Fall 2001

Call to Commitment 
From the Provincial 
Spotlight on 250th Birthday Celebrations 
Dear Friend 
Celebrating Our Golden Jubilarians 
Celebrating Our Diamond Jubilarians 
I Am Called... 
Leaving A Legacy..."God Had A Plan For Me"

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Call to Commitment

Seventeen young women recently spent three months preparing for their lifelong commitment as Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur. Beginning on May 1st, Sisters from three African nations and the United States participated in a one-of-a-kind final vow program, which began in South Africa and ended in Namur, Belgium. Emphasis throughout the program was placed on the individual’s faith development, strengthened through a 30-day silent retreat and a 7-day ministry immersion.

Sister Caryn Williams, a social worker at Whittier Elementary School in Cincinnati, Ohio, attended the program and plans on making her final vows next summer. Prior to her trip, she shared her expectations of the journey.

"When I return from Africa, I hope to be spiritually renewed. I also hope to have a more realistic appreciation of the international mission of Notre Dame. I’m excited about meeting so many different women – how they pray, how they relate to others, and their spirituality. I’m sure their stories will inspire my work at home."

While in Africa, Sister Caryn traveled to Bulawayo, Zimbabwe for her ministry immersion and experienced first hand the lives of Sisters of Notre Dame ministering there. In an e-mail home, she wrote about how deeply she was struck by one story:

"[In Zimbabwe], there are three siblings who live in a ‘box’ in Pumula. The oldest is a girl, followed by another girl, and a boy about seven years old. The oldest child attends the school where the sisters teach, while it is uncertain to me if the others are schooled. They work at the convent and receive assistance from Sister Ann like food, soap to wash themselves, and clothing, which Sister Meltah made for them. Their story is that their mother abandoned them and their father remarried, not taking the children. They are raising themselves."

Although Sister Caryn knows the effects of poverty from her work with inner city children, nothing prepared her for the immense poverty she encountered in South Africa. She wrote of the shantytowns with homes built of tin walls and roofs and doors and of looking at these houses over a hillside as far as the eyes could see.

The final vow program has been life-changing for Sister Caryn. "This has been an incredible experience, one I will not forget anytime soon." She says the relationships she has developed on her journey have connected her more deeply to the mission of Notre Dame – St. Julie’s legacy of ministering to the poor and having hearts as wide as the world.

From the Provincial
Sister Elizabeth Bowyer

What abundant blessings the good God has rained down on us! This year has been a fruitful one for our vocation and formation ministers. We feel the breath of new life all around us.

As we mark our Jubilarians’ many years of dedicated service, we can also look ahead to our "future" Jubilarians, those seventeen young women from various provinces who will profess final vows in the coming year.

In all of this, we witness the living legacy that is St. Julie Billiart’s gift to the world. Two hundred years after she founded our congregation, women continue to follow in her footsteps, answering the call to be educators for the poor and underserved.

As our Jubilarians carry on in service to the Lord and our new members look forward to a lifetime in ministry, we again sing praise to our Lord. How good is the good God!

Spotlight on 250th
Birthday Celebrations
St. Julie Festivities Around the World

Dear Friend

July was an incredible month! At long last, the retired Sisters began their move into our new Health Center. As one Sister commented, "Who could have ever believed this beautiful home that we are now calling our own? God has indeed blessed us."

Central to the beauty of this home is the St. Julie stained glass mural, which is a tribute to the generous benefactors of our campaign. The original stained glass came from our former convent in Columbus, Ohio.

On July 12th, over 200 people from around the world gathered in Cuvilly, France, for the 250th birthday celebration of St. Julie. The highlight of the ceremony was the profession of final vows by eight of these young women, each in her own language.

The words of the entrance song, "Let us celebrate the life of a great woman," will forever be in my heart as I recall the privilege and joy of being present for this celebration. May our good God bless all of us whose lives have been touched by this great woman.

Sincerely,
Sister Carol Diemunsch
Director of Development

Celebrating Our
Golden Jubilarians

Sister Alma Grollig (formerly Jeanne Therese)
In grade school, neither teaching nor religious life were options I considered for my future. I dreamed of being a lab assistant or joining the Navy...so, what happened?

