Many ministries of service, one mission of adoration
Three sisters, three ministerial perspectives,
three reflections on the mission of prayer.
Wherever, however and whenever Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration Jolyce Greteman, Patricia Tekippe and Marla Lang have ministered, they have prayed, their missions always steeped in adoration. Here, they share prayerful perspectives of their lives in ministry, in retirement and as FSPA.
Sister Jolyce Greteman
Throughout her many ministries served in different places as a teacher, FSPA archivist and heritage curator and now, in retirement as a witness of prayer and hospitality at the FSPA skilled-care retirement home Villa St. Joseph in La Crosse, Wisconsin, Sister Jolyce has lived perpetual adoration.
Prayer in ministry
Perpetual adoration was of utmost importance in my calling to FSPA, and continues to be. My love for the Eucharist began in third grade when I’d stop in our parish church for a visit on my way home from school. Throughout my youth, special observances like my First Holy Communion, Forty Hours’ Devotion, Holy Thursday and Good Friday liturgical services, even regular Sunday afternoon prayer services, were part of the foundation of my love for the Eucharist. When I taught in La Crosse, visiting the St. Rose Convent Adoration Chapel was very special. When working at St. Rose, I would stop in before and after work each day. And when I lived at St. Clare Apartments, I would run through the tunnel each night for one last visit.
Prayer in retirement
First Friday Hour of Eucharistic Adoration at the Villa is very special. It is our opportunity to participate in adoration of the exposed Blessed Sacrament.
Prayer as an FSPA
We are Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration. The Eucharist is the source of life for each member.
Sister Patricia Tekippe
Throughout her many ministries served in different places as a teacher, parish minister, FSPA administrator, reading specialist, social services resource manager and vocation minister and now, in retirement as a witness of prayer and hospitality at St. Rose Convent in La Crosse, Wisconsin, Sister Patricia has lived perpetual adoration.
Prayer in ministry
When I became an elementary school teacher in Spokane, Washington, I asked myself how I would continue the adoration that was part of our daily experience at St. Rose Convent. It seemed that treating the sisters with whom I lived and also my students with reverence was a most fitting way of carrying out perpetual adoration — adoration for the Body of Christ in its extensions — wherever I was.
Prayer in retirement
In my fourth year of retirement at St. Rose Convent, I find continual growth in the sense of how connected we all are. Within the time I now have for adoration hours, I extend my open hands and plead “Your blessings for your people … Make me an instrument …”
Prayer as an FSPA
I find that focusing on praising God together gives us a reason for living mission each day. This prayer emphasizes how all of our days support the rest of the community, our mission and our ministries. We never grow too old to pray or to love.
Sister Marla Lang
Throughout her many ministries served in different places as a teacher, principal, DRE, parish director, FSPA president and now, as Marywood Franciscan Spirituality Center outreach coordinator in Arbor Vitae, Wisconsin, Sister Marla has lived perpetual adoration.
Prayer in ministry
During the years of preparation for living a vowed life as an FSPA, we took an adoration hour once a week and prayed in the Adoration Chapel daily. I found myself desiring to grow into the goodness I found in the sisters who taught me, and my parents, as farmers, who instilled in me that all creation gives praise to God, is holy, is loved. After my years of formation, I became an FSPA teacher living beyond the city of La Crosse. Our daily prayers were constant reminders that all is holy: the students, their parents, all of my day.
Prayer as an FSPA
I definitely took in the felt fruit of perpetual adoration from my parents and the sisters who taught me; it was the essence of my calling to FSPA. They had a deep regard for all forms of life as “holy” and a touch for radiating goodness beyond words in their ways of living and in their teaching.
It is no wonder that no matter where FSPA live and what ministries we engage in “We are a community of vowed Franciscan women centered in Eucharist, committed to be loving presence through prayer, witness and service.” Hopefully, my heart, my eyes, my speech and my actions are becoming more fully what the outcome of adoration is about.
