Yankton Benedictines 2012-12

YANKTON
BENEDICTINES
Volume XLIII, No. 3
CHARISM
We are Benedictine women of
Yankton, South
Dakota, sharing
our gift of seeking
God through our
prayer,
work,
study and community life.
MISSION
Rooted in our
rural
heritage
and growing in
relationship with
God and one another in monastic
community,
we
live a life of prayer, work and lectio by which we
serve God and
God’s people in
our time and
place.
CORE VALUES
Christians follow Christ by
bringing to life
the values of the
Gospel. We have
gathered clusters
of these values
into these three:
 Awareness of
God
 Community
 Hospitality
Winter 2012
Annual Holiday Fair Brings Blessings
On October 27 over 300 people flocked to Sacred
Heart Monastery to enjoy the sixth annual Holiday
Fair. They came from South Dakota, Nebraska, Minnesota, Kansas and even Alabama! Their wait for the
door to open at 9:30 a.m. was a much friendlier event
than the experience on Black Friday! Sr. Francine
Streff, Gift Shop Director and Coordinator of the Holiday Fair says that the Fair, while being an effective
fund raiser, also allows our guests to “browse and buy
and meet and greet and eat.” It provides the monastery
an opportunity to extend Benedictine hospitality to
Guests start to line up before 9 a.m. to be sure they our guests while they shop for handmade Christmas
can purchase the fresh bakery items made by Sis- gifts and décor. In every interaction with our guests,
ters Marcine Quintus, Matthew Wehri and others. the Sisters enjoy finding Christ in their stories, in their
On entering, the first stop for most guests is the love of family, and in their generosity. That is a
Chapter Room where the tables are stacked with blessing.
home made food items. (photo right).
Our guests
seem to find
blessing too in their visits with the Sisters. In fact, the intent of
the Holiday Fair was to offer an event that would bring people
to our monastic home. It is a fun time of interaction between
the Sisters and our customers who are new friends and old
friends! Besides all the baked goods that are available for purchase, the Sisters provide free coffee, cider and cookies so that
shoppers can also sit and visit with the Sisters. “I love to meet
the people who buy our creations and tell them something about
the sisters who make them,” says S. Francine.
The idea of a Holiday Fair was first proposed six years ago.
We have a beautiful gift shop that seemed to be a well kept secret. Fr. Thomas Wordekemper, our chaplain, was here on sabbatical and he suggested the event to bring people to our monastery. His monks at Assumption Abbey in North Dakota had
been doing a successful fair for years. (continued on page 3)
Let the goods always be sold a little cheaper than they can be sold by people in the
world, "that in all things God may be glorified." Rule of Benedict, Chapter 57
Reflections from the Prioress — S. Penny Bingham OSB
Dear Friends,
You will probably read this mid-Advent, that lovely season preceding Christmas,
with its rich passages from Isaiah and images of light. It is a season of expectation
and waiting – but expecting much more than those guests to our Holiday Fair lined
up early to buy homemade bread and jam – and waiting for far more than excited
children hoping for a particular gift on their wish list. As Christians, our great expectation, the one we long for is Jesus, the Savior. We wait these Advent days and
watch for His coming anew in our lives.
Christmas is the day we celebrate His actual birth as Jesus, Son of God, born of
Mary as one of us – our God with skin on and fingerprints. But each day of Advent
– and beyond – is a day to be watchful for Jesus in our lives. Do we truly expect to
see Him in the faces of our family or community members? Do we hope to hear Him
in the phone call from a neighbor or the e-mail of a friend? Do we really believe
Prioress
Him present in the challenges and the joys of everyday life? Or might we be missing
2011—2017
the coming of Jesus in various ways and persons each day?
Advent invites us to expectant watchfulness. Like a vigilant watchman, we can more easily be attentive in
silence, with no distractions – a rarity in today’s world. May we all strive to reserve even five to ten minutes of
quiet each day to listen to our God, so that we may more easily sense His presence in the noisier moments of our
day’s activity.
May these Advent gifts of quiet and expectation help us all to prepare our hearts to welcome the Word of
God among us – Emmanuel, God-with-us.
Peace to you this Advent and joy to you this Christmas. S. Penny
Theology Institute Series: Faith Impacting Action
Moral Matters:
Making Medical Moral Decisions
Fourth in our series on moral decision making, Father Tom Nairn
will focus on the moral principles surrounding health care decisions, focusing on end of life issues and their concrete application. His presentation should be of interest to all who have or
will have to struggle with treatment decisions with family members, as well as medical professionals who work with terminal
patients on a daily basis.
