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SISTERS OF<br />
THE HOLY<br />
FAMILY OF<br />
NAZARETH //<br />
VOL 14 //<br />
// NO 1 //<br />
SPRING <strong>2020</strong><br />
Nazareth<br />
CONNECTIONS<br />
FAMILY IS THE HEART OF OUR MISSION<br />
Newborn girl left in box<br />
on convent lawn<br />
60 YEARS LATER<br />
STORY BEGINS ON PAGE 4
MESSAGE FROM THE PROVI<strong>NC</strong>IAL SUPERIOR<br />
Family<br />
THE HEART OF OUR MISSION<br />
Dear Friends of Nazareth,<br />
Between the liturgical seasons of Advent<br />
and Lent, the Catholic Church celebrates<br />
with solemnity the Feast of the Holy<br />
Family, which is also a congregational<br />
feast for the Sisters of the Holy Family of<br />
Nazareth.<br />
Celebrated on the Sunday after<br />
Christmas, the purpose of this feast is to<br />
present the Holy Family as a model for<br />
all Christian families. The family home<br />
of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph would have<br />
been, in numerous ways, just like any<br />
other home. They would have shared<br />
in conversations, laughed and had fun,<br />
disagreed, shared meals, labored, and<br />
would not have been exempt from some<br />
of the difficulties and challenges that face<br />
most families. They would have lived a<br />
normal family life in every way.<br />
Blessed Mary of Jesus the Good Shepherd<br />
(Frances Siedliska) drew inspiration for<br />
our Congregation’s unique spirit from her<br />
reflection on the life of the Holy Family<br />
of Nazareth. She envisioned her sisters<br />
living a life rooted in a deep relationship<br />
of love with God, and faithful dedication<br />
to God’s service. She stated it this way:<br />
Left to right: Sr. Julia Bargiel, Sr. Barbara Sudol, Sr. Mary Frances<br />
Przybylski, and Sr. Kathleen Maciej<br />
“The purpose for which this congregation<br />
exists is to cooperate with Christ and His<br />
Church in building the Kingdom of God’s<br />
love, that Kingdom which first blossomed<br />
miraculously in the Holy Family of<br />
Nazareth.”<br />
Shortly after her arrival in the United<br />
States in 1885, Blessed Mary responded<br />
to the current needs of the families<br />
she encountered in Chicago, New York,<br />
and Pennsylvania. Together, with a small<br />
group of sisters, they staffed schools,<br />
hospitals, and orphanages to care<br />
for the immigrants, the sick, and the<br />
homeless; they educated children; and,<br />
they provided assistance to those unable<br />
to communicate because of language<br />
barriers. Those who were weak, helpless,<br />
and at risk experienced Jesus’ healing<br />
presence, compassion, and mercy through<br />
these courageous women who sacrificed<br />
and endured many hardships to build<br />
the Kingdom of God’s love in the U.S. for<br />
families. Family was at the heart of their<br />
mission.<br />
One hundred thirty-five years later, the<br />
situation is much the same. We encounter<br />
great numbers of the poor who lack the<br />
bare necessities of life and are at times<br />
harassed and exploited -- families forced<br />
to leave their homelands, orphans who<br />
have lost their parents, victims of violence,<br />
and the homeless who roam the streets<br />
of our society.<br />
Each day, we see before us individuals<br />
and families struggling, the vulnerable<br />
who are at the mercy of the hardhearted,<br />
and those crying for help whose<br />
voice is often unheard. For these people<br />
and others, the charism for the Sisters of<br />
the Holy Family of Nazareth is a beacon<br />
of hope for the world today.<br />
I invite you to join with us in daily prayer<br />
to the Holy Family for all the families of<br />
the world:<br />
O Holy Family, bless and protect all the<br />
families of the world, safeguard their<br />
unity, fidelity, integrity and dignity. Enable<br />
them to live according to God’s law that<br />
they may fulfill their sublime vocation.<br />
May their lives be a reflection of yours<br />
and may they enjoy your presence forever<br />
in heaven.<br />
Lovingly in JMJ,<br />
Sister Kathleen Maciej<br />
HOW ARE YOU CALLED TO LOVE?<br />
We invite you to pray with us, to listen to God’s call with us and to love with us<br />
as we find God in ordinary experiences. Learn more about our community life,<br />
our ministries and our mission at nazarethcsfn.org/join-us. Or contact<br />
Sr. Emmanuela Le, CSFN, National Vocation Director, at 972-641-4496 x111<br />
or vocations@nazarethcsfn.org.<br />
2
4 10<br />
7<br />
VOLUME 14 //<br />
NUMBER 1 //<br />
SPRING <strong>2020</strong><br />
Nazareth Connections is published<br />
three times a year by the Sisters of<br />
the Holy Family of Nazareth<br />
in the USA.<br />
Editor:<br />
Tammy Townsend Denny<br />
Proofreaders:<br />
Sr. Clare Marie Kozicki<br />
Sr. Jude Carroll<br />
Sr. Lucille Madura<br />
Contents<br />
MINISTRY<br />
4 Newborn girl left in<br />
box on convent lawn - 60<br />
years later<br />
8 The “daughters” of<br />
Blessed Mary of Jesus<br />
the Good Shepherd: An<br />
excerpt from Kwiatki<br />
Franciszki Siedliskiej<br />
(Flowers of Frances<br />
Siedliska)<br />
12 A ministry of light and<br />
hope in the Philippines<br />
IN MEMORIAM<br />
DEVELOPMENT<br />
13<br />
14 Sr. Ann Marie (Patricia Ann) Cwick<br />
15 Sr. M. Irene Geisheimer<br />
15 Sr. M. Barbara Ann Nowosielska<br />
16 Sr. M. Ruth (Judith Ann) Ruster<br />
16 Sr. M. Audrey Kimbar<br />
18 Spiritual greeting cards for<br />
your family, friends, and loved<br />
ones<br />
Editorial Board:<br />
Sr. Angela Szczawinska<br />
Sr. Barbara Frances Samp<br />
Sr. Carol Szott<br />
Sr. Jude Carroll<br />
Sr. Kathleen Ann Stadler<br />
Sr. Lucille Madura<br />
Sr. Marcelina Mikulska<br />
Sr. Marcella Louise Wallowicz<br />
Sr. Mary Louise Swift<br />
Sr. Teresilla Kolodziejczyk<br />
