MOVE: MOVE: - Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Summer 2006 • A Publication of the Sisters of Charity, BVM
On the
MOVE MOVE:
MOVE:
Body &
Spirit

2
Summer Two Thousand Six
Volume 34, Number 4
Mission Statement: As Sisters of Charity
of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we are called
to participate in the mission of Jesus. Our
choice of ministry is in keeping with our
BVM mission: being freed and helping others
enjoy freedom in God’s steadfast love. BVM
Constitutions, No. 10
SALT is a quarterly magazine published for
friends of the Sisters of Charity, BVM.
Editor: Mira Mosle, BVM
Design Editor: Angie J. Connolly
Communication Advisory Committee:
Mary Elizabeth Galt, BVM; Amy Golm, BVM;
Jeanne Harrington, Associate; Sara McAlpin,
BVM; Margaret A. McGinn, BVM; Joan
Newhart, BVM; Pat Rogers, BVM
Subscriptions: $7.50 per year, write: SALT,
1100 Carmel Drive, Dubuque, Iowa 52003-
7991, ph. (563) 588-2351, or email: rbechen@
bvmcong.org
2006 Calendar
July 22 – BVM Golden and Silver Jubilee
Celebration, Clarke College, Dubuque
July 27-31 – BVM Gathering, Minneapolis
Sept. 10 – BVM Diamond Jubilee
Celebration, Mt. Carmel
Internet Address: www.bvmcong.org
Email Address: mmosle@bvmcong.org
Member of Catholic Press Association
Mary Fran McLaughlin, BVM proclaims Scripture
during a liturgy celebrating her 10 years as
president of Carmel High School in Mundelein,
Ill. She retired at the end of this school year.
Printed on Recycled Paper.
SALT MAGAZINE
T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S
On the Move: Body and Spirit
3 Seasoning
by BVMs Joellen McCarthy, Peggy Nolan and
Mary Ann Zollmann
4 Dublin to Philadelphia: Perilous
Journey by Ann M. Harrington, BVM
6 What a Way to Go!
by Jean M. Byrne, BVM
8 Missions on the Mississippi:
Going with the Flow
by Mary A. Healey, BVM
11 Cruisin’ Along: the Joy of Music
by Pat Rogers, BVM
12 Motherhouse Sisters Relocate;
Discover New Challenges, Joys
by Eileen Healy, BVM
15 Amy Kane, Nurse On the Move
by Associate Jeanne Harrington
16 ‘Green’ a Growing Way of
Life for BVMs
by Terese Shinners, BVM
18 Walkathons Popular and Pervasive
by Margaret A. McGinn, BVM
19 Soaring in Hot Air Balloon:
Memories for a Lifetime
by Kathy Carr, BVM
19 SALT Briefs
20 Parish Ministry:
Journey Inward, Outward
by Dolores Myers, BVM
21 That All May Be One…
by Bertha Fox, BVM
24 Chair in Women’s Studies Honors BVM
Carolyn Farrell’s Mundelein/Loyola
Legacy
On the cover: Living gently on Earth by reducing carbon dioxide emissions is a priority
for BVMs (front to back) Thea O’Meara, Eileen McGovern (James Leone), Diane Rapozo
(Malia) and Donna Schauf (Blanche) as they opt for hybrid cars. See article on pp.16-17.

“On the Move”: How fi tting it is that this
summer issue of SALT brings stories of signifi cant
journeys and delightful excursions!
All of us remember as children our excitement
at the arrival of summer. That little extra lilt in our
heart was due partially to the three months that
stretched before us with anticipation of summer trips
as far away as across the country or as close to home
as the nearest campsite, local playground, or favorite
ice cream store.
Even in adulthood, the prospect of an upcoming
trip to visit family members, boarding a plane for a
place we saved a lifetime to visit, or even getting in a
car and stopping at the call of inviting road markers
gives a “summer” feel to our anticipation.
There is something in us that loves a journey, that
relishes being “on the move,” whether geographically,
intellectually or spiritually. In fact it feels as though
the lure to travel is knit into the marrow of our bone,
the very fi ber of our spirit. And perhaps it is.
An ancient spiritual writer, known as Pseudo-
Dionysius, describes God—and us in the image of
God—as “yearning on the move.” This “yearning” is
often refl ected in compelling literature which can
take us on
revelatory journeys from Egypt to the Promised
Land and from Jerusalem to Emmaus;
perilous journeys from the safety of land to encounters
with powers as formidable as Moby Dick;
whimsical journeys through looking glasses into
Wonderland and through wardrobe closets into the
logic-defying world of Narnia;
disturbing journeys through Auschwitz darkness
to the dawn of enlightened consciousness;
mystical journeys from a confi ning spirituality
into a divine liberating love of everything.
SEASONing
Dear SALT Readers,
Journeys refresh, educate and transform us individually
and communally. We become who we are
on journeys we choose to take and on those that, in a
mystery beyond our choosing, take us.
It is no wonder, then, that the spirit of journey is
the founding and sustaining energy of BVM life. As
described in the BVM Constitutions, “ours is a pioneer
heritage moving us into the future responsive to the
Spirit” and “calling us to any part of the world where
there is promise of furthering the mission of Jesus.”
In the following pages you will glimpse what it means
for BVMs, BVM Associates, and BVM friends to be “on
the move” as you join us in:
An ocean voyage from Dublin to Philadelphia;
Founding early schools along the banks of the
Mississippi;
Humor-fi lled train escapades across the country;
Relocations across town, short in mileage, but
long in distance traveled by the heart;
Moving toward a greener planet;
Adventures in hot air balloons;
Travels on cruise ships and ski slopes;
Companioning children, young adults, and the
homebound on journeys of faith;
Walks to help the hungry, the homeless, and the ill;
Pilgrimages to Norway and Ecuador, and home
again.
As you embark on these journeys with us, perhaps
you will stop occasionally to recall journeys of your
own. And, when we have all read the last account in
this issue of SALT, may we delight in the realization
that the stretch of “summer” that is the rest of our lives
lies before us inviting us to be ever “on the move.”
SUMMER TWO THOUSAND SIX
3

4
SALT MAGAZINE
Dublin to Philadelphia:
Perilous Journey
by Ann M. Harrington, BVM
Like so much of our early
history, the sisters’ departure
from Ireland comes in two versions.
In Pulcheria McGuire’s
Annals, Eliza Kelly’s father and
Margaret Mann’s father accompany
the sisters to the Dublin
wharf to see them off, while
Lambertina Doran’s In the Early
Days records that the men accompanied
the travelers to Liverpool,
a more likely scenario.
They boarded a ship with
three square-rigged masts, and while waiting to depart,
probably enjoyed listening to the music and watching
the dancing between decks. They set sail from Liverpool
on the Cassander piloted by Captain Stephen Davenport
on Thursday, July 18, 1833.
As steam tugs pulled the ship along an inland
waterway towards the sea, the music stopped and
passengers looked back at family, well wishers and
spectators. The roll call of passengers and search for
stowaways occurred at this time, and it depended on
shipping line policy whether or not the names of passengers
in steerage made the passenger list. Ill passengers
and stowaways, if noted, were sent back on
the tugs.
BVM history indicates that the crossing was a
rough one. While there are no records of the trip provided
by the founding members, somewhat contemporary
accounts give keen insights into the nature of
crossing the Atlantic. In 1811, a young woman who
left from Liverpool for New York writes: “I never imagined…what
a voyage across the Atlantic was! ...This
day six weeks we left Liverpool, and I may say I never
had one day’s good health since that time.”
She speaks of her three weeks of seasickness as
“most dreadful!” At one point, she says, “The ship was
lying quite on her side, the waves now dashing over
her, sometimes she would get between two of these
The life-changing decision of the fi rst BVM members to
leave Ireland in order to serve Irish immigrants in Philadelphia
meant arduous days of travel lay ahead. BVM tradition tells us
that it was Eliza Kelly’s father who bought the tickets for the
women, and that they did not have to travel in steerage.
great mountains of water that
you would be almost sure would
swallow her, then rise to the top
and plunge in a sea of foam.” 1
The diary of William Brady,
great-grandfather of BVM Rose
Mary Meyer (Sebastian) records
yet another experience in 1849.
He describes a “very rough sea,
which causes heavy sea-sickness
to come upon every passenger
on board (with few exceptions)…”
He mentions as well
that six passengers died and were buried at sea.
The Cassander encountered a hurricane not too
far from New York. Pulcheria writes: “The good ship
reared and plunged as it rose and fell with mountains
of seething waters.” (21) After weathering that storm,
passengers on board learned that the ship had sprung
a leak. It took some hours of work to repair the vessel,
and the ship arrived safely in New York harbor on Saturday,
August 31, 1833.
It was not until Monday, September 2 that the fi rst
BVMs were able to disembark. Well known is the story
of their money being dropped accidentally into the
harbor waters, leaving them virtually penniless. To
add to their ominous beginnings in the United States,
the priest who was to meet them, Patrick Costello, did
not show up.
After a brief respite in New York, the sisters ventured
on to Philadelphia, a trip that took fi ve to six
hours when Charles Dickens made it in 1842. They
fi rst went by ferry to the Jersey Shore, then by stagecoach
to the train line newly completed that year.
Dickens gives us some image of the railroad cars.
He writes:
There are not fi rst and second class carriages
as with us; but there is a gentlemen’s car and a
ladies car: the main distinction between which

