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Spirit of Ministry: Long-serving affiliate says Franciscanism came naturally

The Spirit of Ministry feature celebrates the Ministry Renewal Program aimed at refreshing affiliates in their current ministry or stretching them to embark on new ministries. As a part of this series, Perspectives highlights covenant affiliates and their ministries. This is the third story in the series.

Affiliate Dorothy Maule

Dorothy Maule of River Falls, Wis., seemed destined to become affiliated with the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration. As a child, FSPA were her teachers. Her mother's sister was an FSPA, Sister Cecilia Asher, and her father's sister was Sister Dorothy Mulheron. She also has two first cousins who are FSPAs, Sisters Mildred Weber and Donna Weber. So, when Dorothy was approached by Sister Vivian Huppert, who said, "it's like you're already part of the family. We might as well make it official," Dorothy agreed, and in 1983 she made her covenant.

Twenty-three years later, Dorothy still recognizes the influence the decision made on her life. "It just opened up a whole dimension for me as far as education and deepening my spirituality." Today, Dorothy says she's embraced a "ministry of presence," and that she and her husband John, who became an affiliate after her, are not only grateful for affiliation, they've found ways to make it a part of their everyday ministry.

Dorothy and her husband are incredibly active at their church, Saint Bridget, in River Falls. Dorothy works part-time in an unpaid role as parish nurse (she studied to become a parish nurse at the Franciscan Spirituality Center, in a program which has since moved to Viterbo University), where she says her primary role is listening, though she also connects people with services they need. She helps organize a weekly social gathering, every Friday, when parishioners can come together for rolls and coffee. She's served on the parish liturgy committee for more than 20 years, and Dorothy believes the parish is now known as one of the top churches in the diocese for their liturgies. She and John also work on the spirituality committee for Saint Bridget's planned expansion. Through it all, she says being an affiliate plays a role. "I'm always thinking about my relationship with people, and trying to see them as Francis and as Jesus would see them. So when there are disagreements, it's a little softer than just flying off the handle about things."

Dorothy says she and her husband John have always been present to the sisters, "The sisters know that they can contact us for anything, that we're just part of the family," she says. They meet regularly with FSPA in River Falls, hosting dinner on a rotating basis every month.

Dorothy and John have five children and 11 grandchildren, but they also sponsor a child in El Salvador, a relationship that started because of their connection to FSPA. "Since the sisters worked there, that was why we chose a child there." Luis Mario is about 6 years old now, and they will continue to sponsor him until he becomes an adult.

As an affiliate for 23 years, Dorothy says she's seen some changes over time. In the beginning, she says, sisters did much of the administration of the affiliation matters. "Gradually the affiliates began taking on more responsibility, and the sisters let them, the sisters wanted them to." She also says the relationship between affiliates and the sisters has grown. "I think some of the sisters in the beginning were a little apprehensive," she explains. "As we got to know one another, the trust level increased." In the late 1980s, Dorothy became the first affiliate to chair the affiliation board. Affiliates have chaired the board ever since.

Now, as affiliation celebrates a quarter century of living in the spirit of St. Francis, Dorothy and her husband celebrate the everyday influence affiliation has had on them. "I can't think about life without it. It's just such a big part of our lives."

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