Saturday, March 16, 2013.
9 am—Noon
Sacred Heart Monastery Chapter Room
All Are Welcome — No Admission Fee
Registration Requested for Planning Purposes:
Email: mfrigge@mtmc.edu or call 605-668-6000
2
Rev. Thomas Nairn OFM
Fr. Nairn is senior director
of ethics for the Catholic
Health Association of the
United States and a Franciscan priest. He holds a
Ph.D. from the University of
Chicago Divinity School and
has taught in the U.S., Australia, Zimbabwe and Singapore.
He has published
many articles on health
care ethics and has recently
edited two volumes on Cardinal Bernardin’s consistent
ethic of life.
“On the morning of the first Holiday Fair,” says Sister Francine, I
didn’t know if anyone would come to ‘Browse and Buy.’ The doors opened at 9:30
and we greeted our first customers. Our first year, there were 150 loaves of bread and
about that much jam. The Holiday Fair has greatly expanded. This year there were 545 loaves of bread plus buns
and rose petals and 573 jars of jams and jellies. Over the years we have added noodles and peanut brittle.
It takes a whole Benedictine community to create the items that make up an event and then to be present for the
people who come. Besides the bakers, we have a jewelry maker, glass designers, knitters, crocheters, seamstresses,
a potter, plant growers, calligraphers, painters, gardeners, herb dryers, jelly, jam, noodle and peanut brittle makers.
We have hospitality volunteers and sisters who are cashiers. We are a creative group. Over a thousand craft items
found a new home this year.
You are invited to be part of the next Holiday Fair exchange of blessings. Mark your calendar for October 26,
2013. And in the mean time, if you have any pint or half-pint jars that you would like to donate, the sisters have
plans for more jams and jellies.
Holiday Fair
(continued from page 1)
International Student Sisters
A third blessing of the Holiday Fair is that the profits help
educate international student-Sisters who are attending Mount
Marty College.
Sacred Heart Monastery began the tradition of educating international student-Sisters when Sisters from South America connected with our missionary Sisters working in Central and South
America in the 1960’s. Then S. Laudes Lee from the Olivetan
Benedictine Community in Pusan, South Korea, came to Mount
Marty to study art under Sr. Leonarda Longen. This began a
long relationship between the Sisters in Korea and the Yankton
Benedictines. At least eighteen members of this Korean community have received their college education at Mount Marty.
In the 1970’s, Sisters from Africa began seeking assistance in
gaining their education. The first Sisters came from South Africa
and Uganda. In the 1980’s, the Missionary Benedictine Sisters of
Tutzing, with U.S. Priory down the road in Norfolk, NE, began
sending some Sisters to Mount Marty. Sisters from Taegu and
Seoul, South Korea were the first to come. More recently, Missionary BenedicSs. Donatha Gunda and Symphorosa Imbori entines who are
courage one another in their studies. S. Donatha
natives of Tanis from the African Benedictine Sisters, Our Lady
zania face the
Help of Christians of Ndanda, Tanzania, and S.
Symphorosa belongs to the Daughters of Mary of
huge
cultural
Tabora, Tanzania.
and
climate
change in coming to South Dakota. S. Jacquelyn Ernster, who
worked
with
international
Sisters both as
President
of
Mount
Marty
and as Prioress
of Sacred Heart
Monastery, estimates that we
3
S. Mariel Kang spends long hours at the organ in
Bishop Marty Chapel on her way to a degree in
music from Mount Marty College. S. Mariel is a
member of the Olivetan Benedictine Community in
Pusan, South Korea.
have so far educated 12 sisters from African
nations. She notes that the education of
some of the Sisters has made a great impact;
one of these women, S. Auxilia, is now the
headmistress of a school in Tanzania.
The student sisters are welcomed into the
monastic community and into a small living
group. Sacred Heart Monastery provides
not only their housing and food, but also
academic support in the form of tutoring and
encouragements.
The SHM Sisters are
proud of every success of these strong women who face many challenges in attending
classes in a foreign language. The monastery pays for the tuition and books, and, if
the Sister’s own community is unable, even
pays for their travel to the USA. Over the
years around 35 international Sisters have
benefitted from this education; in turn, the
Sisters of Sacred Heart Monastery have benefitted from their presence among us, learning cultural sensitivity and appreciation for
the opportunities we in the United States
often take for granted.
Sacred Heart Sisters Receive Awards
Sister Ann Kessler
On September 22, 2012, Sister Ann Kessler was ho nored by Central High
School in her hometown of Aberdeen, SD by being inducted to the CHS Hall of
Fame for her academic and professional life achievements. Her success began early
in her days at Central High. She was a very active student and had many roles including class officer, editor of the school paper and Keystone Honor Society. The
experiences of her youth in Aberdeen gave Sister Ann a strong foundation for a successful career as scholar, educator and social activist.
