With gratitude, jubilarians reflect on their journey with FSPA

Following are the personal reflections of sisters and affiliates celebrating 80, 75, 70, 60, 50 and 25 years with FSPA.

Eighty Years (Diamond)

Sister Lucille Kleinheinz
My heart overflows with gratefulness to God and to my FSPA community for the fulfillment of my vocation over 80 years. The constant loving guidance of my leaders—their offerings of opportunities for education and growth in my professional life as well as development in my spiritual life—has surrounded me daily and formed me throughout the years into a happy, productive and devoted FSPA. My dear FSPA in their companionship have given me a model of love, encouragement and insight. How fair to me indeed is my inheritance!

 

Seventy-five Years (Diamond)

Sister Barbara Freed
As I think about my 75 years as an FSPA, I am very thankful to the community for all that has happened. I was fortunate to live in many places with our sisters and to be a traveling musician. I loved to play the violin but had to quit when my fingers could no longer do the work. My favorite places are out West. I lived near the mountains. One time a teacher reminded us that we take the mountains for granted as we never write or talk about them. I always remember that. My grandfather was a paper editor, so I must have followed in his footsteps when I worked and wrote for Catholic Charities. I also loved the work with the poor in Las Vegas as well as Peace and Justice protest work. God has blessed all of us as we live these years. I am now very happy living at the Villa.

Sister Jeanice Lohman
It is with heartfelt gratitude that I look back on the past 75 years of my life—gratitude for being a member of the FSPA community, gratitude for the leadership of the community, and gratitude for the companionship of the sisters with whom I have lived and worked. They have been an inspiration and a source of encouragement during these many years. I am very grateful to have been able to participate in perpetual adoration—God’s special gift to our community. I am also grateful for the prayers, love and support of my family. They, too, have been very special in my life.

Sister Rosella Namer
With awe and gratitude I ponder the past 75 years of religious life. I am grateful for the support and courage I enjoy from those around me and those with whom I live and serve. Their example guides me. May God bless their every minute along the way. In FSPA I find my blessing cup. May God be ever with us as we continue the journey.

 

Sister Mary Rohlik
I am thankful that the Lord called me to be a sister and to be a member of FSPA. I am glad I was a primary teacher, and that way I helped little children make their first Holy Communion.

 

Sister Mary Myron Stork
As I look back at the past 75 years of my journey as an FSPA, I am thankful for the competent and wise leaders who have guided me through these years. Also, I am grateful for the support, concern and love of each of my sisters who ministered with me. Most of all, I thank God for the gifts and skills he has given me to share with community. May he continue to bless me and each of us as we journey on in his service.

 

 

Seventy Years (Diamond)

Sister Norene Bollech
I am truly thankful for my vocation to this congregation centered in the Eucharist. Appreciation of the Eucharist was a high priority for St. Francis also. In one of our constitutions was the statement, “We bring to others what we experience in his eucharistic presence.” That brings meaning to what in recent years we called “extending the Eucharist.” I would not change anything in my life as an FSPA—neither the good nor the “not so good.” It all fits into the plan for my life and has made me the person I now am. I truly appreciate the friendliness and kindness of my sisters, as well as the care given to me when needed. Even though at times I failed, I hope that I brought friendliness and kindness to my sisters also. Again, I am truly thankful for my vocation and for all the good given to me by the community.

 

Sister Maryla Chapek
I consider my vocation a truly grace-filled gift from God. I have enjoyed the mission I served and the students I taught. God has been so good to me! I am truly grateful for my blessed times.

 

Sister Helen Gohres
As I celebrate my diamond jubilee this year, I do so with much gratitude and joy. Just as a diamond has many facets that make it shine, so, too, does my life over the past 70 years. I am so very aware of the gifts of my FSPA community. I have received love, support, challenges, compassion, education and opportunities that helped me grow in my love of God and love of others. Teaching music enriched my life in a myriad of ways, including my prayer life. Social issues of our time have come forth in such a way that I found that justice is not only a right of the people but an obligation to which I needed to respond. The brightest facet of all is the gift of Eucharist—Eucharist which I receive, worship, praise and love God with all my heart.

 

Sister Laura Gutting
Jubilee time is an ideal time to recall the many blessings of my life. I was a child of loving, faith-filled parents. Music played an important role in keeping our family joyful and happy. Two of my sisters preceded me in entering St. Rose Convent. My vocation has brought me close to God and appreciative of the many blessings in the work I was assigned to do. Singing in the choir was a special blessing and I am grateful for the gift of loving to sing. I thank God for all he has done for me.

