Religious gather to celebrate
World Day of Consecrated Life

Click here to see pictures from the event

By Sean Gallagher

Nearly 100 religious sisters, brothers and priests from several religious orders ministering in the archdiocese gathered in SS. Peter and Paul Cathedral in Indianapolis on Feb. 6 to celebrate the World Day of Consecrated Life.

Father William Stumpf, archdiocesan vicar for clergy and parish life coordinators, celebrated the Mass at which all religious present renewed their vows and jubilarians were honored for their years of life in their communities.

At the start of the Mass, Father Stumpf read a personal greeting to the religious from Archbishop Daniel M. Buechlein, who was unable to be present for the liturgy.

In his greeting, Archbishop Buechlein noted that “consecrated life is one of the extraordinary graces in our Church universal and it is a particular and beautiful grace for our archdiocese.”

Both the universal and local nature of the gift of religious life certainly was not lost on Providence Sister Ann Margaret O’Hara.

The superior general of the religious community based in Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, Sister Ann Margaret gathered last November with religious from around the world at the second International Congress on Consecrated Life held in Rome.

Her religious vocation blossomed more than 50 years ago while she was a member of St. Anthony of Padua Parish in Clarksville and a member of the first graduating class of Our Lady of Providence High School in Clarksville.

In an interview prior to the Mass, Sister Ann Margaret, who entered her community 50 years ago, noted how the Providence sisters who were her high school instructors led her to consider her call to the religious life.

“What they inspired me to [was] to really make a difference with my life,” she said, “and to make things better for people in their own lives.”

Oldenburg Franciscan Sisters Anna Marie Stier and Olivia Marie Stier, both present at the Mass, called St. Mary Parish in Greensburg their home parish before beginning their religious life 75 years ago.

These biological sisters joined a third sibling, Oldenburg Franciscan Sister Mary Catherine Stier, who had entered the community five years earlier. Sister Mary Catherine was unable to attend the Mass. Among the three, they have lived a combined 230 years of religious life.

Sister Anna Marie noted that it was the example of the Franciscan sisters who taught her in elementary school that led her to consider religious life. She followed in their footsteps, teaching in several schools in the archdioceses of Cincinnati, Indianapolis and St. Louis.

“One thing that I appreciate most is when I see these [Franciscan] sisters who I had taught in perhaps the first-grade or fourth-grade,” she said, “and see that they have developed and are now teaching in colleges and universities.”

The Stier sisters are not alone among the Oldenburg Franciscans who, when they entered the community, came from an archdiocesan parish and joined with a biological sister.

Oldenburg Franciscan Sisters Evelyn and Rachel Lindenmaier are identical twins who were raised in the faith at St. Roch Parish in Indianapolis their home parish.

The Lindenmaier sisters, who are celebrating the 50th anniversary of their entrance into the community said that although they began considering the religious life while still in elementary school, they never discussed their discernment with each other.

“We did not want to be an influence on each other,” Sister Evelyn said, “because we each had our own lives to live.”

Despite this respectful distance the twins gave each other, Sister Rachel noted that the physical separation from her twin sister that she experienced in her various assignments was difficult for her at times.

“That was very challenging,” she said, “but I always remembered my mother’s words that stay with me to this day, ‘God only lent her to me.’ ”

Jesuit Brother John Buchman, who was present at the Mass, entered the Society of Jesus from St. Therese of the Infant Jesus (Little Flower) Parish in Indianapolis in 1951 after graduating from Cathedral High School.

For 20 years, he served in various assignments in Ohio and Illinois, working as a cook and in various agricultural jobs. He has ministered at Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School since 1971, working in its business office, bookstore, mailroom and cafeteria.

In an interview before the Mass, Brother Buchman expressed the joy he feels as he looks back over his life as a Jesuit and 34 years of ministry at Brebeuf.

“I really have enjoyed everything,” he said. “And I love being with the kids here at the high school. It kind of keeps me young, too.”

He also noted that the varied kinds of work to which he has been called have helped him as a religious brother nurture a “great trust in our Lord for help in whatever [came my] way.”

Of the religious orders represented at the cathedral on Sunday, some were based here in the archdiocese while others, like the Missionaries of Charity, were founded thousands of miles away. Similarly, of the religious present, some grew up within the archdiocese while others came here from faraway lands.

Sister Ann Margaret saw in all of them, however, an important common bond.

“I think that it’s very moving to know that these [men and] women have made a response to a call from God in a variety of ways,” she said. “They really have given their lives over to this call, this mission. People can make a lifetime commitment to that.” †

See pictures from the event