Starting my freshman year at Mount Notre Dame High School, I was on my own. Yet, strangely, on my first day there, I had a sense of "being at home." One day, my teacher ended a conference with, "Whether you end up as a blue and white Navy officer, a green college freshman, or a black and white postulant in some religious order, I hope you will be happy." I had to face it – that "black and white" image had been struggling in the back of my head. Losing THAT struggle was the best fight I ever lost!

My life has been constant "being at home" wherever I was, and in whatever I was doing, which assures me that I heard the Lord!

Sister Jo Anne Depweg (formerly Michael Julie)
When I was in the 2nd grade, I heard a missionary priest challenge the congregation by these words, "If none of you children respond to becoming a priest or sister, who will be there for the children when all of you are adults?"

I tried not to entertain that idea during grade school and high school until finally "I heard my name out loud" during a retreat. It was then that I made the decision to change my life – to respond to the call – to become a Sister of Notre Dame de Namur. St. Julie Billiart was a strong inspiration in my making the choice for Notre Dame.

My desire was to reach out to those most abandoned and I found deep within myself the strength to follow this desire. Today I pray that I will always be faithful to "the call."

Sister Noreen Joyce (formerly Catherine Michael)
I remember an eighth grade retreat when my teacher put out some pamphlets for us to look at. I opened one and saw a picture of a sister kneeling before a crucifix. At that instant, my heart said, "that’s what I want to do – spend my life loving the Lord."

The desire deepened as I attended Notre Dame High School for Girls in Chicago, Illinois. I joined the vocation club, and in my junior year, I went to the candidacy in Columbus. In February of my senior year, I entered.

The sisters I have lived, prayed, and worked with are wonderful women who have educated, guided, challenged, inspired, consoled, and loved me through the past fifty years in Notre Dame. What a treasure they have been!

Sister Mary Carolina Hess (formerly Margaret Ann)
I received two calls from God. My first call was to become a Catholic when I was 14 years old, through the influence of my mother who was a philosopher and poet. Through articles and poems she published in Catholic magazines, she became acquainted with the Catholic faith.

During World War II, when my  brothers were in the U.S. Navy, she felt inspired to become a Catholic. Her enthusiasm for her newly found faith impressed me so much that within two years, I asked to be received into the Church.

The Sisters of Notre Dame I encountered in elementary school and in college reflected to me a life that I wanted to live – a life of loving service to the Church.

Sister Bernice Weilbacher (formerly Paul)
My vocation to religious life came from my mother, whose deep faith was sincere and straightforward. She taught us to always be concerned about others and be helpful to others. The presence of Franciscan and Notre Dame sisters throughout my grade school and high school years was instrumental in my pursuing a religious vocation.

It has been most meaningful living in communities with Sisters who were always striving for a deeper spiritual life. I have taught in areas where I could give to others the beauty of our God-given life and planet, and give students an appreciation for the many gifts and talents each has received.

Sister Jean Anne Blust
I believe that my beliefs and commitments were first rooted in and developed by my family. Loving parents supported my faith and enabled me to meet our sisters by sending me to Notre Dame High School in Hamilton, where the sisters made my learning exciting and enjoyable. They challenged our minds and abilities and presented religious life as a positive and possible choice. The friends I met in high school helped to form and firm up my desire to join Notre Dame.

I have always felt the constant and unfailing support of my sisters. I have also been blessed with friends who believe in, support, and share in my life. For all I am truly grateful!

Sister Frances Mary S.H. Schoenung
With my childlike way of thinking, I thought I was promising Jesus to be a Sister of Notre Dame, but now I know He was calling me. On my First Communion day, right after I received Jesus, I promised Him that I would be a sister. Jesus was my strength, and I have thanked Him often for calling me to religious life in Notre Dame.

I have been blessed with the opportunity to teach children of God’s love for them. After teaching children all these years and trying to give them a strong conviction of God’s love for them, I am convinced of His love for me.

Sister Marguerite S.H. Schoenung
Growing up in a Catholic family where religious life was held in high esteem, it is not surprising that, for as long as I can remember, I wanted to be a sister. Living in the shadow of the Teachers’ College of the Athenaeum of Ohio, I was familiar with many different kinds of sisters, but as soon as I went to St. George School, I knew I wanted to be a Sister of Notre Dame de Namur and a teacher.

I wanted a closer relationship with Jesus and believed the surest way was to consecrate my life to the good God in service to the poor.

