Sylvania Franciscan Mag. Vol.24 Issue 2

800 Years of Celebration

The Nativity scene devised by St. Francis has been reproduced thousands of times and adapted to numerous cultures. Page 4.

Sophia Center 30th Anniversary

Things have changed since its beginning in 1993.

Sister Rachel Nijakowski recounts 30 years of Sophia Center’s growth and the counseling needs of today. Page 3.

Sisters of St. Francis of Sylvania, Ohio

Leadership

The Sylvania Franciscan newsletter is a publication of the Congregational Advancement Office of the Sisters of St. Francis of Sylvania, Ohio

Sister Nancy Linenkugel, OSF Congregational Minister

Sister Shannon Schrein, OSF Assistant Congregational Minister

Sister Rebecca Rutkowski, OSF Councilor/Congregational Treasurer

Sister Valerie Grondin, OSF Councilor/Congregational Secretary

Eileen Kerner

Director of Congregational Advancement and the SOSF Foundation Office 419-824-3625 ekerner@sistersosf.org

Elizabeth Reiter

Editor

Director of Communications and Connections 419-824-3667 ereiter@sistersosf.org

Contributing Writers

Sister Judy Zielinski

Sister Nora Klewicki

An Enduring Gift

Do you have a family heirloom manger scene that’s carefully brought out each Christmas as a prominent part of holiday ambience?

St. Francis of Assisi gave the world an enduring gift that still continues today. Did you know that the Nativity Scene depicted with figurines in a manger came about as a result of St. Francis’ novel approach on Christmas Eve 1223 of helping the Greccio, Italy townspeople appreciate the real miracle of Christ’s birth? That was 800 years ago this year and we’re delighted to explain more in these pages.

Thank you for reading. Thank you also for the many ways that you bring Christ to birth through your own life.

Blessings always.

Sister Nancy Linenkugel, OSF Congregational Minister

Celebrating Life & Legacy

“Two Roads diverged in a yellow wood, and I – I took the one less traveled by and that made all the difference.”

Robert Frost’s well-known words from the poem The Road Not Taken remind us that in life we often stand at the crossroads; each path promising, but the choice made might change the course of life.

This year we celebrate Greccio’s 800-year legacy of the birthplace of a live Christmas Nativity scene. In recreating the creche, St. Francis made a choice that reshaped how we have celebrated Christmas for the last 800 years. What was St. Francis thinking when he created the Greccio moment? Did St. Francis know that his path to Greccio would affect so many in life? I often reflect on how meaningful historical moments that impact our lives today began simply by taking the path less traveled.

As the Sisters of St. Francis celebrate the 800th Anniversary of Greccio in 2023, please take time to celebrate your life and all the impact your legacy has and will have on others in the future.

In the Spirit of St. Francis and Clare,

Eileen M. Kerner Director of Congregational Advancement and the SOSF Foundation Office ekerner@sistersosf.org

Mission

Called like Francis of Assisi to live the Gospel in joyful servanthood among all people, the Sisters of St. Francis of Sylvania, Ohio, as messengers of peace, commit themselves to works that reverence human dignity, embrace the poor and marginalized, and respect the gift of all creation.

Attentive to the Needs of Their Time Sophia Center Celebrates its 30th Anniversary

Three decades since opening Sophia Center, Executive Director Sister Rachel Nijakowski sits on a bench outside the clinic and considers the question: How are things different today than they were when she began in 1993?

“Thirty years ago, we didn’t need a counseling expert on staff that specializes in two to eight-year-olds,” Sister Rachel says slowly. “But that could be said about three years ago just as easily. Since COVID, we’ve seen a staggering increase in anxiety, panic attacks and mental health issues in every age group.” Sophia Center has built a name for itself in the region for doing many things very well, accurate testing and diagnosis being prime among them. “Our testing does an incredibly good job of giving parents and children the tools they need to proceed academically and socially.” Counseling, medication, and how to learn – and unlearn – strategies for daily life are tools that keep individuals on the survivor path instead of the victim path.

Sister Rachel credits growing Sophia Center each year by keeping up with what is needed now. “I’ve added Board members with the expertise that is needed at the time and I bring in new counselors with the expertise needed for the situations we are now encountering,” she says, citing the number of individuals who have gone through major or complex trauma at increasingly young ages.

Like St. Francis, Sophia Center doesn’t cloister itself and quietly wait for those in need to come to them. For a small private practice, Sophia Center does a lot of outreach in the community. Offering faith-based trauma training to various organizations in an effort to help staff recognize and evaluate what the next steps might be to assist someone struggling or in crisis. On campus, Sophia Center serves as a direct resource for Lourdes University students, offering training to help these young adults adjust to college and handle anxiety.

