, OUR MISSION

Sister Rose Marita O’Bryan, OSU, Congregational Leader Ursulines Alive is published by the Ursuline Sisters of Mount Saint Joseph, Maple Mount, Kentucky. Two Issues __ Fall and Spring __ will appear during this, its inaugural year.

Editor: Sister Ruth Gehres, OSU Photography and production assistance: Jerry Birge, Karen Heilers, Patricia Nation Mission Advancement Staff: Sister Suzanne Sims, Director of Mission Advancement Sister Annalita Lancaster, Director of Mission Effectiveness Sister Pam Mueller, Director of Vocation Ministry Jerry Birge, Director of Marketing and Communications Sister Amelia Stenger, Director, Mount Saint Joseph Conference and Retreat Center Cecilia McEldowney, Director of Ursuline Partnerships Sister Ruth Gehres, Associate Director of Communications Patricia Nation, Karen Heilers, and Terri Prewitt, Administrative Assistants We welcome your response to Ursulines Alive. You may contact us at: Ursulines Alive, Ursuline Sisters of Mount Saint Joseph, 8001 Cummings Road, Maple Mount KY. Phone: (270) 229-4103, ext. 404. Fax: (270) 229-4953. E-mail: info@ursulinesmsj.org. Web site: www.ursulinesmsj.org.

Cover photo: Sister Laurita Spalding gives a little assistance to Shelby Oglesby during handwriting class at Holy Name Elementary School in Henderson, Kentucky. Also pictured are Eric Johnson and Delaney Johnson. Sister Laurita, a 36-year teacher completing her third year at Holy Name, is one of many Ursuline Sisters proclaiming Jesus in the classroom.

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We, the Ursuline Sisters of Mount Saint Joseph, sustained by prayer and our vowed life in community, proclaim Jesus through education and Christian formation in the spirit of our founder, Saint Angela Merici.

OUR VISION As Ursuline Sisters of Mount Saint Joseph, we will: • Commit ourselves to simplicity, hospitality, justice and service; • Reverence the values of our founding rural heritage; • Live and minister contemplatively as women of hope; • Witness gospel values through the charism of Saint Angela Merici; • Bind ourselves to one another in charity, celebrating and respecting the uniqueness of each person; • Invite and mentor new members; • Respond to the signs of the times and the needs of the Church and the world through collaborative relationships; and • Stand in prophetic witness to the world by living in right relationships with the earth and the human family to effect justice through systemic change.

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Teaching as an Ursuline Way of Life Ursuline teachers proclaim Jesus in the classroom

By Sister Ruth Gehres, OSU

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eaching has been such a great joy for me!” says Sister Clara Reid as she looks back on 42 years in the classroom, the last 14 at Saint Charles Borromeo School in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

“I’ve never tired of helping God’s children,” she declares. “Children have shown me what it means to love, to have hope and faith.”

As a young girl, Clara was attracted by “the simple joy I saw in the Ursuline Sisters who taught me in the public schools of Marion County, Kentucky.” But at that time, she says, “I knew nothing of Angela or her writings.” Now, in her 44th year as an Ursuline Sister of Mount Saint Joseph, she states with conviction: “I believe that I am truly carrying out Angela’s work in today’s world. I find that I’m not only a teacher for them, but also mother, counselor, and friend.”

For more than 460 years, being Ursuline has meant being educator .

Ursulines throughout the centuries have cherished this heritage from their founder, Saint Angela Merici.

When Angela and 28 dedicated women came together in 1535 to form the Company of Saint Ursula, they saw as their primary ministry the instruction of young girls. At that place and time — 16th-century Brescia, Italy — schools were for the aristocracy, and for boys.

Education for girls, if it Sister Mary Diane Taylor, Brescia University Fine Arts happened at all, took place in the chair, works with Beth Ford in home. Angela’s work, begun a printmaking class. Sister Mary Diane speaks of her “deep long before she formally appreciation for this ministry, established her Company, which allows me to enrich the lives of so many students by supported and enriched this teaching them to recognize home-based education. Angela the beauty in the world around them.” and her followers also reached out to the many young women whose homes, in a society rife with poverty and other social problems, provided little or no educational opportunity.

Throughout the centuries since 1535, Ursuline Sisters have found new, creative ways to meet the changing needs of God’s people. “If, according to times and circumstances, the need arises to do something differently,” Angela writes, “do it prudently and with good advice” (Last Legacy). Taking their founder’s words seriously,

Art class is a special joy for Sister Clara Reid and her creative thirdgraders at Saint Charles Borromeo School, Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Ursulines have been pioneers, extending their ministry throughout the world as teachers in the radical Christian sense: proclaimers of God’s goodness to all people.

In Angela’s day, nuns — cloistered women religious — were contemplatives with no ministry outside their monasteries. Angela, a deeply contemplative woman who spent her life reaching out to people in need, founded a community of women who lived in their homes, met regularly for prayer and mutual support, gathered young women for classes in Christian doctrine, and worked as leaven for their families and the larger society.