Celebrating Our
Diamond Jubilarians

80 Years

Sister Clotilda McCurdy

70 Years

Sister Catherine Frances Goldschmidt

60 Years

                  
Sister Mary Louise Keller      Sister Jo Anne Krumholtz

              
Sister Imelda Laub         Sister Ellen Mueller

I Am Called...

This didn’t happen in my time. It happened in God’s time," says Phil Keithley, a Chicago native and program coordinator for senior citizens. Phil, an affiliate of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, says that her discernment of a religious vocation is ongoing. "I’ve been thinking about it and throwing it out and thinking and throwing it out for twenty years. But it never left me. That’s the best sign of a vocation. It never leaves you."

"Hold on God"
Affiliate Barb Ficker shares Phil’s view that timing is everything. "I met the Sisters at a Cursillo retreat in Phoenix in 1992," says Barb, an advocate for persons with developmental disabilities. While she knew she wanted to learn more about Notre Dame, "the timing wasn’t right. God kept calling me and I kept saying, ‘Hold on God. I’ve got a few things to do first.’"

Barb eventually got to know the Sisters better, developing friendships and working retreats with them. In 1999, she was invited to give a presentation on piety at a retreat. This was a major turning point. "To present on something, you really have to own it," says Barb. "Putting my feelings into words was freeing and affirming."

For a long time, Phil says that she was not affirmed by the images she saw of religious life. "I’d only seen 3 or 4 black sisters in my life. That wasn’t very encouraging." Those feelings began to change when she picked up an SND brochure depicting a woman who "reminded me of me," says Phil. Then she was invited to a Come and See retreat at a Sisters of Notre Dame convent.

The diversity she saw there was very important to her. While visiting the Sisters at St. Clare Convent in Chicago, she was impressed with the way they spoke about St. Julie. "The foundress was so alive in their conversations. It was as if she were resting upstairs. These were women of different ages and backgrounds and they all found something of themselves in her."

Beating a Path to St. Julie’s Door
Affiliate Rosemarie Pohlman also finds something of herself in St. Julie, though she took a different path to the Sisters of Notre Dame. Rosemarie, a special education teacher who works with the hearing impaired, had been a sister with another religious congregation since 1974.

However, Rosemarie found herself attracted to the "practical and down-to-earth" spirituality of St. Julie. She found this in abundance with the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur. She received dispensation from her order in 1999 and is now asking to make vows as a Sister of Notre Dame de Namur.

While Rosemarie asks to make vows, new affiliates Barb and Phil will take a year to live in community with Sisters of Notre Dame while continuing their discernment. At the end of this period, they may move on to the next step – a two-year novitiate program in preparation for first vows.

The women all say their friends and family have been supportive of their decision. "When I told my close friends," shares Phil, "they said, ‘We saw you going in this direction.’ And I thought I was being such a secret agent about this!"

Leaving A Legacy
"God Had A Plan For Me"

Loretta Farrell Benken has unique memories of the Sisters of Notre Dame, who served as foster mothers and teachers for this young boarder at Mount Notre Dame Academy. As a seven year old, she was heartbroken at leaving her parents. Later, when a little older and wiser, she learned "there was nothing to do at boarding school but get in trouble." Lottie adds with a twinkle in her eye, "How much fun I had!"

On the serious side, Lottie realizes that God had a plan for her. Her faith was deepened by the sisters and her closeness to them. She admits that she never appreciated all that she was learning and absorbing during her school years but, after graduation from college, she says, "My whole life just fell into place."

Lottie was a primary teacher for over twenty years. She remembers the joy she received when preparing the children for their First Communion. Her love for this sacrament continued into her later years when she served as Eucharistic Minister. Just a few years ago she had the joy of going on pilgrimage to France and Belgium In the Footsteps of St. Julie and visiting the sacred places she had heard about many years ago.

When Lottie heard about the charitable gift annuity program, she knew she was ready to give back. "As a mother and grandmother," she says, "I know how much my education and the influence of the sisters inspired me. It was time to say ‘thank you.’"

Lottie has left her legacy to the Sisters of Notre Dame through a gift annuity. She receives guaranteed payments for life and has the benefits of certain tax advantages. Not only does she receive a good return, she also has the satisfaction of knowing she is making a significant gift to the Sisters of Notre Dame. Her gift provides a "win-win" situation for herself and the Sisters.