Sr. Margaret Hickey, ND 
Provincial President

Family-- 
If ever there was a word charged with emotion, that one is it. Family can be as simple as one blood relative or it can be as complex as second cousins twice-removed. It can be as formal as a marriage certificate or it can be as casual as welcoming a friend to Thanksgiving dinner year after year. It can encompass one generation or many, reaching into the past or future. Family is one thing that people have more opinions about than politics or football. Families have been around a long time, in many shapes and forms. Family structures differ among cultures and even from generation to generation in America. Family, or lack of family, is probably the most important influence in the life of most people.

 In the 1500’s in France, family life was in serious trouble. St. Peter Fourier and Blessed Alix LeClerc founded the community of Notre Dame Sisters to educate young women with the goal of strengthening families and bringing God’s love into families. In the 1800’s, Father Gabriel Schneider re-formed the Notre Dame Community in the present-day Czech Republic, for the same purpose. Since that time the Notre Dame Sisters have worked to fulfill this vision of families that are strong in the love of God. In all the different ways that the Sisters work and in all the jobs that they do, strengthening families remains their overall goal. Their desire is to help keep each family out of serious trouble in our present society. 

Today many Notre Dame Sisters teach both young women and young men in elementary schools, secondary schools and colleges. Through the student, the Sisters make an impact on the life of the family. 

Sr. Marlene Bakken teaches 5th grade at St. Wenceslaus School in Wahoo, NE. She reflects on the day after the terrorist attack on the United States. She could tell from their comments and attitudes which students had participated in family discussions, and which had not. She hopes that what she imparts to the students in her classroom setting also brings a Catholic perspective into family discussion and decision-making. She hopes to strengthen their unity this way.
For almost 30 years Sr. Joy Connealy, Finance Officer for the Notre Dame Sisters, has been an active member of the Teens Encounter Christ community, or the TEC family. TEC is a movement in the Church that assists young people in meeting God in a very personal way and seeing how the Church is there to help them. Over and over she has seen how important it is to come together in TEC as an intergenerational community. Not just teens, but young people and adults of all ages come to share faith and to discover God’s love. So many times families can "hear" one another again after one member has had a significant experience. Oftentimes the "hearing" produces reconciliation. 

Sr. Alma Janousek is a chaplain, serving as the "presence of God" to people suffering the "soul sickness" of alcoholism and addiction. Recently Sr. Alma helped a young addicted person’s father understand that he was not spiritually right with his son, and helped them establish better communication. By the end of treatment, the young man and his father were more at peace with each other. Sr. Alma believes that people have a better recovery rate if the family becomes involved and learns "tough love." 

In recent years many of the Sisters have become involved with elderly people. As life expectancies increase, there is a great need for people to grow older with dignity, independence and meaning in their lives. Often this is accomplished within the older person’s family. When that is not possible, the Sisters sometimes function as extended family members in caring for older persons. Several Sisters work in nursing capacities or as home companions. Sr. Dolores Pavlik, senior member of the Notre Dame Community, spends a great deal of her free time with seniors who are living at Seven Oaks of Florence, the independent living facility sponsored by the Notre Dame Sisters. She began by teaching crafts, but as she puts it, "most of the sessions were gab sessions" in which persons were free to share their desires and their needs. Now Sr. Dolores also contributes by helping Sr. Karen wash dishes after lunch is served at Seven Oaks. Sr. Dorothy Pluhacek, who is also "retired," visits fifteen to eighteen persons at a local care center nearly every Sunday, accompanying her sister Helen. These two energetic sisters have been visiting many of the same people for years, and have come to know their families. Sr. Phyllis Ann Hayek, who manages Seven Oaks of Florence, spends much time with the families of the residents. She has come to recognize how families treasure their older members, and appreciate those who help care for them. The good work of the Notre Dame Sisters flows from their love of God and the desire to strengthen families by placing God’s love in their midst. Their ministry is grounded in their hours of time spent in community and individual prayer. They bring to this prayer their ministry experiences and all the dreams, desires and needs of the families they serve. For the Notre Dame Sisters, "family" is not only a word but also a reality charged with emotion and in need today. Their goal is to support family life, to enable it to be healed, unified and life-giving. Inspired by their founders’ understanding and mission they work to build strong families which in turn build a strong church and a strong society.

