S. Patricia Heirigs displays the Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice medal.  Standing, left to right are S. Barbara Kowalkowski, S. Patricia, Rev. Brian Connor (pastor of North American Martyr), and Rose Codr (secretarial staff at North American Martyrs School).

        S. Patricia Heirigs was one of five people in the Diocese of Lincoln, Nebraska who received the papal award, Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice, the highest award that can be given to a lay person by the Papacy.   She was honored for being the founding principal of North American Martyrs School, which is the largest Catholic school in the Diocese of Lincoln, NE.  S. Patricia has served there for 17 years.  Yankton Sister Barbara Kowalkowski is also on the faculty there.   

       Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz presented the award on December 3 in a ceremony at the Pope John XXIII Center in Lincoln.  The Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice (For the Church and the Pope) medal  was established by Leo XIII in 1888.   (For more information on the medal itself, go to  http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04667a.htm and read down toward bottom, under heading “Order of the Holy Sepulchre.”)

        S. Patricia, a native of Freeman, SD, has been a vowed member of Sacred Heart Monastery for over 50 years.   A graduate of Mount Marty College in Yankton, SD, S. Patricia holds a master’s degree in pastoral ministry from St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, TX and a master’s in elementary administration from the University of Nebraska at Omaha.  Her years of service to the Church include the ministries of teaching and administration in parochial schools in the Dioceses of Sioux Falls, SD, Omaha, NE, Grand Island, NE, as well as the Diocese of Lincoln.  She also served as a pastoral associate in Omaha.