Sharing & Caring Spring 2016

Sharing & Caring Volume 26 Number 4 • Spring 2016 Sisters of the Precious Blood • Dayton, Ohio • www.preciousbloodsistersdayton.org

Ministering as Volunteers

From the President’s Desk

Proclaiming God’s love through volunteerism

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volunteer, according to the dictionary, is one who gives his or her time, expertise or energy to some work or cause without expecting recompense. When we come across a cause close to our heart we find ourselves drawn to be part of the enterprise and to engage generously in its work. These causes can arise from our connections to a church, our place of employment, an experience, or information that comes from a friend or appears in our mailbox or on television.

There has been a revival of volunteerism in the last ten years or so, often led by the young. Serving on a soup line, planting community gardens, collecting clothes or other items for refugees or victims of disasters, or working with disadvantaged children are a few ways people give of time, talent and treasure.

I guess that by virtue of our vow of poverty Sisters have always been, in a very real way, true volunteers. The fact is, whatever might have been received as a salary for a Sister’s work in reality goes directly to the Congregation for the care of the members and of the sick and elderly, for costs related to education or training, for general administration and for others in need. Consequently, the natural sense of reward or of worth that is often associated with a salary received is not a part of the equation. Rather than a consumer economy, religious strive to live in a gift 2

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economy. By that I mean that we try to recognize that all we have is gift, pure and simple, no strings attached, and we try to live as though whatever we have or use is not ours by any right of our own but rather by the generosity of a good God. The reward or “payment” of ministering to others comes in knowing that we are contributing to the building up of the reign of God. Our Sisters see their service as being “in mission,” that is, participating in the mission of Jesus and in that particular mission that flows from our charism as Sisters of the Precious Blood. Consequently the ministry they do is not about wealth or success, but rather about the proclamation of God’s love to those least recognized or excluded, those who suffer most, those for whom life is filled with drudgery, pain or hopelessness.

So it is no surprise that “retirement” for our Sisters means something other than not being remunerated for full or part time work. Rather it is a time of being able to be of service with more freedom than before. For many it means not having to deal with organization, administration, supervision or punching the proverbial time clock. It means following the heart’s vision and God’s call by being involved where one’s passion lies, be that cradling a new-born, heroin-addicted baby, teaching adults so they can read a Bible story to a grandchild, serving on boards of non-profits that

feed the hungry and shelter the homeless, tutoring school children, visiting the lonely elderly in nursing homes, holding prayer or Scripture study groups in their living rooms, or making sandwiches for the local soup kitchen. In addition there is the pearl of great price: prayer for a world waiting for compassion, forgiveness, mercy, hope and joy.

Even those Sisters still in full time ministry find time to give of themselves in the evenings or on weekends, in parishes, schools, with social service entities, at environmental or peace and justice events.

As you read about our Sisters in this issue may you be challenged to find your “volunteer niche” for now or later.

May your willingness be a generous response to a good God who knows only how to give to beloved daughters and sons without cost. 

Sister Joyce Lehman President, Sisters of the Precious Blood

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ach time the Sisters of the Precious Blood plan a homicide vigil in Dayton, I get an email alerting me to the place. The time is always Saturday beginning at noon. Sometimes more than one vigil is held on the same day.

I appreciate the emails and always offer my own prayer for all those involved. Unfortunately, these emails are becoming all too frequent.

The vigils - which have been conducted continuously for the last 10 years – are compassionate, prayerful gestures of community support for victims of homicide. Sisters are joined by neighborhood residents and sometimes friends or family members of the victims at the site of the killing. Prayers are said. Memories are shared.

There is no judgement. There is healing.

An annual homicide memorial service is held at Salem Heights to remember those killed while bringing together the core group of volunteers who regularly

participate in the vigils. It’s a time for them to come together for a bit of reflection and socialization. You can read more about the vigils and the powerful stories they generate elsewhere in this issue of Sharing & Caring.

Thank you, Sisters and prayer partners for this great ministry. I also join you in prayer that someday there will no longer be a need for it.

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n this issue we also introduce you to some of the many retired Sisters who are active volunteers. They are busy doing everything from caring for heroin-addicted newborns to putting at ease a first-time client at a food pantry.

They are living out the Congregation’s mission statement of devotion to the Eucharist and being a reconciling presence in today’s fractured world. They may have given up full time ministry, but they still contribute.

Sister Arlene Hirsch said it best: “You retire from full time Mission Statement

Established in 1989, Sharing & Caring is published quarterly by the Sisters of the Precious Blood, Dayton, Ohio, to communicate news of the congregation, Precious Blood Spirituality, and to promote the sisters’ mission.

All editorial content and photographs in Sharing & Caring are copyrighted. For reprint permission, please contact the editor.

Sharing & Caring communicates about the Sisters of the Precious Blood internally and externally to our publics, increases awareness of the Congregation, connects the Congregation with interested parties and illustrates how the Sisters promote Precious Blood Spirituality through their lives and ministries.

Editor Dave Eck, Director of Communications Layout and Design Michelle Bodine, Media Specialist

Editor’s Notes

Remembering those lost to homicide

work, but you don’t retire from God’s people.”

