Each day of National Catholic Sisters Week, we will be sharing the story of one of our Jubilarian Sisters, those celebrating significant anniversaries in religious life!
Sister Denette grew up in Nebraska, playing in the
woods outside her family's house, exploring the hills, and herding cattle, she dreamed and wondered about God. Her parents taught her to pray various prayers, especially the rosary. Music was a big part of her school days, accompanying various musical groups and the annual high school musicals.
She attended Mount Marty College and graduated with a BA degree in accounting and business administration. Later she obtained an MBA from the University of South Dakota. From 1982 - 1986, she worked as an auditor for the US Department of Agriculture, Office of Inspector General, traveling extensively throughout the mid-west as part of her work. During this time she made annual retreats at the Monastery and felt called to enter Sacred Heart Monastery in 1986. She made her first monastic profession in 1988 and final monastic profession in 1991.
Sr. Denette continues to use her talents and training as accountant in the Monastery Business Office and as an accompanist at liturgies. She has also served as board member for various health care sponsored facilities, for the United Way and is a member of the Residents Encounter Christ (REC) Renewal Team for those who are imprisoned. As a Benedictine, community, prayer and work are very important to Sr. Denette. “Within community I celebrate life and the sisters call me to growth and to become more. Through Liturgy of the Hours and my own lectio my relationship with God and others deepens. In my ministry, I see the face of God.”
Born in Illinois, Sister Lynn was an only child but had many cousins and friends. After graduating Catholic high school in Chicago, she studied forestry at Michigan Tech University in and then Range management at the University of Wyoming. S. Lynn worked as an agricultural researcher for the Kansas Rural Center and later served as a volunteer in Kansas City, at both the Catholic Worker House and running a Community Garden Project for a parish neighborhood center serving the poor of inner Kansas City. Serving the poor and stewarding God’s creation have always been important to her.
S. Lynn entered Mother of God Monastery and made first monastic profession in 1988 and perpetual monastic profession in 1992. She took care of the monastery grounds and assisted in the business office. After receiving a Master’s degree in library science in 1993, she worked as librarian at the Harmony Hill Library and area public libraries.
In 2010 she returned to Watertown to serve as the monastery archivist, and
in 2011 moved to Sacred Heart Monastery in Yankton, SD to discern a transfer to that community. In Yankton she volunteered in Mount Marty College library, worked at Yankton Community Library, and taught a Wisdom of Benedict class at MMC. Currently she ministers at the monastery by driving for the care center, and working in the Monastery Library. Commenting on community living at this time of jubilee, she says, “I treasure and need our times of prayer and the common life as much as I need breathing and eating. It has helped me become a whole person.”
Blessings...and come back tomorrow for a "Golden Story"!
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