Katherine Barth<br />
Design/Print:<br />
McDaniels Marketing<br />
Questions, comments, suggestions?<br />
Please contact:<br />
Communications Department<br />
Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth<br />
310 N. River Road,<br />
Des Plaines, IL 60016<br />
847-298-6760, x144<br />
ttownsend@nazarethcsfn.org<br />
ON THE COVER:<br />
Judy Jean Kaenel (seated, center) during a December 2019 visit<br />
to the Provincialate in Des Plaines, IL, sixty years after being<br />
found as a baby on the grounds of the convent.<br />
nazarethcsfn.org<br />
facebook.com/csfn.usa<br />
twitter.com/csfn_usa<br />
instagram.com/csfn.usa<br />
NAZARETH CONNECTIONS // SPRING <strong>2020</strong><br />
3
MINISTRY<br />
Newborn girl<br />
left in box on<br />
convent lawn<br />
60 YEARS LATER<br />
It was around 7:30 in the morning<br />
on September 23, 1959 when a<br />
groundskeeper for the Sisters of<br />
the Holy Family of Nazareth in Des<br />
Plaines, IL heard a cry. That cry led<br />
him to a box tucked under a bush<br />
near the convent’s shrine to the Holy<br />
Family where he found a baby girl<br />
lovingly dressed in a pink and white<br />
floral dress and gently wrapped in<br />
blue and white striped blankets. Sr.<br />
Constance Kuczwara, CSFN, who<br />
was a second-year novice at the time,<br />
recalls an announcement being made<br />
to the novices about a baby that was<br />
found near the shrine. “I remember<br />
that we were told that the baby was<br />
OK,” said Sr. Constance. She also<br />
recalls praying for the baby in the days<br />
after she was found.<br />
In the kitchen of the convent that<br />
morning in 1959, the baby was<br />
baptized Mary Alice. Among the<br />
stories told about that blessed day is<br />
one where the sisters considered the<br />
possibility of keeping Mary Alice and<br />
raising her, as our Mother Foundress<br />
had done decades earlier with other<br />
orphans. Quickly, the sisters knew the<br />
right thing to do. Police took Mary<br />
Alice to Resurrection Hospital. She<br />
was eventually moved to St. Vincent’s<br />
Orphanage where she was later<br />
adopted and named Judy Jean Kaenel.<br />
Sixty years later, on a chilly December<br />
day in 2019, Judy Jean Kaenel sat at<br />
a table with Sr. Lucille Madura, Sr.<br />
Constance Kuczwara, and Sr. Clare<br />
Marie Kozicki in the provincialate<br />
in Des Plaines, now located across<br />
the street from the original convent<br />
where she was found. Outspoken and<br />
energetic, Judy looked as if she was<br />
sitting around the family table with<br />
relatives she’s known for years. And, in<br />
many ways, she was.<br />
“You are my first family,” Judy said to<br />
the sisters. “I’ve always looked at all of<br />
you as my first mothers.”<br />
“When you think about it,” Sr.<br />
Constance said with tears forming in<br />
her eyes, “we have mothered so many<br />
children in schools and in healthcare.”<br />
4<br />
continued on page 6...
NAZARETH CONNECTIONS // SPRING <strong>2020</strong><br />
5
Though the sisters were her “first<br />
family,” Judy bonded immediately with<br />
her adoptive family and credits them<br />
with helping her become the person<br />
she is today.<br />
Though she has experienced<br />
moments of hardship in her life,<br />
she says there have also been many<br />
blessings. She recalled one Christmas<br />
in the 1980s when she had no heat<br />
in her home, no gifts for her children,<br />
and had used the last of the food – a<br />
box of brownie mix and oatmeal – for<br />
their dinner. There was a knock on<br />
her door at 11:30 that night. When<br />
she opened the door, she found a<br />
pile of wrapped presents and food<br />
and diapers and envelopes with cash<br />
for her and her children. “I made a<br />
promise that day that if I came across<br />
someone in need I would help them,”<br />
Judy said.<br />
6
Through the years, Judy has searched<br />
diligently for her birth parents,<br />
exploring every possibility from old<br />
yearbooks to newspaper clippings,<br />
many leading to dead ends. Then, in<br />
July 2019, an Ancestry.com DNA test<br />
connected her with a gentleman who<br />
was possibly her brother. Additional<br />
DNA testing at a local lab confirmed<br />
that the gentleman’s father was also<br />
her father. Just hours before he passed<br />
away, Judy’s father was able to give her<br />
the first name of the woman believed<br />
to be her mother but he could not<br />
recall any other information.<br />
Judy’s search continues for the face of<br />
the woman who saw her in her first<br />
moments of life. “I want to let [my<br />
birth mother] know it is OK,” Judy<br />
said. “I’m OK… I want to hug her and<br />
hold her hand and tell her how safe I<br />
was.”<br />
Today, Judy is “mother” to five children<br />
by birth and by loving care. She serves<br />
as president of ABATE, a motorcycle<br />
education and safety taskforce, and<br />
lives in the far western suburbs of<br />
Chicago.<br />
An article from the Chicago Tribune,<br />
September 24, 1959.<br />
Judy Jean Kaenel (seated) during a<br />
December 2019 visit to the convent in<br />
Des Plaines, IL. Also pictured (l to r):<br />
Sr. Phyllis Siedlecka, Sr. Constance<br />
Kuczwara, Sr. Clare Marie Kozicki,<br />
Sr. Virginia Zielinski, Sr. Lucille<br />
Madura, and Sr. Marie Kielanowicz<br />
The Sacred Heart Provincialate in the<br />
1950s. The sisters moved to a newer<br />
building across the street in the mid-<br />
1990s.<br />
Judy, in the back row between the<br />
images of Joseph and Mary, with the<br />
sisters who were on hand to greet her<br />
during her December 2019 visit.<br />
A group hug with Judy and her “first<br />
family.”<br />
NAZARETH CONNECTIONS // SPRING <strong>2020</strong><br />
7
MINISTRY<br />
The “daughters” of<br />
