Bending in Season
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\ \ BENDING IN SEASON HISTORY OF THE NORTH AMERICAN PROVINCE OF THE SISTERS.. OF TilE. DIVINE SAVIOR 1895 TO 1985 BENDING IN SEASON HISTORY OF THE NORTH AMERICAN PROVINCE OF THE SISTERS OF THE DIVINE SAVIOR 1895 TO 1985 By Sister Margaret Shekleton, S.D.S. Sisters of the Divine Savior Milwaukee, Wisconsin Copyright © 1985 SISTERS OF THE DIVINE SAVIOR Library of Congress Catalog Number- 85-63163 ISBN 0-9616092-0-6 Printed in the United States of America By Bulfin Printers, Inc., Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Designed by Sister Peter Julian Werner, SSSF. COVER PHOTO: "Frau im Wind" Ernst Barlach Nachlassvertretung Hamburg, West Germany Reprinted with permission. IV DEDICATION To all the Sisters of the North American Province. v TABLE OF CONTENTS v DEDICATION vii TABLE OF CONTENTS ix PREFACE xi FOREWORD xiii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS XV EPIGRAPH BOOK I CHAPTER 1 3 Season of Planting, The Founders CHAPTER2 25 Season of Growing, Foundation in Tivoli CHAPTER3 36 Opening to the East and West CHAPTER4 51 First Convent CHAPTERS 63 Country Community, St. Nazianz CHAPTER6 73 Trouble in the American Community CHAPTER 7 83 Season of Controversy CHAPTERS 96 Establishment of the Novitiate BOOK II CHAPTER 9 111 Season of Expansion, 1905 I St. Mary's Hospital, Wausau, Wisconsin CHAPTER 10 143 Tradition of Caring I St. Mary's Hospital, Columbus, Wisconsin CHAPTER 11 156 Hospital Care Expands I St. Savior's Hospital, Portage, Wisconsin CHAPTER 12 173 Boon For West Bend I St. Joseph's Community Hospital, West Bend, Wisconsin CHAPTER 13 194 Partner of St. Mary's Convent I St. Mary's Nursing Home, Milwaukee, Wisconsin vii BOOK III CHAPTER 14 205 Apostolates of Teaching I (Mother Hedwig Paetsch, 1926-1929) CHAPTER 15 219 Depression Years I (Mother Blanche Kinzer, 1929-1935) CHAPTER 16 229 War Years I (Mother Ottilia Haeckel, 1935-1947) CHAPTER 17 243 Season oUhe Post War Boom I (Mother Speranda Vogelsang; 1947-1953) CHAPTER 18 259 Season of Renewal I (Mother Demetria Lang, 1953-1959) CHAPTER 19 274 Sense of Expectancy I (Mother Aquin Gilles, 1959-1965) CHAPTER20 286 Upheaval and Change I (Mother Charline Shekleton, 1965-1969) CHAPTER21 301 Tumultuous Season I (Sister Helene Patefield, 1969-1972) CHAPTER22 314 Concepts of Team Government I (Sister Maureen Hopkins, 1972-1978) CHAPTER23 330 Long Range Planning, Task of Renewal I (Sister Mary Rouse, 1978-1984) 353 EPILOGUE 355 APPENDICES APPENDIX ONE 357 Rule of the Second Order of the Catholic Teaching Society APPENDIX TWO 365 Members of the North American Province Serving Outside the United States APPENDIX THREE 371 Sisters of the Divine Savior I North American Provincial Leaders APPENDIX FOUR 389 Uniontown APPENDIX FIVE 391 Publications of the North American Province 395 NOTES TO THE TEXT 407 BIBLIOGRAPHY 413 INDEX viii PREFACE The history of the North American Province of the Sisters of the Divine Savior is the story of the Sisters themselves. I did not intend to write merely a chronicle of their struggles to build and maintain institutions. But there was one great drawback in telling the per sonal history of our early community members. It was even difficult with some of our more recent colleagues. They left very little infor mation about themselves, keeping neither journals nor diaries. Identified with the work of the hospitals, schools and convents to which they were assigned, they often lost their identity in the community's corporate task. However, some Sisters did emerge as leaders. I tried to tell their story as best I could from scattered pieces of information found in the Chronicles, local council minutes and letters. Many of these women deserve a fuller study of their lives and contribution to the province. Yet, by far, most Sisters have not been mentioned by name. They were the ones who enabled the daily work of the community to continue. Their bedside nursing, teaching, household labor and adminis tration are not recounted except in generalities. But they touched the lives of countless patients, students, colleagues, community members. No one can measure their influence over the years. Since the community arrived in the United States in 1895, theirs is the most important story. But they remain hidden. As readers will discover, this story is about human beings who have their faults and foibles, their successes and mistakes. Sisters in the past accepted the invitation to be "signs." They responded as only humans can- in a human way. Some plunged into the com munity and spread life and enthusiasm wherever they went. Some lived and worked so quietly they were scarcely noticed. Some stood