World Day for Consecrated Life: Sisters bring tremendous wealth of experience to this diocese.

By Jay Nies

To be consecrated means to be dedicated by God to a holy purpose. All baptized Christians have an important calling to serve God in faith, love and holiness. But throughout salvation history, He has been making a special call to certain individuals to live radically and counterculturally for the growth and well-being of the Church.

These men and women freely answer that calling to consecrated life. Most do so as sisters, brothers or priests, although some laypeople do so through association with religious orders. This weekend, Feb. 4-5, the Roman Catholic Church in the United States will celebrate and honor all who receive and accept this important calling. Blessed Pope John Paul II in 1997 established the World Day of Consecrated Life as an annual observance to coincide with the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord (Feb. 2).

Through a mosaic of religious orders and congregations founded for various purposes throughout history, consecrated sisters, brothers and priests have been an important part of the Church in what is now the Jefferson City diocese almost as long as there have been Catholics here.

Today, there are 44 religious sisters, nine religious priests and one religious brother serving in the Jefferson City diocese. Most are involved in school or parish work and bring an impressive body of experience to their everyday endeavors. Free of familial responsibilities, many of these sisters, brothers and priests have been sent to serve in places close to and far from their homes, depending on where the needs are.

“As I entered the convent doors at age 17, I never, in my wildest dreams, could have foreseen where God would lead me or all of the blessings that would come my way from the many and varied persons to whom I have been sent and who were sent to me as well,” said Precious Blood Sister Eileen Schieber, Hispanic ministry co-coordinator and parish school of religion director for the Sedalia and Bahner parishes. “I have seen a great deal of this beautiful earth and its peoples,” she said. “The earth is full of the grandeur of God and its peoples manifest His Glory. Thanks be to God for all!”

Here are a few examples that only suggest the diversity of backgrounds among the consecrated religious in this diocese:

•Sister Ruth Ann Klauser SSND, principal of Mary Immaculate School in Kirksville, has been a member of the School Sisters of Notre Dame, a congregation with a strong history of Catholic education in this country. Most of her work has been in schools in the Jefferson City diocese, although she did serve for 10 years in the Diocese of Belleville, Ill. “I love watching my students grow closer to God each day,” said Sr. Ruth Ann. “I believe that each day God is sharing miracles with us. We just need to open our eyes and see. I believe like our SSND foundress, Blessed Mother Theresa Gerhardinger, that I can change the world by educating one student at a time.”

•Sister Barbara Neist SSND, coordinator of curriculum and instruction at Helias Catholic High School in Jefferson City, previously served for 15 years as a principal and associate school superintendent in the Los Angeles archdiocese, and 13 years as associate school superintendent in the San Antonio archdiocese. She believes both of those experiences helped prepare her for her work at Helias by helping her understand the common challenges facing Catholic education despite marked cultural differences in various parts of the country; appreciate various approaches to the process of accrediting Catholic schools; appreciate the value of cultural and racial diversity in Catholic education; and strengthen her belief in the primary importance of the ministry of Catholic education for the life of the Church. The common challenges to Catholic education, she stated, include: maintaining and strengthening Catholic identity, ensuring financial vitality and support, and serving those who want and need but cannot afford a Catholic education.

•Precious Blood Sister Eileen Schieber of Sedalia holds a master’s degree in biology and a master’s degree in theology. She has taught grade school, high school and junior college and has served as formation coordinator and director of initial formation for the Sisters of the Most Precious Blood of O’Fallon, Mo. She also served as general councilor for two terms in her congregation, during which she got to visit and admire the work of the sisters in Peru, Bolivia, and Finland. She served for many years as a retreat coordinator, director of directed retreats and supervisor for interns in spiritual direction.

While serving as vicar for religious in the Diocese of Toledo, Ohio, she became active in ministry to people with HIV-AIDS and helped establish and operate a home and volunteer service organization for them. In that capacity, she was invited by the Centers for Disease Control and the Chinese Medical Association to participate in an educational program in China with a team of over a hundred medical and volunteer personnel from the United States. At age 60, she went to the Mexican American Cultural Institute in San Antonio to study Spanish and spent some time in Mexico. She believes these experiences all serve her well in her current assignments: “Administrative skills I learned, experiences in and with other cultures very different from my own, experience with diocesan organization and work, a happy experience of childhood and family life — I can apply all of this to my work in Hispanic ministry,” she said. “My background in Biology has been especially helpful in the medical interpretation that I do with our parishioners and other Hispanics who live in our area.”

•Sister Laura Jean Spaeth SSND, campus minister at the Rolla Newman Center, said her years of teaching and education are essential to the work she does today. Also, her experience as a staff member for the inter-congregational Justice and Peace Center begun by Capuchin Franciscan friars, as well as working with her congregation as mission promoter at the international level, helps her in guiding the Newman Center’s Justice/Ethics Committee and a number of other programs. As a member for 10 years of the SSND international General Council Leadership Team, she visited over 25 of the 36 countries where SSNDs serve, giving her a rich global experience. “I find that my heart is especially sensitive to Missouri University of Science & Technology’s international students and love sharing with those who are part of our Newman community,” she said. “They add so much, and it is great to be able to say, ‘I’ve had the privilege of visiting your country.’” Her higher studies in theology and spirituality as well as the five years she spent as director of a spiritual renewal program in Glens Falls, N.Y., now help her with the spiritual development of Rolla’s Newman community.

•Sister Evelyn Marie Peterman FSM has been a member of the congregation now known as the Franciscan Sisters of Mary for 69 years. She draws on 23 years experience as a pharmacist; 10 years teaching pharmacology to student nurses; the past 40 years as a registered nurse; five years in a medical dispensary in Wema, Kenya; five years as a hospice nurse; and 11 years as a hospital chaplain while serving in prison, hospital and other volunteer ministries in Jefferson City. “The joys, sorrows, difficulties and challenges and blessings of these years make a whole story book of a blessed life,” she said. “Jesus said, ‘You have not chosen me but I have chosen you.’ Jesus has chosen me and my God has never left me.”

•Sister Mary Ruth Wand SSND, pastoral minister for Annunciation parish in California, spent most of her time before this assignment in Catholic elementary education and school administration. “In that role, it was my privilege to be involved with the whole family through the children,” she said. It was also very important to her that the school have a vital relationship with the entire parish. Now, as a pastoral minister, she gets to know families more through older parishioners, especially through pastoral care of those who are homebound or in care centers. “And I am certainly concerned about the well-being of all parishioners,” she said. Life, she said, is always a learning experience. “No matter what ministry or place of ministry, I am grateful to be of service to God’s people and to continue to grow in my own faith through those we serve,” she said. “God continues to bless me!”

•Dominican Sr. Suzanne Walker is principal of Holy Rosary School in Monroe City. Having joined the Dominican Sisters in 1964, she has been working in education for the past 44 years. She began her teaching career at St. Anthony School in the Bronx, New York, then taught at St. Thomas More School in St. Louis and has been teaching at Holy Rosary School in Monroe City for the past 36 years. Dominican sisters of Sparkill, N.Y., have been serving there since 1901. As a Consecrated Woman she strives to follow the motto of the founder of her Dominican Order. It is “Contemplate tradere” which means to hand on to others the fruit of contemplation and the Gospel message of Christ.