Blessed Mary of Jesus the<br />
Good Shepherd:<br />
AN EXCERPT FROM KWIATKI FRA<strong>NC</strong>ISZKI SIEDLISKIEJ<br />
(FLOWERS OF FRA<strong>NC</strong>ES SIEDLISKA)<br />
Written by Sr. Amata Nowaszewska, CSFN and<br />
translanted by Sr. Angela Szczawinska, CSFN<br />
Editor’s Note: The following is an excerpt from Sr. Amata Nowaszewska’s recently<br />
published book, Kwiatki Franciszki Siedliskiej (Flowers of Frances Siedliska). It is reprinted<br />
here with permission from Sr. Angela Maria Mazzeo, superior general for the Sisters of<br />
the Holy Family of Nazareth. Written and published in Polish, the following portion of<br />
the book was translated by Sr. Angela Szczawinska, CSFN. Please note that Sr. Amata<br />
uses the names ”Mother Mary” and ”Blessed Mary” to refer to Blessed Mary of Jesus<br />
the Good Sheperd, Frances Siedliska, foundress of our Congregation. She also notes<br />
that there are various versions of the stories surrounding the adopted children. The one<br />
thing we know for sure, as Sr. Amata says, Blessed Mary of Jesus the Good Shepherd<br />
(Frances Siedliska) opened her heart to the abandoned children of her time. Sr. Amata is<br />
currently serving in the Holy Name of Jesus (Warsaw) Province.<br />
8
It is hard to tell exactly how it came<br />
about. Time has blurred the tracks,<br />
and the archives are extremely<br />
taciturn on this matter. Where did<br />
the cute black girls surrounding<br />
Mother Mary [Blessed Mary of<br />
Jesus the Good Shepherd, Frances<br />
Siedliska, foundress of the Sisters of<br />
the Holy Family of Nazareth] in the<br />
old photographs come from? And<br />
what about other photos of African<br />
American girls shyly posing for the<br />
camera in the Nazareth Sisters’<br />
albums? Particularly noteworthy is the<br />
image of little Mamie in a white dress<br />
and with a light-colored ribbon in her<br />
dark curly hair. The child is standing<br />
on a chair covered with a fluffy<br />
blanket, and in the background, you<br />
can see a table with Mother Mary’s<br />
portrait. There is a caption on the<br />
photo: “Baby wait for Mama. Baby help<br />
Mama! Little Mamie. 1897.”<br />
We know for sure that Mother<br />
Mary’s heart was particularly sensitive<br />
toward abandoned children. She<br />
wished she could help all neglected<br />
and orphaned street children, and<br />
she was especially moved by the fate<br />
of dark-skinned orphans in times<br />
of racial segregation in the United<br />
States. That is why several girls found<br />
themselves in Chicago in the care of<br />
the sisters. We know the names of<br />
five black girls (Mamie, Alma, Stella,<br />
Grace, and Yolanda) and a biracial girl,<br />
Lauretta. Traditionally, two of them<br />
are considered to have been adopted<br />
by Mother Mary and the other ones<br />
– thanks to her encouragement – by<br />
Mother Lauretta Lubowidzka. It was<br />
not adoption in the modern sense,<br />
initiated in the US by an act of 1851<br />
(Massachusetts Adoption of Children<br />
Act), but probably some form of<br />
contract that provided care to<br />
orphaned children.<br />
Some of the adopted girls were<br />
brought up and educated in Europe<br />
NAZARETH CONNECTIONS // SPRING <strong>2020</strong><br />
9
10<br />
(Paris, Rome and Polish convents).<br />
About one of them, Blessed Mary<br />
wrote in a letter to her spiritual<br />
director, Father Anthony Lechert:<br />
“Can I bring along a small, four-yearold<br />
black girl? An extremely good<br />
child, very attached to me, and she<br />
speaks English beautifully, not Polish,<br />
though. She is such a darling, this child.<br />
I think she will be a good child.”<br />
A whole century later, the grandson of<br />
one of these girls, Yolanda Charleston,<br />
wanted to learn about the family<br />
history, intrigued by his grandmother’s<br />
fluent command of Polish. In 1994,<br />
Yolanda’s daughter, Lauretta Frances<br />
Travis, contacted Saint Mary Hospital<br />
in Chicago [known as Saint Mary of<br />
Nazareth Hospital at the time and<br />
now known as AMITA Health Saints<br />
Mary and Elizabeth Medical Center]<br />
and so the family renewed contacts<br />
with the sisters. In her childhood,<br />
Yolanda (born in 1889) and her older<br />
sister were looked after by Mother<br />
Mary. The girls were brought up in<br />
the care of the sisters in the USA and<br />
Europe. Yolanda returned to Chicago<br />
in 1910, graduated from nursing<br />
school, and started a family.<br />
She worked, among others, as a<br />
court translator, being fluent in<br />
English, Polish, French, and Italian. She<br />
named one of her daughters Lauretta<br />
Frances in honor of her guardians:<br />
Mother Lauretta Lubowidzka and<br />
Mother Mary Frances Siedliska. She<br />
“I wish we could love these children even more and<br />
undertake sacrifices for them for the sake of Jesus,<br />
so that we should not remain indifferent…”<br />
maintained close contact with the<br />
Nazareth Sisters. They obtained a<br />
papal blessing for her on the occasion<br />
of her marriage to Thomas Wilson<br />
(1918), they helped her family when<br />
her son died in the difficult times of a<br />
great crisis. “We went to the Sisters<br />
as you go to grandma’s house - for<br />
Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter ... The<br />
sisters were our only family” – one of<br />
Yolanda’s daughters, Gloria, reminisced<br />
about her childhood years later.<br />
Mother Mary quietly dreamed that<br />
maybe some of the dark-skinned<br />
girls taken in by the sisters would<br />
become Nazareth sisters and “maybe<br />
the Lord Jesus will allow, it may be<br />
the beginning of the mission with<br />
the Indians,” as she wrote to Mother<br />
Lauretta (October 20, 1890). This<br />
happened in the case of Lauretta<br />