We hope you enjoy their stories.

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inally, you will find a reader survey in this issue. We want to know what you like best about Sharing & Caring and what we can do to make it better. What works for you? As technology improves, are you interested in receiving our newsmagazine electronically? Please send in the survey. This is your magazine. Help us take it to the next level. 

Dave Eck Director of Communications Address communications to: Office of Communications Sisters of the Precious Blood 4000 Denlinger Road Dayton, OH 45426 phone: (937) 274-2707 email: deck@cppsadmin.org Printing Progressive Printers, Inc., Dayton, Ohio PRINTED WITH SOY INK ON RECYCLED PAPER

Spring 2016

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Vocations

Sisters of the Precious Blood welcome Sister Bela to novitiate

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mid smiles and hugs, Francisca Belarmina (Bela) Mis Guamuche entered the novitiate of the Sisters of the Precious Blood on Jan. 15 during a prayerful 40-minute ceremony at Salem Heights.

As a novice, Bela wears the congregational insignia and holds the title “Sister.” Though not professed, Sister Bela will live poverty, chastity and obedience in community as she further discerns her calling to religious life.

In reflecting on the evening’s gospel reading from Matthew in which Jesus called his first disciples, Sister Joyce Lehman, president of the Precious Blood Sisters, likened Sister Bela’s experience to that of Peter, Andrew, James and John.

They left all they had to follow an uncertain path.

“This call is the same as we whom you are choosing to

Sister Francisca Belarmina (Bela) Mis Guamuche

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join have heard,” Sister Joyce said. “Jesus no longer physically walks by and calls us, but we know the call and recognize the caller as clearly as if we heard his actual voice. He has called each of us to leave all and follow, to trust and to hope, to be joyful and to reach out, and to companion each other as well as those to and with whom we minister.”

A native of Guatemala, Sister Bela was raised in a Precious Blood parish there and got to know several Sisters of the Precious Blood who are ministering in Guatemala. She came to Dayton in 2013 to begin initial religious formation and study English at the University of Dayton. Sister Bela holds a bachelor’s in social work from the Universidad Mariano Galvez de Guatemala.

During the 2-year novitiate, Sister Bela will live in the novitiate community

and participate in all aspects of community life. During the first year – the canonical year – she will participate in the intercommunity novitiate program, and will study the history and constitutions of the Congregation as well Precious Blood spirituality. The second year will be spent in ministry.

“You are not alone,” Sister Joyce told Sister Bela during the entrance ceremony. “We will encourage you in the difficult times, and urge you to keep going if you become disillusioned or disappointed; we will support or challenge you in the decisions you make along the way; we will rejoice with you in both the little and big victories of life and we will hold you in prayer at all times.”

Sisters Ann Clark, novice director, and Marita Beumer spoke of Sister Bela’s readiness to enter the novitiate. “I think she is very much in touch with the God who is calling her to this life,” Sister Ann said.

Sister Marita told of Sister Bela’s determination to follow God’s call. Despite leaving Guatemala and her family, difficult winter weather and the challenges of learning English, Sister Bela continued to say “Si Señor,” she said.

Sister of the Precious Blood Joyce Langhals, director of initial formation, was the presider at the ceremony.

Other participants were Sisters Della Mae Meyer, Paula Gero, Berenice Janszen, Rosemary Lindemann, Gerri McGeorge, Nancy Recker, and discerner LaKesha Church.  Story and photo by Dave Eck

[Editor’s note: Sister Joyce Lehman, president, offered this spoken reflection during Sister Bela Mis’ entrance to the novitiate on Jan. 15, 2016, at Salem Heights.]

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onight’s Gospel tells of the call of Peter and Andrew, James and John.

Each one heard Jesus call him as he was engaged in daily work. It probably seemed an unusual invitation for men who fished for a living and it must have offered something that earning a living in the company of family members did not.

It was an invitation to an uncertain life: leaving home and family, following someone who was probably nearly a complete stranger, starting out on a road that had no assurances of success or prosperity or anything else that constituted what they thought life would be like.

This call is the same as we whom you are choosing to join have heard. Jesus no longer physically walks by and calls us, but we know the call and recognize the caller as clearly as if we heard his actual voice.

He has called each of us to leave all and follow, to trust and to hope, to be joyful and to reach out, and to companion – each other as well as those we evangelize and to and with whom we minister.

You are looking at joining a congregation dedicated to the Precious Blood of Jesus. The Precious Blood is an efficacious sign of the absolute and inexhaustible love of God for us. God loved humanity into being, and then in a further extraordinary gift of love, in-

carnated divinity in the person of Jesus. Jesus in turn shows us how to live and move and have our being here on earth. To show us how much God loves us and wants us, Jesus gave himself in the Eucharistic act of self-donation and then sealed the new covenant with his blood on the cross. The Precious Blood then, for us, Sisters Bela Mis and Joyce Lehman. Photo by Dave Eck is an icon that draws something you have earned us to contemplation of or have the right to give away.

