Community Happenings










New Associates




Lupita Garcia Alonso Navarrete (left) from Cuernavaca, Mexico, presently a Spanish teacher, Lilian Albal Ortega (center) from Cuernavaca, Mexico, a retired anthropologist and an expert in ancient Mexican cultures, and Malena Rogel Rubi (right) from Cuernavaca, Mexico, presently a Spanish teacher and a computer whiz, were received as associate members of the Sisters of St. Francis by Sister Jacquelyn Doepker, Community Minister, in Cuernavaca, Mexico on February 22, 2008.





Franciscans Federation


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Franciscans to meet in Minneapolis Public invited to talk on the Death Penalty

Franciscan women and men will descend upon Minneapolis July 9 to 12, for four days of prayer, conversation, and education on the growing needs of the environment and issues of social justice.

More than 500 Franciscans, members of more than 50 religious congregations and their associates, are expected at the annual conference. Each year, the group gathers to pray together, to meet and to discuss issues of concern as members of the Franciscan Federation – religious sisters, brothers, priests and those who serve with them in schools, colleges, parishes, hospitals and communities in the United States, Canada and the Caribbean.

Minneapolis has been ranked among the top cities in the nation in the Earth Day Network’s Urban Environment Report, and so there is a significant connection with the place of our event and this year’s theme, A Franciscan Dynamic: Right Relationship, Care for Earth, Care for Each Other. Because the theme is two-fold, there will be two thrusts of the event, one on the environment, and the other on social justice. The over arching theme is our relationship as being one with all creation and not over, above, or dominant to the earth with its diverse forms of life.

This year’s Franciscan Federation Peacemaker Award honors a member of each congregation who has demonstrated in their life and ministry care for the earth by seeking right relationship between ourselves and the earth, and/or had focused on care for each other through seeking justice for the poor. The recipient of this award is *Sister Rita Wienken.* Those who nominated her for this award cited her longtime dedication to promoting reverence for the earth and all of its creatures, her perseverance in the Development of FELC, and her hard work in initiating the Seeds of Hope Farm.

Prepaing to Work on Seeds of Hope Farm

Teaching Others to Care for the Earth

Sister Helen Prejean, CSJ, author of the book Dead Man Walking, which inspired a film by the same name, will speak on her experiences with the death penalty. In addition to being a keynote speaker at the conference, she will present a public talk: Death of Innocents, A Presentation on the Death Penalty. The talk was held on July 10 at 7 p.m. in the Minneapolis Marriot Center City, 30 South 7th Street.

Sister Helen Prejean is an internationally-known speaker on the death penalty, the author of two books on the subject. Since 1984, Sister Helen has divided her time between campaigning against the death penalty and counseling individual death row prisoners. Dead Man Walking was published in 1993 and nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. Her realization that some of the executed men were not guilty, led to her second book, The Death of Innocents; An Eyewitness Account of Wrongful Executions. She is presently working on a book about her experiences with poor people in Latin America.

Sister Helen will be joined by keynote speaker, Sister Marya Grathwohl, OSF. Sister Marya’s area of expertise is in One People: One Earth, and she is committed to personal, spiritual and cultural transformation that is beneficial to people and Earth. She is an adopted member of the Crow Tribe and her world view is strongly shaped by the Native American Spirituality, Earth Literacy, and bioregional and deep ecology studies. She is working on a book entitled After the First Thunder: Nature’s Unexpected Thresholds in the Holy.



During the conference, the Federation members will have the opportunity to become familiar with the region, as is the practice at recent conferences. The members will have the choice of participating in three pre-conference tours, one called Heart of the Heartland, the other a Twin Cities Sightseeing Tour, to celebrate a right relationship with others, or a steamboat tour on the Mississippi River.

All the tours are set on Monday, July 9. In the Heart of the Heartland tour, the participants will visit Freeport and tour a 200-acre organic dairy farm, St. John’s Abbey and University in Collegeville. There, the participants will learn about the abbey’s prairie restoration project and also the St. John’s Bible project, the first hand-written, illuminated Bible in 500 years. The tour also includes Clare’s Well in Annandale, a spirituality farm with its circle gardens, restored prairie, and geothermal heating structures.


For more information, contact Sister Sharon Dillon at FranFed@aol.com, call 202-529-2334, or visit the Franciscan Federation web site, www.FranFed.org PO Box 29080, Washington DC, 20017, 202-529-2334.. Please call to arrange for press coverage of the conference and events, P.O. Box 29080, Washington DC, 20017, 202-529-2334.




		Forever I will sing the goodness of the Lord for the beauties of creation that I enjoy daily; for the love of family and friends; for fifty years of service in our congregation in the roles of general councilor and spiritual director; for teaching children, youth, and adults in Ohio; for ministering on the Mississippi Delta and at the Texas-Mexico border; for becoming sister to so many of various cultures. For all these abundant blessings and friendships I say, “Thanks.” — Sister Ellen

		I celebrate the gift of life from my mother and father who inspired me by their faith. Through prayer and daily Eucharist, I proclaimed “wherever the need is.” My love reached out to children, the elderly, and others as I shared my gifts of compassion, care, music, and prayer. The gift of music took me on a singing pilgrimage to Rome and Assisi. Let all that is within me give praise and thanks to God! — Sister Patricia

		How can my heart sum up 50 years? Only in gratitude! Gratitude for all the goodness I’ve experienced from our faithful God; gratitude for support from my loving family; gratitude for encouragement from my dear friends; and gratitude for my Tiffin Franciscan community! In particular, I am thankful for my loving Mom, who all her life modeled for me the qualities of gentleness, caring, acceptance, patience and service! What a precious legacy! — Sister Stella








		Sister Mary Alberta Etzkorn, formerly Frances Anna Etzkorn, is the daughter of the late Rose Ann (Luersman) and Frank Etzkorn of St. John the Baptist Parish, Landeck. She has been a housekeeper at St. Anthony Pilgrim House, Carey, and in Blakeslee and Reed; a nurse’s aide at St. Francis Home; a dietary aide at St. Francis Home and St. Francis Convent, Tiffin; and seamstress at the motherhouse. She served as sacristan at St. Francis Home and assisted the retired priests there. At the present time Sister Alberta is a Minister of Prayer. A grand niece, Sister Rita Wienken, is also a member of the congregation.



		Sister Mary Emma Pothast, formerly Anna Elizabeth Pothast, is the daughter of the late Adeline (Bonifas) and Henry Pothast of St. John the Baptist Parish, Landeck. She graduated from Edgecliff College in Cincinnati, Ohio, and St. Vincent School of Nursing in Toledo, Ohio. She taught in New Washington, Peru, Miller City, Bismark, Fort Jennings, Bucyrus, Delphos, and Bryan. She also taught at the former St. Francis High School in Tiffin, and was teacher/principal in Millersville. She served as a nurse at St. Vincent Hospital, Toledo, and St. Francis Home, Tiffin, and in administration and nursing at Linton Hospital, Linton, ND, St. Anthony’s Orphanage, Toledo, and St. Francis Home, Tiffin. Sister Emma was sacristan at the motherhouse and St. Pius X Parish, Sycamore. At the present time she is a Minister of Prayer.