By Jessica Able, Record Staff Writer
More than 60 members of nine different congregations serving in the Archdiocese of Louisville were honored Feb. 8 at the annual World Day for Consecrated Life Mass held at St. Albert the Great Church.
Those women and men religious recognized at the annual liturgy are celebrating 50, 60, 70, 75 and 80 years of consecrated life.
Among those honored were the Ursuline Sisters of Mt. St. Joseph, Ursuline Sisters of Louisville, Sisters of Charity of Nazareth, Sisters of Mercy, Sisters of Loretto, Passionists, Dominican Sisters, Xaverian Brothers and the Little Sisters of the Poor.
Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz, who presided at the Mass, noted that Pope Francis has convened the Year of Consecrated Life, which began last November and extends to February 2016.
“Just think how the Lord Jesus works through each one of us,” he said. “But in a special way, as we add up your years of service, you who are jubilarians, we think of the countless women and men whose lives and hearts we’ve touched because of the ministry that is yours.”
The archbishop noted that Pope Francis spoke of the “authentic witness” of consecrated life at a recent gathering of the superiors of religious conferences of men.
“He said ‘More than ever the world and the church needs the authentic witnesses of religious life,’ ” the archbishop read.
In an apostolic letter released by the Vatican Nov. 21, Pope Francis encouraged women and men religious to “have the courage to be present in the midst of conflict and tension.”
“The witness which can really attract,” Pope Francis wrote, “is that associated with attitudes that are uncommon: generosity, detachment, sacrifice, self-forgetfulness in order to care for others.”
Following is a list provided by the Vocation Office of those who celebrated jubilee anniversaries:
80 years
Sister Alice Teresa Wood, S.C.N.
75 years
Sister Mary Jeanette Cambron, S.C.N.
Sister Mary Eugene Ivie, S.C.N.
Sister Patricia Lowman, O.S.U.
70 years
Sister Elaine Carey, O.P.
Sister Irene Marie Clare, L.S.P.
Sister Miriam Corcoran, S.C.N.
Brother Harold Eccles, C.F.X.
Brother Peter Fitzpatrick, C.F.X.
Sister Marietta Goy, S.L.
Sister Delores Greenwell, S.C.N.
Sister Theresina Greenwell, O.P.
Sister Dolores Kelledy, S.L.
Sister Jean Kelley, S.L.
Sister Pauletta Kelly, O.P.
Sister Isabel Lehmenkuler, O.S.U.
Sister Margaret Regina Murphy, S.C.N.
Sister Imelda Murrin, O.P.
Sister Annunciata Muth, O.S.U.
Sister Emily Pugh, S.C.N.
Sister Jean Vessels, S.C.N.
60 years
Sister Lupe Arciniega, S.L.
Sister Regina Marie Bevelaqua, O.S.U.
Sister Martha Clan, S.C.N.
Sister Michaella Cronin, S.C.N.
Sister Ann Daylor, O.P.
Sister Christine Dobowlski, I.H.M.
Sister Miriam Frenke, S.C.N
Sister Mary Serra Goethals, S.C.N.
Sister Margaret Marie Greenwell, O.S.U.M.S.J.
Sister Phyllis Hannon, S.C.N.
Sister Miriam Louise Hauser, S.C.N.
Sister Justina Heneghan, R.S.M.
Brother James Malone, C.F.X.
Sister Gabriel Mason, S.L.
Sister Joan Monica McGuire, O.P.
Sister Patricia Rae McNamara, O.P.
Sister Martha McNulty, O.P.
Sister Michael Leo Mullaney, S.C.N.
Sister Janet Marie Peterworth, O.S.U.
Sister Mary Margaret Reid, S.C.N.
Sister Ruth Anne Rezek, O.P.
Sister James Grace Richmond, O.P.
Sister Joan Robishaw, S.C.N.
Sister Irene Satory, S.C.N.
Sister Marilyn Shea, S.C.N.
Sister Mary Kathleen Sheehan, S.C.N.
Sister Grace Simms, O.P.
Sister Dorothy Thomas, S.C.N.
Sister Loretta Weller, S.C.N.
50 years
Sister Michael Marie Friedman, O.S.U.M.S.J.
Sister Margaret Ann Hagan, O.S.U.
Sister Ruth Ann Haunz, O.S.U.
Sister Paula Klein-Kracht, O.S.U.
Sister Eva Marie Kowalski, S.C.N.
Sister Emma Anne Munsterman, O.S.U.M.S.J.
Sister Diana Newton, R.S.M.
Sister Janet Rabideau, S.L.
Sister Marian Stenken, S.C.N.
Father Robert Weiss, C.P.
Sister Rita Ann Wigginton, O.S.U.