Angela’s foundation, the first religious community for women begun by a woman, was also the first non-cloistered community of women in the history of the Church. Angela’s followers have always sought to live in the spirit of their founder, with an intense life of prayer sustaining an unshakable commitment to the service of God’s people. Angela and her companions taught Christian doctrine, worked in orphanages, and prepared other young women to follow them in the Company of Saint Ursula. Only gradually, as the institute spread from Italy throughout Europe and the New World, did they begin to work in actual schools.

By the 17th century, Church laws after the Council of Trent required many Ursulines to live in cloistered communities, fulfilling their educational ministry in boarding and day schools within the monastery walls. Fearing total cloister and loss of their ministry, the Ursulines of the Congregation of Paris obtained from Pope Paul V the privilege of adding a special vow to the traditional three. This fourth vow —The Instruction of Young Girls — protected Angela’s vision for future Ursulines. As members of the Congregation of Paris, the Ursuline Sisters of Mount Saint Joseph today make four vows: poverty, chastity, obedience, and instruction. And, in a variety of specific ministries, education continues to be a central commitment of this community, as it has been from its founding. continued on page 4

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Teaching as an Ursuline Way of Life continued from page 3

Today, Ursuline Sister Mary Jude Cecil (at left) and her freshman class from Saint Sisters of Mount Saint Mary High School, Paducah, Kentucky, came to the Mount last to visit their pen pals in Saint Joseph Villa, to tour the Joseph serve in schools October Mount, and to sing for everyone at lunch in the dining room. in the Archdiocese of very much for each of us.” She goes on: “My Louisville and the Diocese of Owensboro in years in Catholic education continue to Kentucky, the Archdiocese of Santa Fe and enrich my life as I reflect on what Angela tells the Diocese of Gallup in New Mexico, and us about the great joy and privilege it is to be the dioceses of Lincoln, Nebraska, and guides of young people.”

Shreveport, Louisiana. Some of these Sisters are in administration; most are in elementary, In her ministry at Saint Francis School in secondary, or university classrooms.

As the school and its number of graduates Gallup, New Mexico, Sister Marie grew, young women began to return to join Montgomery — a teacher for 51 years — “One of the great legacies of the Ursuline their former teachers as Ursuline Sisters — a works “to proclaim Jesus by modeling the Sisters worldwide is the educational pattern that began with the first women who virtues of patience, joy, kindness, and opportunity it has given millions of young followed Angela. The first of these new understanding” to her students. Energized people over the centuries,” reflects Sister Ursulines was Mary Leona Willett of Union each day by the awareness of her call as an Judith Nell Riney, Director of Library County. The story of her life as Sister, then Ursuline Sister, Sister Marie sees “each child as Services at Brescia University in Owensboro.

Mother, Aloysius is the story of the growth of a daily reminder of that ‘singular gift’ of “To be a tiny piece of that ministry is an Mount Saint Joseph into an autonomous which Angela spoke in the formation of the awesome experience, as I stop and reflect on community known for its excellent teachers Company of Saint Angela.” the powerful and long-lasting tradition that and its willingness to take on the poorest Angela began back in 1535.” Bringing the schools in Kentucky and, as time went on, in After 56 years in the classroom, Sister Jovita educational advantages of technology to the Nebraska, New Mexico, and beyond.

Milner now prepares children for the students she serves gives Sister Judy particular Sacraments and liturgical ministries at Saint challenge and excitement. Discerning “the Like thousands of Ursulines before them, Bartholomew School, Louisville. “Teaching signs of the times,” as Angela counseled, she these early Ursulines of Mount Saint Joseph is my reason for choosing to become an finds joy in teaching faculty and students to were not simply school teachers, but Ursuline,” she says. “As a teacher, I get to stay use new resources for learning. educators. They saw to it that their young close to those I love — the children.” pupils — both girls and boys by this time — At Saint Mary Middle School, Paducah, became skillful at reading, writing, and Sister Michael Marie Friedman, principal of Kentucky, Sister Mary Celine Weidenbenner arithmetic. But the primary goal of the Sisters Saint James School, Elizabethtown, Kentucky, teaches sixth grade, seeking “to build an was always to lead their pupils to know, love, also speaks of the influence of her own Ursuline environment of acceptance, encouragement, and serve God, to grow into strong Christian teachers, and her efforts to teach “the qualities and challenge,” and to “bring forth mothers, fathers, and in many cases, teachers. and habits of how to be a loving, caring, attention to God’s reign at our school.”

Besides her classroom duties, Sister continued on page 8 NCEA recognizes Ursuline Sisters Mary Celine serves as Campus Minister Sister Mary Timothy for commitment to education for the Saint Mary School System, Bland checks on the computer skills of including both the middle school and On April 23, during the annual convention of the Steven Hall and National Catholic Educational Association (NCEA), high school.

Mayme Switzer at In 1874, the need for a school brought five pioneer Ursuline Sisters from Louisville to a hill in rural Daviess County that is now “the Mount.” Mount Saint Joseph Academy began with four students and two teachers.