Brahland, a Native American or<br />
biracial woman born in 1889, who<br />
entered the Congregation of the<br />
Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth<br />
in 1908, receiving the name of Sister
Maria Priscilla. Unfortunately, Sister<br />
Priscilla fell sick and died at a young<br />
age in 1931 in Clayton (New Mexico).<br />
According to the family of Yolanda<br />
Charleston, her blood sister joined<br />
the Congregation. It might have been<br />
Stella Charleston, or Sister Mary<br />
Ann (1883-1963), although there are<br />
some different versions of the events.<br />
Mother Lauretta brought Stella to<br />
Paris, where the young girl started<br />
school.<br />
She spent her first years of religious<br />
life close to Mother Mary in Rome.<br />
Musically and linguistically talented,<br />
she served generously for many years<br />
as a teacher in France. Not only did<br />
she teach English, music, and catechism<br />
at a Nazareth school, but she helped<br />
refugee priests and taught French at<br />
the Institute Catholique. During World<br />
War II, the Germans imprisoned<br />
her as an American citizen (1944).<br />
She spent the last years of her life in<br />
Rome and died there. She is buried in<br />
the tomb of the Congregation at the<br />
Campo Verano cemetery.<br />
Alma Mosley (1897-1965), associated<br />
with Mother Lauretta, became a<br />
Nazareth Sister, too. Little Alma did<br />
not leave Mother Lauretta’s side<br />
whenever Mother was at home,<br />
even in the chapel. Once during<br />
the singing of the antiphon Alma<br />
Mater Redemptoris (Holy Mother<br />
of the Redeemer), the girl exclaimed<br />
delighted: “They are singing about<br />
me!” Another time at the beginning<br />
of the night prayer - compline, when<br />
silence fell during the individual<br />
examination of conscience, Mother<br />
Lauretta tired after an exhausting<br />
day, fell asleep in her kneeler. Alma<br />
proudly took her place, knocking on<br />
the kneeler three times - a signal that<br />
the prayers were over. The sisters<br />
obediently left the chapel without<br />
finishing the compline, much to the<br />
embarrassment of the provincial<br />
superior – Mother Lauretta. At the age<br />
of 19, Alma joined the Congregation<br />
and became Sister Miriam of the<br />
Heart of Jesus. She completed her<br />
religious formation in Rome but<br />
spent most of her religious life in<br />
Philadelphia ministering at the office<br />
of Nazareth Hospital.<br />
We do not know the fate of other<br />
children for whom the sisters became<br />
family. Dark-skinned “daughters” were<br />
not the only children they looked<br />
after. In Brooklyn, the sisters took<br />
care of a sick, one and a half year old<br />
orphan boy and in Scranton a fiveyear-old<br />
girl, whose mother could<br />
not look after her. They also ran<br />
orphanages, mainly for children of<br />
Polish immigrants. It was a practical<br />
expression of Mother Mary’s dream:<br />
“I wish we could love these children<br />
even more and undertake sacrifices<br />
for them for the sake of Jesus, so that<br />
we should not remain indifferent…”<br />
Sources<br />
Positio, vol 2, p. 445<br />
Bl. Mary of Jesus the Good<br />
Shepherd’s letter to Father Anthony<br />
Lechert, June 14, 1893, CSFN<br />
Archives, Rome<br />
Pevese P.: Memorandum re: Wilson<br />
Sisters, Feb. 10, 1890, CSFN<br />
Archives, Rome<br />
Mother Foundress’ letter to Mother<br />
Lauretta Lubowidzka, Oct. 20, 1890,<br />
CSFN Archives, Rome<br />
Counsels from the Heart #111, p.<br />
173<br />
From left to right: Grace and<br />
Yolanda, two of the “adopted<br />
daughters,” along with two young<br />
women identified as Marya and<br />
Alicia.<br />
A statue of Blessed Mary of Jesus the<br />
Good Shepherd (Frances Siedliska)<br />
protecting a child with her cloak,<br />
Tyler, TX.<br />
Yolanda and Stella, two of the<br />
“adopted” daughters.<br />
A photo of Mamie, one of the<br />
“adopted daughters.” This is the<br />
photo mentioned on page nine.<br />
NAZARETH CONNECTIONS // SPRING <strong>2020</strong><br />
11
MINISTRY<br />
Many times my willingness to love<br />
them was a struggle for them to<br />
hold on to. Sometimes what I had to<br />
offer them seemed so unproductive,<br />
even though they wanted to see it<br />
in a trusting way. As the boys grew<br />
over the years, so did I. Together, we<br />
discovered many new and exciting<br />
things along the way.<br />
As I journeyed with these boys, there<br />
were many challenging moments, as<br />
each child tried to embrace their own<br />
abuses and neglected situations. Each<br />
boy I cared for was a special love<br />
letter from God.<br />
A ministry of<br />
light and hope in<br />
the Philippines<br />
by Sr. Janet Kemmler, CSFN<br />
I have had various assignments in<br />
the Philippines, but perhaps one of<br />
the most blessed was that of caring<br />
for boys over the last 18 years of<br />
my 23 years spent in the Philippines.<br />
These boys showed me that even<br />
when there is darkness and loss of<br />
everything, we can still find hope in<br />
the rubbles of everyday life. In doing<br />
so, they led me to a greater unfolding<br />
of my life and a deeper awareness that<br />
life itself is one big commitment to<br />
service within God’s Kingdom.<br />
Not all these boys were able to<br />
survive their darkness because of<br />
situations, family crisis, and abuse of<br />
all kinds. Their darkness carried a long<br />
journey of uncertainty, even though I<br />
was there to help them. It was a deep<br />
privilege for me to care for these<br />
boys and to serve them, as the many<br />
grace-filled moments contributed to<br />
my own spiritual growth. For some<br />
of the boys, I was a mystery and to<br />
others we held a deep bond of love<br />