is that in the fi rst, everybody
smokes; and
in the second, nobody
does…There is a great
deal of jolting, a great
deal of noise, a great
deal of wall, not much
window, a locomotive
engine, a shriek, and
a bell.
The cars are like
shabby omnibuses, but
larger: holding thirty,
forty, fi fty, people. The
seats, instead of stretching from end to end, are
placed crosswise. Each seat holds two persons.
There is long row of them on each side of the
caravan, a narrow passage up the middle, and a
door at both ends. In the centre of the carriage
there is usually a stove, fed with charcoal or
anthracite coal; which is for the most part redhot.
It is insufferably close; and you see the hot
air fl uttering between yourself and any other
object you many happen to look at, like the
ghost of smoke. 2
At the Delaware River, the women boarded a
steamer. We rely again on Dickens for a description.
The steamer has
“half a pony power…[The] cabin…fi tted with
common sash-windows like an ordinary dwelling
house. These windows had bright-red
curtains, too, hung on slack strings across the
lower panes; so that
it looked like the parlour
of a Liliputian
[sic] public-house,
which had got afl oat
in a fl ood or some
other water accident,
and was drifting nobody
knew where…
we all kept the middle
of the deck, lest the
boat should unexpectedly
tip over.” 3
Mary Frances and
her companions arrived at the harbor in Philadelphia,
within walking distance of St. Joseph’s church, where
they believed St. Joseph himself had directed them.
Through Margaret McDonagh, an active member of
the parish, they met Terence James Donaghoe, the
former pastor of St. Joseph’s Church, and began a new
chapter in their lives, never to see their home country
again.
Endnotes:
1 “Mary Cumming,” The Field Day Anthology of Irish Writing, vol. 5,
eds. Angela Bourke et al. New York: New York University Press,
2002, 574.
2 Dickens, Charles. American Notes and Pictures from Italy. Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 62.
3 Ibid, 73-74.
About the author: Ann M. Harrington, BVM (St. Remi) is on the
faculty of Loyola University, Chicago, Ill., and author of Creating
Community: Mary Frances Clarke and Her Companions (Dubuque:
Mount Carmel Press, 2004).
SUMMER TWO THOUSAND SIX
5

6
“All aboard!”
We would climb the little
metal stepstool and enter
the coach, beginning
another travel adventure
in a quiet, spacious, very
clean compartment.
Sometimes it was to a
new and unknown mission,
more often it was to
summer school. Whatever
the destination, it was
a wonderful way to go.
Train travel has been very impor-
tant for BVMs from the time of Mary
Frances Clarke and her intrepid four
others going to Philadelphia in 1833
until passenger trains were phased
out in the 1960s. This was true in
many places, but frequent transfers
made train travel a constant in most
BVMs’ lives.
This mode of transportation wasn’t
always the treat it later became. Sisters
leaving Dubuque for Des Moines
in 1865 were in a derailment caused
by a snowstorm; they rescued a child
from a pond where she had been
hurled by the accident and they ended
up in a “miserable hotel” in Boone.
A stagecoach was the only possibility
for the rest of the way and the driver
kept upping their fare as the coach
dragged through the mud and often
became deeply mired, causing their
horses to rear and plunge. They had
40 miles of that wretched road before
SALT MAGAZINE
Sisters opening St. Pius School, Mountlake Terrace, Wash., are greeted as they step off the train in
1956. Meeting their new students are (l. to r.) BVMs Patricia Galhouse (Casia), Donard Collins, and
now deceased Mary of the Divine Heart.
What a Way to GO!
by Jean M. Byrne, BVM
“benumbed and mud-spattered” they
arrived in Des Moines.
Train travel for the Mother General
and/or her council could also be luxurious
at times, thanks to BVM Leocritia
Ryan in Council Bluffs. Sister-in-law of
a railroad executive, with his help she
often managed the loan of a temporarily
unneeded custom-built private railroad
car, complete with porters, chefs,
and other amenities. Then the Mother
General and her council rode like royalty
to distant destinations.
While private cars were not for the
rest of us, train travel was usually a
very pleasant and relaxing way to go
although, at times, some incidents enlivened
the experience.
On a trip west, BVM Leslie Hays
(Agnita) and two others set out for San
Francisco. As was the custom in this
era, one was placed “in charge,” an
obligation that frazzled her. Because
Sisters were so poorly paid, trains and
busses provided “clergy books” of coupons
that discounted the fare. Getting
them back home 1 for the next traveler
was important, so after buying the
three tickets, the coupon book was put
into the ready envelope and mailed.
When the conductor came, the
tickets were nowhere and he told the
three they must detrain at the next
stop. The nervous Sister-in-Charge
felt that continually reciting “The
Thirty Days Prayer” might rescue
them, but that didn’t help; the
tickets had been mailed with the
clergy books.
They were not allowed access
to the berths they had reserved,
and sat up all night, apprehensive
every time the train slowed.
However the telegram they had
frantically sent to their provincial
superior, BVM Roberta Kuhn
(Alberto), was answered quickly;
when they reached Denver the
conductor knew that the tickets
would be waiting in San Francisco.
BVM Veronica (Jackie) Burke
(Timothena) also went West as
part of a trio, and again, one was
selected to be the “superior.”
Jackie remembers, “It was 1941.
Our provincial had brought three

of us to the train, two going to Butte,
Mont., the third to San Francisco. She
had told us that ordering a la carte was
expensive so we obediently ordered
three full meals a day.
“At a later meal when the waiter
passed a huge baked potato to each
of us, Joan Frances Crowley and I
refused to eat it, so the third member
ate all of them so that the waiter might
not be ‘disedifi ed’. After retiring we
passed the box of Fannie Mae candy
the provincial had provided; when the
member in the upper berth received it,
we got a note, ‘Sisters, it’s Lent.’
A huge blizzard, lasting three days,
hit us in Aberdeen S.D., and kept us
snow-bound in the station. Since it
was World War II time, the train was
packed with sailors about our age.
When they realized that their ship
would have to sail without them, they
left the train to buy a large supply of
alcohol, and drank steadily to celebrate
their reprieve.
“One night as they lurched through
the train, one young, very drunk,
sailor fell right on top of Joan Frances.
She and I put our backs against the
window and with our feet, gave him a
mighty shove, landing him on the fl oor
of the aisle, too dazed and drunk to get
up without lots of noise.
Confusion, commotion, lights all
followed. From the upper berth came
a note, ‘Sisters, it’s solemn silence’”! 2
BVM Terese Shinners (Ellena) describes
getting dressed in the berth as
putting on her complicated clothing in
a space little bigger than a coffi n. She
also remembers what is almost forgotten
now, the hassle of always having a
companion wherever you were going;
at times you had to go out of your way
to fulfi ll that requirement. Therese
describes this as “pick up three sisters,
drop one, cast off two, like knitting.”
To save money, two sisters sometimes
shared that coffi n-sized berth.
They had large boxy hoods and vulnerable
borders that were easily crushed
plus various “bird cages.” 3
In one such instance, a Sister to get
more space, pinned her small sleeves
(always detachable for convenience) to
what she thought, in the dim light, was
the berth’s curtain. The next morning
she saw her “next berth neighbor”
walking off with her narrow black
sleeves dangling from his jacket.
BVM Kathryn Marie Reichard (St.
John) had a “red-faced incident,” too.
Trains, especially “troop trains,” were
very crowded during the Second World
War, and Kathryn and her companion
were in a line to the diner that
was several cars in length. In fact, it
stretched right into the club car, where
our two habited sisters stood waiting.
A well-dressed man saw them and
asked if they were trying to get to the
diner, and when they said they were,
he told them to wait a few minutes.
The next thing was a broadcast over
the public address system: “Will the
Sisters in the bar please come to the
diner?” And so they, objects of great
interest, threaded their way through
the packed coaches.
The location of railroad lines had
a strong infl uence when the congregation
was divided into provinces in
1914. The thinking was that Chicago
shouldn’t be one province—it would be
too large and might dominate the others—so
all four provinces had missions
in Chicago and in Iowa.
Another purpose for this arrangement
was that most Sisters were
transferred from mission to mission
frequently; this practice served to keep
those in distant houses connected and
spared the isolation that had induced
some groups of sisters to separate from
their headquarters and establish local
congregations.
The map below shows BVM provinces
were designed to correlate with
major railroads. A provincial superior,
using one of them could visit most
of the houses in her care. The “yarn
lines” 4 show the train routes that tied
provinces together.
The upper indicates Immaculate
Conception province: Mississippi,
through Chicago then up and over to
the Pacifi c Northwest. The line from
New York through Chicago and up
to South Dakota served Sacred Heart
Province; that beginning in Chicago
and going west with a swoop up into
Montana and down to San Francisco
was St. Joseph Province; and the one
beginning in Chicago and going southwest
was Holy Family.
Trains enabled the BVMs, headquartered
in little Dubuque and a state
that the much of the nation thinks is
noted for potatoes or for Cincinnati, to
be a “national” congregation, serving
in many states and happily, drawing
members from all of them.
Endnotes:
1 This procedure circumvented one of the
requirements of the coupons, which were to
be used by the person whose name was on
the book and no one else: there were many
“Sisters Mary” en route.
2 The strict silence observed from night prayers
until after the next day’s Mass. The “note
writing Sister” did not persevere as a BVM
for very long.
3 A colloquialism (probably peculiar to the
BVMs) meaning a traveler’s unwieldy packages.
4 This is a map BVM Kathryn Lawlor (John Laurian)
prepared for her class in BVM History.
About the author: Jean M. Byrne, BVM (Jean
Francis) is a researcher in the BVM Archives
and an enthusiastic veteran of train travel.
SUMMER TWO THOUSAND SIX
7