God’s gift of love in which we You are not yet vowed in are nourished and challenged obedience to the whisper of at the same time to live that God’s will that comes not only same kind of self-giving love. through Scripture, the wisdom Our Mother Maria Anna Brunof the Church and of those you ner embraced wholly and was serve, but also through your wholly embraced by this mysSisters who walk this path tery. When we retell her story, with you. You are not yet fully we sense her urging each of consecrated to God in celibate her daughters to do the same. chastity, using all your ener Each Sister here tonight has gies that could be given to walked the novitiate journey spouse and children to loving you are now embarking on.

God with single-mindedness But none of us has done it in and giving loving service to this time and place, in these God’s people. circumstances and situations.

This novitiate experience is We can share our journey with much less about where you you, but we cannot tell you live or with whom you live, what your journey will be like. it is not really about what the Your experience of consecrated Congregation offers you or life, of living the vows of obeasks you to do or not do durdience, chastity and poverty in ing your novitiate formation. community and for the people It is much more about you of God will be unique, as you and what you want from this are unique and as this time in sacred time. You probably will history is unique. never have an opportunity like The Novitiate will take you this again to reflect on the life into an alien land. You are no you feel you are called to: to longer who you were: a beaustudy it, to have the opportutiful, talented, young single nity to speak with others who woman living in the world. are living the life, to read and But you are also not yet what reflect and contemplate on you will be: a consecrated reliwhat the vows mean, what our gious leaving all because you know that all that you have continued on page 13 is gift pure and simple, not Spring 2016

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Bela, welcome!

Ministry

Precious Blood Sisters reflect on a decade of homicide prayer vigils

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he annual homicide memorial service on March 12 at Salem Heights held added significance this year as it marked a decade since the Sisters of the Precious Blood reinstituted homicide vigils in Dayton.

Ministers, officials from the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office and laypeople joined Precious Blood Sisters at the service to remember those killed by violence in Daytonarea neighborhoods during the past decade.

The names of more than 300 homicide victims in Dayton, Trotwood, and Jefferson and Harrison townships were listed on display boards, while the names of those killed in the past year were read aloud. A chime rung after each month of names was read.

Whenever someone is murdered in one of the neighbor-

ing communities, the Sisters coordinate a prayer vigil at the site of the killing to pray and remember the person who died. Sometimes friends and family members of the victim share their own memories.

The annual memorial service gives those who regularly attend the vigils an opportunity to come together for prayer and fellowship.

“This is important work,” the Rev. Jerome McCorry said during the memorial service.

“It is God’s work. This isn’t for everybody. Continue to do the work God has assigned our hearts to do.”

Precious Blood Sisters began the vigils in 1994 as a response to the number of homicides in Dayton. They prayed at 131 sites from April, 1994 through May, 1997, when they were unable to continue leading the project.

Eventually, the vigils were discontinued.

The Sisters reinstituted the vigils in March, 2006. They are held on Saturdays at noon.

“It came about as a rebirth of concern about the violence in the Dayton community,” said Sister Jeanette Buehler, who coordinates the gatherings.

“This has just been an ongoing problem in Dayton.”

Since 2006, victims have ranged in age from a sevenmonth-old fetus (who died after a mother was beaten) to a 95-year-old man. Nine of the vigils have been for children under the age of five.

Typically, 15-20 people participate, but attendance has swelled to 50-70 at several vigils. Twice, more than 100 people showed up.

There were more than 50 Story and photos by Dave Eck

Left, Montgomery County Chief Deputy Rob Streck, left and Chaplain Larry Lane and Sister Martha Bertke at the homicide memorial service; right, the Rev. Sylvia Moseley-Robinson.

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Ministry

people at a vigil for the Rev. William Schooler, a Dayton pastor who was shot and killed in his church by his brother at the end of a Sunday service last March. Members of Rev. Schooler’s church and pastors from other churches attended.

“It was one of the most powerful vigils I’ve been to in terms of the sharing by the church members themselves,” Sister Jeanette said. “They shared so deeply of what he meant to them and how they are going continue to carry on his work, and stand strong.”

Many times, the gatherings generate powerful stories.

At the vigil for 95-year-old Oscar Benson, the deceased man’s son told of how he prays for the person who took his father’s life so that God will show mercy on the killer before the perpetrator reaches the throne of God. Sister Jeanette remembers the vigil for a teenage boy, an innocent bystander, who was killed in a drive-by shooting while coming home from a party. Nearly 70 people, mostly the boy’s friends, attended the vigil. The boy’s mother stood up and urged the teens to watch out for one another because she didn’t want to see any more young people killed.

Sister Jeanette received a note from the victim’s father.

He had heard what the sisters had done and wanted to let her know how much he appreciated that someone cared for his son.

“We represent the community,” Sister Jeanette said.

“We cross community bound-

Top, Jan Reed, pastoral associate at Holy Trinity Church in Dayton speaks during the annual homicide memorial service at Salem Heights; bottom, Bill Werling, whose daughter was killed in 1982, shares comments at the service.

aries. We come together to say ‘The community cares about what happens. We stand with you and we pray with you.’”

Residents appreciate that people from other areas care enough to come into their neighborhoods to pray, she added.