and respect for each other. Each day,<br />
as I assumed my care for these often<br />
unwanted boys, I received much more<br />
in return.<br />
Whatever my assigned mission in<br />
life, my ministry was not based on a<br />
position I held. It was my commitment<br />
to encounter the human aspect of<br />
my journey, touching the lives of<br />
others. It was never about what I<br />
did, but was rather about how I lived<br />
out my life for God. Life is about<br />
human conditions and our journeying<br />
together which helps us to grow<br />
and transform our existence for<br />
something greater than ourselves.<br />
Even as a child, I felt that to be a<br />
missionary didn’t mean I would<br />
have to leave a place I called home.<br />
For me, to be a missionary is to<br />
connect to others and together<br />
discover a connection to God’s love<br />
of all peoples of the world, where<br />
differences give us a glimpse of heaven<br />
here on earth. At the end of every<br />
day, my mind would drift in prayer, as<br />
I wondered whether I had given these<br />
boys a true glimpse of God’s love for<br />
them.<br />
God sent me to these boys for a<br />
reason. I know that for sure. The<br />
question that hounded my soul was,<br />
how do I unfold their hearts to the<br />
love of God when their lives had<br />
so many losses? I dreamed of ways<br />
to bring us together for a better<br />
tomorrow where they could embrace<br />
12
Children are often plunged into<br />
situations that they have no control<br />
over. Many children fall through the<br />
cracks where they struggle to see<br />
themselves as special and unique. And<br />
those of us who try to help them<br />
must realize this can only be done<br />
in God’s time. Injustices come into<br />
children’s lives unannounced. And they<br />
can be left wondering how love can<br />
change their world when what they<br />
have experienced cannot be erased<br />
from their minds. Offering these<br />
children hope, helps begin to heal<br />
their broken hearts.<br />
their own self-worth and giftedness.<br />
After all the hurts, abuses, and dark<br />
moments they experienced, how<br />
could I bring the light of hope back<br />
into their lives again? How could<br />
these boys, whom God had led me<br />
to find, trust in a God they felt had<br />
abandoned them?<br />
As an adult, I had to enter their<br />
world in order to feel and understand<br />
their experiences, their pains, their<br />
journey of confusion and help them<br />
to understand their struggles. At the<br />
same time, I had to broaden my own<br />
world and find my space to learn and<br />
to better understand how to best<br />
care for them.<br />
Children see the world differently<br />
than we do as adults. Children may<br />
be small, but soon they grow to be<br />
the future of the world. Many of the<br />
boys were angry at God, their parents,<br />
and even at society who should have<br />
protected them and given them a safe<br />
environment in which to grow up.<br />
We often seek treasure amid the<br />
rubble of situations where we have<br />
been refused the comforts of love<br />
and trust. What a child experiences<br />
in an abusive situation is very scary<br />
for them. The letting go of a bad<br />
experience needs much support, love,<br />
and time for healing.<br />
We all battle with dark moments<br />
where we struggle to understand<br />
what it means to be loved and cared<br />
for by others. It is a challenge to know<br />
ourselves, especially in those dark<br />
moments where letting go should<br />
become an experience of love and<br />
appreciation allowing us to move on<br />
to something new and exciting.<br />
Healing broken hearts was perhaps<br />
one of my biggest obstacles because<br />
the innocence of these children had<br />
been taken away.<br />
In Isaiah 45:3, it says: “I will give you<br />
the treasures of darkness and riches<br />
hidden in secret places so that you<br />
may know that it is I, the God of Israel,<br />
who calls you by your name.”<br />
There is a sacred mystery to what<br />
we sometimes experience in those<br />
dark moments of our lives. Perhaps<br />
it is God’s way of telling us that the<br />
darkness we are experiencing is<br />
His gift of adventure to find Him in<br />
a deeper way. Darkness comes in<br />
various forms where the unknown of<br />
a new assignment takes us to places<br />
we might never have chosen for<br />
ourselves.<br />
Sr. Janet entered the Sisters of the Holy<br />
Family of Nazareth in 1964. She has<br />
a bachelor’s degree in nursing from<br />
St. Joseph College in Standish, ME. She<br />
also holds certificates in nursing and<br />
administration. Before her recent return<br />
to the U.S., Sr. Janet was serving as<br />
administrator for the Mercy Halfway<br />
House for Boys, a CSFN ministry in the<br />
Philippines, but as she says it was only<br />
title and didn’t necessarily reflect the<br />
heart of her ministry. Many of the boys<br />
she worked with are now pursuing college<br />
degrees or working in well-established<br />
careers. The Sisters of the Holy Family of<br />
Nazareth have been ministering in the<br />
Philippines since 1982. To learn more<br />
about the Philippine Province and the<br />
CSFN ministries in that area, please visit<br />
the Congregation’s Philippines web page<br />
at bit.ly/CSFNPhilippines.<br />
Sr. Janet Kemmler with one of<br />
the boys she worked with in the<br />
Philippines.<br />
Sr. Janet back in the U.S., October<br />
2019.<br />
We all experience moments of<br />
questionable emptiness. Thus, we are<br />
forced to face things that lead us to<br />
search for something that would make<br />
us feel safe and secure.<br />
NAZARETH CONNECTIONS // SPRING <strong>2020</strong><br />
13
In Memoriam<br />
Sr. Ann Marie<br />
(Patricia Ann)<br />