 

Sister Margaret Heil
God has truly blessed my life as a Franciscan Sister of Perpetual Adoration. I’m most grateful to our leaders for directing me in the area of education. I was able to assist thousands of our youth over those many years. With much love I remember the sisters and lay teachers, too, with whom I worked.

 

Sister Mary Hornick
In my youth I felt that God was calling me to a deeper relationship of love with him and I answered “Yes.” Upon entering the convent I said, “Here I am Lord. I come to do thy will.” And in my retirement I hear, “Come apart and rest awhile.” These three phrases merge into one, through good and hard times. “Be still, and know that I am God. Amen.” My words “I come to do thy will” include caring for the orphans, caring for the elderly and teaching first and second grades. Preparing God’s little ones for their first confession and first Holy Communion was a special ministry indeed. All of these with the grace of God are happy memories.

Sister Rose Catherine Kuehner
I am very grateful for the blessings of the past 70 years I have had as an FSPA member. Over the years, I have been able to live with many of our sisters, making their homes comfortable and pleasant to live in, and providing them with good cooking and baking. I really enjoyed doing that. I am very thankful, too, for my family and many friends that I’ve been able to keep in contact with over the past years. Those around St. Lucas, Iowa, have been very supportive of religious vocations. I now enjoy being at the Villa where I receive wonderful care.

 

Sister Beatrice Merkes
I am deeply grateful for the many blessings I’ve experienced throughout the past 70 years in this community. All of my FSPA family—our leaders, my sisters—have inspired me with wisdom, fulfilled me with companionship and encouragement and guided me all along the way. It has been with great honor and joy that I have served God as an FSPA!

 

Sister Carlene Unser
It is with sincere gratitude that I reflect on the past 70 years. They were grace-filled years—times which enabled me to be of service to others from teaching first and second grades for 26 years and then college students for 30 years. I am also thankful for the many opportunities of personal, spiritual and educational growth. And most of all I am thankful for a loving Franciscan community centered in the Eucharist and having a dedicated leadership team. Lastly, I am grateful to each and every sister who companioned me along the journey. Thank you and God bless as we continue our journey.

 

 

Sixty Years (Diamond)

Sister Kathleen Kenkel
For me, 60 years of religious consecration has been lived with Christ in times of great change. My early years of semi-cloistered living were followed by years of excitement and struggle to embody the teachings of Vatican II, to renew our community and to being “leaven in the world.” Today, the spirit is calling us anew to personal and global transformation, to being instruments of peace and unity in Christ. Throughout my life I have been inspired and supported by my FSPA congregation. For this I am deeply grateful. I’m thankful too for the loving care of family, friends and ministry associates. Relying always on the grace of a loving and compassionate God, I commit my future journey, in trust and surrender, to the spirit of Christ.

Sister Rosalia Bauer
Being a Franciscan Sister of Perpetual Adoration for 60 years is a deeply grounded blessing. My experiences as an R.N. and our community’s first family nurse practitioner have led me to serve people from the womb to the tomb in many homes, the United States and Thailand. What a privilege, being a member of this Franciscan community where eucharistic spirituality is the focus and prayer/service is an integral part of our lives. “All praise and all thanksgiving be every moment thine.”

Sister Mary Bates
In reflecting on my 60 years in religious life, I realize what blessings I have been given in educational opportunities, in the ministry of teaching, the loving companionship of my sisters and the closeness of my family. As I retire at St. Rose, I experience more blessings and am grateful for our health care, inspiring liturgies and beautiful home—all privileges that many in our world do not have. God is good.

 

Sister Ann Pollpeter
I am grateful for my 60 years of vowed life as an FSPA. I have enjoyed living and working with so many wonderful sisters and others. May our labors continue to be fruitful and blessed by God.

 

Sister Mary Ann Carrier
Sixty years of countless blessings, growth-filled and timely challenges and enduring friendships—all in the context of eucharistic living! How could I be anything but grateful? Oh God of Wisdom, in the sacred space of our own and each others’ souls, grace our daily experiences of dying and rising with continual response to moments of truth.

 

Sister Luanne Durst
As I reflect on 60 years of religious profession, I am grateful for the blessing of my vocation in life. A “bonus” came my way when I began the process of transfer to FSPA in 1986. I am additionally grateful for FSPA accepting me, and I treasure the sisters I’ve come to know and hear about. This “bonus” has truly enriched my own vowed life as I strive to live it among so many remarkable women. Our community is richly blessed and I am grateful to God for the fidelity to our religious vocation it fosters in us all.