The sites and the stories

change, but the message at each vigil remains the same: enough is enough.

“We’re not here to make judgements on those for whom we pray. Our primary motivation is the preciousness of all life,” Sister Jeanette said. “It takes all of us together to bear witness to the fact that this has to stop.”  Spring 2016

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‘You retire from paid work, but you don’t retire from God’s people’

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ost Friday mornings, Sister Nancy (M. Alan) Raley is in an office at the Choice Food Pantry in Dayton screening clients as they come in for provisions.

It can be tough work, especially when clients are visiting for the first time and are uncomfortable about their situation.

Sister Nancy, though, puts them at ease. She enjoys the interaction.

“In the pantry her genuine kindness and concern resonate with the clients,” said Regina Estep, director of development and marketing for Catholic Social Services of the Miami Valley (CSSMV), which operates the food pantry. “She’s just very gracious to our clients during a difficult time.”

Several other days each week, Sister Nancy is busy in the CSSMV development office writing acknowledgement letters to donors for cash and in-kind contributions.

They are volunteer jobs in which Sister Nancy has been serving for over a decade. She began in the pantry in 2005, after finishing three terms on the Sisters of the Precious Blood Community Council. She started in the development office in 2006.

Last year, CSSMV recognized her with the organization’s Volunteer Services Award.

After retiring, Sister Nancy 8

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sought out a volunteer position that would fit her decades of experience as a dietician and nursing home administrator in both the public sector and for the Congregation.

CSSMV was perfect.

“It was important for me to work with people who have desperate needs,” she said. “It kept reminding me that even though I do administrative tasks, the end result is that there are people who have needs and those needs have to be met in various ways.”

A native of Cleveland, Sister Nancy got to know the Missionaries and Sisters of the Precious Blood at her elementary school, Our Lady of Good Counsel. After formation, Sister studied dietetics and later earned a masters in institutional administration.

Her affinity for working with older people can be traced back to the summers Sister Nancy spent with her grandfather, R.T. Spratt, in Malvern.

Ohio, when she was not yet a teenager. He was in his 70s and owned a grocery store. In the evenings they would sit on the porch and chat with the neighbors passing by. Robert seemed to know everyone in town and enjoyed introducing his granddaughter to them.

“It left a good impression,” Sister Nancy said.

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he is like many Precious Blood Sisters who begin volunteering after they have finished full-time ministry. In addition to helping Sisters stay active, volunteering keeps the brain nimble and healthy.

Sister Patricia (M. Agnes Claire) Dieringer retired from the Maria Joseph Center in 1997 after nearly 24 years in the finance office. She soon was asked to volunteer as the executive secretary with the Sisters of the Precious Blood Maria Anna Bruner Grant Fund. Sister Pat’s been the fund’s executive secretary since 1998.

Established in 1991, the fund provides grants to nonprofit agencies and programs that make a positive impact on those in need. The fund supports approximately 60 programs each year.

Sister Pat’s gifts of time and talent do not stop there.

A member of Precious Blood Parish in Dayton for about 12 years, Sister Pat keeps the books for the parishioners’ emergency assistance and helps with fundraisers for the St. Vincent de Paul chapter. She’s on the parish worship commission and coordinates Eucharistic ministers for the Masses. She’s also on the board of directors of the Suicide Prevention Center Story by Dave Eck

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olunteering is an opportunity to donate one’s efforts to a worthy cause.

For Sister Jane Francis Hoffman that simply means making

people happy.

It starts with a bright smile and cheery demeanor as she breezes through the halls of Salem Heights in Dayton doing what needs to be done.

She takes Sisters to medical appointments, and to and from the airport. She tends to plants on the Salem Heights grounds and she volunteers at the reception desk on weekends. She plays Bingo with the Sisters and enjoys socializing with them over card games on Friday nights.

A noted singer, she is a member of the Salem Heights choir and a member of the bell choir.

“What I do I On the cover, Sister Arlene Hirsch at Emma Hall, Maria Joseph love to do beCenter; top, Sister Nancy Raley in her office at the Choice Food Pantry. Photos by Dave Eck. Bottom, Sister Pat Dieringer cause it brings presenting a check to Guy Fritchman for money awarded from happiness,” she the MAB Grant Fund. Contributed photo said. “If it only whatever you are doing, we means just sitting down and live in the presence of God. reading a book to someone, I I try to see God in every just want to bring happiness.” person’s life I’ve touched.”

When Sister Jane Francis, Born in her grandmother’s retired from nursing at a senior house along the Ohio River living center in Coldwater, Ohio, on Cincinnati’s west side, about 10 years ago only one plan Sister Jane Francis moved popped into her mind: move with her family to northern to Dayton and take care of the Kentucky and later to NorSisters. It’s become her ministry. wood, Ohio, where she met “I like to find little things to the Sisters of the Precious do for the Sisters,” she said.

Blood at then-Sts. Peter and “Whenever you are doing Spring 2016

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in Dayton, the second oldest suicide prevention agency in the United States. When needed, Sr. Pat does volunteer work at Salem Heights.