In its early days, there was a “grade division” and a high school. Orphans — even boys at times — also came to live under the Sisters’ care.

Ursuline Sisters of the United States were recognized for their 275-year commitment to Catholic education in this country. Sister Lois Castillon, OSU, Executive Director of North American Ursuline Education Services (NAUES), accepted the award. Mount Saint Joseph was represented by Sister Rose Marita O’Bryan, Congregational Leader, and Sister Annalita Lancaster, Director of Mission Effectiveness.

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Sister Mary Jude Cecil, a long-time French teacher at St. Mary High School, writes of her heritage from Ursuline role models “in a rural school equipped with little else than creative, determined, excited teachers who cared

Saint Angela Merici School, Owensboro, Kentucky. Sister Mary Timothy, who was inspired by the prayerful dedication of her own Ursuline teachers, loves teaching second graders. “They’re so eager to learn new and different things,” she says.

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Without a Vision, the People Perish Contemporary Woman Program Celebrates Four Decades At Brescia University, celebrations March 2-9 marked the 40th anniversary of the Contemporary Woman Program, one of the first women’s studies programs in the nation — the fruit of the creative labor of Ursuline Sister Francesca Hazel and Dr. Philip Law, a Chicago physician. In its evolution, the program has reached out to women through credit and continuing education courses and seminars, short-term workshops on campus and in parish settings, self-esteem courses for women in a housing project and a correctional institution, and innumerable support groups — just to mention a few of its activities.

Following the pattern set by Angela Merici, students have grown to be collaborators and teachers in this endeavor.

In Owensboro, Contemporary Woman Program faculty and students have been members of the Women’s History Week steering committee and the board of the Area Spouse Abuse Center. Program director Sister Marita Greenwell served for 10 years on the Diocese of Owensboro Women’s Commission and, in collaboration with women from the program and from throughout the diocese, has dedicated herself to the gifts and needs of women in the Church.

The celebration in Owensboro paralleled worldwide “Gather the Women” activities centering on the March 8 International Women’s Day as declared by the United Nations. During the March 2 prayer service that opened the weeklong festivities, Sister Rose Marita O’Bryan, Congregational Leader of the Ursuline Sisters of Mount Saint Joseph, gave the keynote address. The text of her talk follows.

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ithout a vision, the people perish.” These are words from the Book of Proverbs in the Old Testament. Not much happens without a dream, and for something great to happen, there must be a great dream.

Today we celebrate a vision, a dream in process. We celebrate 40 years of a persistent voice in the history of women’s struggle for self-determination.

Behind every great achievement is a dreamer of great dreams. The achievement we celebrate today — known in 1963 as the Eternal Woman Program, then as the Christian Femininity Program, and today as the Contemporary Woman Program — had its seeds in the heart and mind of Angela Merici, a dreamer of great dreams!

This program is born of her life and singular charism.

educate women and girls to provide strength for the family and for society. At the same time Dr. Philip Law was seeing in his female patients a lack of self-esteem and worthwhile goals. Brought together by a mutual friend, Dr. Law and Sister Francesca began a collaborative and creative shaping of a program for Brescia College designed to build upon and strengthen women’s best qualities. The concept was both simple and complex: a woman needs to know who she is, why she is here, and where she is going.

Since 1963, the program has kept expanding. New courses, seminars, workshops, and outreach efforts continue to touch new lives. When Sister Francesca retired in 1973, Sister Marita Greenwell — who had team-taught with her for two years — took on the directorship. Other key Ursuline Sisters — Sister Rosemary Keough from 1988-93 and Sister Rebecca White from 1995-2001— assisted Sister Marita.

Angela Merici — now Saint Angela Merici — was both timeless and of her time. She would have been an extraordinary woman in any age. Her Company of Today we are recognizing 40 years of an Ursuline Saint Ursula began with 28 young women who Sister Rose Marita speaks achievement — part of the Ursulines’ 468-year history dedicated themselves to serve God and the needy around at the anniversary celebration on March 2. of service to God’s people. The seed that Angela Merici them —particularly women. Angela’s influence, and that planted has become a great tree, branching into the whole world, of her foundation, have persisted through almost five centuries. onto every continent. Broadening their commitment to education, Ursulines have constantly moved outward in response to the call of Angela always assumed that women could act and live in the world the Church and the world, always with special emphasis on the completely on their own authority. Because of her special concern for dignity and gifts of women. the education of women, she chose Saint Ursula, an early martyr venerated as a patron of education, as patron of her foundation. From It is fitting that Brescia University, founded by the Ursuline Sisters of the beginning, Angela’s company grew quickly, crossing national Mount Saint Joseph, is the site for the Contemporary Woman boundaries and even oceans as the needs of the Church required.

Program. The name of the University comes from the city in Italy where the visionary woman Angela established her foundation.