Sister Ann’s academic background spans decades. As a scholar, her mind for
research and passion for developing an historical perspective allowed her to extensively travel. France was a key area for her academic research. In her Master and
Doctoral research, she pieced together the history of Benedictines in France during
the Revolution and how Benedictine life survived into the post revolution restoration. Her love for Benedictine life and French/European history was well noted by
the number of journal publications for which she has written, and by her book, Benedictine Men and Women: Their Roots and History, published in 1996.
As an educator, Sister Ann taught first grade to graduate school levels. In her tenure, Sister Ann can count some
4,000 students who have been touched by her ardor for learning. Sister Ann emphasized throughout her career a
need for people to understand what happened historically so that the injustice of the past would not be repeated.
She took pleasure when her students concluded that they too were a part of current history in the making. As a
social activist, she lived by the social gospel and helped create policies. She was Chair of the Governor’s Council
on the Aging and Co-Chair of Governor Kneip’s Citizens’ Committee for a study on Correctional Institutions. She
also was a member of the State Criminal Justice Commission.
Sister Mary Arthur Schramm
S. Mary Arthur was named a Living Legend by the American Association of
Nurse Anesthetists (AANA), and her innovative work was the topic of the Living
Legends session at their annual leadership conference held at the Broadmoor Hotel,
Colorado Springs, CO, on Friday, November 16. Prior to this, the AANA awarded
Sister Arthur the Helen Lamb Outstanding Education Award (1991) and the Agatha
Hodgins Award for Outstanding Accomplishment (2003).
Sister Arthur, a native of Siegel, a rural parish community north of Yankton, and
a member of Sacred Heart Monastery since 1952, was the first nurse anesthetist and
woman to be admitted to and complete a Ph.D. in Physiology and Pharmacology at
the graduate School of Medicine at USD. She developed the curriculum and initiated the first transition of a diploma program in nurse anesthesia to a degreed academic program, making Mount Marty the first college to offer a degree in nurse anesthesiology. She has served as Program Head of nurse anesthesiology and the division
chair for Health Sciences at Mount Marty. She was active in the South Dakota Association of Nurse Anesthetists (SDANA) and served as its president from 1969-1970
and also served as a Board Member of the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists (AANA) from 1979-1981.
Beyond South Dakota, Sister Arthur promoted the formation of the International Federation of Nurse Anesthetists in 1989 and presented three lectures at their first meeting in Lucerne, Switzerland. She initiated programs for
nurse anesthetists under the sponsorship of PROJECT HOPE in Jamaica, under Health Volunteers Overseas in
Guiana and also in Puerto Rico, improving health care in each of these countries. She has lectured and published
articles on nurse anesthesia and the biomedical sciences and has worked with the Council on Accreditation to evaluate schools of nurse anesthesia.
After 50 years of work in nurse anesthesia, Sister Arthur is now working part time as receptionist at Sacred
Heart Monastery where she strives to live out the admonition in the Rule of Benedict to treat all visitors as Christ
himself.
4
Garage Replacement Project
Sister Cynthia Binder
S. Cynthia Binder and
Dr. Jim Reese, Mount
Marty Associate Professors
of English, received the
Distinguished Public Service Recognition Awards2012 for their work at the
Yankton Federal Prison
Camp. Warden Jordan R.
Hollingsworth and Supervisor of Education Maureen
Steffen recently presented
this award in recognition of
their exemplary dedication
and contributions to the Education Department at the
Yankton Federal Prison Camp.
S. Cynthia was instrumental in starting the education program at YFPC some twenty-three years ago.
She had worked in the prison program at Georgetown
University while doing graduate studies in English,
1986-1988. When she returned to Yankton and the
YFPC opened in 1989, she and the administration of
Mount Marty College set up the program. This is one
of the few programs where a prisoner can actually earn
an A.A. with face to face contact with their college instructors. S. Cynthia currently teaches the class, “Great
Directors and their Films” at the prison. To her
knowledge, the recidivism rate of her students is zero.
Because of deterioration issues and also the need for
more space, the 40-year old “temporary” monastery
garage is being replaced with a new, larger one. The
construction began mid-August and is nearly completed
as the newsletter goes to press. The new garage is
joined directly to the monastery and is larger to accommodate more vehicles to protect them from the extremes of South Dakota weather. The new garage will
have a brick exterior to keep it warmer in the winter
and cooler in the summer. It will also have LED lighting to be more eco-friendly and save on electrical costs.