8
Along the Mississippi, BVMs
founded schools at 13 locations from
Minnesota to Mississippi.
From the little Liffey running
through Dublin to Philadelphia’s
Delaware, a sizable river, to the Ohio,
a big river, and down the Ohio to the
Mississippi, Margaret Mann, one of
the BVM founders, had traveled.
What an impression the enormous
expanse of water at St. Louis
must have made! Margaret spent the
rest of her life on the Mississippi—as
did many BVMs.
Dubuque
Arriving in Dubuque in 1843,
the sisters opened St. Mary School
downtown near the cathedral. Clarke
College is a continuation of that
school. At fi rst St. Mary had day and
boarding pupils, but in 1846 the boarders
moved with the novices to St.
Joseph Prairie, away from Dubuque
with its contentious factions in the
parish and its hard-drinking boatmen
and miners on the streets.
When the building on the Prairie
became too crowded with both boarders
and novices, the students moved
in 1859 back into the city. St. Joseph
Academy remained 100 years until
Wahlert, a diocesan high school,
opened.
When St. Joseph Academy grew
too large in 1880, the sisters moved
the boarding school two miles from
SALT MAGAZINE
Missions on the Mississippi:
Going with the Flow
by Mary A. Healey, BVM
Dubuque to a muddy hillside riddled
with deserted mineshafts. This became
the verdant campus of Mount St. Joseph
Academy, later Clarke College.
All this time the grade school near
the cathedral continued until 1976
when the parish had changed so that
there were hardly any children. By
then it had the same name as the cathedral,
St. Raphael.
BVMs conducted two other grade
schools in Dubuque. St. Patrick had
been a boys’ school, but when the sisters
took over in 1950 it was coed.
BVMs took over St. Anthony school
in 1917 while living at Clarke, about
a mile away. It served as a lab school
for Clarke’s education department. It
continues, though without BVMs.
Davenport
BVMs fi rst ventured out of
Dubuque in 1844 downriver to Davenport,
still part of the Dubuque diocese.
St. Philomena Academy opened
with good prospects, but soon afterward
the Davenport population
dropped rapidly. The school lasted
only three years under many hardships.
In 1854, a railroad bridge crossed
the Mississippi from Rock Island, and
Davenport’s population shot up as it
became the gateway to Chicago for
the northern half of the Louisiana
Purchase.
The next year St. Anthony Parish
school opened near where St. Philomena
had been and prospered. In time
the sisters there commuted to teach in
two new parishes, St. Marguerite for
French speakers and St. Kunegunda
for Germans.
BVMs also taught at St. Paul the
Apostle and Sacred Heart which became
the cathedral parish when Davenport
was named a diocese in 1881.
In 1859, BVM Margaret Mann led
a group to open Immaculate Conception
Academy on donated land
two miles from church, a mile from
the city, and a quarter mile from a
well. The sisters struggled along for
two years at what Father Donaghoe
called “Poverty Point” until he bought
a big house in the city.
Enrollment grew so fast that the
whole house became living quarters
and the barn was turned into
classrooms. In fi ve years the building
was sold to purchase the Hill Mansion,
the nucleus around which a big
school grew.
Immaculate Conception Academy
functioned almost as a second Motherhouse
in the early days. The old
Motherhouse was ten miles outside
Dubuque. ICA was near railroad lines
east and west as well as the river with
steamboats north and south. Father
Donaghoe liked to stay there while he
still could travel.
Both railroad and river brought
many boarders to ICA, particularly
from the South. Wealthy southerners
summered in comparatively cool Davenport.
Men hunted or fi shed while
their families stayed in the luxurious
LeClaire Hotel. Many among them
left their daughters at ICA.
In 1958 the diocese opened Assumption
central high school. ICA had
lasted 99 years.

Potosi
In 1845, just a year after going
to Davenport, the sisters opened a
school in Potosi, Wis., which also was
part of the Dubuque diocese, but in
three years boundaries changed and
the BVMs left.
Burlington
In 1857, BVMs took charge of Our
Lady of Lourdes School in Burlington,
Iowa. In 1892 Our Lady of Lourdes
added a girls’ academy. This became
St. Paul High School (named for the
parish) in 1925 and was absorbed into
Notre Dame Central High School in
1988. St. John and St. Patrick were
ancillary elementary schools where
sisters commuted to teach for a few
years in the 19th century.
Muscatine
Muscatine was one of many places
Fr. Samuel Mazzuchelli founded a parish
and designed the church, this one
named St. Mathias to honor Bishop
Loras. The town was very anti-Catholic
when in 1862 BVMs came. The
school closed as part of a diocesan reorganization
in 1992.
McGregor
A reorganization of BVM schools
in 1894 closed many boarding schools
as transportation improved. One was
St. Mary’s in McGregor which had
opened in 1868. One sister is buried
there; BVMs intended to move her
body to Mount Carmel, but the people
asked to keep “our sister.” Today, Mary
McCauley, BVM (Mercedie) is pastoral
administrator of this parish and two
others in Northeast Iowa.
Clinton
BVMs who came to Lyons (later
Clinton), Iowa to teach at St. Boniface
parish school in 1871, immediately
contacted Mount Carmel about the
most impressive building in town.
The Lyons Female College, a big
red brick building on a high hill, was
topped by a large square “lookout” such
as were common in river ports and
that was topped by a round cupola.
This one, with its commanding
view of the town, seemed to have
been built to draw the eye. The girls’
boarding school had failed in 1858
and the property was purchased by
the Presbyterian synod as a possible
seminary. Now it was for sale again.
BVMs bought it and opened Our
Lady of Angels Academy in 1872. The
tower became a cherished landmark
for students, girls from minims
through high school, who could see it
as they approached—many of them
from Chicago, as Clinton is on the tip
of Iowa’s nose where it nudges into
Illinois.
The school closed in 1966 as the
age of boarding schools ended. Meanwhile
112 graduates had become
BVMs, and their classmates are among
the most devoted BVM alumnae.
Rock Island/Quad Cities
At times ICA housed sisters who
took a ferry to Rock Island each day
to teach at St. Joseph Parish where in
1884 they opened a school. Rock Island,
a riverport with several railroads
and an army base, throve, and so did
St. Joseph School.
In 1920, a high school opened with
even more BVMs. In 1948, Alleman, a
diocesan central high school, serving
the Illinois Quad Cities opened. Sixteen
years later, St. Joseph School
consolidated with Sacred Heart and
St. Pius X as Jordan Catholic School.
Sacred Heart had been the east end
of St. Joseph Parish. BVMs opened a
grade school there in 1925 that continued
till the 1974 consolidation. Some of
them still live in the convent and work
in Sacred Heart Parish.
Farther east, BVMs taught elementary
grades at St. Mary’s in Moline
from 1884 to 1904 and at St. Anne in
East Moline from 1925 to 2005. The
half dozen BVMs still in the Illinois
Quad Cities do parish and volunteer
work.
St. Louis
The 1906 San Francisco earthquake
displaced so many St. Brigid parishioners,
that Mother Mary Cecilia Dougherty
withdrew fi ve of the 15 sisters
there. It was a lucky moment for Father
H. Bronsgeest, SJ to ask for sisters
to open a school at St. Francis Xavier
Parish near St. Louis University.
When the sisters arrived August
29, 1906, he had bought and
renovated a building for a school and
rented but not furnished a house for
a convent. They managed. In 1927, a
new grade school was built.
McGregor
Potosi
SUMMER TWO THOUSAND SIX
9

10
Four years later Xavier High
School opened in a mansion
bought cheap at the depth of the
Depression. The students had use of
the university gymnasium, pool, science
labs, and auditorium. Not the
library; the girls came at specifi ed
times and were segregated from male
students, but that was hard to do in a
library. After three years Xavier was
noted for its scholastic standards and
had a waiting list for students
Entertainment was big at Xavier:
Father Daniel A. Lord, SJ used to
write, produce, and play piano for musicals
there through the ’40s. By 1950
a new high school was being built
with its own labs, etc. and with a convent
on the top fl oor.
By 1974, enrollment declined
drastically. Competing high schools
had opened in the outer city, and the
university neighborhood had grown
more dangerous. Even alumnae hesitated
to send their daughters there.
The high school building was sold
in the spring of 1976 to St. Louis University
which uses the building for
speech and drama classes. Soon the
little parish grade school closed, too,
but BVMs still minister in St. Louis.
For 23 years, BVMs also taught at
St. Timothy elementary school.
Memphis
In the 1930s, Mother Mary Gervase
Tuffy was negotiating to open a school
in China but put the project on hold
when the Japanese army arrived. She
turned to the South—almost as foreign—and
asked for volunteers for a
Black school in Memphis.
About 600 BVMs responded. August
18, 1937 two sisters arrived to
look over the Edna Oliver Home,
formerly a hospital, which Father Bertrand,
OFM had proposed as school
and convent.
Congregational leaders approved,
and four BVMs became the initial faculty.
Sisters of Charity of Nazareth at
SALT MAGAZINE
St. Peter’s Orphanage gave furniture
for the third fl oor convent and helped
arrange it. Fr. Bertrand obtained secondhand
furnishings for St. Augustine
School on the fi rst two fl oors.
The sisters met much hostility from
Tennesseeans who disapproved their
teaching Black children. In November,
the NCWC (now the USCCB) met in
Memphis. Children from the parochial
schools were invited to sing, but some
people objected to Black children joining
in. The bishop of Nashville said,
“Include them.” They sang separated
from the other children.
The school had opened with about
100 children in eight grades. In 1938,
it had 200, and opened fi rst year high
school. By 1943, there were over 400.
In the 1950s the high school was
consolidated into Father Bertrand, a
central Black Catholic high school,
and Father Bertrand merged into
Memphis Catholic, an integrated
school. Today, BVMs remain in Memphis
in diverse ministries.
Clarksdale
Clarksdale, Miss., is near
Memphis. In 1947 two BVMs opened
Immaculate Conception School,
four grades in two rooms of Father
O’Leary’s house across the street from
an all-Black housing project.
Within months they moved to a
separate building. The school kept
expanding. There were seven grades
in 1951, nine in ’54, 12 in ’56. The
high school was accredited in 1958.
The late ’60s saw an expanded
curriculum and a varied faculty—BVMs,
other congregations,
lay volunteers. When BVMs left the
Clarksdale school, Sinsinsawa Dominicans
already there took charge. BVMs
still live in Clarksdale and teach in
nearby Jonestown.
St. Paul
When Fr. Joseph Cretin, a good
friend to the BVMs, became fi rst
bishop of the new diocese of St. Paul,
Minn., in 1850, he asked for sisters
but BVMs were not going outside the
Dubuque diocese yet.
A century later they went to St.
Paul. Our Lady of Peace High School
opened in 1951 with 115 freshmen
in what had been St. Luke grade
school. (A larger church and school
had been built in a more residential
part of the parish.) The high school
fl ourished, and an addition was built
in 1953.
Three years later saw a new convent
for the increased faculty teaching
over 900 girls—with a waiting list. The
school’s high standards were recognized
by the business community.
In the late ’60s, there was no longer
a waiting list because newer high
schools could take the overfl ow. By
1970 enrollment began to decline;
the OLP area had become entirely
commercial. In June 1973, OLP closed
as part of archdiocesan school reorganization.
Three years later the building was
bought by the William Mitchell College
of Law—which now opens its doors for
occasional alumnae gatherings.
Now many BVMs lay buried in
towns where living sisters no longer
work, but the good work they did still
bears fruit. Former students, sometimes
thousands of miles from where
they went to school, will accost someone
they hear is a BVM on airplanes,
at wakes, in restaurants, anywhere
with inquiries and stories about their
long-dead teachers.
Children of former students do
not always know where their mothers
developed such devotion to the
Blessed Virgin, good grammar and
good music, but they hand on these
lessons. That’s what Margaret Mann
had in mind.
About the author: Mary A. Healey, BVM
(Michael Edward) is a researcher; she lives at
Wright Hall, Chicago.