Sister Francesca Hazel believed passionately in the dream of Angela Brescia University is an Ursuline institution of learning born of the Merici. She believed in the mission of her Ursuline congregation to continued on page 10

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A Place of Compassion and Love Saint Joseph Villa offers physical and spiritual care to our elderly and infirm Sisters

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he Ursuline Sisters of Mount Saint Joseph have a new front door!

With the completion of Saint Joseph Villa in spring 2002, visitors to the Ursuline Motherhouse are welcomed under the building’s large canopy that leads to the new switchboard/information station just inside the door.

The new entranceway provides access to Saint Joseph Villa, our new health care facility, as well as to all other residence buildings, the chapel and dining room. Providing access to our new front door, Saint Ursula Avenue North has been enhanced with a brick entranceway. This road, now widened and resurfaced, leads up the hill past the Guest House and directly to the new Motherhouse entrance.

In early June 2002, 34 Sisters moved from the former infirmary in Lourdes Hall to their new home in Saint Joseph Villa. In contrast with the previous three-story infirmary, Saint Joseph Villa is built in three wings at ground level, offering the residents access to the outdoors, and providing easy movement throughout the building for residents

and health-care staff. Besides 42 resident rooms, the building includes a spacious dining room, a chapel, and well-equipped areas for the care of the sick. All facilities meet the Kentucky code for nursing homes.

Sister Jacinta Powers, RN, serves as administrator of Saint Joseph Villa.

“Saint Joseph Villa is an important building on our Motherhouse campus,” reflects Congregational Leader Sister Rose Marita O’Bryan. “It is home for our cherished elderly and infirm Sisters, whose wisdom and prayer are integral to the mission of our community.”

Saint Joseph Villa provides a home for the Ursuline Sisters of The Compassionate Joseph, a Mount Saint Joseph who have sculpture by Suzanne Young at the main entrance to Saint given long years to the service of Joseph Villa.

God’s people. At Saint Joseph Villa, our elderly and infirm Sisters receive loving care and, at the time of death, are surrounded by our presence and prayer.

We are grateful to the many of you who have contributed to the cost of this building in a variety of ways. We are currently paying off a loan for its construction, and for this, no gift is too small.

For many people, cash is tight these days, but there is also the possibility of a planned gift, such as a bequest or annuity. Some taxdeductible deferred gifts can actually benefit one’s estate.

The new entrance to Mount Saint Joseph Ursuline Motherhouse and Saint Joseph Villa.

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Bennett Ligon, who has made generous donations in support of Saint Joseph Villa, explains his own connection with the Ursuline Sisters and his commitment to continuing support. “My grandmother went to school at the Academy,” he says, “and my aunt, Sister Martha Ann Cargile, is now a resident of Saint Joseph Villa. The Sisters have always been so good to our family.” He goes on to commend “the wonderful care the infirm Sisters receive at Saint Joseph Villa. It is a place of compassion and love.”

Saint Joseph Villa offers many opportunities for sponsorship of specific areas. For example, a donor may specify sponsorship of a resident room, a treatment room, a nurses’ station, the prayer room (chapel), the dining room, or an office. There are over 25 types of rooms and service areas that may be named for an individual, family, or organization. A large family may consider making a joint contribution in memory or in honor of a parent or other family member. Sponsorship donations range from $1000 to $5000.

Sister Mary Clement Greenwell, 95, enjoys sharing her progress on a baby afghan with Dorothy Tipmore, RN, of the health-care staff.

Residential areas in the new facility are bright and roomy, providing space for a variety of activities.

An Ursuline Sister for 76 years, Sister Mary Clement ministered in education for more than 50 years.

Anyone who wishes to know more about specific naming or giving opportunities for this project, please contact Sister Suzanne Sims in the Mission Advancement Office, (270) 229-4103, ext. 284, or e-mail ssims@maplemount.org.

All gifts are tax deductible. Checks are payable to Ursuline Sisters of Mount Saint Joseph, with a memo for Saint Joseph Villa. May God bless you for your assistance. n

In the Joy of Eternal Life The union of prayer which exists among us continues after we enter eternal life. Through prayer, the bond of love which unites us forms a vital link with those who have died.

From our Constitutions, The Ursuline Way of Life, “Prayer” Sister Georgetta

Sister Bridget

Sister Dorothy Ann

Sister Mary Henry

Sister Joseph Cecelia

Sister Mary Leon

Sister Charles Marie

Sister Georgetta Higdon, 95, died December 20, 2002, in her 73rd year of religious life. A native of St. Lawrence, Kentucky, she ministered for 57 years as principal, teacher, librarian, and music teacher in Kentucky and New Mexico.

Sister Bridget Schwan Holzer, 87, an Ursuline Sister of Belleville, Illinois, died at Mount Saint Joseph on December 22, 2002, in her 66th year of religious life. A native of Karlsruhe, North Dakota, she was a teacher for more than 50 years in schools in Illinois and North Dakota.

Sister Mary Henry Russell, 86, died January 3, 2003, in her 65th year of religious life. A native of Louisville, she ministered for more than 60 years in schools in Kentucky, Nebraska, and New Mexico.