She volunteers about 25 hours a week with the various projects.

“I love to keep busy,” she said. “Even doing this, your time is flexible.”

Away from her volunteer schedule, Sister Pat loves sports and is a lifelong fan of the Cincinnati Reds. Her apartment at Salem Heights is dotted with photos of Reds’ players and a collection of bobble head figurines.

“Our whole family is sportsminded,” she said.

Growing up in St. Marys, Ohio, Pat was a tomboy who played baseball, basketball and tackle football with the neighborhood kids. Her parents also played on company ball teams.

After graduating from high school, Sister Pat worked in the office at the Goodyear Tire and Rubber plant in St. Marys for several years before entering the Congregation. She undertook office responsibilities in Congregational positions, including six years in the office of Regina High School in Norwood, Ohio, before going to work at the Maria Joseph Center in Dayton, where she eventually became the director of the finance office.

“I have the energy and I want to keep my mind active,” she said. “If you don’t keep your mind active then senility as the tendency of setting in.”

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about her calling, so she spent six years as a machine operator (sorting checks) at Fifth Third Bank in downtown Cincinnati before entering the convent.

After formation she trained as a nurse and worked at Salem Heights and the Maria Joseph Center in Dayton, before spending 27 years at Briarwood Senior Center in Coldwater as a charge nurse, mostly working the night shift.

“I had some very good years there,” she said. “I could entertain the residents. They knew I could sing.”

She brought Top, Sister Jane Francis Hoffman sings in the choir at Salem Heights chapel, Sisters of the Precious Blood motherhouse; that spirit with bottom, Sister Arlene Hirsch visits with Sister Adeline Mertz at her to Salem Emma Hall, Maria Joseph Center. Photos by Dave Eck Heights.

“I feel like we all have our Paul School. ups and downs,” she said, She was in sixth grade “but I just forego that and just when her teacher, Sister try to bring a little joy.

Doralcia Ruebusch asked her what she wanted to be n many cases, volunteer powhen she grew up. Jane sitions offer an opportunity Francis promptly respondto try something new. ed that she wanted to be a That’s the case with Sister Sister of the Precious Blood.

Arlene (Marie Andre) Hirsch.

After graduation from For the past year, she has been Holy Cross High School in working with two Dayton-area northern Kentucky, Sister women who are opening a Jane Francis wasn’t sure

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non-profit nursery for heroinaddicted newborns, the first such operation in Ohio. Sister Arlene serves on the board of directors and does whatever is needed. Brigid’s Path is scheduled to open later this year.

“I certainly provide moral support,” she said. “I’m looking forward to actually hands-on volunteering when it opens.”

A former grade school teacher, director of religious education, pastoral associate and coordinator of the Sisters living at Emma Hall in Dayton, Sister Arlene has enjoyed a wide range of volunteer experiences in retirement.

She volunteered in the food pantry at CSSMV and spent time at Erma’s House in Dayton, a center where non-custodial parents have supervised visits with their children. In addition to Brigid’s Path, Sister Arlene volunteers at Emma Hall one day a week. She’s also available to take Sisters to medical appointments.

“I just believe that as a Sister of the Precious Blood we proclaim God’s love to God’s people,” said Sister Arlene, who grew up in Our Lady of Good Counsel Parish in Cleveland. “That’s why I went to the food pantry and Erma’s House. These are people I’d never dealt with and I want that experience of dealing with them, of trying to understand where they come from.”

Each morning Sister Arlene prays that God gives her the opportunity to be a reconciling presence in today’s fractured world.

“I just think it’s so important to try to be present to people,” she said. “You retire from fulltime paid work, but you don't retire from God's people.” 

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ar seemed to follow Leonard Ndanyuzwe.

A native of what is now Congo in central Africa, Ndanyuzwe and his family of eight spent years moving about the country trying to escape the violence. They’d walk day and night to settle in a safe place, only to be forced away by renewed conflict, sometimes within months.

Death was common. Some people succumbed to disease.

Many were shot by soldiers.

Ndanyuzwe, 24, grew up watching it all.

'We really wanted to be a catalyst to get some correct information out to people that could perhaps allay some of the fears that people have about Muslims coming into the country or just refugees in general.'

– Sister Jeanette Buehler “I didn’t live in peace,” he said. “I was looking for peace, a place where I could feel comfortable.”

In 2010, the family decided to leave the country. They crossed into Burundi and be-

gan the process for refugee resettlement in the United States.

With the help of Catholic Social Services (CSS), Leonard arrived in Dayton in November 2013. His family was resettled about a year later and they now live in the Miami Valley.

Ndanyuzwe and Congolese refugee Esperance Gikundiro shared their stories as part of a program on refugee resettlement Jan. 9 at Salem Heights in Dayton. The event also included comments from representatives of Judaism, Christianity and Islam who spoke about their faith’s perspective on refugees, and a presentation by Catholic Social Services of the Miami Valley (CSSMV).

Michael Murphy, program manager of refugee resettlement at CSSMV, outlined the 14 stages of the rigorous United States resettlement screening process for refugees.

