* ¥ Blind Nun Learned Gregorian in Hurry n By Christopher Hemon One of two blind members She left Denver Jan. 5, 195G, ed the Rice I.,ake community SLster Joachim finds her DENVER CATHO ft Sister Joachim had to of the Sisters of the Third Or­ for the motherhousc-novitiate and was accepted there. way around the hospital very “leam Gregorian in a hurry” der of St. Francis, Sister of the Franciscan nuns at Father Forquer is now at easily. She worked in Colora­ when she became a postulant, O 33 iTl XP ¥ Joachim found her sightless­ Rice Lake, Wis., and pro­ the Shrine of St. Jude in Chi­ do General hospital before because her first assignment ness more of an asset than a fessed final vows on Sept. 8, cago. 111., she added. Through joining the novitiate. She O OJ 33 < was to take charge of the Sis­ burden in learning “ instant 1961. his continuing solicitude, she finds that her Sisters are al­ ters’ choir at the mother- Gregorian.” was able to make this, her ways willing to aid her if house. Born at Ranger, Tex., she REGISTER ro o t/) 33 THERE ARE SEVERAL first, home visit since joining asked, but some of them are “ I sat down with the rec­ was raised in Denver, attend­ orders that take blind girls as the postulancy. worried at her confidence and THURSDAY, AUGUST 26, 1965 VOL ords of Gregorian singing, ing. in her early years, the postulants. Sister Joachim alacrity in moving from place and I played them over and schools for the blind in Austin Sister Joachim is on the said, but with the help of the staff of St. Joseph's hospital to place. over again,” the nun said, and in Colorado Springs. She then pastor of St. Dominic's at Rice Lake, where, she Using the Braille version of during a Register interview spent her summers in the church, Denver, the Rev. G. cheerfully declared, she “ method” books used by her this week. mile high cit^’ . J. Forquer, O.P., she contact- works in the “ dark room” de­ music students, Sister Joa­ veloping X-ray negatives, as chim can follow their efforts Temper Author she had done while in Denver. in musical theory. She also busies herself clean­ She literally “ plays it by ing test-tubes, works in the li­ ear" correcting the child’s brary, and docs “ other little mistakes as they proceed odd jobs around the hospital.” through the exercises. With True Lovcj “I also teach,” she said, SISTER JOACHIM invent­ “ right at the hospital, where ed a “ music by wire’ ’ system. the children come to me for It Is a complete musical staff, their music lessons. I start with treble and bass clefs, them in piano, at the small and leger lines. Sisters Advised studio I have there.” The lines are of wire “ The world expects, and deserves, something better from us than a vision of The sightle.ss nun has no fastened to a board measur­ aggiornamento that concerns itself with minutiae, with the trivia of life,” the trouble getting around, “ once ing two by one and a half I have learnt my surround­ Rev. Eugene Kennedy, M.M., told the Conference of Major Superiors of Women feet; on these, the nun teach­ ings,” she says. this week. er places “model” notes of Most heart-warming to her Speaking on the role of woman in the Church, on Tuesday, Aug. 23, at Loretto values from breve to demi- is the eagerness of the young­ Heights college, the Mary- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- semi-quaver, and asks the sters to walk with her. knoll Father emphasized that of persons over things, of re­ The Conference of Major student to identify them, and Once, kneeling for prayers authority must be tempered lationships over rules, of the Superiors of Women was es­ play them on the keyboard. after class, she heard a de­ with love. family over any organiza­ tablished to provide rapport “ This way they learn nota­ bate conducted in fierce whis­ There may be a way to God tion,” Father Kennedy said. between religious congrega- tion. and musical terms. As I pers between two children through small things, the “And because men have t .,ns in the United States and point to a note, or sign, they who each wanted to hold her priest said, but there is no written the rules in the to discuss ways to make their can tell mo what it is, and hand and walk her to the con­ reaching Him through petty Church, they have almost im­ work more effective. play it on the piano confident­ vent. things. posed their dulled sense of ly whenever they meet it in life on you too.” ”1 have two hands,” she their practice. “ Christianity and your con­ smiled, “ so both of them Women are the custodians secrated lives will mean little of these values, he continued, won.” to modern men if our big con­ and superiors must make it cerns are skirt lengths and She has one rule that must possible for their communi­ .