Godspeed, Sister Anne!
November 10, 2019

Dear Friends,
 
At the end of the 10:00 Mass today we will take a moment to thank Sister Anne Herkenrath for her decades of service to our parish. In the near future, she will be moving to Marylhurst, Oregon (near Portland), where she will join other Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary in a retirement community. It will be coming full circle for her because that’s exactly where she began her religious life as a postulant and novice some seventy years ago!

Bidding farewell to Sister Anne is a painful thing for me and for everyone who knows and loves her. In so many ways, she has been right at the heart of this parish for all the many years she has served here. When I arrived here as pastor in 1988, Sister Anne is the one I depended upon more than anyone else to show me “the ropes,” and to help me find my way. I could never have done it without her. Over the years, we became dear friends as she guided me with her down-to-earth wisdom, put up with my idiosyncrasies, inspired me by her love for Jesus and for the Church, and got me to slow down and smile when the challenges were great. So many of us have our Sr. Anne stories and we will tell them as long as we live!

I hope you will find an opportunity today or in the near future to express your gratitude to her and to wish her well on this newest stage of her pilgrimage of life and faith. And please join me in praying for her – that her transition to Marylhurst will be a smooth one, that she will know deep peace, and that she will continue to enjoy the love and company of family and friends who love her beyond measure!

Father Ryan