From Sr. Mary Ann Zimmer,ND 

I am sure that most of us have had our moments of despair about "what is going on in our world today." 
Our fears and worries have only increased with the events of the last few months. It does seem, though, that the determination to contribute to positive solutions and to come together to solve problems has also increased to an inspiring degree. There is something about taking a step, however small, toward positive change that can be a moment of grace and a source of hope and energy for us. This need to do something in the face of violence in our world is what drew Sr. Mary Ann Zimmer into her efforts toward abolishing Nebraska’s death penalty. "I just couldn’t stand the fact that these killings were being done in the name of all Nebraska citizens. I don’t want us to be solving our problems this way," says Sr. Mary Ann. These are some of the things that Sr. Mary Ann has learned since she began this work: 

• More needs to be done for the victims left behind by acts of violence.
• The death penalty doesn't save money because capital cases are so expensive to try.
• The death penalty has never been proved to be a deterrent to crime.
• Polls are beginning to show a shift toward preferring the option of life in prison without parole.
• Even the families of victims do not universally support the death penalty.
• Mistakes in the trial of capital defendants are more frequent than we have realized.
• Fair application of the death penalty seems impossible in view of the differences in cases, quality of evidence, juries, etc.
• Having to carry out capital punishment has harmful effects on prison staff
• The teachings of most major religiong reject the death penalty.
   

Sr. Mary Ann’s volunteer work has mostly consisted in writing grants and organizing volunteers so that those who are dedicated to this work can be as effective as possible. In Nebraska most efforts are directed toward church members of all denominations to help them understand why their church opposes capital punishment. "Because there has been so much information in the press about all the national cases of erroneous conviction, we are finding more and more people who want to help end this practice in Nebraska," says Sr. Mary Ann. She is also noticing many more people who are connecting capital punishment to their concerns about other right to life issues.

Sr. Celeste Wobeter celebrates twenty years at St. Patrick's Church

Twenty years at St. Patrick’s Church in Fremont! 
That seems like a long time! 
However, I cannot believe how quickly those years have flown by. In that time I have worked with three different pastors and a great variety of assistant priests and lay staff members who have enriched my life. Also each and every member of the parish has been a blessing to me in so many ways as we have worked together on committees, prayed together, dreamed dreams and visions for the church and community, shared our faith and our lives, supported one another in good times and hard times, laughed and cried together. As pastoral minister I am blessed to work with the aging of our parish, the homebound, the sick, the dying and the grieving; I coordinate the Evangelization committee which does outreach to inactive Catholics and provides many opportunities for spiritual renewal and community building events throughout the year; I minister to the separated, divorced and widowed of the parish and community through coping sessions and a support group. As Notre Dame Sisters our mission is to respond to unmet needs of our world helping people become aware of God’s great love for them. Parish ministry, too, is a response to unmet needs. Each day is an opportunity to bring healing, peace, love and support to those in the parish and community. A couple areas of need in the community during my time here were children from families when parents are deceased, separated or divorced and the growing Hispanic Community. I initiated the Rainbows program which is a support group for grade school children to help them adjust to their family situation after separation, divorce or death of a parent. In response to the Hispanic Community we on the Evangelization Committee coordinated a Cinco de Mayo celebration with liturgy, food and dance. We continued for a year and a half with a monthly Mass and responded to needs as well as we could without knowing the language, until we got a Spanish speaking priest and a full time Hispanic minister in the parish. Each day is an opportunity to meet Christ in the people around me, to help people discover God’s presence and power within them so they can recognize and rejoice in God’s wonderful love for them. The people of St. Patrick’s have been Christ to me and have called and challenged me to continue to grow in my faith, in my ministry and all of my life. I am grateful for these 20 years of opportunity and grace! 
Sr. Celeste Wobeter, ND