Among the steps are referral to the United States for resettlement, medical screening, several security screenings and an in-depth interview. Cultural orientation for refugees is provided after they are approved for resettlement in the United States.

The U.S. Refugee Program emphasizes early self-sufficiency. Refugees arrive in this country fully authorized to work and most are supporting themselves within six months, Murphy explained during his presentation.

News

Precious Blood Sisters host program on refugee resettlement

From left, Esperance Gikundiro and Leonard Ndanyuzwe, in the Salem Heights chapel on January 9.

More than 70 people attended the event, sponsored by the Sisters of the Precious Blood.

The idea for the program grew out of a discussion Sisters were having last fall about the refugee crisis and how the Congregation could respond.

“We really wanted to be a catalyst to get some correct information out to people that could perhaps allay some of the fears that people have about Muslims coming into the country or just refugees in general,” said Sister Jeanette Buehler. “There’s an attitude in our country now that’s becoming skeptical of any refugees or immigrants coming into the United States.”

Clarifying misconceptions leads to a more welcoming, inclusive community.

“The more that we can be transparent with community members the more we’re able to have open conversations,” Murphy said. “It breaks down barriers.”  Story and photo by Dave Eck

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News

Precious Blood Sisters, Muslim women socialize at Salem Heights

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friendly visit and conversation over tea between members of different faiths can help break down barriers.

That’s what brought Bushra Shahid and Ashley Yaqoob to Salem Heights, the Dayton central house of the Sisters of the Precious Blood, on Feb. 25. Shahid and Yaqoob are members of the Fazle Umar Mosque in Dayton. The sisters offered a tour of the house and some nice interaction.

“It’s one way of learning to be accepting and getting information from those who are practicing the religion,” said Sister Madonna Ratermann. “I think any time you can build relationships and a positive impression of people that is

a good thing.

To get a better understand of other religions is always good.”

Bearing gifts of flowers and canThe Weavers cluster of Precious Blood Sisters on Feb. 25 weldy, the Muslim comed two members from the Fazle Umar Mosque in Dayton women chatted to Salem Heights for a tour and interfaith conversation. From left, Bushra Shahid, Ashely Yaqoob of the Fazle Umar Mosque in with the Sisters Dayton and Sisters Katie Lett, Ellie McNally, Rosemary Goubeaux, about common Madonna Ratermann and Berenice Janszen. interests and how about their own religion and the two faith communities can would like to talk about their continue to work together. faith with different people,” Shahid explained that she is Shahid said. “It’s a community active with an interfaith group outreach. It helps us underof women who meet monthly stand our neighbor.” to learn more about each oth The visit was a follow up to er’s religions. She invited the a program on refugee resettleSisters to participate in future ment hosted by the Sisters in meetings.

January.  “By using an interfaith group our goal is to bring together women who are passionate Story and photo by Dave Eck

Happy Birthday In each issue of Sharing & Caring we recognize the birthdays of the Sisters of the Precious Blood. Congratulations to the Sisters celebrating Spring and Summer birthdays.

MAY 6 Deb Huss 11 Thelma Wurzelbacher 11 Bela Mis 13 Rose Helene Wildenhaus 19 Carmen Voisard 20 Arlene Hirsch 22 Lou Ann Roof 22 Benita Volk 23 Mary Ellen Lampe 23 Nancy Recker 30 Gladys Marie Lowe

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JUNE 4 Catherine Nader 7 Joanne Belloli 9 Theresa Walter 17 Ann Catherine Lehmkuhl 19 Marifé Hellman 19 Mary E. Wendeln 23 Charlene Ann Heidenreich 23 Adeline Mertz 25 Joan DeChristopher 30 Joyce Lehman

JULY 2 Mary Garascia 2 Rita Manríquez 3 Patricia Ann Dieringer 4 Barbara Jean Backs 8 Marla Gipson 9 Elizabeth Jane Westgerdes 14 Amy Junk 14 Nancy Wolf 16 Laura Will 22 Dolores Keller 22 Judy Niday 24 Helen Weber 27 Joyce Langhals

spirituality means, what communal living and community life mean, and ultimately what it means to be a Sister of the Precious Blood.

But as you say yes to the call of Jesus to follow him, know that you will have us as your companions and mentors. You are not alone. We will encourage you in the difficult times, and urge you to keep going if you become disillusioned or disappointed; we will support or challenge you in the decisions you make along the way; we will rejoice with you in both the little and big victories of life and living and we will hold you in prayer at all times.

The early Christians were filled with the joy of following Jesus, of supporting and encouraging each other, of living day to day knowing that together they could count on each other, but their focus was on sharing the Good News that Jesus shed his blood for the forgiveness of our sins that we might live freely and fully.

Jesus showed us to what ex-

tent we are called to love one another, and how this concrete daily love leads us back to the Father.

You are on your way in this new land. God comes to meet you from your future as you take each day’s steps forward.

You will glimpse more and

knowing the rightness of the letting go of one kind of future in order to be open-handed in accepting what God gives you in both absence and presence, loss and gain.

