Threshold Winter 2007

"You Must Relieve the Lot of the Poor"
(RB 4:14)

Atchison, like most other places, may be a small town but it can have some big problems. Probably every place where monastics have settled has known the ordinary types of human suffering: poverty, abuse and neglect, conflict between people, loneliness, the misuse of alcohol and other substances, lack of education, unemployment, and all the other things which plague the world and cry out for healing.

Pictured at right: Sisters Mary Margaret Bunck and Loretta Wiesner take their turn at the kettle.

As the saying goes, one person cannot do everything, but every person can do something. As residents of Atchison, and bound by the commitment of life-long stability, many sisters try to do what they can, even those who are “retired” from regular ministry. They cannot help but see the needs around them and want to do their own bit to relieve them.

Numerous sisters have been involved in the Friendly Visitor program sponsored by Catholic Charities. This program matches them with a homebound person to whom they make regular phone calls and other expressions of concern.

Sister Norma Honz has been part of the program for more than four years. Currently she makes regular calls to an older woman and a woman in her 50s who has multiple physical and emotional challenges. “I just thought this was something I could still do,” she observes. “There are a lot of lonely people out there and I have the time.”

Opportunities present themselves frequently. The stronger and more mobile of the sisters participate in such events as the annual CROP walk for the hungry, delivering meals-on-wheels with a Benedictine College student program when needed, assisting with commodity food distribution, and even a clean-up day along the banks of the Missouri River. Those who are not so agile make an important contribution to these activities by their prayer and encouragement.

At Christmas time, the sisters take a day as Salvation Army bell ringers at a local supermarket and also help with the distribution of Christmas gifts to families and shut-ins. Throughout the year, there are sisters who volunteer at a local thrift store, collect for charities, or provide whatever assistance they can to their favorite projects.

Sister Mildred Vey (pictured on the right) has a great concern for the non-human needy. She devotedly visits the animals at the animal shelter to give them some loving attention and assist the staff.

If anyone does not know what they can do to help, all they have to do is find Sister Gabrielle Kocour of the Atchison Women’s Connection, which is part of Sophia Center. She is in touch with many agencies and organizations throughout the city. She serves on numerous boards and task forces, so she often hears of special needs and often knows just the sister to connect with it.

Whether it is the domestic abuse shelter, the board of the community theater, support groups, a trivia team for a fund-raiser, or just about any civic activity, chances are good that Mount St. Scholastica has somehow been a part of the picture.