Energetic Woman of Faith and Vision Advocates for Strong Family Life 
the story of Mary Jo Pedersen
recipient of the 2002 Mother Qualberta Service Award 
Each year at their Annual "Celebration of Spirit" Dinner the Notre Dame Sisters recognize an individual who embodies the spirit of Mother Qualberta who led the Sisters to the United States in 1910. This year’s Mother Qualberta Service Award recipient is Mary Jo Pedersen, Marriage and Family Spirituality Specialist with the Family Life Office in the Omaha Archdiocese. Mary Jo has served the Family Life Office, headed by Notre Dame Sister Barbara Markey, for twenty years. During that time she has given workshops and retreats, has authored books and manuals, and has advocated for the needs of families, especially young families, on the local, national and international levels. Mary Jo says that the work of the Family Life Office touches thousands of households each year. 
What energizes Mary Jo for this ministry? Mary Jo says her family life and ministry is like a woven fabric and it is hard to identify what comes first. Her family life has enriched her ministry and her ministry has enriched her family life. But she does identify four elements that figure into her energy for what she does. First of all her family of origin, a strong Italian family, is closely knit and taught her that one’s relationship with the church is more than Sunday mass attendance. It is a relationship in which a member takes responsibility and shares one’s talents for the good of the church. Secondly, she and her husband David have nurtured each other’s gifts as they have nurtured the lives of their three children, Erik, Stephen, and Kristen and now a daughter-law Jean and twin grandchildren. Mary Jo and David have sacrificed for each other, and have given each other the freedom and encouragement to be of service to their church and society. Especially today, the extended family is important to them as they gather very often with brothers and sisters and their families. Thirdly, Mary Jo has been positively influenced by a number of women religious over the years: the Sisters of Mercy, the Religious of the Sacred Heart, the Servants of Mary, and the Notre Dame Sisters. She has been impressed by their commitment, their social justice consciousness and the way they have invited her to share her talents and to see the bigger picture of life. Once she was invited to consider religious life but realized that people of all vocations are called to holiness too. Lastly, Mary Jo loves working with lay people and married couples, forming them into family ministers. She realizes the importance of a strong laity in the church at this time. She uses her own family experiences and her training experiences to envision directions and materials for the Family Life Office, so that it can better meet the needs of today’s families. The gifted, generous and faithful spirit of the laity gives her energy and inspiration. As she forms them in like-to-like ministry, she strengthens them and her own marriage also. 
All this has led Mary Jo to pioneer and pilot a recent series of enrichment evenings for couples in marital spirituality, entitled "Living the Promised Life." The series includes the Catholic tradition of the theology and spirituality of marriage. What the series attempts to do is to take the academic information about marriage and put it into pastoral action, to meet the everyday needs and desires of the couples. Couples are shown how to work at their partnership, to identify their spirituality and charism, in order to make it last longer and be more life-giving. Mary Jo defines the family as "an intimate community of love and life." A family spirituality involves daily efforts at covenant living, recognizing the sacred in the ordinary, prayer, rituals and traditions, commitment to gospel living, forgiveness and reconciliation, and relationship with the larger church.
What words of wisdom does Mary Jo offer to today’s families? She says first, intentionally work at being a couple and a family, communicating, prioritizing time (including leisure time), reconciling differences and sharing faith; and second, intentionally celebrate who you are as family. 
The Notre Dame Sisters celebrate Mary Jo Pedersen, teacher, pioneer, wife and mother, woman of faith and service and thank her for her ministry of strengthening family life in our church and society.

 "A Celebration of Spirit: Strengthening Families" is the theme of the 2002 Notre Dame Sisters’ Development Dinner and Silent Auction, to be held Sunday, February 24, 2002. 
This annual dinner is the only fund-raising event held for the Notre Dame Sisters. Proceeds from the dinner, silent auction and raffle go to fund the good works and ministries of the Sisters. 
Dinner Co-Chairs are Dave and Linda Finken Shanahan, and Kevin and Mary Buglewicz Duffy. Both Linda and Mary are graduates of Notre Dame Academy. Both couples have worked to support the Sisters’ ministries for many years. Honorary Co-Chairs are Fr. Pat McCaslin and Fr. Jack McCaslin, (photo below) who are life-long friends and partners in ministry. 
Continuing a partnership that has lasted nearly thirty years, Roncalli Catholic High School has donated space and supplies for the Sisters’ dinner. Roncalli President Dr. Duane Gross and the Development Staff, including Sr. Rosalee Burke, N.D., volunteer to help make the Sisters’ "Celebration of Spirit" a great success.
 The Silent Auction is also a collaboration of dedicated volunteers, many of them long-time friends and former students of the Sisters. In 2002 the focus of the Silent Auction is to bring useful and practical items up for bid. A queen-size handmade "Sampler"quilt has been created by Betty Cronican and a cabin quilt has been made by Jenene Rauth, both quilted by Sarah Hansen of Honey Bee Quilting. Many of the Notre Dame Sisters spend all year working on unique hand-crafted creations for the Auction. Other specialties up for bid include a dinner for six cooked on a Weber Grill by Fr. Pat McCaslin, and a complete Czech Dinner prepared by Blanche Buglewicz and Mary Buglewicz Duffy.