As is the case frequently with construction projects,
what was supposed to be a two-month project has
turned into four months, but the hope is that the finished project will be well worth the wait!
Benedictine Peace Center Offerings
Advent Offering:
Saint Hildegard of Bingen
Pause during Advent to know St. Hildegard who
was Proclaimed a Doctor of the Church
by Pope Benedict XVI on Oct. 7, 2012.
Savor Hildegard’s gifts of music, medicine,
visions, and leadership.
Saturday, December 15,
9:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. at
Sacred Heart Monastery, Yankton
No charge; this program is funded by a donor.
Kindly let us know if you plan to come.
jeanne.ranek@mtmc.edu
605-668-6292
www.yanktonbenedictines.org/Center.html.
5
NEWS NOTES
Bishop Anthony Taylor
of Little Rock, Arkansas
was the featured speaker
for our fall Theology Institute. His expert presentation on the history, policies,
and moral issues of immigration gave the Sisters and
guests much food for
thought.
S. Ann Kessler, MMC
Professor Emerita of History, with the assistance of
Oblate Cathy ChargingHawk, a native of the
Yankton Reservation (Marty Mission), and S. Eileen
O’Connor, who spent eight years teaching at Chamberlain
Indian School, spoke to about sixty members
of Augustana College’s Senior Academy (an active learners’ group mostly composed of retirees) on November
14. Their topics concerned the past and present Benedictine monks’ and nuns’ influence on Native Americans on
and off the reservations since Bishop Marty brought Sisters
to begin their Indian ministry in Dakota Territory in 1881.
On Sunday, November 11, the Sisters hosted students
and staff from Mount Marty for the first Prayer Partner
gathering of the semester. Prayer Partners joined the Sisters for Sunday Vespers and then moved to the Chapter
room for hot chocolate and cookies. Over 100 Mount
Marty students and staff take advantage of this program to
connect with the Sisters and plug into their prayer power.
Below, S. Lynn Osika chats with MMC students Holly
Hegge and Tessa Carda.
The Nebraska Oblation Ceremony was held Sunday, November 11 at 2 pm in the Madonna Chapel in Lincoln,
NE. There were 18 new members becoming Novice Oblates, ten making their Final Oblation and 44 Oblates renewing their oblation (a few were absent). The first Deans
of the Nebraska Chapters were introduced and were responsible for the ceremony. Sisters Penny Bingham,
Joelle Bauer, Phyllis Hunhoff, Patricia Heirigs, Mildred Busch, and Marlene Stetz were present from Sacred
Heart Monastery. Below, Oblates Juliene Bryan (Dean of
the Hastings, NE Deanery), Robin Stroot and Sharon Connor presented S. Phyllis with a knitted prayer shawl following the ceremony.
We mentioned in the last newsletter that Ss. Kathy Burt,
Bonita Gacnik and Maribeth Wentzlaff served as staff
persons for the “Higher Ground” experience for young
people in the Grand Island diocese. We forgot to mention
that S. Rosemarie Maly, campus ministry at University of
Nebraska—Kearney, not only worked on “Higher Ground”
last summer and many other years, but is our contact for
the team in the Grand Island Diocese.
Sacred Heart Monastery is currently featured in the opening “slide” presentation on the Federation of St. Gertrude
website, http://www.federationofstgertrude.org/. The pictorial visit to Sacred Heart Monastery includes photos taken
by Ss. Bonita Gacnik, Mary Kay Panowicz, Michaeleen
Muhovich, and Mary Jo Polak.
6
Into Eternal Peace
S. Henrietta Jundt
OSB, 96, died in the Monastery Care Center on
Thursday, November 22,
2012.
Anna Mary Jundt was
born May 6, 1916, the ninth
of twelve children of Anthony and Barbara (Keifel)
Jundt of Linton, North Dakota. Her parents were born
in Russia and emigrated to
the United States in 1905.
Anna
attended
public
school for six years and then went to the Catholic school
in Fort Yates, ND. It was here that she met the Benedictine Sisters of Sacred Heart Monastery. Because of the
depression she was unable to attend high school, but later
completed her GED in the late 1960’s—an accomplishment of which she was very proud.
Anna entered Sacred Heart Monastery on June 2,
1932, and credits the Sisters at Fort Yates and her parents
as great influences in her call to the Benedictine way of
life. She was invested as a novice on June 23, 1934, and
received the name Henrietta. She made first profession on
July 11, 1935, and her final profession in 1940.
