Mission councilors find peace of mind and spirit out West

Last October FSPA’s three new mission councilors—Sisters Paulynn Instenes, Rose Elsbernd and Suzanne Rubenbauer—“hitched up their Honda horse and headed out West.” For two weeks they traveled through Nebraska, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, California, Nevada and Texas, sharing time with their Franciscan sisters. The councilors’ collective reflection on those visits, of sitting with FSPA like Edna Bube and Donna Storms, “gave us a great insight into the effectiveness and vibrancy of FSPA witness and ministry.” Says Sister Paulynn, “We were honored to be with them.”

The multi-cultural community of La Puente, Calif., is where Sister Donna Storms has ministered since 1988. It’s where she and her sibling, Sister Jeanne Storms, live as minorities among people of many ethnicities like their Hispanic neighbor Mario. “With so many different dialects spoken around us, we laughed when FSPA invited us to seek out someone of another culture.”

La Puente is where she and Sister Jeanne walk two miles every morning to their church, St. Christopher Parish, where they worship with fellow parishioners, many of Filipino, Vietnamese and Korean descent. Along the way they love to greet familiar faces like that of the homeless woman collecting cans in her usual places and the local bus driver traveling her route. These influential connections, says Sister Donna, have much to do with “our presence, the presence of perpetual adoration.”

La Puente, within the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, Calif., is where she settled 22 years ago. She arrived there with master’s degrees in both education and religious education and 35 years of experience in directing, consulting and teaching in many parishes and schools, both in Wisconsin and in many others throughout the Western United States. Sister Donna has actively volunteered in her parish’s adult education program for more than 10 years. She feels her ministerial legacy is giving guidance to lead the next generation in confidence, and then stepping aside. “Anyone in ministry as a shepherd, whether as a catechist or a parent, has to appreciate that role and pass on that gift.”

La Puente is where, at the dining table she shares with Sister Jeanne, she enjoyed lunch with Sisters Rose and Paulynn, “just talking about where we live and who we are.” After serving terms on both FSPA’s General Administration Board and Western Regions’s Administration Board Sister Donna hasn’t been able to travel to St. Rose very often and considers it an excellent idea for them to go “out of their way” to visit. She also appreciates the recent decision for all three FSPA mission councilors to communicate with each local community together, as a team. “They can communicate better with each other,” she says, “and work toward common goals. I like that.”

More than half a day’s drive away from La Puente Sisters Rose, Suzanne and Paulynn sat down with Sister Edna Bube in her Santa Fe, N.M., home. She was happy to give them a small taste of the southwest culture she loves. “Especially with the Indian pueblos and reservations here, I feel a strong relationship with the earth. This place that depicts our Franciscan compassion for our world and also our commitment to hospitality colors the whole atmosphere and my spirituality, too.”

The mission councilors’ visit provided assurance for them that she has the blessings of well-being and support in New Mexico and, for Sister Edna, renewed her connection to her sisters in Christ. “Who we are as a FSPA family,” she says, “keeps us totally united regardless of where we are.”

She has, throughout her vowed life of 61 years, also called Canton, Miss., Pueblo, Colo., La Crosse, Wis., and several other places of ministry home, her sanctuaries in Franciscan service to so many— as a nursing assistant, a teacher, a DRE provider to underprivileged parishioners and a grief counselor to hospice patients. In response to the question she’d often get, “How can you be with patients who are dying?” Sister Edna’s best answer is this: “There’s just a big space inside of me for them to fill.”

In her retirement, she’s thankful for filling that opening with the goodness of working as a surgical waiting volunteer, caring for families whose loved ones are undergoing surgery, and also in a same-day surgery unit. Currently, Sister Edna volunteers in a cancer treatment center. She also gives her time once a week to residents of a nursing home, helping them to Mass and bringing Honey, her Chihuahua, for pet therapy.

Those touched by Sister Edna are thankful to receive her goodness. Her friend of 20 years, Leslie Urquhart, feels her ministry in the world every day, in every situation. “I believe her sense of being led by the Spirit and her willingness to follow is very refined because she always seems to be exactly where she needs to be.”