Sacred Stones, Sacred Stories

The good weather has lasted so long we almost thought it would continue until all the exterior work was complete.

We should have known better, after all, this is Missouri.

Weather makes for messy work

Heavy rain one night and during the early morning turned the grounds into wet mud.  Let’s hope the BAD stuff, you know those words that begin with “S” and “I,” hold off for a while longer. Long enough for us to get the basement dug out and dirt carted off.

Sister Rebecca Leis

Many blessings to our Sister Rebecca, honored this morning for her 25th jubilee of profession!

Sister Rebecca entered our Congregation in 1982 and made her first monastic profession on Oct. 26, 1985. Prior to entering the Benedictine Sisters, she was a registered medical assistant and EMT. Today she works in our low-gluten altar bread department, crafts beautiful pottery and loves spending time with our two dogs, Caeli and Maggie.

The artisan at work

Sr. Rebecca with (left) Caeli & Maggie

Handwritten notes detail upcoming projects

Crews leave notes for upcoming projects

One can quickly see that the crew hired to do the renovation work inside the monastery is on site and busy.

Orange paint and gray tape label walls and spaces that need attention.  Crew members are busy working here and there.  New energy floats down the hallways, joined by sounds of construction.

Dumbwaiter? Not quite

I love eggs, especially fried and served over red chile enchiladas.  This is not about eating eggs but wearing them.  In other words, I admit I misidentified a picture and now have egg on my face.

In an earlier post from the deconstruction, I identified a metal structure as our former dumbwaiter.  What I did not realize is that it was actually a photo of the metal support structure for our elevator located at the west end of south hall.  So, with an eggy-face I say, “Mea culpa.”  Now I am going to eat breakfast!

Bits and pieces of Marian Wing West are all that remain after the wing was taken down earlier this week.  First went the attic, then the floors and finally the walls.

Former Marian kitchen doorway

The first picture shows where the Marian Wing kitchen door used to be.

The old dumbwaiter

The second picture shows part of our dumbwaiter system that made serving meals in our old infirmary much easier than carrying trays up three flights of stairs.

The building wings that needed to be removed are now down.  Next comes the cleaning of all the rubble.  As you walk by, you can see remnants of pipes, wall fixtures and sink faucets strewn along the ground.  Glass is lying in a broken mosaic in another area.  While clean-up is being done near the monastery, geothermal work is underway in another area.  Yes, work is progressing.

Good stewardship continues to part of this renovation project.  We have recycled lots of things from wood to metals to windows.

We are reducing our building space and will heat and cool the renovated building using renewable geothermal energy.

Materials have arrived for the geothermal portion of the renovation

Materials have been delivered;

Marking where the geothermal loops will be located

loop locations have been marked with little white flags, and drilling for the coils has begun.

The company begins early each day and works until sunset.  We are excited about moving into this phase.

Our Tucson Sisters hosted the diocese’s Convocation for Vowed Religious on Saturday.

It was a wonderful time gathering with those who answered God’s call to serve.

To learn more about the event, click here.

This staircase is temporary yard art

This looks a bit like yard art – you know, those odd-shaped pieces of whatever sitting on grassy knolls.

However, it isn’t what it looks like even though it has a certain beauty and flow.

These are the spiral stairs that ran up the east end of the south Marian Wing. They were for Sisters’ use only;  no one else laid a foot on them. Now they await their arrival at a new location. Who knows what soles will tread upon them; or perhaps they may end up on someone’ s grassy knoll.

Bishop Finn (center) joined diocesan jubilarians in celebration on Sept. 12.

Three of our Sisters were honored by the Kansas City-St. Joseph diocese during a special Mass held on Sept. 12 at St. Peter Parish in Kansas City.

Joining Bishop Robert W. Finn were (front row, second from left and to the right) Sister Marietta, Sister Mary Gregory and Sister Rebecca.

Sister Marietta is the archivist for the Clyde community and celebrated 60 years of monastic profession, Sister Mary Gregory is one of our retired Sisters at Our Lady of Rickenbach and celebrated 70 years and Sister Rebecca, who works in the low-gluten altar bread department, celebrated 25 years.

We are so very grateful to these wonderful Sisters, for answering God’s call to religious life and for their faithful, devoted and prayer-filled lives.

Photo courtesy of The Catholic Key.

Members of Tucson's Liturgical Vestment Department surround a seated Sister Stella

After years of hand crafting beautiful liturgical vestments, our Sister Mary Stella has officially retired from the department. Many blessings to her and all the beautiful work she has created over the years.