Cruisin’ Along:
The Joy of Music
by Pat Rogers, BVM
“Somewhere, beyond the sea,
waiting for me”….So hums Barbara
Gaul, BVM (Charles Mary) as she
prepares to set sail on another cruise.
What a great ministry she has found.
The opportunity for these travels
came about while Barbara was volunteering
weekly, playing the piano for
community singing at a senior residence
where her mother lived.
Barbara became acquainted with
the daughter of another resident. This
woman has a unique position with
Yamaha Music Corp. She assigns music
teachers to give group keyboard lessons
to passengers on Crystal Cruises. Would
Barbara be interested in doing this?
Barbara’s reaction was one of surprise
and delight together with anticipation.
She began preparing for this
new adventure at the Yamaha Corporation
in the summer of 2004 by familiarizing
herself with the Clavinova, the
digital piano she would use to teach
the lessons using the16-20 keyboards
on each ship. She also learned the
program of instruction specifi cally designed
for cruise instruction.
Her fi rst adventure was the New
England Fall Foliage Cruise. Barbara
not only teaches music but also serves
as a tour escort. The highlights of Quebec
City delighted the passengers with
its old world enchantment and history.
The next destination was Halifax,
Nova Scotia. Unfortunately, the ship
never reached the city. An unexpected
storm forced a detour. At the dinner
table, Barbara was seated with a retired
Navy sea captain. He tried to allay the
passengers’ fears as the ship traveled
along on 20-25 foot high waves! Barbara
had the novel experience of hanging
on to a pillar while trying to teach the
music class!
One of the highlights of the cruise
through the Panama Canal was becoming
friends with an Irish concert
pianist who was performing on the
ship. When the ship reached Acapulco,
Mexico, Barbara’s group of three
headed out on their own walking tour
of the city.
They were approached by a woman
tour guide who convinced them to
let her take them on a tour. A special
treat was a visit to the guide’s parents’
home. A delightful afternoon was
spent visiting their humble home and
self-sustaining garden of coffee, vegetables,
and fruit.
Barbara’s years of ministry with
the Latino community in Los Angeles
stood her in good stead; she was able
to communicate with the family in
Spanish, much to the delight of all.
Besides the sights, Barbara treasures
the opportunities to meet new
people, renew old friendships and
experience different cultures. Since
the Mediterranean cruise began in the
British Isles, she was able to go a few
days early to visit close friends from
Los Angeles who had moved back to
Ireland.
Barbara instructs one of her
keyboard students.
BVMs Barbara Gaul (l.) and
Theresa McNerney pause
while walking the track on a
cruise ship.
On this same cruise she met a
charming retired couple who live not
far from her in Leisure World. She recalls
that “they were avid students who
came early, helped each other and
stayed late.”
“Teaching is a joy for me,” says
Barbara, who holds a masters in music
and spent years teaching music education.
“It is a rewarding experience to
look out and see the effort and delight
of these students with their musical
achievement in such a short time.”
Teaching these classes gives Barbara
the opportunity to enrich the passengers’
cruise experience and enables
them to take home a greater appreciation
of music. Who knows? Maybe
many of the students will continue
their adventure with the keyboard.
Little did her mother or she realize
where it would lead when Barbara
started her fi rst piano lessons at age
seven!
About the author: Pat Rogers, BVM (Albertine)
is vice-principal of St. Thomas More Elementary
School, San Francisco, Calif., and a member of
the Communications Advisory Committee.
SUMMER TWO THOUSAND SIX
11

12
SALT MAGAZINE
Motherhouse Sisters R
Discover New Challeng
by Eileen Healy, BVM
(from top) Relocation coordinator Eileen Healy, BVM
moves a box into the Guest Apartment. Gabrielle
Hagerty, BVM bids farewell to Margaret Swann, BVM
as Margaret leaves for Sinsinawa. Joan Newhart,
BVM (Joan Michael) reconnects one of many computers
which made the move. Lynn Lester, BVM (Ann
Joseph) uses the elevator to assist in moving from the
top fl oor of the Motherhouse, the Loggia. Vincentia
Kaeferstein, BVM receives a welcome hug from
James Marie Gross, PBVM at Mt. Loretto.
When you walk
through a storm…
An old furnace repaired many
times, whose continued life could not
be guaranteed by any expert and a
house full of women whose average
age was the mid-eighties are not very
compatible.
After much study and consideration
by the whole congregation and
a vote of the legislative body, it was
decided that the wisest action was not
to replace the old furnace but to install
an earth-friendly geo-thermal system.
While the new heating/cooling
system was being installed, renovation
would be done to the bedroom areas.
Since major renovation was to take
place, asbestos had to be removed.
The process would be healthier,
smoother and quicker if there were no
residents in the building. This necessitated
the relocation of 71 sisters.
Seven sites were found to accommodate
the Motherhouse Residents
and the Loggia community during the
renovation:
the BVM Center,
the Guest Apartment on the Mt.
Carmel grounds,
the Convent Suites of St. Columbkilles
Parish,
the Motherhouse of the Presentation
Sisters,
the Motherhouse of the Dominican
Sisters in Sinsinawa, Wis.,
the Julien Inn, downtown Dubuque
the Convent of St. Joseph Parish,
Key West, Iowa.
“Field trips” were conducted to
most of the sites. The sisters were
asked to think about where they would
be able to live their life to the fullest
and what was important to them. If
everyone were to receive her fi rst
choice, we would have had to build
another story on the BVM Center! So
compromises had to be made.

elocate;
es, Joys
Hold your head up high…
There were challenges with the
preparation, the move itself and the
daily living away from Mt. Carmel or
in a different space on the ‘Hill’—an
affectionate name that Dubuque BVMs
have for the Mt. Carmel complex.
One group often forgotten in any
discussion of this process is the ‘left
behind residents,’ those living in Caritas
or Marian Hall and the residents
who have moved to the BVM Center.
They did not have to leave Mt. Carmel
but their friends did. The folks
who prayed with them, played cards
with them, wrote letters for them, read
to them or just talked and laughed
with them were gone and it is lonesome,
especially in the evenings when
all ‘the dispersed’ have returned to
their temporary residences.
For all the stress experienced with
moving, the Motherhouse residents
kept in wonderful good spirits.
There was an excitement in the
house from the end of February
through the third week of March as
BVMs, Associates and friends from
far and near came to be helpers. You
would never have known that lives
were about to be disrupted and in
many ways turned up-side-down.
And don’t be
afraid of the storm…
What are some of the challenges
which the residents face each day even
now after ‘the big move’?
The most consistent challenge from
all sites is the missing of friends.
Residents miss their card and board
game companions, loitering over
dinner in good conversation, visiting
Marian Hall at their leisure or just
meeting people in the halls as they
walked around Mt. Carmel.
For those living in the BVM Center,
the long distances to walk and
much smaller rooms are areas of
adaptation.
(from top) Sisters extend a blessing to those moving. Support Services Coordinator Clemenza Finney, BVM
takes materials to storage. Mary O’Connor, BVM (Bertille) gets assistance from Catherina Walsh, BVM as she
prepares to leave for the Julien Inn in downtown Dubuque. Mount Carmel buildings and grounds staff take a
pause from moving truckloads of furniture and furnishings. BVMs Judith Dewell and Eliza Kenney are among
volunteers packing Motherhouse library books.
Waiting for rides and accommodating
each other’s schedules in coming
and going, becomes an issue
because everything—tasks, therapy,
liturgy—was under one roof. Finding
a parking place around Mt. Carmel
is a major challenge, especially
for the drivers who volunteer from
each of the sites to transport their
companions.
The beauty of nature around Mt.
Carmel, from sunrise over the river
to the sunset in the west, is just not
the same when seen from other
sites.
The up-to-date library and having
a quiet place to read and refl ect is
greatly missed.
Shopping, cooking and doing dishes
are tasks joyfully left behind in the
last ‘mission.’ Now, especially for
those at the Julien, they are part of
the daily reality again.
SUMMER TWO THOUSAND SIX
13