S. Henrietta served on many missions in a variety of
ministries beginning at St. Mary’s Hospital, Pierre, SD;
Stephan, SD; St. Thomas More Hospital, Canon City, CO;
the Bishop’s House in Sioux Falls; Madonna Home, Lincoln, NE; and at Mount Marty College, Sacred Heart Hospital, and Sacred Heart Monastery in Yankton. For many
years she was in charge of the Monastery kitchen. She
enjoyed many hobbies, especially crocheting and needle
point. Many of her creations were sold in the Monastery
Gift Shop which she managed for six years.
S. Henrietta was a quiet woman of deep faith who
loved to serve and be with others. She also enjoyed nature
and made sure the birds were well fed and the Monastery
cat did not lack for attention.
S. Consuelo Chavez,
OSB, 90, died of pancreatic
cancer on Thursday, September 6, 2012 at Sacred Heart
Monastery.
Maria Ruben Chavez was
born on July 31, 1922 in La
Jara, Colorado to Manuel and
Celestina (Valdez) Chavez.
Proud of her Spanish heritage,
she was the fourth child in a
family of eleven children.
She attended schools in
southern Colorado and New Mexico and began college at
Mt. St. Scholastica in Atchison, KS. She entered Sacred
Heart Monastery in 1941 and made first profession in
1943. She is a graduate of Mount Marty College.
A person who loved to learn and teach, S. Consuelo
taught in Chamberlain and Hoven, SD; Hartington, York
and Lincoln (St. Patrick’s), NE; Richardton, ND and
Pueblo, CO. She also managed the office at St. Joseph
Indian School in Chamberlain. From 1965 to 1972 she was
part of Sacred Heart Monastery’s mission team in San Pedro Carcha, Guatemala.
On her return, S. Consuelo began her academic study
of Spanish, finishing a Masters from the University of New
York’s Madrid, Spain campus in 1977. From 1973 to 1993
she taught Spanish at Mount Marty College. In 1993 she
responded to a call asking for someone who knew Spanish
to assist the Yankton Police. Thus began her ministry as
interpreter for the Hispanic people of Yankton — assisting
in schools, medical clinics, and legal settings and endearing herself to those she helped.
S. Consuelo was a lively, decisive person who liked to
be active. Her motherly spirit was extended to her students,
to the Sisters in her community, and to the Hispanic community in Yankton. She was loved by all. Her optimism
was grounded in her faith, and she accepted her terminal
diagnosis with grace.
She is survived by her Benedictine community, her
sister Clara Burchart of Edmond, Oklahoma, numerous
nieces and nephews, and friends in the Hispanic community in Yankton. She was preceded in death by her parents
and nine siblings.
A wake service was held on September 9, 2012 at 7:00
p.m. and the Funeral Mass was celebrated at 11:00 a.m. on
September 10 in Bishop Marty Memorial Chapel. Burial
was in the Monastery cemetery.
S. Henrietta is survived by her Benedictine community and numerous nieces and nephews. She was preceded
in death by her parents and eleven siblings.
A wake service was held on Sunday, November 25,
2012, at 7:00 p.m. and the funeral Mass was celebrated on
Monday, November 26, at 10:00 a.m. in Bishop Marty
Memorial Chapel. Burial was in the Monastery cemetery.
7
UPCOMING EVENTS
Dec. 15 — Advent Offering on St.
Hildegard
YANKTON BENEDICTINES
Sacred Heart Monastery
1005 West 8th Street
Yankton, SD 57078
http://www.yanktonbenedictines.org
Dec. 16 — Coffee with Oblates
NONPROFIT
ORGANIZATION
U.S. POSTAGE
PAID
POS
Change Service Requested
Dec. 25— Solemnity of the Nativity
Dec. 31 — Vigil for Peace
Jan. 12 — Community Chapter
Meeting
March 16 — Theology Institute
______________________________
We invite you to join us for:
MORNING PRAYER
Monday—Friday @ 6:30 a.m.
Saturday & Sunday @ 8:30 a.m.
EVENING PRAYER
Monday—Friday @ 5:15 p.m.
Sunday @ 5:00 p.m.
EUCHARIST
Monday—Friday @ 6:50 a.m.
Editor: S. Mary Jo Polak
maryjo.polak@mtmc.edu
Advisors: Ss. Bonita Gacnik, Francine Streff,
Mary Kay Panowicz, Penny Bingham
Writing and photography: Ss.Phyllis Hunhoff,
Virginia Pieper
This publication is circulated free of charge three times a year to families, friends and
benefactors of the Benedictine Sisters of Yankton, SD
For unto us a Son is given . . .