Tonight you are saying “yes” in a long line of “yeses” you have already spoken. And

Like a catechumen entering the Church, Bela’s entrance into the novitiate endows her with certain rights and responsibilities of the Sisters of the Precious Blood. Happily from now on she may use the title Sister and may wear the official insignia, the cross, of the Congregation. Using the initials C.PP.S. and wearing the community ring is part of her profession of vows and we look forward to the day that would happen. more of your future as God’s call to you becomes more and more concrete in daily life. You will recognize the possibilities of who you can become as you rub shoulders with your Sisters and with those you serve.

You will come to be at peace

in the words of the poet T.S. Eliott, “yes is a world and in this world of yes lies skillfully curled all other worlds.” What you are giving up pales in comparison to what you have opened yourself to receive.

Bela, welcome! 

the death of her brother-inlaw, Jim Frantz, Jan. 23 Sisters Pat and Laura Will on the death of their sister, Rosella Broering, Jan. 25 Sister Dorothy Schmitmeyer on the death of her brother, Roger Schmitmeyer, Jan. 26 Sister Alice Schoettelkotte on the death of her brother, Dan Schoettelkotte, Jan. 27 Sister Martha DeBrosse on the death of her brother, Bill

DeBrosse, Feb. 16 Sister Ritamary Bulach on the death of her sister, Mildred Ramsey, Feb. 28

In Sympathy Sister Elizabeth Westgerdes on the death of her sister-inlaw, Rita Westgerdes, Jan. 4 Sister Anne Schulz on the death of her sister-in-law in Florida.

Sister Barbara Jean Backs on the death of her brother, Charles, Jan. 16 Sister Carolyn Hoying on the death of her brother, Bud, Jan. 20 Sister Mary E. Wendeln on

Remembering John Kittel, husband of former Sister M. Harold Irene Palko, former Sister M. Hyacinth Rita (Pohl) Croy, former Sister M. Bernarda Spring 2016 13

Vocations / In Memoriam

continued from page 5

In Memoriam

Sister Margaret (M. Aengus) Daniels January 1918 — February 27, 2016

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esurrection liturgy for Precious Blood Sister Margaret Daniels, 98, was held at Salem Heights Chapel on Tuesday, March 1. Sister died at Maria-Joseph Center in Dayton, Ohio on Saturday, February 27, 2016. Margaret had been a Sister of the Precious Blood for 69 years.

The second oldest of five children born to Arthur G. Daniels and Mary (Murray), Margaret was born in Chicago, Illinois in January 1918. On August 27, 1946 at the age of 28, she formally entered the Congregation of the Sisters of the Precious Blood and received her name in religion, Sister Mary Aengus.

In 1949 Sister began her community ministry at Saint Joseph Home, Dayton, Ohio taking care of the senior girls. For the next 23 years she assisted as the sacristan and did a variety of services where she was needed at Maria Stein Convent, Maria Stein, Ohio; Saint Peter in

Chains Cathedral, Cincinnati, Ohio, and Kneipp Springs, Rome City, Ind. In 1976 she moved to Dayton, Ohio and served as the primary driver for the Sisters at Maria Joseph and Salem Heights. She retired in 1997 at Salem Heights in Dayton, Ohio. In 2013 she moved to the Maria Joseph Center due to deteriorating health.

Sister Margaret’s interests were diverse.

Wherever she served, she became involved in other projects that would better society. Communal prayer and the Eucharistic liturgy were primary in her life. She also organized recycling projects to help the environment, gathered used eyeglasses for the needy and collected rosaries for Catholic missionaries. Her pleasant demeanor and strong convictions joined to her sincere desire to help others made her an effective minister.

Preceding Sister Margaret in death were her brothers Dominic and Thomas and her sisters Bernadette Mary and Katherine.

Interment was in the Salem Heights Cemetery.

Sister Luella (M. Victor) Huelskamp October 1928 — February 19, 2016

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esurrection liturgy for Precious Blood Sister Luella Huelskamp, was held at the Salem Heights Chapel on Monday, February 22.

Sister died at the Maria Joseph Center in Dayton, Ohio on Friday, February 19, 2016. Luella had been a Sister of the Precious Blood for 71 years.

One of eight children, Luella was born in Fort Recovery, Ohio in October 1928 to Aloysius and Rose (Harlett) Huelskamp. On July 13, 1944 at the age of 15, she formally entered the Congregation of the Sisters of the Precious Blood. In religious life she was given the name of Sister Mary Victor and later returned to using her baptismal name.

Her Sisters in community were inspired by her dedication, selfless giving and joyful spirit.

Luella lived out her favorite saying, “What you do for others, you do for Me.” Beginning in 1947 she ministered for 33 years as a teacher of grades 2-6 and later as principal. She educated children at Fort Wayne and Rensselaer, Ind.; at 14

Sharing & Caring

Dayton, Columbus Grove, St. Marys, Glandorf and Ottoville, Ohio; and at Linton, N.D. Starting in 1980, Sister Luella served her Sisters as Coordinator for five years at the Emma Hall infirmary.“Those five years with the Sisters,” wrote Luella, “left a deep impression on me of the prayer life of these sisters who had given their all for God.” Later Sister served as Executive Housekeeper at Marion Hall in Flint, Mich.

