September 26, 2016

I have quite a list of things to include in today’s blog.

First, is the news of the death of Sister Latona Kalis, age 77, who died at Clare Residence, here at the Motherhouse, on Friday, September 23, 2016.  She had had a stroke 12 days earlier.  Sister Therese Furnstahl was with Sister Latona at the time of her death.  The Franciscan Wake will be tonight at 7 p.m. in the Motherhouse Chapel.  The Mass of Christian Burial is tomorrow, Tuesday, September 27, 2016 at 11 a.m.

The 56^th Annual Orphan Train Reunion was held here on Saturday, the 23^rd.  There were about 60 descendants of Orphan Train riders in attendance.  The stories are so interesting.  Some of the orphans were treated so well and they had happy childhoods…and some were not so happy.

Charlie McGuire was the entertainer at Saturday’s program.  His father was an Orphan Train rider.  Charlie played guitar, sang and told stories he’d heard from his father and mother.

Steve Januschka was our guest for Mass and lunch last week when we celebrated his 93^rd birthday.  A couple of his 8 children joined us.  Steve, a much loved employee, worked here for many years.

I copied the following little note from last Thursday’s Saint Cloud Times:  “You have no idea the value of your support.  A kind word, a prop, a leg-up when you are able to give this at the perfect moment, will mean more to your people that they’ll ever be able to articulate.”  That is so true.  Let’s keep it up.

The newest piece of furniture in our Sacred Heart Chapel is this lovely electronic piano donated by the Gordon William’s Family.  Thank you.

Peace and blessings.

Sister Mary Lou

Some kind of wonderful

A busy weekend and a busy week coming up. ..(it’s always good to have something going on!)

On Saturday, about 65 Orphan Train descendants met for their annual get-together. The morning speaker was Sandy Thalmann from Rochester, MN. She is an adoptee, social worker and professional genealogist. I found it to be a very enlightening talk. Then the entertainment in the afternoon was provided by a group of young Irish Dancers from St. Paul. I was impressed at how fast they could move their feet and keep the top part of their body so still.

Saturday evening we had the “Transitus” Prayer Service which is always the night before the Feast of Saint Francis. The Transitus is a commemoration in drama, readings and song of the time of Saint Francis’ death. The Chapel, in semi darkness, and the words of St. Francis make for a powerful time of prayer. Afterward all were invited to the dining room for almond cookies—Saint Francis’ favorite cookies made by his friend, Lady Jacoba. (Since the chapel was too dark to take pictures, I took a picture of the cookies instead.)

Bishop Don Kettler was the presider at our 8:30 a.m. Sunday Mass. In the afternoon he had a fund-raising event at the Falls Ballroom.

And in the afternoon we had an Open House celebrating Consecrated Life. About 80 people came to have tours and to visit with the sisters. For at least four guests it was the first time they have ever been to St. Francis Convent. At 3 p.m. all were invited to the special Holden Evening Prayer that we use on special occasions. It was a very nice afternoon.

Tuesday afternoon we have registration for our four-day “Discerning Our Future” Community meetings that start at 6:00 p.m. Please keep us in prayer. Thank you.

This coming Sunday is Associate Commitment Day. I’ll have more about that next week.

Peace and All good.

Sister Mary Lou

Blessings upon Blessings

Did you see the super-eclipse Sunday night? I did not. It was cloudy. The pictures look great.

Many of spent many hours in front of TVs this past week watching the various events that were part of Pope Francis’ visit to the United States of America. It was wonderful to have Pope Francis in our country. I found his messages were gentle, encouraging, informative, motivating and strong. He spoke to all: the old, the young, religious, priests, bishops, the laity, prisoners, handicapped , civic and church leaders. May we heed his messages and become better people. God bless Pope Francis. He asked for our prayers. Let’s do it.

I liked what he said to Elders: “Elderly people…are a storehouse of wisdom forged by experience and [they] seek in many ways, especially through volunteer work, to share their stories and their insights. I know that many of them are retired, but still active…keep working to build up this land.”

The canonization of Junipero Serra was another special event. This Franciscan was the first saint canonized on American soil. Saint Junipero, pray for us.

Saturday was the first class of a two-year series of classes titled “Engaging Franciscan Spirituality.” The objective of the program is: “for each participant to gain enough information, education and formation in Franciscan spirituality so they can continue their spiritual journey following Christ in the footprints of Saints Francis and Clare as well as to be able to articulate that spirituality to others.” It’s always good when people learn more about Saint Francis and Saint Clare.

Ten days ago, Lori Johnson made her commitment as a Franciscan Associate. She cannot be here on October 11th when many others will be making their commitment. We are happy to welcome her to our Franciscan Family.

