Motherhouse Community Celebrates Jubilees of Profession

May 15, 2018

On Sunday, May 6, the Motherhouse community had the joy of celebrating the Iron Jubilee (65 years of profession) of Sister Mary Margaret Agnes and the Silver Jubilee (25 years of profession) of Sister Maria Elke. Both sisters have had an important part in the history of the Motherhouse. Sister Mary Margaret Agnes is the one sister of Notre Dame who has lived in the Motherhouse the longest—56 ½ years to be exact! Sister Maria Elke of the current community members has lived in the Motherhouse the longest—17 ½ years! These two sisters have contributed much to the life and spirit of our international community in Rome and so it was a pleasure for us to celebrate with them and show our love and gratitude for their dedication and service to all of us. Sister Mary Margaret Agnes now lives in Covington but she and Sister Cormarie, a past member of the Motherhouse community for 33 years, have been in Rome on a home visit.

We were blessed to have our Italian sisters join us for the liturgy and dinner and also enjoyed the presence of our Brazilian sisters on the congregational pilgrimage who had just arrived the evening before.

The day began with a festive breakfast at which we paid tribute to the jubilarians in words and with cards and gifts. At Mass Sister Mary Margaret Agnes and Sister Maria Elke praised God in a special way by singing two songs—a responsorial psalm and a meditation after communion. We enjoyed a lovely dinner and everyone took part in a program after dinner. The program began with an entertaining power point presentation offering glimpses into the past years of the two jubilarians. With photos we recalled the beginning years of their religious lives and also some fun times they had on different occasions. Then each language group entertained with a song from their country. We, therefore, heard songs in Portuguese, Indonesian, Vietnamese, Chinese, Malayalam, Swahili, Korean and English. Finally, a group of sisters sang the Litany of the Saints by John Becker while photos of the tapestries in the Cathedral of Los Angeles, California, were projected. The day concluded with a beautiful prayer service and of course pizza for supper!