Sister Alice Kaiser
In the reflection of my 60 years as a Franciscan Sister I see much gratitude for all—my mother and dad and brothers and sisters, and for my FSPA family as well. They have been by my side in many ways, constantly supporting and setting good examples for me. My journey with FSPA and with God has been one of great honor; may God be with us with his blessings and guidance as we carry on in his service.

 

Sister Mae Kaiser
As I reflect on the past 60 years it is truly a time for celebration. I am forever grateful to my parents, brothers and sisters; the home experience is very essential. As I look back over these years, many new experiences opened up, some ordinary and others very challenging. I am grateful to the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration whom I had the opportunity to travel with on this road of life. Thank you! God never left me to fend for myself.

 

Sister Mary Gabriel Soong
I am grateful to God and the FSPA for the past 60 years I have lived in community. As a teacher I was able to minister in different areas: in Wisconsin in Odanah and at Viterbo College (now Viterbo University) in La Crosse, in Provo, Utah, and the Island of Guam. I especially appreciate the opportunity I had to change careers and work as a medical technologist. Living in El Cerrito, Calif., gave me the opportunity to be near some of my nieces. This was a blessing for me since I was far from my homeland, China. I now enjoy retirement at St. Rose, being with other FSPA and having the opportunity to spend quiet time in prayer.

Sister Marcella Steffes
As I look back over 60 years I feel very privileged and grateful for having been called to our FSPA community, a community where eucharistic spirituality is the focus of our lives. But within that, so many opportunities have been provided. There was education for my ministry of teaching children to beautify their lives and the world through the Suzuki approach to music, especially strings. Network seminars and GATE have kept me attuned to the social needs of God’s children. There were numerous opportunities for personal and spiritual growth on every level, and constant loving support of sisters in the community. I am also grateful for my good health after 83 birthdays, to enable me to continue teaching my wonderful cello and violin students. In so many different ways, as the psalmist says, “You have formed my inmost being . . . I give you thanks that I am
fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works.”

 

Sister Shirley Wagner
At this stage in my life I have abundant blessings to be grateful for. They are too numerous to mention, but know that each day I give thanks for all the people I have met in my life and for all the opportunities provided by my community to be involved in so many various things in my journey—education, teaching, athletics, music conducting and lately, following in the footsteps of my father in woodcarving. As great as this journey has been, my overriding goal is to live each day in the anticipation of dying in the arms of my Lord.

 

Sister Donna Weber
Only over the years did the hungers of my young heart become a specifically identified goal. And over time I continued to learn again and again that what was happening in my heart is the way of our God: that my hungering was for God; God always moving in and moving me on.

 

Sister Joan Weigel
As a Franciscan Sister I am filled with gratitude for having been nurtured by family, friends and community to pursue a life of service for the church. My early experience with family included accompanying them on the piano and this in turn influenced both my teaching and my eventual position as organist and liturgist in schools, parishes and hospitals. My FSPA community has gifted me with inspiration and encouragement and recently through A Vision Quest themes. I am grateful for wise and faithful FSPA leadership proclaiming Christ among us and building up the community through witness and service.

 

 

Fifty Years (Golden)

Sister Gloria Aguon
Abba, my Father of all creations on earth and in heaven, I kneel before you once again to express my deepest and fondest memory of your life in me. You are my life. I am yours for eternity. I honor you and I thank you for life and the love that you generously bestow upon me. You shower me with blessings, graces and gifts beyond my human comprehension. Fifty years ago you sent the first golden ray of light from the sun into my heart whispering the desire within me to live a life with you and in you. I accepted and I lived my life in love and service, with joy and gratitude to you and to your son Jesus, to Mother Mary, to all the angels and saints, to my very own family, to my Franciscan family and to my new family whom you called my brothers and sisters of the world. Embrace me with your divine love, and grant me strength and grace that I may continue to serve you now and forevermore. Amen.

 

Sister Diane Boehm
With gratitude and joy, I reflect back on the blessings of these past 50 years! I am thankful for my vocation and especially for the many spiritual, educational and other opportunities that I have had on my journey as a Franciscan Sister of Perpetual Adoration. I am grateful for the support I have received from my FSPA community, my family, my friends and those I have worked with and served in my ministries throughout the years.

Sister Grace Ann Schiffer
I have always loved hearing the story of the disciples on the road to Emmaus, and the phrase “their hearts were burning within them.” These words take me back to the year I was in fifth grade and began to hear the call to become a sister. Ever since then this call has deepened, has burned within me. For this I am most grateful. Being an FSPA has given me many opportunities to serve. I have been blessed as a primary teacher to “little ones”; as a group mother at St. Michael’s Home and working with rejected, hurting and disturbed adolescent girls; and then, for many more years, ministering to adults through A Touch of Grace Massage, enabling healing of body, mind and spirit. I am forever grateful to my family, my friends and my FSPA community. The journey has been pure gift—and it continues on.

