The Benedictine Sisters of Yankton, SD

Sister Joelle Encounters Christ in the Community

“The look in a person’s eyes has always been a source of revelation to me,” shares Sr. Joelle. “The light that shines forth in the eyes of a child as she reaches for an apple from the Fare-For-All basket, the twinkle in the eye of an elderly man as he receives his bingo prize in an assisted living home, and the pain in the eyes of a woman who struggles for breath, as she fights lung disease and worries about her four children and her bills, all speak to me,” she continues.

Sr. Joelle Bauer serves as Sacred Heart Monastery Outreach Coordinator. The Outreach Mission Statement, under which she ministers, states “As Yankton Benedictine women rooted in a rural heritage, we seek to partner with others to address the social needs of our time and place.” Sr. Joelle sees her outreach ministry in two parts. First, she partners, in the name of the monastery, with organizations in Yankton and the surrounding area to reach out to the needy, the neglected, and the marginalized in our society. Many of these organizations are programs for women and children, a ministry dear to Sr. Joelle’s heart. Among them are: the Visitation Center, where parents in unstable custody situations can safely have access to or visit their children; the Women’s Shelter, a safe haven for abused women and children; and the Mentor Mom Program for pregnant teenagers.

She serves on boards and committees of the Contact Center, a Yankton area organization which coordinates the needs of people and the resources available; the Homeless Shelter, a temporary living space for those in need; the Banquet, a place where the hungry can be fed; and Four Study Walls, a group working to fulfill the dream of providing a building to house Yankton’s non-profit agencies. Sr. Joelle serves on the Mayor’s Commission for Reconciliation, as well as serving as a liaison for the dissemination of information on social justice legislative issues.

Secondly, Sr. Joelle coordinates and “matches up” needs in the community with sisters able to meet them. Presently, sisters are volunteering in such areas as providing for the needs of senior citizens; being present to the Native American and Hispanic population of Yankton; serving as teachers and liturgists in the federal prison; tutoring at the Yankton Area Adjustment Training Center; teaching in the ERTH Program, a religion program for “challenged” adults; providing telephone contact with the shut-ins and the lonely, serving on Habitat for Humanity projects, serving as mentors, and being board members for Big Friend/Little Friend.

“Being a woman of the prairie, creation reveals God and the depth of life in varied ways to me; yearly, the creation themes of surrender, dying, death, and resurrection are part of my rural heritage,” says Sr. Joelle. “As a Benedictine, I am called in The Rule to a spirit of reverence for all creation, for Benedict clearly states that reverence is given to all things, and to everyone we encounter. As I encounter the light, the pain, the twinkle, the delight, and the tiredness in the eyes of the people I serve, I see Christ reflected, and I realize what a gift has been entrusted to me and to our community!”