Survivors include her sister, Sister Joseph Adrian Russell, also an Ursuline Sister of Mount Saint Joseph.

Sister Mary Leon Riney, 83, died January 28, 2003, in her 63rd year of religious life. A native of West Louisville, Kentucky, she taught for 42 years in schools in Kentucky and Nebraska and served for nine years in parish ministry in Kentucky.

Sister Dorothy Ann Whelan, 90, died February 25, 2003, in her 71st year of religious life. A native of Howardstown, Kentucky, she was teacher, principal, librarian, and music teacher for 56 years in schools in Kentucky and Nebraska. She also served in parish ministry, and as librarian at Mount Saint Joseph Conference and Retreat Center. Survivors include her sister, Sister Mary Emily Whelan, also an Ursuline Sister of Mount Saint Joseph.

Sister Joseph Cecelia Muller, 80, died March 17, 2003, in her 58th year of religious life. The Louisville native taught in Kentucky and New Mexico. A registered nurse, she served for 23 years as infirmarian at Mount Saint Joseph and 20 years as infirmary consultant.

Sister Charles Marie Coyle, 91, died March 22, 2003, in her 74th year of religious life. A native of New Haven, Kentucky, she served for 60 years as teacher and principal in schools in Kentucky, Missouri, and New Mexico.

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Teaching as an Ursuline Way of Life continued from page 4

God-fearing person and a good citizen.” As principal, she says, she tries always to be a peacemaker, following the model of Angela, whose gift for reconciliation was a special mark of her holiness.

At Louisville’s Most Blessed Sacrament School, Sister Maureen O’Neill has found her special role for 30 years in junior high teaching. The opportunity to offer guidance to adolescents in these “rebellious years,” she says, “is what keeps me going.” She rejoices in the successes of her students, who come back after many years to visit and reminisce with their “old teacher” about their elementary school days.

Brescia University in Owensboro is one of five Ursuline institutions of higher education in the United States. It sprang from the same roots as Mount Saint Joseph Academy — the dedication of the Ursuline Sisters to the education of young women, and the preparation of their students to carry on the mission of education in the Ursuline tradition.

Beginning in 1913, Mother Aloysius Willett, local superior of the Mount Saint Joseph community, organized annual summer schools at the Mount for the preparation of Ursuline teachers. These programs led to the establishment, in 1925, of Mount Saint Joseph Junior College for Women, which offered teacher preparation and commercial (business) degrees for both Sisters and lay women.

Requests for classes in Owensboro led to extension classes there. In 1950, the Sisters relocated the school to Owensboro as Brescia Ursuline Sisters College, a four-year, of Mount Saint Joseph coeducational, liberal arts minister in these schools institution.

Kentucky Most Blessed Sacrament School, Louisville St. Bartholomew School, Louisville St. Lawrence School, Louisville St. James School, Elizabethtown St. Paul School, Leitchfield Brescia University, Owensboro Owensboro Catholic Middle School St. Angela Merici School, Owensboro Western Elementary School, Centertown Holy Name of Jesus School, Henderson St. Mary Middle School, Paducah St. Mary High School, Paducah

Louisiana Superintendent, Office of Catholic Schools, Diocese of Shreveport

Nebraska Lourdes Elementary School, Nebraska City

New Mexico St. Charles Borromeo School, Albuquerque St. Francis of Assisi School, Gallup 8

Now Brescia University, the school now offers a number of teacher preparation programs, including a master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction. From its beginning, Brescia College/University has sent nearly a thousand teachers to serve in the Catholic and public schools of this region.

Today, 11 Ursuline Sisters of Mount Saint Joseph minister at Brescia University. President Sister Vivian Marie

Bowles, a psychologist who still teaches an occasional course, attributes her vocation to “the Counsels of Angela Merici and the witness of the Ursulines who taught me.” In the university setting, she sees herself “on the front lines of Christian formation,” interacting with Brescia’s diverse population of traditional and nontraditional students. She speaks of her focus on educating the whole person as integral to her commitment, wherever she is, to “academic excellence in the Ursuline tradition.”

Brescia biologist Sister Michele Morek recalls the day a winged maple seed blew through a window on her desk, offering her a “vision” of why she has been an educator for 33 years. “I like to teach for the same reason that I like to garden — to see things grow,” she reflects. “As a farm girl, Angela Merici surely understood growth and applied it to her work with all kinds of people. I find my focus in our Ursuline Way of Life, where we say that ‘we seek that all people may reach their full potential.’”

Sister Cheryl Clemons, coordinator of the university’s Theology program, maintains that Angela’s emphasis on responding to the needs of the time and her commitment to Christian formation have become more important, more concrete, in her own teaching.

“Even here,” she says, “we have students who have no faith or who are non-Christians, so I’ve become much more conscious of being an ambassador for Christianity.” She sees her classes as “part of the teaching mission of the Church” and herself as “proclaiming the Good News of Jesus: that God loves us and has saved us and wants the fullness of life for us — wholeness, happiness, holiness.”

