Current Events

Fall 2007

First Monastic Profession

S. Barbara Kowalkowski (left) professed to live out her baptismal commitment and the Paschal Mystery as a Yankton Benedictine during her First Profession Ceremony on August 11.  Joining her at the monastery font is S. Jennifer Kehrwald, prioress of the community.

S. Barbara made her first monastic profession during Evening Prayer on August 11. She was joined by her Benedictine family, her mother, Karen Kowalkowski, her sister, Cynthia Chase and  children Kayla,  Christopher and Zachary.

S. Barbara is the daughter of Karen Kowalkowski of Sioux Falls and Thomas Kowalkowski of Flint, MI.  She grew up in Milwaukee, WI and graduated from the University of South Dakota with a BS in earth science education.

Prior to her entrance to the monastery in August, 2004, she taught sixth grade in Sioux Falls for eleven years and was also involved in the diocesan Totus Tuus Program.

According to S. Barbara, to be a part of a Benedictine community “will allow me to continue my journey to God in the company of other sisters who, like me, seek to know, love and serve God by serving God’s people.”

S. Barbara is currently teaching religion and social studies at Sacred Heart Middle School in Yankton.
 

 Perpetual Monastic Profession

S. Carmella Luke professed obedience, stability and fidelity to the monastic way of life during her final profession on July 29 in the presence of the prioress, her monastic community, her family and friends.

S. Carmella made her perpetual monastic profession during the Eucharist on July 29.

She is the daughter of John and Marie Luke of Marion, SD.  S. Carmella graduated from Marion High School  and then earned a BA in elementary education from Mount Marty College. Prior to entering Sacred Heart Monastery, she worked at a L’Arche Home in Clinton, IA and at St. Joseph’s Mission in Chamberlain, SD. 

S. Carmella entered Sacred Heart Monastery on August 29, 1999 and made her first profession on August 5, 2001.

 Of her call to the Benedictine way of life, S. Carmella says, “As a Benedictine Sister,
 I am called to live a life based on Gospel love.  As a community we seek to bring forth
 God’s kingdom through prayer, ministry, and the communal life.”

 When asked about her profession, S. Carmella said, “As I make my perpetual monastic profession, I am filled with great hope and joy.  I am richly blessed to be a part of a community of beautiful, God-seeking women.”

 S. Carmella is presently teaching 3rd grade at North American Martyrs School in Lincoln, NE.

“PRAIRIE PRAISE”

 An original composition and lyrics
by
SISTER JANE KLIMISCH OSB

Praise the Lord:  wheat field and prairie, bluebells that tarry telling of spring.
Praise the Lord, autumn of brightness, winters of whiteness, rise up and sing!
Summer sunsets come after showers, nourish our flowers and bid us to rest.
Crickets, cicadas, strike up their humming cheerfully strumming to birds in their nests.

Praise the Lord:  mallards in skyways, turkey foot byways, blue gills and geese.
Praise the Lord, coyote and thistle, wintry wind’s whistle, lambs in their fleece.
Pasques in meadows April a greeting ready for meeting our Easter to come.
Meadowlarks, sparrow and swallow, circle and follow honey bee’s hum.

Praise the Lord:  blue stem and berry, let us make merry, cedar and cone.
Praise the Lord, lightning and thunder, sounding the wonder of earth’s every zone.
Prairie dogs and rattlers a creeping, rabbits a leaping and dancing in mirth.
Coot and carp, buffalo berry, laugh and make merry, filling the earth.

Praise the Lord:  cattle a grazing, blackbirds amazing swift in their flight.
Praise the Lord, lilacs and blossoms, pheasants and possums, daytime and night.
Creatures, all, come join in the singing, instruments ringing joy to the brim.
Christ the Word fills all creation,  bringing salvation, Glory to Him.
 

Sisters Enjoy Weekly Tutoring Ministry

 S. Leonette Hoesing (left) observes while S. Judith Kuhn (right) reads with Ashley Wemhoff. 

Every Monday and Wednesday afternoon after lunch during the academic year, the monastery main entrance is alive with the sounds of laughter and greetings, and there are many hugs as clients of the Ability Building Services, Inc., arrive for weekly sessions with their Sister tutors.

S. Dorothy Olinger and Jeremy Mehlhaff practice word recognition (right).

Eleven Sisters currently involved in the tutoring program are Ss. Marie Helene Werdel, (coordinator), Delores Rush, Denise Stevens, Dorothy Olinger, Evangeline Anderson, Jane Frances Garcia, Judith Kuhn, Kathleen Courtney, Laeticia Kilzer, Leonette Hoesing, and Victorine Stoltz.

 Nicole Baily and S. Jane Frances Garcia enjoy a tutoring session (left) 

In June the monastery received the Conference Theme Award from the Yankton Area Mental Wellness, Inc. in recognition of the sisters’ contributions to mental health services in the local area.   The theme of the conference was “Raising Hope . . .” 
 

 
S. Cynthia Receives Distinguished Award

2007 Distinguished Service to Mount Marty College Award during the annual Alumni Days Banquet in July.  She is a 1952 graduate of Mount Marty High School and a 1957 graduate of Mount Marty College. She earned Masters degrees in French and English and spent a year at the Sorbonne in Paris where she did an in-depth study in French.

S. Cynthia has taught at the college for 50 years and at the Federal Prison Camp in Yankton since 1989. She has developed film classes both at the college and at the prison.  She has also been the leader of numerous study tours abroad.

July 4th Activities

S. Madonna Schmitt, John Luke, Ss. Delores Rush and Stephanie Weber enjoy a ride in Luke’s restored Model A Ford.  Luke is the father of S. Carmella . Other 4th of July activities included the traditional picnic supper, a movie & popcorn, games, an outing to the lake, and watching the city’s fireworks gala.

S. Paulette Larsen displays one of her cookie creations on the 4th of July. 

Benedictine Musicians and Liturgists Meet in Yankton

Sixty-five Benedictine musicians and liturgists from throughout the United States, Canada and the Bahamas gathered at Sacred Heart Monastery in July for a combined conference of the Benedictine Musicians of the Americas and of the Monastic Liturgy Forum.

The conference included keynote addresses by Fr. Raymond Studzinski OSB of St. Meinrad, IN on the theology of aging and Dr. Beth Mikkelsen MD, gerontology specialist from Yankton, on the physical aspects of aging.

Ss. Jeanne Weber and Denette Leifeld do liturgical movement for the opening prayer of the conference (above).

S. Patricia Ann Toscano, a member of both groups and a board member of the Monastic Liturgy Forum, served as the local coordinator, assisted by monastery liturgist, S. Jeanne Weber.

S. Patricia Ann Toscano (far right) shares an evening chat with Ss. Judith Brower (left) and Barbara Helder (center).

Mother Jerome Visits MMC and Sacred Heart Monastery to Celebrate Founder's Day

Mount Marty College celebrated Founder's Day on November 12th with a special visit from Mother Jerome Schmitt (1899-1983) who founded Mount Marty College in 1936.  One memory of Mother Jerome has her making chocolate fudge for the sisters when she would visit them on mission. So today, S. Maribeth Wentzlaff (dressed as Mother Jerome) greeted MMC students, faculty, and staff and the monastery sisters with chocolate 'Founder's Fudge.'  The Mount Marty Campus celebrates three other special days throughout the year:  the death day of Martin Marty in September, the feast of St. Scholastica in February, and the feast of St. Benedict in March. 

S. Marcine Quintus is greeted by Mother Jerome
(S. Maribeth Wentzlaff) with some chocolate 'Founder's Fudge.'

Yankton Benedictines (pdf file)

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