Cwick<br />
June 7, 1955 –<br />
November 21,<br />
2019<br />
Sr. Ann Marie<br />
was a private person with a gentle<br />
presence. Kind, helpful, organized, and<br />
disciplined, she used great care when<br />
fulfi lling the responsibilities entrusted<br />
to her. A faithful and loyal friend, Sr.<br />
Ann Marie supported others in quiet,<br />
often hidden ways.<br />
Born on June 7, 1955, she was the<br />
oldest of the five children of John<br />
and Lorraine Cwick. Baptized Patricia<br />
Ann (Pat) at St. Adalbert Church in<br />
the Pilsen neighborhood of Chicago,<br />
she attended the parish school and<br />
always spoke with affection about her<br />
old neighborhood. As a young teen,<br />
Pat attended Holy Family Academy in<br />
Chicago and, following in her mother’s<br />
footsteps, served as a volunteer and<br />
later as a nursing assistant at St. Mary<br />
of Nazareth Hospital (now AMITA<br />
Health Sts. Mary and Elizabeth Medical<br />
Center). She would later dedicate<br />
34 years to ministering as a medicalsurgical<br />
and oncology nurse at St.<br />
Mary’s, holding in her heart with<br />
special care and prayer those who<br />
suffered from cancer.<br />
She entered the Congregation in<br />
1973 and professed her perpetual<br />
vows in 1981. She attended Oakton<br />
Community College in Des Plaines,<br />
IL and St. Mary of Nazareth School of<br />
Nursing in Chicago. She was awarded<br />
her certifi cate as a registered nurse<br />
in1980. She earned a bachelor’s in<br />
nursing from DePaul University in<br />
Chicago in 1990 and a master’s in<br />
pastoral ministry from Catholic<br />
Theological Union in Chicago in 2007.<br />
In 2013, Sr. Ann Marie left her muchloved<br />
ministry at St. Mary’s, the last<br />
Sister of the Holy Family of Nazareth<br />
to minister at the hospital founded<br />
by our sisters in 1894. In God’s<br />
mysterious plan, the move from St.<br />
Mary’s opened a new avenue for Sr.<br />
Ann Marie to begin working as a<br />
parish nurse at St. Cornelius Parish<br />
14
in Chicago where she ministered<br />
until she became terminally ill in the<br />
summer of 2019.<br />
With quiet, courageous strength,<br />
she faced her rapid decline and<br />
approaching death, offering a great<br />
witness to all of us.<br />
Sr. Ann Marie engaged fully in the final<br />
details of her life’s journey, choosing<br />
the readings for her funeral Mass,<br />
selecting the clothes she would<br />
wear which included the shoes she<br />
wore for celebrations. She died<br />
peacefully on November 21, 2019 at<br />
Resurrection Hospital in Chicago. Her<br />
Mass of Resurrection was celebrated<br />
November 25 at St. Cornelius Church<br />
in Chicago.<br />
Sr. M. Irene<br />
Geisheimer<br />
November 10,<br />
1924 - December<br />
8, 2019<br />
A Norwich, CT<br />
woman through<br />
and through, Sr. Irene journeyed<br />
into this world as the daughter of<br />
Rudolph and Anna Geisheimer. After<br />
completing her elementary education<br />
at St. Joseph’s School, she traveled to<br />
Nazareth Academy High School in<br />
Philadelphia as a student. Entering the<br />
Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth<br />
in June 1941, she professed her final<br />
vows in Rome, Italy in May 1950.<br />
Sr. Irene, formerly known as Sr. Amata,<br />
received a bachelor’s degree from<br />
Villanova University and a master’s<br />
degree from Middlebury College. She<br />
also completed studies in German<br />
at the University of Wisconsin and<br />
traveled in 1973 for a sabbatical to<br />
Johannes Gutenberg University in<br />
Mainz, Germany.<br />
Ministering in Catholic education at<br />
Holy Rosary School in <strong>Spring</strong>field, MA,<br />
as well as at St. Adalbert School and<br />
Nazareth Academy High School in<br />
Philadelphia, Sr. Irene’s primary focus<br />
was to enable the young women she<br />
mentored to see God in all things.<br />
Always willing to go the extra mile,<br />
she never hesitated to scrub that<br />
extra pot or to listen to those who<br />
sought her advice.<br />
In 2006, Sr. Irene began a new chapter<br />
in her life in prayer ministry at Jesus of<br />
Nazareth Convent (Mount Nazareth)<br />
in Philadelphia. Upon meeting a nurse<br />
for the first time, Sr. Irene would say,<br />
“Look into the eyes of Jesus and know<br />
He made you and He loves you.”<br />
All those who helped her, received<br />
a smile, a blessing, and a thank you<br />
from her whenever they rendered her<br />
some service.<br />
In November, Sr. Irene celebrated<br />
her 95th birthday. The sisters joined<br />
her for a singing fest with English and<br />
Polish tunes. She received white roses<br />
that day which had special significance<br />
for her. She had related some time<br />
ago that her parents had told her that<br />
the soldiers in Poland received white<br />
roses upon returning from war and<br />
that a special song was sung in their<br />
honor. When she still could, she sang<br />
that song faithfully each Sunday.<br />
On December 8, Our Lady<br />
accompanied Sr. Irene into the hands<br />
of her merciful God. Her Mass of<br />
Resurrection was December 12 at<br />
Jesus of Nazareth (Mount Nazareth)<br />
chapel in Philadelphia.<br />
Sr. M. Barbara<br />
Ann Nowosielska<br />
July 24, 1938 –<br />
December 18,<br />
2019<br />
Barbara Ann was<br />
born July 24, 1938,<br />
the first of two daughters of Joseph<br />
and Sophie Nowosielski. She grew up<br />
on the north side of Chicago, where<br />
she, her sister Betty, and their parents<br />
lived.<br />
Sr. Barbara Ann deeply appreciated<br />
the love and support of her family<br />
throughout her life. She valued the<br />
friendships of her youth formed at<br />
St. John Cantius Grade School and<br />
at Holy Family Academy in Chicago<br />
where the seed of her vocation was<br />