out for their achievements. Others walked as if on water, leaving ix little trace of their presence. The story is not always edifying. But it is good to tell it. As the poet Santayana remarked, "Those who ignore history are condemned to repeat its mistakes." This story does not end. It stands at the crossroads. It is the chronicle of what has been. The author takes full responsibility for what she has written, for the interpretation of events and circum stances as they appeared to her. For important omissions - and there may be some - she takes responsibility as well. Two insights emerge clearly as the writer looks back at the work. It is dangerous to write a history of which one has been an active participant for more than half the province's existence. The other and more important learning: it is in people that history is made. It is in people that the Holy Spirit moves to reveal Jesus, to give life, to inspire community, to be signs of His presence in this world. It is in people we come to know the Lord Jesus. Sister Margaret Shekleton, S.D.S. May, 1985 X FOREWORD This is the story of women who responded to a call to follow Jesus and continue His mission. The lives of many women are woven together in a text which unfolds the story of a community of Catholic Sisters in the United States: it is also part of a larger story, a worldwide story. This is a story about immigrant women who left their home lands to come to a new land of foreign ways. It is the story of many women who continued Jesus' mission in the United States with all of its struggles, who survived through the Depression years, and moves so to speak, into the adult years of a global age. Blended in, are snatches of the story of the U.S. Church, with its multifaceted complexities and stages of development. It is a story so appro priately titled. As Sophocles suggests, it is the sfory of Greatness. The inspiration for the cover tells the story in a glance, WOMAN, strong, yet flexible, bendable, pliant. This strong woman is any and every woman - the immigrant, the young, the old, the woman at the height of her energy and life; her strength is her spirit, her inner person. "Frau im Wind" was created in 1932 by the German sculptor, artist and dramatist, Ernst Barlach. The human figure was the single motif of Barlach's work. He makes the intangible tangible. The wind shapes this figure, determines its rhythm, is in it and around it. The wind is the natural current of air. It moves things and helps them to sway and bend. This book has a unique significance. It captures in print a "family's" story. It is written at a time of technological advance ment, nuclear power, sexual exploitation, pluralism in Church and Xl society, at the end of a decade set aside by the United Nations to deal with women's issues. It documents a lifestyle existing in the Church because of the timeless challenge to follow Jesus and con tinue His mission. Most importantly, this story may enable readers to realize the closeness to their own experience, the challenge in all of life to bend in season. This is a story of personal greatness. j~ ~~;~ .t/.A>.../. Sister Virginia Honish, S.D.S. Provincial Superior Xll ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I wish to acknowledge my gratitude to Sister Maureen Hopkins, S.D.S., who as provincial superior, asked me to write this history, and to Sister Mary Rouse, S.D.S., her successor, who supported and encouraged me along the way. I wish to acknowledge the sup port of the Provincial Team, especially that of Sister Virginia Honish, S.D.S., during my years of research and writing. To Sister Ferdinelle Kinzer, S.D.S., provincial archivist, I owe much grati tude for her ever-ready help in tracking down information. To Sister Monica Lietz, S.D.S., present archivist, I owe much grati tude. To Sister Mary Clare Hart, S.D.S. general archivist at Salva tor Mundi in Rome, to Sister Aquin Gilles, S.D.S, and to Sister Aloysia Kliemke, S.D.S., for their assistance 1 am grateful. I owe a special debt of gratitude to Father Jerome Schommer, S.D.S., for making available much relevant correspondence from the archives of the Salvatorian Fathers in Rome. For their work in translating countless documents from the German, I am indebted to Sister Kristin Stoppleworth, S.D.S., Sister Mary Kay Strassmair, S.D.S., Sister Protase Meixner, S.D.S., Sister Olympia Heuel, S.D.S., Sister Johanna Feder, S.D.S., and Father Frederick Dorn, S.D.S. To the Sisters who read the manuscript and offered valuable criti cism, I am grateful. My gratitude to Dr. Frank Probst for his care ful review of the manuscript and valuable suggestions. To Father Paul Portland, S.D.S. and Father Thomas Novak, S.D.S.