“Part of my gift of being a Director is that Franciscan spirit. I am very good at being an active listener and taking in information from my staff, hearing their ideas and letting them take the driver’s seat and make it happen.”

Which is how Step-Up, a new program run by Polly Taylor-Gerken, Sophia Center Program Director and School Counselor, began in 2020. Step-Up is a multi-tiered system of supports that is designed to reduce youth abuse or violence within the

home. Data suggests that the top two reasons for misdemeanor arrests among youth are domestic violence or unruly behavior in the home. This program aims to help guardians recognize warning signs and address youth violence in the home.

“We hear from parents who are walking on eggshells around their own children because they are terrified of setting them off,” Polly says. Through Parent Cafés, Step-Up provides a space for parents to get together and simply talk to each other.

“The first step is education,” Polly says. “Parents and teens need to learn that this behavior can be altered. Next, when needed, we aid in intervention. Through counseling and testing, we can help determine treatment for a family’s specific dynamic,” she says.

“This grant-funded program focuses on building and restoring respectful family relations. Each family is different, but by providing more intensive support and intervention for families, and spotting the warning signs of youth violence, we have been able to find positive solutions for families,” Sister Rachel explains.

“I’m very proud of Step-Up and all the outreach work Sophia Center staff are doing to be on the front edge of leading all to healing of mind and spirit ,” says Sister Rachel.

“Sylvania Franciscans have always been particularly good at being attentive to the needs of their time,” Sister Rachel says.

“Since Mother M. Adelaide, and our very first Sisters, came here in 1916; they were risk takers from the word go, coming to serve over-populated neighborhoods in poor areas and, eventually, serving as administrators for those schools and opening a University. Mother Adelaide sent Sisters to care for the sick during the flu pandemic of 1918, which led to Sylvania Franciscan run hospitals across the country. We’ve always evolved with the times.”

“You can’t be attentive if you aren’t part of what is going on. It’s very Franciscan to be present, to be relational and to actively listen,” Sister says. “I’m grateful to have such strong Board members, a broad-range of talented counselors and staff, and full support of the Sisters to be able to continue to respond to the needs of today.”

Sophia Center Sisters

Sister Rachel Nijakowski

The event from 800 years ago continues to teach us...

Christmas: Will the Real Celebration Stand Up?

by Sister Nora Klewicki, OSF

Many of us decry and bemoan the commercialization of Christmas. Is it a yearning for the nostalgia of days gone by? You know those Christmases – when attending midnight Mass was the norm and families got together to exchange simple gifts and share a festive meal. When holiday decorations didn’t appear until after Thanksgiving and stayed up until Twelfth Night (Epiphany, January 6). All those lovely and peaceful customs are pretty much overpowered by the glitz and the racket that characterizes America today.

This is really a case of the more things change, the more they stay the same. During the Middle Ages, Christians did attend church, but then they proceeded to celebrate in a carnival-like atmosphere like Mardi Gras. Each year, a beggar or student would be crowned the “lord of misrule” and eager celebrants played the part of his subjects. The poor would go to the houses of the rich and demand their best food and drink. If owners failed to comply, their visitors would most likely terrorize them with mischief.

Christmas became the time of year when the lower classes got to settle the score so to speak. This was the Christmas

of St. Francis’ day, and he was every bit as unhappy with it as many of us are now. However, he did something about it!

The town of Greccio, in the central Italian Province of Rieti sits on a spur of Monti Sabini, part of the Apennine Range. The town was converted from worldly ways by St. Francis when he preached there in 1217. So touched were the townspeople that they begged him to stay. One of the leading citizens, John di Velita, offered to build a permanent place for him and the friars but Francis refused that offer. He did agree to accept a small hermitage near the town. According to legend the site was selected by asking a young boy to throw a burning torch as far as he could. Astonishingly, the torch sailed way beyond the valley below the town and landed on a rocky hill over a mile away but facing Greccio. Caves in that area became a place of prayer for the brothers. Francis visited the brothers at Greccio often because the place was so secluded and spoke to him of poverty, particularly the poverty of the Christ Child. The brothers who lived there gathered every evening to sing the praises of the Lord and were often joined by the men, women and even children of the town. Francis said of the citizens, “There is no large city where so many have been converted to penance; and still, Greccio is only a small town.”