nurtured. During her sophomore<br />
year at Holy Family Academy, Barbara<br />
worked at a bakery where she saw<br />
first-hand expertise in baking at work.<br />
Later in her life, many would enjoy<br />
meals prepared by Sr. Barbara Ann<br />
who built community with food.<br />
She entered our Congregation in<br />
1956 and professed her final vows<br />
in 1965. She earned a Bachelor of<br />
Science degree from De Lourdes<br />
College in Des Plaines, IL and a Master<br />
of Arts degree in history from Dayton<br />
University in Ohio.<br />
Sr. Barbara Ann began serving in<br />
education ministry in 1960 at St.<br />
Andrew in Calumet City, IL, then<br />
moved to Immaculate Heart of Mary<br />
in Chicago. In 1965 she was sent to<br />
Texas, and spent the next 17 years<br />
ministering in Fort Worth, Irving,<br />
Dallas, and Grand Prairie as a teacher<br />
as well as principal. In 1982, she<br />
returned to Chicago and taught at St.<br />
Ann School. In 1985, she settled at St.<br />
Emily in Mount Prospect, IL where she<br />
served for 34 years.<br />
NAZARETH CONNECTIONS // SPRING <strong>2020</strong><br />
15
Being an educator was life-giving for<br />
Sr. Barbara Ann. She once wrote, “I<br />
enjoy the challenge and excitement of<br />
teaching young people. They give me<br />
life, hope for the future and a sense<br />
of satisfaction. Being with youth keeps<br />
me young and adventurous.”<br />
She loved to serve others and is<br />
remembered for her preparation of<br />
luscious meals, especially her famous<br />
rum cakes. The lessons she taught, the<br />
example she gave us, the challenges<br />
she laid before us, and the faith she<br />
exemplified for us are all gifts that she<br />
shared.<br />
Sr. Barbara Ann passed away on<br />
December 18. Her funeral Mass was<br />
celebrated on December 23 at St.<br />
Emily Church in Mount Prospect, IL.<br />
Sr. M. Ruth<br />
(Judith Ann)<br />
Ruster<br />
April 17, 1937 –<br />
January 6, <strong>2020</strong><br />
Howard and<br />
Dorothy Ruster<br />
welcomed the arrival of baby Judith<br />
Ann on April 17, 1937 in East<br />
Stroudsburg, PA. Soon, the family<br />
moved to Philadelphia where Judith<br />
attended Our Lady of Czestochowa<br />
Grade School. Wise before her years,<br />
Judith converted to Catholicism at<br />
the age of 10. She was baptized in the<br />
Our Lady of Czestochowa Church on<br />
April 27, 1947 and began her religious<br />
journey within the Church.<br />
After graduation from the eighth<br />
grade, Judith entered the Aspirancy<br />
of the Sisters of the Holy Family of<br />
Nazareth and attended Nazareth<br />
Academy High School in Philadelphia.<br />
Judith entered the Congregation on<br />
January 10, 1954. On August 13, 1955,<br />
she became a novice and received the<br />
name Sr. Mary Ruth. She professed her<br />
perpetual vows on August 11, 1962.<br />
Sr. Ruth received a teaching diploma<br />
in history and governance and her<br />
bachelor’s degree from Holy Family<br />
College (now Holy Family University)<br />
in Philadelphia in 1965. Her quiet<br />
yet firm personality endeared her<br />
to the children and youth she taught<br />
at Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary<br />
in Scranton, PA; Visitation BVM in<br />
Trooper, PA; and Our Lady of Calvary,<br />
Nazareth Academy Grade School,<br />
Archbishop Ryan High School, and<br />
Nazareth Academy High School<br />
in Philadelphia. She also served as<br />
the athletic director for girls at<br />
Archbishop Ryan High School and<br />
as principal or vice-principal in St.<br />
Katherine of Siena, Our Lady of<br />
Calvary and St. Adalbert Schools.<br />
In 2008, she began ministering as<br />
the director of religious education<br />
for St. Katherine of Siena Parish in<br />
Philadelphia.<br />
In 2009, Sr. Ruth began to experience<br />
some health issues. Always active,<br />
Sr. Ruth was given the responsibility<br />
of the dining room, liaison to the<br />
food service, and oversight of the<br />
employees at Jesus of Nazareth<br />
Convent (Mount Nazareth) in<br />
Philadelphia. Her gentle smile and<br />
twinkle in her eyes made everyone<br />
feel at ease with her.<br />
As Sr. Ruth’s condition deteriorated,<br />
her sense of humor never diminished.<br />
Her love for and imitation of the<br />
infant Jesus, the simplicity of his life<br />
and his obedience to Mary and Joseph,<br />
marked her entire life.<br />
Sr. Ruth passed away on January 6 at<br />
Jesus of Nazareth Convent (Mount<br />
Nazareth). Her Mass of Resurrection<br />
was January 10 at Mount Nazareth.<br />
Sr. M. Audrey<br />
Kimbar<br />
May 1, 1938 –<br />
February 3, <strong>2020</strong><br />
Born May 1, 1938<br />
in Worcester,<br />
MA to Alexander and Josephine<br />
(Sokolowska) Kimbar, Audrey Helen<br />
was the thirteenth of fourteen<br />
children. She was baptized at Our<br />
Lady of Czestochowa Church in<br />
Worcester and later attended St.<br />
Mary’s Grade School and High<br />
School where she was educated by<br />
the Sisters of the Holy Family of<br />
Nazareth. The large Kimbar family<br />
provided the love, loyalty, bonding, and<br />
communion that would become such<br />
an important foundation for Audrey’s<br />
entire life, enriching not only her<br />
natural family, but each local Nazareth<br />
community in which she lived.<br />
On graduating from high school,<br />
Audrey received a scholarship to<br />
college, but instead discerned a call<br />
to religious life and entered the<br />
Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth<br />
in1956. The following year, Audrey<br />
received her religious name, Sr. Mary<br />
Clementia. She later returned to<br />
her baptismal name. She spent her<br />
novitiate in Rome and returned to<br />
the U.S. after professing her first vows<br />
