News Briefs

New tabernacle for St. Francis Chapel crafted by FSPA

Sister Donna Weber started thinking about a new tabernacle for St. Rose Convent’s St. Francis Chapel in June of 2010. Her motto: “Be patient.” Sixteen months later, Father Richard Tulko blessed the tabernacle during a Mass held in the chapel on Oct. 26, 2011. “The tabernacle matches all of the items in the chapel—most of which were constructed in the 1970s,” explained Sister Donna. FSPA’s carpenter Jerry Moriarity built the tabernacle that was designed and tooled by Sister Donna.

 

 

La Crosse organization honors FSPA as Champions of Service

At an annual volunteer recognition banquet held Sept. 14, 2011, Coulee Region Retired and Senior Volunteer Program extended special recognition to FSPA as Community Partners. Sister Ladonna Kassmeyer (pictured at left) accepted the award. Also recognized at the event were several sisters who volunteer with the program including Sister Fran Browning, who serves as secretary on the board
of directors.

 

 

 

FSPA memorialized in Spokane

Sisters Memorial Plaza, a new monument commissioned in Spokane, Washington’s Holy Cross Cemetery, recognizes FSPA and its 12 members buried there. The memorial features stone, brick and flowing streams of water, and honors seven communities of women religious whose legacies of health care, education and social justice forever changed the landscape there. Sisters Sharon Bongiorno and Pat Gordon, who co-authored a brief historical depiction of FSPA inscribed in granite, attended the Oct. 15 dedication ceremony along with Sister Mary Simeon Werner. “I always knew Spokane was very proud and grateful for the religious communities who staffed the parish schools and Catholic hospitals in the city. This memorial,” says Sister Sharon, “confirmed this belief for me.”