Living in poverty, Jesus and Mary and Joseph challenge us to live with simplicity. The life of labor that Jesus lived in Nazareth challenges us to honor the dignity of work and just as importantly, the dignity of those who do the work that too many people fail to appreciate.

St. Bonaventure writes that three years before his death in 1226, Francis decided to celebrate the birth of Jesus at Greccio with the “greatest solemnity.” Bonaventure makes a point of saying the Francis received permission from the Pope, Honorius III, for the re-enactment that he planned so he would “not be accused of being an innovator.” With the help of John di Velita and the people of the town, a crib was found, hay, an ox, and an ass. On Christmas eve, the friars assembled and the people joined them, lighting their way up the steep hillside with torches and singing joyfully. Thomas of Celano, the earliest biographer of Francis describes the scene:

With glad hearts, the men and women of that place prepared, according to their means, candles and torches to light up that night which has illuminated all the days and years with its glittering star. Finally, the holy man of God arrived and, finding everything prepared, saw it and rejoiced. … Simplicity is honored there, poverty is exalted,

humility is commended and a new Bethlehem, as it were, is made from Greccio. …The holy man of God stands before the manger … filled with marvelous joy. The solemnities of the mass are performed. The holy man of God wears a deacon’s vestments, for he was indeed a deacon, and he sings the holy gospel with a sonorous voice. And his voice, a sweet voice, a vehement voice, a clear voice, a sonorous voice, invites all to the highest rewards. … The gifts of the Almighty are multiplied here, and a marvelous vision is seen by a virtuous man. For he saw a little child lying lifeless in the manger, and he saw the holy man of God approach and arouse the child as if from a deep sleep. Nor was this an unfitting vision, for in the hearts of many the child Jesus really had been forgotten, but now, by his grace and through his servant Francis, he had been brought back to life. The event described happened 800 years ago. The Nativity scene devised by Francis has been reproduced thousands of times and adapted to numerous cultures. Often, it is placed under the Christmas tree or given a place of prominence on a mantel piece; families pass them from generation to generation and regard them as precious mementos. But they should not be considered merely as mementos of the past. These lovely sets are tangible reminders of the tremendous gift given to us through the Incarnation of the poor Christ. The depiction of a nearly naked baby without a home and soon to become a refugee is a challenge. Living in poverty, Jesus and Mary and Joseph challenge us to live with simplicity. The life of labor that Jesus lived in Nazareth challenges us to honor the dignity of work and, just as importantly, the dignity of those who do the work that too many people fail to appreciate.

Celebrate Christmas and display the family Nativity set and, above all, remember that the real Christmas is not about a room laden with gifts or a table groaning with food or a bar stocked with bubbly. Greccio teaches us that Christmas is an everlasting gift of the presence of Jesus.

Wheels Up! Despite MS, Sister Karen Zielinski Rolls On

By Sister Judith Ann Zielinski, OSF

In October, 1975, classes at Little Flower School in Toledo had barely started when Sister Karen Zielinski, 22 years old and a first-year professed Sister, noticed a strange tingling in her legs. She tried aspirin and warm baths, but when the sensations didn’t recede, she was admitted to St. Vincent Hospital for tests, and heard what sounded like a slow death sentence, you have Multiple Sclerosis. MS is a chronic, degenerative, neurological disease for which there is still no cure.

When her initial symptoms receded, Sister Karen returned to teaching at Little Flower, then at St. Peter in Huron and St. Aloysius in Bowling Green before beginning graduate studies for an MA in Vocal Music at BGSU. Armed with that degree, she taught choral music at Parma Padua Franciscan High School near Cleveland, and then at Toledo Central Catholic High School where she also produced numerous Broadway-style musicals, Christmas shows, and vocal concerts.

But MS continued to chip away. As her leg strength weakened, Sister Karen began wearing a leg brace and using a walking cane. Despite these “adjustments,” she traveled to Europe chaperoning students; served on national committees and task forces for the MS Society; wrote articles on living with MS for about a dozen publications including St. Anthony Messenger and Abbey Press; and published a book for Franciscan Media on living with a disability. She also began an unofficial phone and “peer-counseling” ministry, talking with newly-diagnosed and even veteran MS patients that doctors often referred to her.

Over the past 30 years, Sister Karen estimates she has raised about $75,000 for MS research through the Northwest Ohio annual MS Walk – an event supported for years by Sylvania Franciscans and Associates christened “Sister Act” in Sister Karen’s honor. Sister Karen is proud to note that MS research has increased the number of new MSdelaying drugs from the three available at the time of her diagnosis to about 30 today. She hopes to begin using one of the most-promising of these soon. After she left the classroom, Sister Karen served as Communications Director for the Congregation and recently completed seven years as Co-Director of the Sylvania Franciscan Associates.