14
Anita Frances McCarthy, BVM leads a fi nal blessing of the
north wing, which will be deconstructed.
If you wish to support this
major renovation of the Mount
Carmel Motherhouse, please
contact the BVM Development
Offi ce via phone, mail or at
www.bvmcong.org.
SALT MAGAZINE
Rosemary Sage, BVM (Michael David)
directs Bette Gambonini, BVM (Esther Mary)
in arranging her room at the BVM Center.
Pat Potok, BVM (Liberata) surveys the St.
Columbkille’s Convent Suites room of Mary
Ernest Rothe, BVM (standing).
Reorganizing prayer time and reconnecting
with someone to join in
prayer becomes diffi cult.
When the ‘dispersed’ come back to
Mt. Carmel to do tasks, attend liturgy,
visit friends, receive therapy,
use the pool and make connections,
it is a very long day.
Getting to know each other in a
deeper way as we live in smaller
situations and respecting opinions
which in a larger living situation
you would never have heard becomes
a new challenge in building
community.
Channel 6, closed circuit TV, which
kept everyone informed of Mt. Carmel
happenings, has been replaced
by an offsite resident list serve.
Those who are not comfortable
with the internet are dependent on
friends with computer skills.
You’ll never walk alone…
The Motherhouse and Loggia
residents know that they do not walk
alone in this endeavor. They are accompanied
by thoughtful, cheerful
staff members who themselves have
become commuters. They appreciate
the sensitivity of the staff to their
needs.
Sally, one of the housekeeping staff
on Caritas 2, saw BVM Ann Regina
Dobel trying to rest in a straight chair.
Sally found two recliners and moved
them to the turret room on Caritas 2,
so that the commuters would have a
quiet, comfortable place to rest between
their volunteer jobs and dinner
or liturgy.
There is great gratitude among
the sisters to the congregation. They
especially appreciate the spiritual and
moral support which they have experienced
and the actual physical support
of the helpers who came and graciously
gave of their time and energy
to help them move, promising to come
back to help all return to Mt. Carmel.
Those who helped the Loggia move
from the area without elevator access
were greatly appreciated.
The residents appreciate the
amount of planning, hard work, patience,
sensitivity and genuine empathy
which they have received from
the coordinators of the Mt. Carmel
complex.
Because of it, the move was accomplished
more smoothly than anyone
could have imagined. The lines of
communications were kept open and
two-way. This alleviated much of the
stress and anxiety.
All the sites have welcomed our
sisters. The Sisters of the Presentation
and the Dominican Sisters have
offered gracious hospitality to the sisters
living with them. St. Columbkille
parish is happy to have sisters living
in the convent suites. The staff of the
Julien worked to address the needs of
their new residents. The Presentation
Sisters who had lived in St. Joseph
Convent, Key West, alerted the congregation
to the coming availability of the
building
Everyone appreciates the efforts
which the Motherhouse community
has made to ease each other’s concerns
and to work at making the relocation
work. They do not walk alone,
we are all with them, but more importantly
they are with each other!
About the author: Eileen Healy, BVM (Patrick
Ellen), Dubuque, is relocation coordinator for
the Motherhouse move.

Amy Kane,
Nurse On the Move
by Associate Jeanne Harrington
It’s a perfect Saturday morning. In spite of the
fact that the March day is cold, the snow on the slopes
of Sundown is dazzling, the coffee is great, and Amy
Kane (who sits opposite me), is a young woman who
defi nitely is “on the move” both in her role as a nurse
at Mt. Carmel and as a ski patrol volunteer.
However, from her enthusiasm, it’s
obvious that Amy is more than just a
volunteer at the ski resort where we’re
meeting, just as it’s quite apparent that
she is more than just a nurse at Mt.
Carmel where she worked as an aide
before earning her BSN from Clarke in
1984 and becoming a permanent member
of the staff.
From all reports, Amy is greatly admired
by the BVMs to whom she ministers
and very much respected by her
colleagues on the Sundown ski patrol
where she has volunteered since 1985
to ensure the well-being of injured skiers.
Amy loves every minute of her
time spent both at Mt. Carmel and at
Sundown.
At Sundown, Amy not only covers
the slopes in the event that a skier is injured,
she is also the instructor-trainer
for National Ski Patrol who plans and
teaches the yearly class required of all
ski patrol members to ensure that their
skills are up to national standards.
This role sometimes takes her to
other Midwest states where she observes
or teaches similar courses. A
highlight of her travels, she says, occurred
in 1999 when she participated
in avalanche training in the mountains
of Utah.
Fellow ski patroller Gary Maruitzon
says of Amy: “From the start of
her ski patrol career, Amy has given
100% in enthusiasm and effort. She
has dedicated herself to teaching and
administering emergency care training
throughout our region. She regularly
travels six to eight hours to assure that
our patrols are teaching fi rst aid
properly and at the highest possible
standard.”
Amy explains that she didn’t always
like to ski but became part of
ski-patrol intending to volunteer her
services only in the fi rst aid room in
1985. Friends on ski patrol talked her
into purchasing skis and trying them
out. By December of 1986 she had not
only learned how to ski, but passed
the test that demonstrated she could
successfully rescue an injured skier.
Despite two later knee surgeries,
Amy still loves to ski; she also enjoys
and greatly respects ski patrol colleagues—referring
to them as a “superb”
group of 60 to 70 volunteers who
keep the slopes safe each ski season.
In the event that a skier is injured,
ski-patrol members assess the injury,
bring a “toboggan” to the person in
need of help, and see to it that the person
is properly loaded onto the Argo
(a vehicle designed to transport the
toboggans up the slopes to the fi rst aid
room where the injured skier is either
treated or picked up by ambulance).
As a long-term care nurse, Amy
is also able to practice her “assessment
skills” at Mt. Carmel where she
describes the staff and residents as another
wonderful group of people who
never fail to be lovingly supportive.
...Amy is
greatly admired
by
the BVMs to
whom she
ministers and
very much
respected
by her colleagues
on
the Sundown
ski
patrol...
If she appears
tired on Monday
morning after a weekend
of ski-patrol, she
says that one of the sisters will always
ask, “What’s the matter, honey?” And
when her father passed away, she said
she was overwhelmed by kindness
shown to her and her mother.
This past October, Amy became
one of two “care managers” for the
Motherhouse sisters who are in assisted
and independent living. She has
found the relocation process a new
challenge; her job is now at times like
that of “visiting nurse” as she travels to
four relocation sites (St. Columbkille’s,
Julien Inn, Mt. Loretto and Sinsinawa
Mound) to visit the sisters who have
made those places their temporary
homes. As she speaks, her concern for
their health and comfort is apparent.
All too soon, our Sundown visit
unfortunately comes to an end. As
Amy and I bid each other goodbye and
she heads to her car, she says she just
might have to go home, get her skiis,
and return to enjoy this last glorious
weekend of this ski season on the
slopes.
About the author: Associate Jeanne Harrington
is a Dubuquer, and member of the Communications
Advisory Committee.
SUMMER TWO THOUSAND SIX
15

16
a Growing Way of Life for BVMs
“It isn’t easy being green,” said
Kermit the Frog. He was probably
thinking in terms of pigmentation,
but if he meant to say that there are
major challenges for anyone trying
to be a responsible citizen of
the planet, he would also be correct.
Being green is hard and demands
serious effort by anyone committed
to green-ness.
From the congregation’s earliest
days, BVMs have used Earth’s resources
carefully. Limitations imposed by
vowed poverty evolved into an intentional
commitment to use resources
carefully to help ensure their availability
to future generations.
The congregation is so serious
about this commitment that it is incorporated
into the Constitutions. Article
103 broadens the defi nition of poverty
to include responsible stewardship of
the universe and its resources. The
SALT MAGAZINE
‘GREEN GREEN’
by Terese Shinners, BVM
congregation has also endorsed the
Earth Charter, adding formal BVM support
to world-wide efforts to preserve
the Earth and its resources.
Ways that BVMs conserve natural
resources range from line-drying
clothes to using low-wattage, energy-effi
cient light bulbs. Because it would be
impossible to touch on the multitude
of ways that members live gently on
the Earth, this article focuses on the
ways members limit their gasoline usage
which in turn cuts down on carbon
dioxide emissions.
Lessening damage to the Earth’s
atmosphere is an important by-product
of curtailed use of a diminishing natural
resource. The Natural Resources
Defense Council states that cars getting
32 miles or more to the gallon of
gas reduce carbon monoxide emissions
by 5,600 pounds per year. Leaving the
car at home one day a week could cut
emissions by almost 800 pounds over
a year.
Several years ago the congregation
began a program by which members
could use cars leased through the Enterprise
Leasing system. Currently there
are 188 leased cars in use by BVMs.
Of these, 42 are hybrids, cars powered
by some combination of gasoline
engines, electric motors, and battery
packs. Four more hybrids are on or-
Joyce Cox, BVM
(Petrine) enjoys
her hybrid in
Seattle.
Below: The
environmentally
friendly cars are
a hit with BVMs
Kathy Conway
(Richard Marie),
Ann Kathleen
McDonnell,
Janet Desmond
and Carol Cook
(Conrad Ann),
who carpool
to a meeting
at Wright Hall,
Chicago.
der. This means that soon almost 25%
of the leased cars will be hybrids—a
tribute to the congregation’s commitment
to conservation.
Across the congregation members
use cars judiciously. A congregationwide
request for information for this
article produced impressive results.
BVM hybrid drivers Carol Cook (Conrad
Ann) and Mary Nolan (Patricia
Mary) describe their fuel-saving strategies—avoid
sudden starts and stops,
use cruise control, and limit use of
heat and air conditioning.
Rose Mary Meyer (Sebastian) has
named her hybrid Toyota Prius Hus