 

Sister Betty Bradley
Celebrating 50 years of a blessed life is a great gift! My heart is filled with deep gratitude for my family who nourished this vocation and for each FSPA who has shared this journey with me. Thank you for the constant and loving call to “be all one can be!”

 

Sister Rosemary Desmond
As I reflect on 50 years as an FSPA, I am filled with gratitude to God for my community, my family and the wonderful people with whom I shared ministry. These years have been blessed with enriching opportunities for ministry, for education as well as personal and spiritual growth. I sing my thanks to God!

 

 

 

 

Sister Joann Gehling
My golden jubilee class chose the theme “Celebrating with JOY and GRATITUDE.” This theme, for me, expresses the inexpressible. Over the years I have pondered the words of poet Léon Bloy: “Joy is the most infallible sign of the presence of God.” More recently, I resonate also with the words of poet Denise Levertov:
“An awe so quiet I don’t know when it began.
A gratitude had begun to sing in me.
Was there
some moment
dividing
song from no song?
When does dewfall begin?
When does night
fold its arms over our hearts
to cherish them? When is daybreak?”
So let the celebration continue with joy and gratitude!

 

Sister Mary Ann Gschwind
These 50 years have been full of numerous blessings for which I am grateful. Who would have thought when I entered FSPA that life would be so full, so meaningful and so enriched? All of the people who have graced my life through the years and the marvelous opportunities I have enjoyed not only in the community but also in my ministries have been blessings. “For all that has been, thanks; for all that will be, yes!” Hammarskjöld, D. (1964), Markings.

 

Sister Virdean Meyer
My years as an FSPA have been years of rich blessings and challenges. Walking with God in and with community has enabled me to do things that I would never have attempted on my own. I often say that I am a participant in many good things because I am a part of a community involved in ministries. I continue to find edification and support within community and pray that my own ministry will continue to reflect the values that I share with my FSPA companions. It has been a gift to be invited into the lives of so many people and to be able to share so many of their sacred moments. I am so grateful!

Sister Mary Morrissey
Over the past 50 years, I am ever so grateful to family, community, friends and all who have been a part of my life—those who’ve served me and those I have served. I carry you all in my heart for all your great support through the years. You touched my life and many friendships deepened through the years. I also received many unexpected blessings. I am filled with joy and gratitude to God for the gift of life, of all that has been and is now. Blessings and prayers to one and all for being with me on this amazing journey of life.

 

Sister Ione Nieland
As I celebrate 50 years of FSPA vowed life I am grateful, first of all, for those FSPA who, as educators, were such a vital part of my young life at St. Bernard’s Parish in Breda, Iowa. They helped establish a culture that said faith, family and community were important. I am also grateful for the sisters I have lived and worked with, especially those who were a part of formation living groups. They were good models of living community for persons new to FSPA life. Finally, as I have recently found, I am grateful for the foundation established here in the Carroll, Iowa, area in great part by our FSPA members in the education and health care fields. The ministry is being carried on by others, but they are “standing on the shoulders” of strong FSPA.

Sister Irene Nieland
I am deeply grateful for my relationship with a group of women who care deeply about all of creation and who support a simple, prayerful lifestyle. I am appreciative of the support for meaningful ministry and for the loving, fun and challenging relationships the community has given me.

 

Sister Jo Ann Serwas
Somewhere it says, “Time flies when you are having fun.” It must be true, as I cannot believe I have lived out the Franciscan calling for 50 years. God has blessed me with the companionship of two congregations of religious women over these past 50 years, both of whom hold special places in my heart. Over the past 16 years my life has been enriched and graced by the dedicated women of FSPA. That sharing has been the gift of all gifts in my life. I thank God and all our sisters and affiliates for the privilege of your companionship on this journey.

Affiliates
Twenty-five Years (Silver)
Marie Barfknecht
In gratitude to God, in thanksgiving for the openhearted welcome I found in the FSPA community at Marywood Franciscan Spirituality Center in 1986 and beyond, I have been blessed beyond measure. Bound together in prayer and friendship, in laughter and tears, with the Northwoods Companion community for many years, my cup is filled to the brim. Strength, hope and joy are found in seeking each day to grow in the simplicity and freedom St. Francis embodied. May God be praised!