+Sister Mary Faith Schuster, O.S.B.
July 10, 1914 – May 23, 2007

Sister Mary Faith Schuster, O.S.B., 92, died Wednesday, May 23, 2007, at Mount St. Scholastica, Atchison, Kans. The vigil service will be Friday, May 25, at 7 pm in the monastery chapel. The Mass of Resurrection will be there Saturday, May 26, 10:30am. followed by burial in the community cemetery.

Born July 10, 1914, Sister Mary Faith (Gertrude) was one of twelve children of Fred and Jennie Brummel Schuster of Pilot Grove, Mo. She entered the Atchison Benedictines in 1934 and made monastic profession in 1936. A graduate of Mount St. Scholastica College, she earned the doctorate in English at St. Louis University, St. Louis, Mo., in 1953. For more than 50 years she taught in the high schools and colleges staffed by her community. After 14 years in high schools, including the former Lillis High School, Kansas City, Mo., she taught at Donnelly College, Kansas City, Kans.; Marillac College, Normandy, Mo; and Mount St. Scholastica College and Benedictine College, Atchison. Sister Mary Faith was also dean at Donnelly College 1963-67. She gave particular attention to international students, assisting their transition to second language use and to at-homeness in another culture.

Sister Mary Faith traveled to New England and California on grants from the Kansas City Regional Council for Higher Education, and to Thailand, India, and Europe. She was a past member of the Modern Language Association, the National Council of Teachers of English, and the American Benedictine Academy. She received first place award for biography in 1950 from the Catholic Press Association. Benedictine College recognized her in 1977 with the Offeramus medal, an award given annually to an outstanding alumna, and in 1980 with the Teacher of the Year Award.

A teacher of remarkable intensity and influence, Sister Mary Faith urged her students to write, to capture with words the fleeting moments of insight or beauty, and convinced them that it was possible for them to do so. A writer herself, she published for more than fifty years in national and regional magazines and newspapers. For her community's centennial in 1963, she wrote its history, The Meaning of the Mountain. She co-founded the Kansas Poetry Society in 1985 to give a publishing outlet for young writers, and for some years edited its publication, Sunflower Petals. A regular columnist for The Leaven, newspaper of the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas, she also taught creative writing classes at the Atchison Shepherd's Center. Of her own work she said, "Writing is too serious to me for it to be called a hobby. In many ways it is almost a necessity.” (Read some of Sister Mary Faith's poetry.)

She was predeceased by her parents, by her brothers Arthur, Fred, and the Rev. Daniel Schuster, O.S.B. (Leo), of Conception Abbey, Conception, Mo.; by her sisters, Sister Scholastica (Imelda) Schuster, O.S.B., of the Atchison community; Sisters Teresa (Benedicta) and Xavier (Winifred) Schuster of Yankton, S.D.; and by her sisters Adela (Mrs. William Schollmeyer), Elinor (Mrs. William James O’Shea), and Mildred. She is survived by her sister Rosemary (Mrs. Bud McKiernan), Marceline, Mo; and her brother Dr. Joseph Schuster, Grand Junction, Colo; by nieces and nephews, and by her monastic family. Memorials may be sent to Mount St. Scholastica or given online.

Let us remember her gratefully in our prayers.


S. Mary Faith's memorial card

“The sky tells the glory of God,
tells the genius of God's work."
Ps. 19:1

On May 23, 2007, our beloved Sister Mary Faith Schuster entered eternal life. She was born to Fred and Jennie Brummel Schuster in Pilot Grove, Mo. (a place her sisters came to realize was Faith's bit of heaven on earth). She spent her life sharing her love of God, beauty and joy, welcoming to her English classes native-born students and those new to this country. She tried to make her students feel capable and loved. The lens through which she viewed the world had facets of belief, humor, whimsical realism, and the romantic -- her own blend of the Christian vision. Rarely without pen and paper, she wrote to communicate that vision: The Meaning of the Mountain, a history of the first century of her religious community; letters, articles, and poetry -- a poem a day for years. In high school classes in Kansas and Missouri; at Mount St. Scholastica College, Donnelly College, Benedictine College, and Marillac College she encouraged others to write, and their work appeared in professional journals, in Sunflower Petals, and in her classes at Atchison's Shepherd's Center. She became more and more focused on life to come, and her yearning for God is now satisfied. Let us remember her gratefully in our prayer.

Reflection given at the Vigil service.