“Education was my vocation before I understood Ursuline,” reflects Sister Sharon Sullivan, chair of Brescia’s Educational Studies Program. Drawn by the example of her Ursuline teachers, Sister Sharon, whose background is in special education, sees education as “systemic change at the radical level. I wanted to make certain that — as far as was possible — those who had been cast aside by society would have a chance to discover their rightful places in society.” She is heartened by the stories of former students who are now dedicated teachers embracing this same commitment.

Throughout the world today, over 120 Ursuline schools in 35 countries and six continents serve more than 120,000 women and men of all ages. Ursulines work beside a host of lay women and men: fellow teachers and administrators, school staff, and board members, together with a host of supporters, whose generous commitment ensures the future of education in the spirit of Angela Merici.

The example of Angela and the words of Scripture, engraved on our Ursuline coat of arms, provide challenge and encouragement for all of us: “Those who instruct others unto justice shall shine as stars for all eternity” (Daniel 3:12). n

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Remembering Father Volk A humble German priest brought God’s love to the wilderness

By Sister Ruth Gehres, OSU, and Sister Vickie Cravens, OSU

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uilder, planter, teacher — these are just a few titles that describe Father Paul Joseph Volk, a legendary figure in the history of Mount Saint Joseph and a missionary who spread God’s word on three continents.

Born, educated, and ordained in Fulda in what is now Germany, the 29-year-old Father Volk arrived in 1870 as the new pastor of Saint Alphonsus Church in the wilderness of Daviess County. His first task was to rebuild the church, which had burned. For this, the first of 25 churches he built in his lifetime, he supervised the burning of brick on the church grounds.

Even before the church was completed, the log cabin school on the hill above — a blessing for the whole area — went up in flames. The Sisters of Loretto, who had served there since 1863, returned to their motherhouse.

Soon Father Volk was proposing to Louisville Bishop George William McCloskey a plan to build a new boarding school for young women on the spot.

To staff this school, Bishop McCloskey recommended the Ursuline Sisters who, in 1858, had come from Bavaria to teach German immigrants in Louisville.

With financial support from the Ursulines, his parishioners, and his own pocket, Father Volk was architect, contractor, and laborer for the building of the new school. All Ursuline Sisters cherish the story of how the priest’s quiet prayers resulted in the hardening of a batch of bricks that had been found too soft to use.

When five Ursuline Sisters arrived on August 14, 1874, the school was little more than bare walls. But Father Volk and his parishioners supplied all they could, and Mount Saint Joseph Academy opened that fall.

From 1870 to 1885, Father Volk served the Catholics of Saint Alphonsus and throughout the area, building churches in Beech Grove and Calhoun, and organizing a German-speaking parish in Owensboro. But the young Academy was always in his heart. He “never spared personal labor, money, nor influence to raise his school to the rank of a first-class institution,” a historian writes. He worked with the Sisters on the farm, helped to pasture cows and fork up the hay, and taught in the Academy. And he planted trees, including the famous “Pine Avenue” and the maples that gave this location the name “Maple Mount.”

In 1885, Bishop McCloskey appealed for a priest for the German settlements in central and eastern Kentucky. Committed to “obedience without delay, Father Volk said an immediate “yes,” and left his sorrowing parishioners, Sisters and students for three years of labor in the developing areas of the Louisville and Covington dioceses.

In 1888, he heard a new missionary call — an appeal for priests in Central and South America. At 47, he taught himself Spanish and began a strenuous new ministry among the Spanish and Indians in Ecuador. For most of the next 27 years, he ministered to the native and immigrant inhabitants of Ecuador and Panama. During the building of the Panama Canal, he served as chaplain of the government hospital in Colon, using much of his salary to build a church in that city.

In 1915, Father Volk returned to the States for an assignment as chaplain of the Ursuline Motherhouse in Louisville, and then, by his request, as pastor of the church in Peonia, Kentucky, and its five Grayson County missions. In July 1919, he returned to his beloved Mount Saint Joseph, where he died on November 2 of that year.

All through his 34 years away from the Mount, Father Volk actively followed the progress of his foundation. His visits were always inspired great celebrations. A prolific and eloquent writer, he carried on an astounding correspondence with Mother Augustine Bloemer and Mother Aloysius Willett — two women whose lives and work were instrumental in the development of the young community and school.

Despite his solemn appearance in every extant photo, Father Volk was a man of joy who loved to sing, kept treats in his pockets for the children, and “told the most interesting stories” in catechism classes, as one former student reports. Intensely generous, he always could find someone who needed his coat, or his lunch, more than he did.

Above all, Father Volk was a man of prayer, of unshakable trust in God, and of passionate zeal for the kingdom of God. Like his patron, Saint Paul, he was an ardent apostle. Like his patron, Saint Joseph, he was a just and simple man. His simple presence was said to have brought people to God. Mount Saint Joseph rejoices to have such a holy father and founder as Paul Joseph Volk. n

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U r s u l i n e s

A L I V E

Without a Vision, the People Perish continued from page 5

After I had taught music for 20 years, the Spirit guided me into the Contemporary Woman Program. I cannot begin to express my gratitude for this precious gift. It has been 32 years of blood, sweat, tears, enrichment, and giftedness which have blessed my life beyond measure.

when women attain full partnership with men.