chh, inspired by its silence at stop
signs and lights. Rosemary and Huschh
report excellent gas mileage on
their frequent trips to Springfi eld, Ill.,
on Project IRENE business.
Many responses describe meticulous
planning preceding any use of a
car. If Eisenhower had had a couple of
these micro-planners on staff in 1944,
D-Day would have gone off without a
hitch.
BVMs Gloria Wiegand (Phyllis)
and Annette Petty (Juanita Mary) of
Fawnskin, Calif., plan their trips into
San Bernardino so that shopping, appointments,
and other errands are
combined on a single trip.
For an errand run, BVMs Mary
Sattgast (de Porres), Bette Gambonini
(Esther Mary), and Marilyn Wilson
(Claudia), among others, plot a circular
route so they don’t back-track.
Dee Myers (Dolore) has declared
one day a week a carless day and,
whenever possible, uses her bike when
she’s doing errands. These people take
multi-tasking to a new ecologically signifi
cant level.
Public transportation
offers another
way to cut down
on gas consumption.
Although such
transportation is
not available everywhere,
BVMs Mary
Healey (Michael Edward),
Luca Yankovich,
and Dorothy
Townsell (Mildred
Ann) are among the
Wright Hall residents
making extensive
use of Chicago’s
public transportation.
In Washington, D.C., BVMs Marge
Clark and Kathy Kandefer have gone
from being a two-car house to a onecar
house, and that a hybrid. Marge
and Kathy walk or use Washington’s
superb public transportation whenever
possible.
Carol Spiegel (Ann Carla) has
found that an important by-product of
riding public transportation is that she
arrives at her destination more centered
than if she were driving.
The gentlest way to move across
the planet’s surface is by walking. Besides
its environmental benevolence,
walking has much else to recommend
it. It makes a signifi cant contribution
to the walker’s health.
Walkers can spend time in their
own private cocoon where the brain is
free to do whatever it wants or nothing
if it so chooses. Tapes and CDs of
books or music keep some walkers
company. Walking is a lovely way to
get up close and personal with the seasons
and the local fl ora and fauna.
Numerous BVMs told stories of
their walking experiences. Kathleen
Mullin (Robert Mary) and other members
of the community in Kumasi,
Ghana, walk whenever possible, thus
saving the fuel of the taxi that they
would otherwise use.
BVM Joellen McCarthy walks the
almost two miles from home to the
BVM Center (and presumably home
again) whenever possible. She is not
even deterred by inclement weather.
Mary Nolan (Patricia Mary) and
Bailey-the-Beagle can walk to several
important destinations—post offi ce,
Applebee’s, church, and doctor’s offi
ces. While Mary enjoys the walks,
Bailey-the-Beagle is noncommittal.
This is a tribute to BVMs—named
and unnamed—who are responsible in
their use of Earth’s limited supply of
gasoline. They
witness to the
fact that it requires
not only
an intellectual
commitment to
conservation but
it also requires
actual physical
effort.
It proves The
Frog’s assertion
that green-ness
is not easy, but
has incalculable
value for the
present and the
future.
TAKE THE RISK TO
Be on the cutting edge
Change unjust systems
Pursue peace
About the author:
Because BVM
Terese Shinners
(Ellena) lives in
walker’s paradise—handy
to a
grocery store, pharmacy, restaurants, church,
a custard stand, and a bookstore—many days
pass when her hybrid doesn’t get any exercise
in Wauwatosa, Wis.
Above: The bus stops in front of Wright Hall;
taking advantage of this public transportation are
BVMs Leana Kohnen and Isabelle Hennessy.
“One must not
love oneself so
much as to avoid
getting involved in
the risks of life
that history
demands of us...”
–Archbishop
Oscar Romero
JOURNEY INTO
The heart of God
In the company of Gospel women
Committed to an inclusive
church and world
Sharing prayer and community
Turn
into
DREAMS
DEEDS
Dubuque, Iowa phone 312.243.6125 www.bvmcong.org
SUMMER TWO THOUSAND SIX
17

18
WALKATHONS
Popular and Pervasive
by Margaret A. McGinn, BVM
“Mt. Carmel
Tops Stonehill
for Five in a
Row.” No, not a
sports headline,
but the results
of the 2005
Dubuque Alzheimer’s
Walk.
The Mt. Carmel
staff, with nurse
Grace Reed as coordinator, and bolstered
by other area BVMs, collected
over $9,000 to lead all the teams in
the annual October walk.
In fact, Mt. Carmel has brought
home the trophy each year since 2001.
In addition to the event itself, the Mt.
Carmel staff begins early with a Craft
and Bake Sale to allow non-walkers a
chance to participate.
Walkathons have become a popular
and painless fundraising tool, with
schools and nonprofi t organizations depending
on these events to meet their
budgets. BVMs, Associates, coworkers,
and friends frequently join these outings
to fi ght disease, hunger or homelessness.
The desire to raise breast cancer
awareness brings out huge crowds
each spring and fall. After participating
in Dubuque for many years, BVM
Marge Clark joined the D.C. walk this
year, while Associate Margaret Hoge
was part of the San Francisco crew.
Besides the “Race for the Cure,”
BVM Lou Anglin also participates in
the St. Louis MS Walk. Suzanne Mulvihill
Higdon helped collect for ALS, and
Arline Elliott, also an Associate, joined
a group in Treasure Island, Calif., hoping
to fi nd a cure for Alzheimer’s.
CROP walks also have spread
throughout the country. Many BVMs
SALT MAGAZINE
Katie Heffernan, BVM answers the call for a
“Senior Health and Fitness Walk” in Chicago’s
Soldier Field.
regularly help this group,
dedicated to relieving
poverty and providing
care for disaster victims
here and abroad.
The Dubuque CROP
walk enjoys a long tradition.
BVMs Sara McAlpin
(Philip Mary), Dolores
Marie McHugh and Jean
Gordon (James Miriam)
are among the BVMs who
participate annually.
BVM Kathleen Mullin
(Robert Mary), a 28 year veteran,
moved to the Quad-Cities when the
walk included the Gaines Street hill,
a formidable hurdle. The Quad-Cities
also adds a unique feature—the route
crosses the Mississippi River via the
Centennial Bridge.
Other umbrella groups sponsor
hunger walks with parish volunteers
signing on for their local food pantries.
In the Chicago Hunger Walk, BVM Susie
Beckman (St. Ambrose) joined the
St. Ignatius Parish group, while BVM
Nancy McCarthy (Josephine) helped
the Blessed Sacrament contingent.
A hardy band of BVMs brave Chicago’s
winter winds each year to show
their support for Sarah’s Circle, a center
for homeless women. Sarah’s has chosen
February for its annual Winter Walk.
Every health bulletin touts the benefi
ts of exercise for our hearts, lungs
and bones. But when the exercise
includes the chance of helping the
needy, who could refuse?
No one by herself may be able to
eliminate poverty or fi nd a cure for
cancer, but as we join others in their
efforts, we echo the words of Oscar
Hammerstein, “Walk on, walk on, with
hope in your heart….”
About the author: Margaret A. McGinn, BVM
(Daniel Anne) is an adjunct faculty member at
Truman College, Chicago, and a member of
the Communications Advisory Committee.
BVMs Diane Rapozo (Malia), Mary Lauranne Lifka and Alice Caulfi eld
(Alissio) head for the fi nish line of the Dubuque Alzheimer’s Walk.
BVM Mary Catherine Beckman (St. Ambrose) participates with St.
Ignatius Parish hunger walkers in Chicago.
BVMs Theresa Gleeson (Dorothy), Nancy McCarthy (Josephine)
and Brigid Mary Hart bundle up for Sarah’s Circle Winter Walk.
Associate Margaret Hoge “walks for the cure” for breast cancer in
San Francisco.

Soaring in Hot Air Balloon:
Memories for a Lifetime
by Kathy Carr, BVM
“Up, up and away in my beautiful
balloon”…such were the thoughts of
Linda Roby, BVM, as she ascended
over the majestic Willamette Valley
in Oregon. It was the dream of a
lifetime, one she had thought might
never be fulfi lled.
Since childhood, Linda had admired
the beauty and grace of hot air
balloons, and her desire to ride in one
was nourished during her fi ve years
of living in Des Moines, Iowa, near
the National Hot Air Balloon festival,
where one could watch dozens of the
brightly colored balloons fi ll the sky.
While living in Portland years later,
Linda shared with the local BVMs her
great desire to someday ride in a hot
air balloon.
Since it was the year of her 50th
birthday, they surprised her with the
gift of a balloon ride over the heart of
Oregon wine country, just southwest
of Portland.
As Linda prepared for this trip of a
lifetime, her colleague in ministry, Fr.
Bruce Cwiekowski, decided to join her
so she could share the experience with
a friend.
The grandness of the occasion is
best described in Linda’s own words:
“The morning was absolutely beautiful,
with a clear blue sky and just a
hint of a breeze.
“Everything about the fl ight was
marvelous. The views were magnifi -
cent: Oregon wine country and farmlands,
the Willamette River, sunrise
over majestic Mt. Hood with all the
mountains from Mt. Rainier in Washington
to the Three Sisters in central
Oregon silhouetted against the sky.
In places, patches of light white fog
hugged the ground.”
“We gradually ascended to 4100
feet and then just sat there…perfectly
still…in complete silence. It was a
truly awe-fi lled, spiritual experience.”
“In spite of the day being so calm,
we traveled almost eight miles an hour
and landed in a fi eld near the tiny
town of St. Paul. We gently fl oated
down through the tops of a ridge of
trees, and saw the chase cars and crew
ready to help us land.
“But we weren’t done yet! Then
came the task of letting the balloon
defl ate, pushing the last air out, rolling
it and putting it back into its small
carrying case—about the size of two
beanbag chairs!”
Following the balloon ride, Linda
and the other participants joined BVMs
and friends at a champagne brunch,
where the pilot, Roger, led the traditional
post-fl ight toast:
“The winds have welcomed you with
softness
The sun has blessed you with his
warm hand
You have fl own so high and so well
that God has joined you in your laughter
and set you gently back again
into the loving arms of Mother Earth.”
For Linda, this experience gave
new meaning to the BVM mission of
“being freed and helping others enjoy
freedom in God’s steadfast love.”
Briefs
Catherine Dunn, BVM
(Catherine Michele) received
honorary doctorate degrees
from both Clarke College and
the University of Dubuque
at their commencement
ceremonies. She is retiring
after 33 years at Clarke, 22 of
them as president. Catherine has also been
designated “president emerita” of the college.
Mary Ellen McDonagh, BVM
has been elected to the Board
of Directors of the St. Louis
Chapter of Missourians to
Abolish the Death Penalty.
“The Oregon BVMs gifted me with
the freedom of fl ight and the joy of
having a long-time dream far surpass
all expectations.”
About the author: Kathy Carr, BVM is Coordinator
of Social Ministry at St. Mary’s Parish,
Corvallis, Ore.
Xavier College Prep, Phoenix, Ariz., has won
the Arizona Interscholastic Assn. (AIA) Blue
Cup Award. This is the AIA’s highest award,
recognizing excellence in high school activities,
scholastics and athletics. Only six schools of
Arizona’s 253 have ever won this award.
It honors schools with a high percentage
of students who excel academically and in
AIA-sanctioned sports and activities, in addition
to having a character education program. At
Xavier, 86% of the students participate in AIA
athletics or activities while also maintaining a
3.5 grade point average.
BVM Joan Fitzgerald is Xavier principal;
Lynn Winsor is vice-principal for athletics
and activities, and Joan Nuckols is a faculty
member and campus minister.
SUMMER TWO THOUSAND SIX
19