Sunday, the 27th, we had the Blessing of Animals at Washington Park here in Little Falls. I counted 40 dogs of many different breeds. We also had a little kitty and two other large cats (in their carrying cages.) After the blessing, each pet owner received a small medal to attach to the pet’s collar. Then there were treats for the pets and cookies for the owners. May Saint Francis bless and care for all animals, His Creatures…and us people, too.

On Saturday, October 3rd, we will host the 55th Annual Orphan Train Reunion/Conference. Between 1854--1929, more than 250,000 children were placed out on orphan trains from the East Coast, venturing into unknown territory in the West to settle with unknown families across America. Our, now deceased Sister Justina, was one of those riders and she started these reunions here at St. Francis. It is the descendants of these riders who now come to find out more about Orphan Train history. There are fewer than 50 orphan train riders living throughout the United States today.

Saturday evening, October 3rd, at 7 p.m., we will have our Transitus Prayer Service in Chapel. During this time of prayer we remember the Death of St. Francis.

Sunday, October 4th, at 8:30 a.m. Bishop Kettler will preside at our Community Mass for the Feast of St. Francis.

Then Sunday afternoon we will host an Open House, from 1:30 to 3:30, in honor of the Year of Consecrated Life, as declared by Pope Francis last January. We will have snacks, tours and visiting with a special Evening Prayer at 3:00 p.m. Please come and join us.

Sunday is also the Sausage Supper in my home parish of St. Alexius, in West Union. I guess I will miss it this year. That hasn’t happened too many times in the last 30+ years.

Next Week, October 6th through 9th, we will be having all Community Meetings. Please pray for the guidance of the Holy Spirit as we make decisions Discerning our Future. Thank you.

Happy Feast of St. Francis. I will be praying for you, all my Blog readers.
Peace and prayers,
Sister Mary Lou

These are a few photos I took around the convent. Enjoy.

God be with you til we meet again

Here it is late in the week and I am only getting around to writing my blog…and too late to get it posted for this week so I will put the two weeks together. I hope you had opportunity to see the lunar eclipse early Wednesday morning. My sister, Rita, from Indonesia, sent beautiful pictures of what she saw there—and they were the same kind of things I saw here when I looked out my window from 5:30 to 6:30 Monday morning.

October is domestic Violence Awareness Week. Victims, let your needs be known and get the help you need. Perpetrators, stop it. All violence toward people and any other parts of creation is wrong.

October 4th was the Feast of St. Francis. We had a festive Mass and as always good food. It felt like a Sunday. Then the next day was another Sunday. So Monday we had to tell ourselves that it was Monday and we had to go to work.

Sunday noon, October 5th, we had the Blessing of the Animals at Washington Park, a few blocks from here. Martha brought her dog Maxwell to be blessed. Then she said, “Last year she was blessed in Mission, Texas by Father Roy.” Small world…that is where my brothers often go to church as “snowbirds” when they live the cold, winter months of winter. All the barking dogs nearly drown out Sr. Lavonne’s reading during the prayer service…but she had a microphone so she still could be heard.

Sunday evening, October 5th, until Wednesday noon were the days for the Clergy Conference at Arrowwood in Alexandria. Sisters were invited for Monday’s session. We heard speakers Dr. Don Briel and Michael Naughton. I am grateful for this opportunity. I bought the book and am reading Leo Boff’s book, Francis of Rome and Francis of Assisi—a New Springtime for the Church. It is wonderfully interesting.

Wednesday, the 8th, we had a retirement party for 99 year-old Sr. Fabian Schneider who retired from working after working 31 years at the convent switchboard/receptionist office. Many family, friends and Sisters shared the apple crisp and ice cream treat.

Saturday, the 11th, The Orphan Train Riders will have their yearly gathering here. At this time there are only a few riders still living…but their descendants gather to find out more about that event which happened from the 1850s until about 1929, when children were put on trains and sent around the country to find new homes. Some experiences were good and some were very bad. Our deceased Sister Justina was a rider when she was about 2 years old. She was adopted into a wonderful family. She died at age 100 on July 20, 2012.

Sunday, Oct. 12th, is Associate Commitment Day. We will honor 5, 10, 15, 20, and 25-year members and will also have five new applicants make their commitment. Thank you, to each of you Associates, for carrying on the Franciscan Spirit in your life, values and work.

Next week, Oct 12 to 15th, we Sisters will have a Planning for Our Future Community Meeting. Almost all the Sisters will be here at the Motherhouse those days. Pray for us.