“The history of all time and of today especially teaches that…women will be forgotten if they forget to think about themselves.”

Education offers the possibility of Thinking about ourselves involves sitting empowerment and together, talking, debating, and working out In no other teaching career could I have edification for the solutions. The global must be in constant shared the mysteries, riches, pain, and blessings of so many people. My faith has human psyche. If touch with the local, so each may strengthen been challenged, my creativity has been one can develop an the other. We build bridges together for our challenged, my ability to stretch and intellect with the preferred future as women around the globe, grow has been challenged, even my vocation has been challenged. Through it capacity to and ultimately for the preferred future of the all, Angela has been my mentor and understand the entire global community. teacher.

Sister Marita Greenwell, OSU human condition and human history, Today, March 2, 2003, we applaud the there is enormous potential for good. legacy of Angela, who saw education as efforts of Sister Francesca Hazel and Sister Women play an irreplaceable part in the formation of the whole person to excellence.

Marita Greenwell, Ursuline women religious. creation of a culture of peace. But their In this university, education takes place in an We applaud their intensity of effort to inspire efforts are often suppressed by exclusion, environment of integrity, humanity, and women to think about themselves. Seized by exploitation, and abuse. The world must Christian conviction.

Angela’s spirit and following her legacy, they raise its consciousness of this situation, have sustained a program that is open, rich, identifying root causes and developing With courses promoting a philosophy of and transformative — a program that effective strategies to overcome the many formation that is personal and attuned to the emphasizes the dignity and gifts of woman. obstacles that silence the voices of individual, the Contemporary Woman women.

Program holds fast to Angela’s legacy.

Today we say an immense thank you, and we Maximizing diversity while promoting the ask God, the source of the dream in Angela There is no progress in the global dignity and rights of women is perhaps the Merici’s heart — God, the first and the last, community unless one recognizes that greatest need of the hour. Even in this 21st the beginning and end of Angela’s life— to the basic principle of the dignity of the century, the emancipation of women has yet bless the Contemporary Woman Program, to human person applies to women. to be achieved. The persistent denial of bless Brescia University, to bless the equality to half of the world’s population is Community of Ursuline Sisters of Mount This must be the starting point of an affront to human dignity. Inequality Saint Joseph — and in particular at this fostering authentic human advancement. retards both the advancement of women and moment, to bless Sister Marita Greenwell. n Development that ignores the the progress of civilization itself. inherent dignity of women, and particularly the special The systematic oppression of women is a contribution they make to their conspicuous and tragic fact of history. Agefamily and society, reduces old patterns of subordination reflected in them to solely economic popular culture, literature and art, law, and instruments. The recognition of even religious scriptures, continue even now human dignity demands the to pervade every aspect of life. Around the promotion and protection of globe we see abuse and sexual exploitation of the human women and children. The cries are rights and fundamental deafening. On no grounds — moral, freedoms of women. Women biological, or traditional — can inequality be must continue to empower justified. The moral and psychological The planning committee for the Contemporary Woman 40th women. I am often reminded climate that will enable our world to Anniversary Celebration included, standing, Kay Timbrook, of the words of German writer establish justice and attain global peace will Jeanne Hines, Molly Greenwell, Edna Murphey, Marcy Louise Otto-Peters in 1849: come only when there is equality — only Allman, Sister Marita Greenwell; seated, Joan Denton, Clarice O’Bryan, Suzanne Gochenouer, Mary Sublett, Sheila Clark.

Margaret Ann Huston was also a member of this group.

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Soli Deo Gloria We rejoice in the gifts of our Sisters, given for the kingdom of God Sister Luisa Bickett was named Ohio County’s Senior of the Week by the Ohio County Messenger on March 19. “Few have done more for the county than Sister Luisa,” the report read. “She promotes the Gospel by word and deed by working for all those who live here.” Sister Luisa is a pastoral outreach minister based in Horse Branch, Kentucky.

Sister Marie Goretti Browning (right) and Motherhouse Administrator Mary Schnellenberger spoke November 8 at the meeting of the National Association of Church Personnel Administrators (NACPA) in Orlando. They addressed adjustments of both congregation and administrator when a lay motherhouse adminstrator is appointed.

Their positive presentation received a positive response. Sister Marie Goretti is a Council member and liaison to the Motherhouse local community.

Sister Elaine Burke (right) was one of the top ten volunteers at the RiverPark Center, Owensboro’s arts and cultural center. A 10-year volunteer, Sister Elaine served 262 hours in 2002. Also at the December 16 recognition event were volunteers (from left) Sisters Nancy Murphy, Ann Patrice Cecil, and Fran Wilhelm.