Pastoral minister? What’s that?
What do you do all day? I have
been asked these questions frequently
during my 15 years at St. Matthias
Parish in Redwood City, Calif.
Friends, parishioners and family
members ask…and even my doctor’s
offi ce! (Can being a pastoral minister
be hazardous to my health?)
Pastoral ministering can take a different
shape in every parish. Pastoral
ministers help to fi nd answers.
How are we seeking God in our
lives? What helps to connect with and
discover how God works in our every
day? What is available to support the
faith we have and pass on to our children?
How does faith affect my relationships?
How do we thank God for
the abundances of earth and universe?
Where is God when we are hurting?
Pastoral ministering can include
some or all of the following for me:
teaming with various groups to prepare
for Sunday liturgy
planning and leading prayer or presiding
at communion services
participating in faith-sharing, ministry
renewal or speaker days
meeting with parents eager to baptize
their new baby
working with the Confi rmation
Team to engage teens in God-fi nding
being with parishioners in times of
special need, e.g. serious illness,
death, divorce or family challenge
celebrating social and sacramental
events
administering the FOCCUS inventory
to couples planning to marry
meeting with Pastoral Council, Finance
Council, Preschool Board or
Social Justice Committee.
We are also in the midst of major
renovation, so connecting regularly
with the heads of this project is done
in “spare time”! (Yes, it is very important
to provide good space to gather
those seeking God.)
20 SALT MAGAZINE
Parish Ministry:
Journey Inward, Outward
by Dolores Myers, BVM
Looking at the list above reminds
me that pastoral ministry could be
hazardous to my health! However, an
authentic pastoral minister knows profoundly
that all is God’s work.
Each day, we are human hands
joined with others to do God’s work.
We are not in control and must give
our best efforts.
What fi res me to pursue such a
lofty ideal? My life experiences, professional
training and ultimate openness
to God’s mystery.
I am fueled by meditation and reading.
Daily goodness and challenges
burn an experience of God’s gift of free
will in me.
With others’ support, my personal
commitment is kept afl ame. I also have
an unquenchable curiosity about how
we can make this world a better place.
Getting Away
In America magazine, I saw an
advertisement inviting pastoral ministers
to take a sabbatical to renew
and refresh themselves. The Lilly
Endowment Program for the Study of
American Religion offered grants to applicants
from all denominations.
After 14 years as pastoral minister,
working with three different pastors
and staffs, it was time for some personal
upgrading!
The ad tantalized me….“What will
you do with your one wild and precious
life?” I had heard that before. I
thought I knew what I was doing.
(Could I do it better?) I was a pastoral
minister! (Maybe, I should be a singer
and dancer?)
The grant response came. “We are
happy to inform
you that you have
been selected to
receive a $12,000
grant for a three
Dee Myers, BVM
welcomes young
parishioners.
month sabbatical!”
A wonderful journey of sabbatical
began with a three-day symposium.
I joined with 50 others from all over
the United States, men and women of
many Christian denominations. The
Institute had carefully crafted three
days of prayer, refl ection, presentations
and conversation.
What makes a “wild and precious”
minister? What kind of time do we
spend in reading, spiritual direction,
journaling? Do we refresh ourselves in
other activities with family, friends and
actually live the goodness of God’s life?
What helps us truly give our best to
those we serve in parish communities?
I met some of the warmest, nicest, intelligent
people at this Institute…people
who were indeed using their one
precious life for others.
Mainly I re-learned that pastoral
ministry is God’s work! In readings,
retreat times and throughout the sabbatical
I felt empowered by God.
Upon my return, I continue to be
energized by this experience. I feel
compelled to persevere in the good
practices I was able to enjoy so intensely:
prayer, meditation, bodily exercise,
healthy diet, more reading, less
control, collaboration, positive attitude
and letting God be God.
I also have grown in a new appreciation
of friends, nature and how we
care for one another. This is my one
wild and precious life in pastoral ministering!
About the author: Dolores (Dee) Myers, BVM
(Dolore) is pastoral associate at St. Matthias
Church, Redwood City, Calif.

Cistercian monks founded an abbey
on the island of Tautra in the Trondheim
Fjord in 1207, but left during the
16th-century Reformation. In 1999 the
Dubuque Trappistines at Mississippi
Abbey sent eight sisters to make a new
foundation in Norway near the original
monastery ruins: Tautra Mariakloster
(TMK). Five farm buildings provide
“temporary” quarters while the new
monastery is being built.
That All
May Be One…
by Bertha Fox, BVM
Last year Tautra MK asked Mississippi
Abbey for an extra hand during
the fall months. Since the Dubuque abbey
couldn’t spare anyone because of
their “candy season,” they asked me if
I could go because I know the sisters.
I have taught chant at the abbey off
and on since 1968, and visited Tautra
in 2001.
With a frequent fl yer ticket in
hand, I said “yes,” for according to our
BVM Constitutions (16), “We are called
to live in any part of the world where
there is promise of furthering the mission
of Jesus…”
So I went to Norway, wondering
whether I would actually be able to
contribute and share in their life. I
need not have worried. They just took
me in, no questions asked. Nearly every
ability I have was put to use.
I was busy, blissfully tired at night,
sang the Offi ce in Norwegian, played
for Mass, and treasured the times for
private prayer and refl ective reading. I
made friends with the cats, went fi shing,
explored the island.
I lived ecumenism in this nation
where only fi ve percent of the population
is Catholic, yet both Lutherans
and Catholics enthusiastically welcome
and support the Trappistine
foundation, for they all value contemplation,
and want “their Cistercians”
Bertha Fox, BVM (second from right) joins the Trappistine community on Tautra in bidding
a guest farewell. Photo by Sheryl Chen, OCSO.
back on the island. Nearly every day
people come to the sung Offi ces, and
they sing (!), no matter what their religious
background is.
There was much to do besides
praising God three hours a day in song
and earning a living making soaps,
creams, and candles. There were ordinary
things common to all of us;
extraordinary ones, such as purchasing
furnishings for the new monastery,
overseeing the building project and
seeking donations; and unexpected
things that happen when one begins to
put down roots in a new culture.
Preparation of the church music is
especially challenging, for the sisters
have gradually moved from singing
everything in English to singing everything
in Norwegian.
There is no old music to adapt. They
must compose new music or fi nd some
by non-Cistercians, notate it, devise an
accompaniment, make and distribute
copies, learn it and use it.
Every week calls for some new music!
I learned to appreciate this behindthe-scenes
work as I became more
involved.
The seven weeks sped by. Thanks
to technology, I sent a weekly report
to my “list.” Excerpts from each report
follow. Changes and omissions are
noted by ellipses.
Tuesday, October 11
The new monastery under construction
leaves me speechless. Today
I had a tour—walked on the concrete
fl oors under the crosshatch of beautiful
wooden…beams are all wood, no
steel.
Today I began singing quietly in
the choir. …I’ve got another day to
recuperate from jetlag, and then…will
begin to earn my room and board.
Monday, October 17
The fjord has fl aunted a variety of
moods from a wild wind and…rough
waters with whitecaps and huge waves
slamming into the shore, to today’s
sun…no breeze, and a glass-like surface
on the water with sea-birds skimming
the top, probably scooping up
fi sh.
The storm brought the most perfect
rainbow I have ever seen—a complete
arc with both ends resting on the surface
of the fjord, visible from the hill
in front of the chapel…We all stopped
dead in our tracks on our way to dinner
at noon.
Saturday we celebrated the 25th
anniversary of Fr. Anthony O’Brien’s
ordination…He’s the chaplain here,
a Trappist monk from Ireland…. I
played the little Casio keyboard for the
Mass…No one got uptight even when
SUMMER TWO THOUSAND SIX
21