in 1959. She professed her perpetual<br />
vows in 1965.<br />
She earned a bachelor’s degree in<br />
nursing from Catholic University<br />
in Washington, D.C. in 1964 and a<br />
master’s in aging from North Texas<br />
State University in Denton, TX in<br />
1985.<br />
Through the years, she served at<br />
Nazareth Hospital, Blessed John<br />
Neumann Nursing Home, and<br />
Immaculate Mary Nursing Home in<br />
16
Philadelphia; Holy Family Nursing<br />
Services in Allentown, PA; and<br />
Bethania Regional Health in Wichita<br />
Falls, TX.<br />
In 2001, due to declining health, Sr.<br />
Audrey left healthcare and began<br />
ministering as an assistant in the<br />
library at Nazareth Academy High<br />
School in Philadelphia. Her work with<br />
faculty, staff, and the young women at<br />
Nazareth Academy was an enriching<br />
mutual opportunity for the entire<br />
school community to experience her<br />
compassion and wisdom.<br />
Sr. Audrey loved her ministry at<br />
the high school, but due to her<br />
progressive illness, she chose to move<br />
to Mount Nazareth in Philadelphia<br />
where she continued to serve where<br />
she could, to listen and offer advice<br />
when asked, responding always to<br />
anyone in need.<br />
WE ALSO RECOMMEND TO<br />
YOUR PRAYER THE SOULS<br />
OF THESE BELOVED SISTERS<br />
WHOSE OBITUARIES WILL<br />
APPEAR IN THE NEXT ISSUE OF<br />
NAZARETH CONNECTIONS:<br />
Sr. M. Lucille Lukasiewicz June 10, 1930 - Jan. 21, <strong>2020</strong><br />
Sr. M. Alma Bak Nov. 26, 1920 - Feb. 28, 2019<br />
Sr. Donna Marie Davis Aug. 31, 1948 - March 10, <strong>2020</strong><br />
At the beginning of January <strong>2020</strong>,<br />
her health began to decline even<br />
more. On the morning of February<br />
3, peacefully and quietly, Sr. Audrey<br />
slipped into the hands of her long<br />
awaited, Merciful Savior. Her Mass<br />
of Resurrection was February 6 at<br />
Jesus of Nazareth Convent (Mount<br />
Nazareth) Chapel in Philadelphia.<br />
Donations in memory of<br />
a deceased sister may be<br />
mailed to Development<br />
Office, Sisters of the<br />
Holy Family of Nazareth,<br />
310 N. River Rd., Des<br />
Plaines, IL 60016. Please<br />
include a note with the<br />
name of the Sister in<br />
whose memory you are<br />
giving. Donations may<br />
also be made online at<br />
nazarethcsfn.org/donate.<br />
NAZARETH CONNECTIONS // SPRING <strong>2020</strong><br />
17
DEVELOPMENT<br />
Spiritual greeting cards<br />
for your family, friends,<br />
and loved ones<br />
Now you can remember family and friends with a very special gift – an annual<br />
enrollment in our Spiritual Greeting Card Program. This program of the Sisters<br />
of the Holy Family of Nazareth offers you the opportunity to enroll your<br />
family, friends, and loved ones in the daily prayer intentions and monthly Masses<br />
offered by the sisters. Each card features photography or artwork of our sisters.<br />
If you would like to order spiritual greeting cards please, go online to<br />
nazarethcsfn.org/donate/request-spiritual-greeting-cards. You may also<br />
call or email the Development Office at 847-298-6760, ext. 143 or<br />
kbarth@nazarethcsfn.org.<br />
18<br />
GET WELL CARD<br />
Verse:<br />
May God bless you<br />
and keep you<br />
in His loving care.<br />
THANK YOU<br />
CARD<br />
Verse:<br />
Thank you so much.<br />
Your kindness is truly<br />
appreciated.<br />
MEMORIAL CARD<br />
Verse:<br />
Let not your hearts be troubled.<br />
Believe in God; believe<br />
also in me. In my Father’s<br />
house are many rooms. If it<br />
were not so, would I have told<br />
you that I go to prepare a<br />
place for you? And if I go and<br />
prepare a place for you, I will<br />
come again and will take you<br />
to myself, that where I am you may be<br />
also. And you know the way to where<br />
I am going.<br />
~John 14:1-4
GENERAL PRAYER<br />
CARD<br />
Verse:<br />
O Holy Family, bless and<br />
protect all the families of<br />
the world; safeguard them<br />
in every way. Enable<br />
everyone to be faithful to<br />
their baptismal call to<br />
holiness. Grant us the<br />
grace to see God in the<br />
simple and ordinary<br />
moments in our lives, so<br />
that we may give<br />
ourselves in service to<br />
others. Amen.<br />
BIRTHDAY CARD<br />
Verse:<br />
May the Holy Family bless you with<br />
birthday joy and cheer.<br />
May the gifts of love and peace<br />
be yours today and throughout<br />
the coming year.<br />
ANNIVERSARY<br />
CARD<br />
Verse:<br />
Happy Anniversary<br />
God bless and enrich<br />
the love you share<br />
with each other.<br />
THINKING OF YOU<br />
CARD<br />
Verse:<br />
Just a note to let<br />
you know that I am<br />
thinking of you.<br />
NAZARETH CONNECTIONS // SPRING <strong>2020</strong><br />
19
310 N River Rd.<br />
Des Plaines, IL 60016<br />
www.nazarethcsfn.org<br />
Non-profit<br />
Organization<br />
U.S. Postage<br />
Paid<br />
Des Plaines, IL<br />
Permit No. 340<br />
PRAYER THROUGH<br />
THE INTERCESSION OF<br />
BLESSED MARY OF JESUS<br />
THE GOOD SHEPHERD<br />
O most blessed Trinity, we praise and thank you for the<br />
example your servant, Blessed Mary of Jesus the Good<br />
Shepherd, has given us by imitating the life and virtues<br />
of the Holy Family of Nazareth. Grant us the grace we<br />
ask through her intercession for your greater glory,<br />
for the sanctification of souls and for the extension of<br />
your kingdom on earth. Amen.<br />
We, the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth, are called to extend the Kingdom of God’s love among ourselves and<br />
others by living the spirit of Jesus, Mary and Joseph whose lives were centered in the love of God and one another.<br />
We witness to this love through dedicated service to the Church, especially in ministry to the family.