"ST. THERESA MUSEUM BRIEF" #6 -"Two Strong Women Decision Makers"

THEIR COURAGEOUS  DECISIONS MADE A MONUMENTAL DIFFERENCE

Our little parish of Saint Theresa of Avila in Rhodelia, Kentucky, has produced 37 Sisters, 8 Priests, 1 Brother and hundreds of lay heroes in its 203 year history. In these periodic little "history briefs," I have spotlighted the various religious communities from which our Sisters belonged and their contributions to Saint Theresa Church. Among the Sisters coming from Saint Theresa, the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth had twenty-three, the Sisters of Loretto and the Mount Saint Joseph Ursulines both had five, the Sisters of Mercy had one and the Dominican Sisters had three.

No parish, of course, does all that it does without the service of heroic people from the outside. Nothing is truer in that regard than all that the Sisters of Charity have invested in our little parish.  We are especially indebted to the decisions made by two particular leaders of that religious community.  Without their decisions, Saint Theresa Church might not have survived. Even if it had survived, it would certainly have been spiritually deprived. Now we need to honor their investments by doing whatever we can to keep what they gave us going - even if these days call for a "reinvention" of ourselves so that this same community can be served in a whole new way going forward! So that we do not forget them, the Sisters of Charity are helping us remember them by giving us a grant to help develop our new gallery of historic photographs. It will hopefully remind the old and inform the young of our sacred 203 year history as a parish and all the sacrifices that were made to keep it going this long.  

MOTHER FRANCES GARDINER S.C.N.

In 1870, Mother Frances Gardiner and her Council made the decision to send the first Sisters of Charity of Nazareth to staff the Saint Theresa Academy. They were: Sister Generose O'Mealy (Superior), Sister Demetria Carey, Sister Marcelline Fleming, Sister Alma Cannon and Sister Raphaella O'Brien. Because of their generous and courageous decision, 92 more Sisters of Charity served our parish over the next 123 years.  

MOTHER BERTRAND CRIMMINS S.C.N.

In October 1950, Mother Bertrand and her assistants came to St. Theresa to select the sight for  a new school and convent and to give their approval of the primary plans. With that approval, the old Saint Theresa Academy was scheduled for demolition  and the new Saint Theresa School was scheduled to open in 1952. The four Sister selected to staff the new school were: Sister Mary Ancilla Meyer, Sister Rosalinda Reese, Sister James Anthony Costello and Sister Agnes Bernard Tholl. (All four of them taught me.) In future blog posts, I will recognize them and some of the Sisters who followed them. 

PROPOSED SAINT THERESA HISTORIC PHOTO GALLERY 

Funded By A Recent Grant From The Sisters of Charity of Nazareth.