The verdict: A significant exacerbation of her MS which drastically weakened her body and required intensive rehab – seven months in all. Her weakness served as a wake-up call. “It hit me hard: I really DO have MS. I realized that this is my ‘new normal’ and that MS can return again with an even stronger vengeance.”

Sister Karen used her time in rehab to connect with the many workers, residents, medical professionals, staff and visitors she encountered. “If you take the time to ask someone their name and chat a bit, there’s a good chance you’ll have a second conversation,” she confides. One of her favorite STNAs is now enrolled in an LPN licensing program after Sister Karen convinced her she was not too old to follow her dream; in fact, the 41-year-old woman shared recently that she is carrying a B average!

Sister Karen feels a strong connection to the Sylvania Franciscan Mission Statement, especially its call to “embrace the poor and marginalized.” She muses about the reality of many Sisters like herself, now aging, whose ministry is no longer publicly visible but quietly “behind the scenes.”

She reflects, “I currently have no job title with my name on an office door.” She cites Detroit’s Capuchin Franciscan Father Solanus Casey, now a candidate for sainthood, as an inspiration. Solanus, deemed too intellectually slow to say Mass, was instead tasked with answering the monastery door. “All he did was welcome, listen to and pray with hundreds of people who lined up every day, desperate to pour out their hearts to this humble holy man. I try to remember his ministry as I find so many ‘graced encounters’ surrounding me. MS? Yes, I embrace it. It’s a reality, but I do not let it define me. There is still so much to do.”

Sister Karen now relies full-time on an electric cart for her mobility and drives a modified van with an electric ramp and hand controls. In 2018, Sister Karen contracted shingles which weakened her considerably, and in October of 2022, for the first time since her diagnosis, was hospitalized.

When Sister Karen celebrates her 50th Jubilee in June, 2024, she will have lived with this disease for 49 of those 50 years. While she may not be able to walk down the aisle at her 50th Jubilee Mass, she will joyfully ride there instead, celebrating the shadows as well as the sunshine of her 50 Franciscan years.

Sister Judith and Sister Karen

Sister Karen at Padua Franciscan High School in 1984

Sister Karen and Janice Hummer

About Our Ministries

Lourdes University, since 1958

Rooted in the Catholic and Franciscan tradition, Lourdes University offers baccalaureate degrees in more than 30 academic majors as well as graduate degrees in business, education, nursing, organizational leadership, social work, and theology. Community outreach programs include the Appold Planetarium and Lifelong Learning.

Rosary Care Center/ Our Lady of Grace Hall, since 1974

24-hour skilled nursing care

Rosary Care Center is a 76bed, licensed nursing home facility with Medicare and Medicaid certification as well as accreditation by The Joint Commission. RCC now offers skilled nursing care and rehabilitation services to vowed religious, as well as lay persons from the greater community.

24-hour skilled assisted living care

Opened in 2012, Our Lady of Grace Hall is an assisted-living facility connected to Rosary Care Center, the skilled nursing facility. The 17-unit, 10,000-square-foot, one story building offers assisted living services to the Sylvania Franciscan Sisters.

Bethany House, since 1984

Bethany House provides shelter and resources for victims of domestic violence and their children to safely rebuild their lives. While most homeless shelters offer limited, short-term stays, Bethany House is the only organization in Northwest Ohio to offer long-term, apartment-style transitional shelter, combined with emotional, spiritual and financial support. Their TraumaInformed program is tailored to the unique situation of each individual.

Convent Park Apartments, since 1990

Senior living apartments

Built in 1988, Convent Park Apartments are affordably priced one and two-bedroom apartments adjacent to the Motherhouse grounds of the Sisters of St. Francis. Residents enjoy community activities and the joyful presence of the Sylvania Franciscans, many of whom live in the apartments.

Sophia Center, since 1993

Nurturing wellness in mind, body and heart – for 30 years. The Sophia Center offers a full spectrum of therapeutic services by licensed therapists that provide an integrated and holistic approach to achieving inner health and well-being. Sophia Center offers charity care for those who have no insurance or are underinsured. In 2022, over $48,000 in charity care enabled children and adults to receive the care they needed during times of financial distress. The Sophia Center staff strives to help their clients heal and live life to its fullest despite any personal challenges they may face by providing a wide range of services including individual, group, marriage and family counseling.