From 1989 -2000 she served her Sisters as Night Assistant and housekeeper at Salem Heights where she resided. For the next eight years she served her Sisters in various capacities. Because of failing health she moved in 2008 to the Maria Joseph Center.

Sister Luella is survived by her Precious Blood Community of Sisters, her brother, Arthur (Janice) Huelskamp and sister, Mildred Will, both of Ft. Recovery, Ohio as well as nieces and nephews. Preceding her in death were her sisters, Margaret, Sister Alma and her brothers Alfred, Ernest, and Eugene.

Interment was in the Salem Heights Cemetery.

September 1928 — January 17, 2016

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esurrection liturgy for Sister Mary Cleophas Schumacher, 87, was held at Salem Heights Chapel on Wednesday, January 20, 2016. Cleophas had been a Sister of the Precious Blood for 68 years.

The oldest of seven children born to Wilford and Erma (Schetter) Schumacher, Rita Mary was born in Glandorf, Ohio in September 1928.

On August 29, 1947, at the age of 18, she formally entered the Congregation of the Sisters of the Precious Blood. In religion she was given the name Sister Mary Cleophas.

After teaching the second grade for one year in Linton, N.D., Sister Cleophas trained and received her LPN nursing degree in 1952. For 27 years Cleophas skillfully and lovingly ministered as a nurse in Kneipp Springs, Rome City, Ind.; and in Dayton, Ohio at Lourdes Hall, Maria-Joseph Home, Regina Heights, and the Congregation’s central community. Cleophas

found her nursing ministry to be very rewarding and brought joy to her heart.

In 1979 Sister began a new part-time ministry of making communion wafers at the Altar Bread Department of the Congregation. In 1992 she retired at Salem Heights in Dayton, Ohio. Due to declining health, in 2011 Sister became a resident of Maria-Joseph Center where she ministered by praying for the needs of the world, her Precious Blood congregation and her family. Of her life she said, ‘… my heart overflows with gratitude for the blessings and graces God has showered upon me. How happy and grateful I am to be a Sister of the Precious Blood.”

Sister Cleophas is survived by her sisters Eileen Schumacher, Angela (Joseph) Seyfferle, Barbara (Carl) Galluccio and Sister-in-Law Edna (Albert) Schumacher. Also surviving are her brothers, Roger and Nicholas (Dorothy) Schumacher. Preceding her in death was her brother, Albert Schumacher.

Interment was in the Salem Heights Cemetery.

Sister Elaine Mildred Becker April 1946 — December 23, 2015

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ur Sister Elaine was called home. We will miss her wonderful smile, her silly laugh, and her gentle presence.

Elaine was born in April 1946 to Mildred (Berkemeyer) and Edward Becker. She was baptized at St. John’s Church in Cincinnati, Ohio. She did not have any siblings but that did not stop her from a happy childhood.

Elaine attended Regina High School in Norwood, Ohio and graduated in 1964. Elaine liked to write and it was at Regina and then later in college that Elaine honed her skills as a writer.

Elaine contributed many articles for newsletters and other publications for her Congregation and as part of her various ministries.

In 1967, Elaine responded to the Lord’s call to serve him in a very unique way. She entered the cloistered community of the Sisters of the Precious Blood at Our Lady of Nativity Monastery in New Riegel, Ohio, and on July 20, 1969, she

professed her vows as a Sister of the Precious Blood. For the next eleven years Elaine lived with the other Sisters in the cloister where she spent her day in prayer, contemplation, and working in the print shop.

In 1978 she discerned to be an active member of the Congregation. Elaine wrote that “it was a very difficult and scary adjustment to come into the active community, but the Sisters of the Precious Blood were so welcoming and warm that I soon felt at home in the active life.”

Elaine ministered as a pastoral associate, a coordinator of religious education and an assistant director in the Office of Religious Education for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati. Many of these years were spent living and working at various parishes in Cincinnati. In 2013, she became coordinator for the care of Sisters living at the Maria Joseph Center in Dayton.

Elaine loved to read, her spare bedroom was filled with books. She gardened, collected clown memorabilia, and did counted cross stitch.

Interment was in the Salem Heights Cemetery.

Spring 2016 15

In Memoriam

Sister M. Cleophas Schumacher

4000 Denlinger Road Dayton, OH 45426-2399

Mardi Gras at Salem Heights

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he Sisters at Salem Heights celebrated Mardi Gras on Feb. 9 with stories and, of course, three different flavors of king cake. Before digging into their treat, they discussed the origins of the unofficial holiday and shared memories of past celebrations.

Sister Rosemary (M.Christa) Lindemann found the baby Jesus in her piece of cake and was crowned the 2016 Mardi Gras queen.  Clockwise, The 2016 Salem Heights Mardi Gras Queen, Sister Rosemary Lindemann; Sister Ellie McNally enjoying a cup of coffee; (from left) Sisters Mary Ellen Andrisin and Mary Anne Schiller listening to the discussions of the origins of the unofficial holiday.

Story and photos by Dave Eck

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