Sister Rita Klarer, pastoral minister at St. Patrick Parish, Kansas City, Missouri, spent February 8-19 in El Salvador with six members of her parish family. They visited the high school in Estanzuelas, where 55 students are supported by the parish. They also visited holy places associated with Salvadoran martyrs, including Bishop Oscar Romero and Ursuline Sister Dorothy Kazel. Sister Rita was deeply moved by this visit and hopes to go back to be with the people again.

Sister Larraine Lauter is founder of Migrant/Immigrant Shelter and Support (MISAS), a nonprofit organization with a mission of hospitality to guest farm workers and a belief in the critical value of safe, decent and affordable housing to both individuals and their communities. MISAS received funding totaling over $750,000 to construct a hostel to provide both shelter and support programs for seasonal workers and other related projects. Of special note are many contributed hours from board members and volunteer staff. MISAS is now in the process of recruiting for a 50-member Advisory Council.

Sister Marie Montgomery, language arts/math teacher at Saint Francis of Assisi School, Gallup, New Mexico, received that diocese’s Hastrich Recognition Award as Outstanding Catholic School Teacher of 2002. Earlier recipients are Sisters Mary Evelyn Duvall and Michael Ann Monaghan.

Sister Nancy Murphy has completed the two-year ForMission program for directors of formation and incorporation initiated by the Religious Formation Conference in cooperation with Chicago’s Catholic Theological Union and the Washington Theological Union. The program includes both intensive residential sessions and distance learning on the vows, culture, mission, and discipleship. Sister Nancy is Director of Novices for the Ursuline Sisters of Mount Saint Joseph.

Sister Amelia Stenger, Director of Mount Saint Joseph Conference and Retreat Center, led a retreat for the superintendent and 25 principals of schools of the Diocese of Nashville on November 7. The day focused on spiritual leadership in the Catholic schools. Sister Amelia has served as Superintendent of Catholic Schools in both the Diocese of Owensboro and the Archdiocese of Louisville.

Sister Mary Diane Taylor, chair of the Brescia University Division of Fine Arts, was honored by her former students with an art exhibit in the university’s Anna Eaton Stout Gallery January 26 to February 22.

Marking Sister Mary Diane’s Golden Jubilee as an Ursuline Sister, the exhibit brought together art works by many of her former students. She has taught art at Brescia University for 38 years.

Sister Fran Wilhelm was honored on March 22 for her 15 years of working to improve the lives of Hispanics/Latinos.

The Owensboro chapter of the Justice Resource Center recognized Sister Fran as one of 10 individuals who have made a difference in the quality of life for minorities in Owensboro and Daviess County. She is director of Centro Latino, a migrant ministry of the Diocese of Owensboro.

On April 6, the Evansville Courier & Press featured a story about Sisters Fran and Rosemary Keough and their ministry at Centro Latino.

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Celebrating in 2003 Congratulations to nineteen jubilarians who together celebrate more than 1000 years as Ursuline Sisters of Mount Saint Joseph. Special congratulations also to Sister Bartholene Warren, who celebrated her 100th birthday on February 10.

“I am one hundred years old,” Sister Bartholene says, in a crisp, steady voice that leaves no room for doubt.

Sister Martin Gertrude Mattingly, 75 years

Sister Joseph Adrian Russell, 70 years

Sister Mary David Thomas, 75 years

Sister Naomi Aull, 60 years

Sister George Marie Wathen, 75 years

Sister Emma Cecilia Busam, 60 years

Sister Rose Emma Monaghan, 70 years

Sister Annalita Lancaster, 60 years

This tall, stately woman amazes everyone with her determination and stamina far beyond what one might expect of a centenarian. She still takes care of herself and spends her days praying, reading, and enjoying a variety of handicrafts — sewing, crocheting, tatting, and knitting. “I can still thread my own needle,” she says, with justifiable pride.

The sixth of eight children, Mary Hester Warren was taught by Ursuline Sisters of Mount Saint Joseph in her native Marion County, Kentucky. At 18, she entered the community. “There were other things I could have done,” she says, “but this is what I wanted to do.” Last summer she celebrated her 80 years as an Ursuline Sister.

Sister Bartholene taught for 57 years in Kentucky, Indiana, and New Mexico. While in the West, she met Mother — now Saint — Katharine Drexel. “I can say that I knew a saint,” she says with a warm smile.

Each morning finds Sister Bartholene at Mass in the Motherhouse Chapel, thanking God for the many graces of her long and happy life.

Sister Marie Bosco Wathen, 60 years

Sister Margaret Ann Aull, 50 years

Sister Catherine Barber, 50 years

Sister Paul Marie Greenwell, 50 years

Sister Mary Gerald Payne, 50 years

Sister Mary Agnes VonderHaar, 50 years

Sister Patricia Rhoten, 40 years

Sister Mary Lois Speaks, 40 years

Sister Mary Celine Weidenbenner, 40 years

Sister Dianna Ortiz, 25 years

Sister Carol Shively, 25 years