^pocf^plia be enforced. She likes her Religion schedules, small rules, and ties to breathe their meaning class to sit straight, feet smaller regulations. back into the Mystical Body. i together, so as not to clutter “ Per.soiis are our concern, “ All too sadly, respect for According to Chester­ the aisles. Schools persons healthy and grown up the individual, a central no­ enough to love the world, and tion of Christian philosophy ton, the teetotaller has ONE GROUP of sixth grad­ ready to die for it. and theology, is something chosen a most unfortu­ ers, she remembers, are rarely experienced by semi­ nate phrase for the drunk­ “ Who will teach us these convinced that she can see. narians and nuns. List 3JO S truths if you fail to do it; who ard when he says that They were sprawled and “ It is always the human In their 37th year, the sum­ will keep love in the human the drunkard is making a hunched on and around the aspect of life that can be trun­ mer schools of religion in the family if God’s grown-up beast of himself. The desks when she walked in. cated in the name of progress “ Feet together, on the floor,” Denver Archdiocese had a to­ women do not?” man who drinks ordinari­ on another front," Father ly makes nothing but an she said, and the astonished tal enrollment of 3.703. The MaryknoU priest, a Kennedy said, and added: children instantly came to or­ In Denver and its suburbs, noted author and educator, is “ The world expects and de­ ordinary man of himself. der. certain that those dark at 13 schools, 1,284 boys and professor of psychology at the serves something far better The man who drinks ex­ glasses were not so “dark” girls were instructed in the Mar>-knoll seminary, Glen from us '.han a vision of aggi­ cessively makes a devil after all. knowledge and practice of Ellyn, m. ornamento that concerns it­ of himself. But nothing Both children and parents their faith. self with minutiae, with the connected with a human are appreciative of her skill F.\TIIER KENNEDY said trivia of life.” in teaching. Elsewhere in the archdio­ that in the general uneasiness and artistic thing like cese. the total was 2.419. en­ wine can bring one near­ “ They send their little ones of the world today, some IN THESE troubled and rolled in 33 schools, during for instruction in piano and might be afraid of their voca­ fearful times, the priest said, er to the brute life of the summer vacation this organ. I have never had to tion, afraid of being women, people are wondering, can nature. The only man advertise,” the nun added. year. afraid of their own feelings, the Church really come to life who is, in the exact and “ My handicap is no handi­ and of the price they might again? literal sense of the words, cap, unless people make it AMONG THE spiritual have to pay in disposing the “ Can the ship of Peter sail making a bea.st of him­ so,” Sister Joachim declared. fruits of the summer schools, Church for the action of the only on a sea of glass while self is the teetotaller. the Archdiocesan Confraterni­ Holy Spirit. we wait for yet a better time (Charles Dickens) Eyes at Her Finger-Tips When she first thought of * * • entering the convent, she ty of Christian Doctrine re­ In this awesome age. he de­ to give the good news of A bronze plaque in bas-relief of the Last dio” to teach small pupils musical apprecia­ wondered what she could port lists 11 Baptisms, 570 clared, “ God seems to speak God’s love to men? An error is more menacing Supper is admired by Sister Joachim, on a tion and piano. Bom in Ranger. Tex., Sister give, how she could help. First Communions, 22 per­ to us out of the whirlwind. “ Or can we challenge the than a crime, for an error be­ visit to (he “Register” this week. Sightless Joachim was educated in blind schools at “ I can do anything,” the as­ sons returned to the sac­ You are caught in the cross­ storm itself, take the chance, gets crimes. .A free lover is raments, and 81 Confirma­ worse than a profligate. For from birth, she is one of two blind members Austin and in Colorado Springs. She worked pirant told herself. “ I can fire of the generations. and bring the world to life tions.