Threshold Fall/Winter 2008

Strong is God's Love for Us

Often at golden jubilee celebrations in recent years, an observation is expressed by the sisters. “I remember when jubilarians had to be brought to the altar in wheelchairs or couldn’t see or hear,” the sisters remark. “Now they seem so much younger.” In an age of joint replacements, cataract removal and open heart surgery, it’s not really a surprise.

This year’s golden jubilee celebration, however, hit a new mark. The jubilarians did not merely walk to the altar, they carried the offertory gifts in a graceful procession with liturgical movement to the hymn.

The four golden jubilarians, Sisters Jo Ann Fellin, Barbara Ann Mayer, Deborah Peters and Micaela Randolph, were joined by silver jubilarian Sister Chris Kean at the ceremony of renewal of profession on July 15, 2008.

Sister Chris came from Longmont, Colo., to attend Mount St. Scholastica College, which became Benedictine College while she was a student. She was no stranger to the community having visited her older sister, Sister Mary Margaret Kean since the age of nine. She entered the monastery herself a few years after college.

Although she started out in teaching and pastoral care, her interest in pastoral care of the sick and dying eventually led to a ministry in mortuary science. She is a licensed funeral director currently employed at Becker-Dyer-Stanton Funeral Home in Atchison. She believes her life in community is a daily gift: “I could not have picked a more holy, diverse and talented group.”

The golden jubilarians are engaged in a variety of activities and ministries. In her remarks at the celebration, Sister Anne Shepard spoke with gratitude of their commitment, saying, “Today is a feast wherein all gathered are touched by your fidelity and generosity, your hope and your steadfastness.”



Silver jubilarian Sister Chris Kean and golden jubilarians Sisters JoAnn Fellin, Micaela Randolph, Barbara Ann Mayer and Deborah Peters

Spotlight on Golden Jubilarians

Sister Jo Ann Fellin

Sister Jo Ann was born in Marshfield, Mo., and came to Atchison as a student at Mount St. Scholastica College. A year after graduating, she returned to enter the community and has devoted her life to teaching mathematics.

She experienced first-hand the disproportionate numbers of men to women, both in her classrooms and in her professional activities. Consequently, she has had a special commitment to encouraging young women to become more interested in math and science. “I attended a professional meeting where I heard about a group called ‘WAM - Women And Math,’ “ she recalls. “When I came home, I started a Kansas City area chapter to get women in the profession to go to high schools and talk to girls about their jobs. I relied heavily on our own alumnae to participate.”

She retired as professor emerita from Benedictine College in 2004, after 34 years in the Math and Computer Science Department there. Since then, she has worked in the monastery, primarily managing the monastery’s gift shop. She has been instrumental in decorating and stocking the newly expanded space, which gives her many opportunities to use both her artistic and mathematical skills. Mercantile is hardly new to her. Growing up in her family’s store, she says that one family friend observed that she started “as soon as her nose was high enough to stick up over a counter.”

She also used her artistic talent to design the invitation for the jubilee and to sum up her experience of these 50 years. The drawing is an interlocking circle of people with the Psalm (117) quote: “Strong the love embracing us.”


Sister Barbara Ann Mayer

Sister Barbara Ann is a native of St. Louis, Mo. While her classmate has been devoted to numbers, she has been devoted to words. After attending Mount St. Scholastica College, she earned her master’s degree in English at the University of Kansas. She taught for twelve years at elementary and secondary schools in Missouri, Kansas, Iowa and Nebraska.

The classroom work was later replaced by other types of word work. She spent thirteen years as associate editor of The Leaven, the Catholic newspaper for the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas. That was followed by nine years as director of public relations at Donnelly College.

Her name is recognized by many Benedictines, especially librarians and those interested in monastic studies, for serving as editor of Benedictines magazine since 1995. Benedictines is a journal which evolved from Mount St. Scholastica College’s academic publication. It offers its readers articles, book reviews, and transcripts of speeches on many issues of contemporary Benedictine life and spirituality.

Now that she is no longer at Donnelly, she is delighted to have more time to devote to her own words. She is able to do more freelance writing and has had several of her poems published in newspapers and magazines.
She is grateful for the way she has been able to use her creativity. “My 50 years as a Benedictine have been a gift,” she says, “and I am filled with gratitude to all those who have encouraged me in my search for God. I am especially grateful for the sisters in my community who have been an inspiration and support on my journey.”

Sister Deborah Peters

Sister Deborah shares Sister Barbara Ann’s love of the written word. After her upbringing in Belleville, Ill., she, too, came to Atchison for her education, and has devoted her life to teaching English at all grade levels. Her story is simple, she remarks, “There’s nothing too important to say. I’ve spent my life either in front of or in back of a desk.” After attending Mount St. Scholastica College and entering the monastery, she taught at all grade levels and received master’s degrees in English and in educational counseling and guidance.

In 1989, she earned a Ph.D. in English and returned to the faculty of Benedictine College, where she had been teaching since 1975, and where she remains today. Decades of high school and college students have been inspired by her love of literature and her encouragement to write well. Last spring, she received a special teaching opportunity. She was able to teach her classes at the college’s international campus in Florence, Italy, and enjoy many enriching cultural experiences there.

“What the community has given me in these fifty years,” she summarizes, “is the fullness of life in all that means.”

Sister Micaela Randolph

The encouragement for the jubilarians to use liturgical movement on their feast day no doubt started with Sister Micaela. She has been using her graceful movement to uplift others in prayer for many years. A native of Hastings, Neb., she, like her classmates, came to the monastery from the college.

She was also a teacher before moving into a variety of pastoral ministries: religious education, work in the archdiocesan office of religious education, as a diocesan consultant for religion teachers, and parish work with those preparing to become Catholics through the RCIA program. She also spent nine years as director of the novices and postulants of Mount St. Scholastica.

All these experiences with people searching for spirituality in their lives made her an ideal choice to become director of Sophia Center. In addition to the administrative tasks, she has offered a number of workshops, especially in the areas of centering prayer and contemplative living. Although she is no longer head of the center, she still directs the Souljourners program for the training of spiritual directors. People from many denominations and walks of life, most of them women, go through the training that will enable them to become skilled companions for others on their spiritual journey.

When asked to comment on her fifty years of religious life, or to reflect on her vocation, her answer is simple and yet deeply true: “My vocation as a Benedictine is who I am.”