22
I accidentally hit the rhythm accompaniment
button and suddenly drums,
etc. blared out.
Wednesday, October 26
What a change in the weather….
Toward the end of last week snow appeared
on the mountains of Sweden
(which I can see from my bedroom
window)…Sunday we had such a
heavy frost that it was still on the grass
in mid-afternoon in the sunlight…
The potato grower across the
road…fi nished digging the last potato
Saturday afternoon. Hurrah for him!
That morning I watched him work.
The tractor moves VERY slowly and
quietly. The potatoes move up a belt
and across an inspecting station where
someone stands and looks at every
Seven Benefi ts of a Gift Annuity
There’s rarely been a better time to obtain
a charitable gift annuity from the Sisters
of Charity, BVM. Low interest rates and
roller coaster markets are causing people
to think twice about their fi nancial decisions,
and to consider the seven benefi ts of
the BVM Gift Annuity Program.
1. Attractive Rates. When you compare
our gift annuity rates with what you
might receive from a certifi cate of
deposit you will likely be pleasantly
surprised. For example, the rate of a
70-year senior is 6.5 percent. At age
80, the rate is 8.0 percent, and if you
are 90 or older, you would receive 11.3
percent. In other words, a $100,000
gift annuity would provide an 80-yearold
person $8,000 every year.*
2. Regular Payments. When you establish
your gift annuity, you decide
how often you want to receive your
payments. While most annuitants
receive their checks or direct deposits
every quarter, some choose semiannual
payments and some once-a-year
payments. Those who qualify can
select monthly payments if they wish.
Whatever you choose, receiving your
regular payments on a specifi c, predetermined
date is comforting and also
helpful for planning purposes.
3. Fixed Income. Your payment rate will
be locked in at the time you obtain
your gift annuity. It will not rise or
fall with the economy. Instead, it will
be the same amount every year—and
that can mean a lot in uncertain times.
SALT MAGAZINE
potato, tosses out the bad ones along
with stones and debris from the plants,
and [then] allows the potatoes to move
to a holding bin. …
We’ve had lots of mushrooms
that Hanne-Maria fi nds…She knows
which ones are poisonous….there
are so many mushroom hunters that
on weekends there are offi cial mushroom-identifi
ers on duty in centers
where people can go to check on what
they’ve found. Too many sick people
eating poisonous mushrooms is not
good for socialized medicine!
The workmen (building the new
monastery) arrive about 7 a.m. and
work for twelve hours four days a
week. Huge fl oodlights enable them to
work day and night.
4. Lifetime Benefi t. Gift annuities are
for life. No matter what your age as an
annuitant or how long you live, your
payments will continue right to the
very end. And if you have a two-life
gift annuity, when one person dies,
the other can continue to receive the
same amount for the rest of his or her
life. This benefi t of ongoing payments
can provide security for each spouse
as they enter their older years.
5. Dependable Source. The Sisters of
Charity, BVM stand behind all of our
gift annuities. We have a reserve fund
set aside to meet our obligations and,
what’s more, we back up our annuity
obligations with the full fi nancial
assets of our organization. We want
you to feel safe and secure and to have
confi dence that your payments will
continue without fail.
6. Relief from Taxes. Since part of
your contribution for a gift annuity
is considered a charitable gift by the
IRS, you will receive an income tax
charitable deduction to apply on an
itemized return. Also, during your life
expectancy, you will be able to claim
part of the annuity payment as tax-free
income.
7. Simple Process. Obtaining a gift annuity
from the Sisters of Charity, BVM
is much easier than most people think.
We provide you with a tailor-made illustration
so you can see how it all works
with your age and contribution amount
included. We provide materials you can
share with your family and advisor(s).
Wednesday, November 2
Rosemary, the superior, has been
in Italy for meeting of all abbots, abbesses,
and superiors of Cistercian
monasteries throughout the world. She
returned last night. Her biggest news
is that TMK has been moved up from
being a foundation to being a simple
priory, a fi rst step on the way to becoming
an abbey.
This means that they can be somewhat
independent of Mississippi Abbey,
but not entirely: the Dubuque
sisters still are responsible fi nancially
and personnel-wise….lots of jubilation
because this means The Big Meeting
approved of what they have done here,
and urge them to continue.
Two nights ago there was a huge
Another benefi t we should add is the
enormous satisfaction you will receive
for making a charitable gift in this manner.
Every time you receive a payment,
you will be reminded that your gift annuity
will eventually benefi t the Sisters of
Charity, BVM.
For your personalized gift illustration,
contact Diane Brondyke, Director of
Development (see information below).
Please understand that you will not be
pressured in any way to proceed with a
gift annuity if you ask for further information.
Diane’s role is to simply provide
clear illustrations and to let the seven
benefi ts speak for themselves.
*Note: Rates are slightly lower when the
annuity is for two persons. Also, like
most charities, The Sisters of Charity,
BVM uses the rates recommended by the
American Council on Gift Annuities.
This information is not intended as legal,
tax or investment advice. For such advice,
please consult an attorney, tax professional
or investment professional.
Diane L. Brondyke
Director of Development
Sisters of Charity, BVM
1100 Carmel Drive
Dubuque, Iowa 52003
563-588-2351 extension 570
dbrondyke@bvmcong.org
For on-line giving, go to
www.bvmcong.org.

display of northern lights that went on
for hours and hours…Enormous shooting
arcs and boomerang swatches of
light in constant motion.
This afternoon Hanne-Maria took
me fi shing on the fjord, and I caught
a Big Codfi sh. Yes, I did. Really. I also
lost a small one. But I caught one. She
caught three. I was so excited! It was
only about 20 meters deep where we
were, but further out it is over 200 meters
deep. We wore life jackets.
Thursday, November 10
Today…the road crews put up the
fi ve-foot markers along our little road
so that the snow plow can fi nd the edges
of the road once the snow begins.
About ten days ago a small shark
was caught near the shore here. Swimmers
beware! (The sisters swim in the
fjord.) The man who caught it gave it
to us. Unfortunately it is not good for
eating. (Or fortunately?)
Monday, if the weather is good,
four of us are going to Trondheim for
business. The big drawing card is Friteks
(Free-tex), a combination of all the
second-hand stores you can imagine.
Rosemary has furnished the current
houses with things purchased there…
She and the director of the store struck
up a friendship… He is a devout Muslim
who recognizes that she also is
devout, and v.v.
The days are defi nitely getting shorter.
Tuesday the sun rose just as we began
Lauds at 7:30. When Mass began at 8:10
the sky was plain again. This morning
the sun rose just AFTER Lauds—about
8:00. The changes here go in 10 and 15
minute chunks of less light each morning
and afternoon. Already the sun is
low on the horizon at 2 p.m.
Photos (l. to r.): Soap making helps support the
fl edging community. Beams for the new chapel are
lowered into place. Bertha displays the small shark
caught near the abbey’s shoreline. Photos by Sheryl
Frances Chen, OCSO and Bertha Fox, BVM.
Thursday, November 17
One of my tasks is doing the laundry
three days a week…I also change the
towels in all the buildings…work in the
soap department a couple of mornings,
sort and fi le liturgy things…and work
in the library. Helping with the church
music takes big chunks of time (organ,
chant theory, modal harmonization).
Monday, November 21
In just a week sunrise has moved
from Lauds to Mass and now to after
Mass—about 9:00. The sun does not
get very far above the horizon. It sort
of circles around.
Fr. Anthony went to a meeting of
the priests of the Trondheim diocese
last week. All the priests were there—
all fi ve of them.…Just fi ve for the
entire diocese, which is one of the two
most diffi cult in the world…because
the people are scattered far and wide.
Not a single priest is Norwegian.
Saturday, November 26
Something maybe everyone will
want to try is candlelight at breakfast!
From 4 a.m. until Lauds at 7:30 we can
pick up breakfast. No overhead lights
except in the kitchen. At the table a
candle is lit wherever someone is seated,
and there’s a nice small crackling
fi re in the little iron stove which heats
the room. And silence, of course.
I’m in bed before 9:00 p.m., and up
between 4:00 and 4:30 a.m.—unbelievable,
you think? But regular hours are
restful!
Time is passing so quickly….These
days have been good in every way—
enjoyable, deepening, stretching—with
happy and sad events. The sisters have
taken me into their community without
any fuss, and with profound hospitality.
They are simply amazing. Each
one of them.
Beginning a new foundation is an
enormous undertaking, fi lled with
challenges of every kind—spiritual personal,
interpersonal, cultural, physical,
psychological, fi nancial, etc. But the
people of Norway want them [sisters]
to be here, and support them in every
way they can, and the sisters back in
Dubuque support them in every way
they can.
The entire Order is cheering them
on. So I consider it a great privilege to
have been here for nearly two months
to do whatever I can/could to help
the Cistercians become alive and well
again on the island of Tautra after being
absent more than 300 years.
P.S., May 2005
On March 25 Tautra Mariakloster
offi cially became a simple priory. Six
sisters changed their stability from the
USA to Norway, promising to live out
their lives at the Tautra monastery,
and be buried on this small island in
the Trondheim fjord. This summer the
sisters will move into their new monastery.
The fi ve original buildings will
be used for visitors and retreatants.
For more information about Tautra
and Mississippi Abbey, visit their web
sites: www.tautra.no; www.mississippiabbey.org.
Nothing, however, can match the
experience of living at TMK, nor is
it possible to suffi ciently thank them
and my own BVMs for the opportunity
to “further the mission of Jesus” in
Norway—”that all may be one.” (John
17:21).
About the author: Bertha Fox, BVM (Dolorose)
is professor emerita in music from Clarke College,
Dubuque; besides teaching music to the Trappistines
outside Dubuque, she teaches at Roberta
Kuhn Center, and is a BVM computer tutor.
SUMMER TWO THOUSAND SIX
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Sisters of Charity, BVM
1100 Carmel Drive
Dubuque, Iowa 52003-7991
Change Service Requested
Chair in Women’s Studies Honors BVM
Carolyn Farrell’s Mundelein/Loyola Legacy
SALT MAGAZINE
Carolyn Farrell, BVM accepts with pleasure a
beautiful crystal bowl enhanced with an etching of
Piper Hall presented by University administration.
It was a retirement party to remember! With
friends and colleagues gathered to thank and celebrate
Carolyn Farrell, BVM (Lester) on her retirement from
Loyola University, Chicago, President Michael Garanzini,
SJ announced the creation of an endowed chair
in Women’s Studies at the Gannon Center. It will be
named after Farrell in gratitude for her work at the University.
The University and donors will make possible the
$2 million chair; it will begin in Fall 2007.
Carolyn has been an Associate Vice President of
Loyola University, Chicago, and Director of the Ann
Ida Gannon, BVM Center for Women and Leadership
Non-Profi t Org.
U.S. Postage
PAID
Dubuque, IA
Permit No. 477
Susan Ross, PhD, professor, Theology (center) and Bren Murphy, PhD, Director,
Women’s Studies program give Carolyn fun gifts.
for the past 15 years, after serving as interim president
of Mundelein College as it transitioned to affi liation
with Loyola.
Appreciative remarks were also offered by John
Frendreis, provost; Mary E. Hunt, co-director of Women’s
Alliance for Ethics and Ritual; and Bren Murphy,
director, Women’s Studies program.
“She has accomplished a great deal, including the
renovation of Piper Hall into a beautiful state-of-the-art
center for women’s studies, archives, and leadership
training,” said Hunt. “This on-going legacy of Mundelein
College and the Sisters of Charity, BVM plays a pivotal
role at Loyola and is a model for other universities.”