Welcome House, since 2021

In a desire to welcome refugee families, the Sisters formed the SOSF Refugee Action Committee in 2021 and transformed a former Sylvania Franciscan residence into a “Welcome House.” In this program, the newcomer family may stay for up to one year. They receive information and support services to assist in their relocation. Welcome House partners with Toledo area agencies to provide the family a bridge to independence. So far, Welcome House has successfully assisted three families with building a fruitful life in the Toledo area.

In Memoriam

Sister M. Thomas More Ruffing, OSF

Sister M. Thomas More Ruffing died peacefully at Rosary Care Center in Sylvania, Ohio on August 1, 2023 after a brief illness. The daughter of Fred and Veronica Ruffing, she came to Sylvania from St. Casimir Parish in Wells, Minnesota, in 1949 to become a Sister of St. Francis in Sylvania, Ohio. She made her first profession of religious vows in 1951 and her final vows in 1954.

In addition to 50 years of faithful service as an organist at the Motherhouse in Sylvania, most of Sister Thomas More’s 72 years in religious life were devoted to Catholic education at various levels. She taught in elementary schools in Michigan, Minnesota and Ohio; taught high school Latin and served as a librarian at Central Catholic High School in Toledo later becoming Head Librarian at Lourdes University for 28 years. Upon retirement she assisted in the Sisters’ Communication Office, did resident services at Rosary Care Center and was the Media Specialist as an Assistant Archivist for the Sisters for 17 years.

A few of her highlights in religious life have been the many opportunities for travel in the U.S. and abroad; playing the pipe organ in the Pantheon (now a Catholic Church) in Rome while the tour group joined her in singing the Lourdes Hymn (Immaculate Mary); and a memorable celebration acknowledging her 50 years of faithful service as an organist at the Motherhouse in Sylvania. Before Sister passed, she characteristically said: “I’m 95. What more is there for me to do? I’ve done everything God has asked of me throughout my life. I’m ready for heaven.” May she know eternal rest.

Sister M. Gervase Lochotzki, OSF

June 5, 1935 – October 15, 2023

Sister M. Gervase Lochotzki, OSF, came to Sylvania from Immaculate Conception Parish in Port Clinton, Ohio in 1949 to become a Sister of St. Francis. She felt called to become a missionary and, though the Sylvania Franciscans were not a missionary Order, she joined them because she knew them best as her teachers. She professed her first vows in 1953 and spent the first 30 years in religious life teaching in elementary schools in Michigan, Minnesota and Ohio where she taught every grade and just about every subject. Sister Gervase later became a passionate advocate for adult literacy and spent years working with adults in adult literacy programs, GED preparation, and tutoring. She helped establish eight learning centers as part of the Christian Appalachian Project in Martin, Kentucky. She worked with the WIN Center students at Lourdes College, and helped prepare women at Bethany House in Toledo for their GED test. Her final ministry was one of Prayer Ministry at Rosary Care Center.

Sister Gervase, whose motto was “Where your heart is, there is your treasure,” had many interests and projects in her later years, including playing the dulcimer, creating mandalas, writing poetry and working on her autobiography. She shared joy, love and compassion with all whom she met and was always grateful for her life as a religious woman.

Sisters of St. Francis of Sylvania, Ohio

6832 Convent Blvd.

Sylvania, Ohio 43560

sistersosf.org

facebook.com/sylvaniafranciscans

Thank you to our sponsors and patrons of the 2023 Gala!

With the support of so many, the Sisters raised over $100,000 that will help fund their ministries throughout the year. We

St. Francis Sponsors

CommonSpirit Health Program Solutions Group

Mother Adelaide Sponsors

Hylant

Donna O’Connell

Trinity Health System

Assisi Sponsors

Stephen P. Bazeley, MD

Brown Advisory

Franciscan Ministries

Eileen and Kevin Kerner

LCG

Macquarie Asset Management

Signature Bank, LLC

Kathleen and Edward Walczak

Jana and Michael Whitmore

San Damiano Sponsors

Buckeye Broadband

CHI Living Communities

Hafner Florist

Rev. Terence J. Hamilton

Darlene Johnson

Lincoln Financial

Namay Dentistry

Oblates of St. Francis De Sales, Inc.

Sophia Center, Inc.

St. Joseph Health

TCW

Wisniewski Funeral Home

Carolyn Lake Yenrick and David Yenrick

Please

Sister Nancy Linenkugel, OSF, with St. Francis Award Winner Larry Drozdowicz; St. Clare Award Winner Father Tony Gallagher; and St. Francis Award Winner Matt Grimshaw