Give to the Max Day is Thursday, November 13th. Last year over $21,000 was raised to support the mission and ministries of the Franciscan Sisters. Some of the ways this money is used: the Music Center and it URock Against Violence and other programs, training for teen missionaries, Franciscan Community Volunteers, Catechesis for immigrant and migrant communities, Franciscan Girls Camp, Green Fair Folk Festival and Garden-to-Cafeteria project. Our goal this year is $30,000. Thank you, in advance, for your donations on November 13, 2014.

There are 22 days to elections. The focus of “Nuns on the Bus” continues to be to get out the voters on Election Day. Sister Simone Campbell, SSS, says that 60% of Americans don’t know that there are elections this year. (I find that hard to believe if they ever listen to radio or TV!) Money does not vote… People do. Plan to vote.

This is as much as I can think of at this time and you are probably bored enough about this time.

Peace and blessings,
Sister Mary Lou

P.S. Monday October 13, 2014

Saturday the 54th Annual Orphan Train Riders of New York Conference was held at St. Francis Center. About 100 children and grandchildren of Orphan Train Riders and others came for the event. Keynote speaker was John Rys who spoke about genealogy DNA, Family Discovery. The afternoon program was the Land of Lakes Choirboys. If ever you have a chance to listen to these phenomenal choristers, take advantage of the opportunity. They are very good.

Saturday night the St. Francis Concert Orchestra joined the Heartland Symphony Orchestra their concert at for one number—Scenes from Swan Lake by Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky—at Charles D. Martin Auditorium. “Russian Masters” were the composers featured: Rimsky-Korsakov, Tchaikovsky, Liadov, Rachmaninoff. What beautiful music!

Yesterday we had five new Associates make their commitment as Franciscan Associates: Phyllis Dobis, Joel Donnell, Anita Goth, Claudia Petcu and Pat Schlauderaff. We welcome you to our Franciscan Family.

If These Walls Could Speak

Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary—Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray us, the needs of the people of our Country and our governmental leaders that they work for the Common Good.

A beautiful fall day is ours, this day. We had a couple inches of rain the past weekend. I was in Browns Valley yesterday. They had lots of rain in the western part of our state…ditches full of water and wet fields, too. I saw many flocks of migrating black birds and lots of birds lined up on the high-line wires. I am grateful that we didn’t get the snow they had in the Black Hills. Pictured are some scenes from around campus.

Thursday evening we had the Transitus Prayer Service in our Chapel. The Transitus is a service that remembers the death of St. Francis and the messages he gave to some of his followers before his death. It is such a prayerful and inspiring presentation. I did get a couple pictures of a few of the actors. Thank you for a great prayer experience.

Our feast of St. Francis was wonderful. We had Morning Prayer together in Chapel followed by a delicious brunch. Many Associates and Secular Franciscans joined us for a festive Mass with a beautiful homily given by Sr. Elise. The extra voices made for great music. In the evening we were treated to a spectacular concert by The Rose Ensemble. This group of about a dozen performers sang us a history of American Blue Grass music. We look forward to their coming back again. The acoustics in our Chapel is great and musicians like to perform there.

Saturday’s big event was hosting the 53rd Orphan Train Reunion. The 100+ attendees came from CA, FL, AZ, MN and many points in between. The program presenters sang songs telling stories of Orphan Train riders and showed slides of many Orphan Train riders. The presenters, from Texas, also did a Program to sold-out crowds, on the 3rd and 6th of October at the Union Depot in St. Paul. The table decorations were train engineer caps with a kerchief similar to what they wore around their necks. A railroad lawyer and engineers have now gotten interested in the history of the Orphan Train Riders and have provided much useful history to the Orphan Train leaders and riders.

Yesterday’s St. Cloud Times had a very nice article on the St. Francis Music Center’s Sestri (“Sisters” in Bohemian) choral group. The group of approximately 20 Sestri members, sing Slavic folk songs in the native languages. Celo V’ec directs the chorus.

Last week, too, was Sr. Jeanne Winter’s funeral. Here are a couple pictures from her memorial boards. Note the card made with pheasant feathers. She also did lots of tatting—an art I have not yet learned. I need someone to show me how to do it.

Some 300 pounds of cabbage were cut up and are now in the crock jars fermenting into sauerkraut. Thank you, Larry for all the cabbage you donated to us. I will think of you each time we have sauerkraut for meals for the next year. If I remember correctly, Sr. Ruth said she made 48 gallons of kraut.

Next week (Sunday afternoon through Wednesday) we will be having Community Meetings and all the Sisters from far and wide will be here. Please keep us in your prayers. The first ones will start arriving tomorrow. It is always good to have everyone here. Lord, give safe travel. Thanks.

Peace and blessings,

Sister Mary Lou