Feature News

'405 years of serving God'

Men, women religious in archdiocese honored as they reach milestone anniversaries

Thursday, February 04, 2010
Marlene Quaroni - Florida Catholic

MARLENE QUARONI | FC Diamond jubilarian Sister Francisca Jauregui, of the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, extends a sign of peace to golden jubilarian Sister Helen Faiver of the Adrian Dominicans during the annual Mass in honor of consecrated life Jan. 31.

MIAMI — Sister Helene Kloss, 69, knew at an early age that God was calling her to religious life.

“One day I heard the Holy Spirit ask me, ‘Helen, why don’t you become a nun?’” she said after a Mass Jan. 31 marking the World Day of Consecrated Life and honoring the men and women religious of the archdiocese.

“The voice was so strong, I knew God was calling me. A co-worker at Kress’s five and ten cent store in Detroit was about to enter the Franciscan order. She introduced me to the Adrian, Michigan Dominican nuns. The sisters were so happy that I realized that’s where I wanted to be.”

That was in 1959. The love of people, music and pastoral work has made liturgical music the ideal ministry for Sister Kloss. She has taught in Ohio, New York and Miami and has been music director at Visitation, St. Patrick and now Our Lady of the Lakes.

Sister Kloss was celebrating her golden anniversary as a religious, along with seven others:

• diamond jubilarians Sister Francisca Jauregui of the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul; Sister Helen Rosenthal, of the Society of the Sacred Heart; and Marist Brother William Lavigne;

• golden jubilarians Dominican Sister Helen Faiver, Brother Richard DeMaria and Brother Patrick Sean Moffett of the Congregation of Christian Brothers; and

• and silver jubilarian Sister Immaculata Hanisch of the Carmelite Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart of Los Angeles.

Miami Auxiliary Bishop John Noonan commended the jubilarians for their years of service.

“Together you represent 405 years of serving God,” he said. “You are silver-plated, gold-plated and some of you have become polished diamonds. Religious life is something very special. No doubt, there’s been difficult and sad times. You have unselfishly left your homes to serve other people throughout the world.”

Noting the outpouring of concern for the people of Haiti, Bishop Noonan asked “that we, too, remember in our prayers our religious sisters and brothers in Haiti,” he said. “So many have died and, yet, in their sorrow they continue to minister to the needs of the people.”

“Religious life is a way of love, of constant selfless caring for others. That’s the virtue of a true Christian,” Bishop Noonan said.

The oldest jubilarian, Sister Jauregui, 83, entered the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul in Cuba in 1950.

“I am grateful for my 60 years of service to God and the community, especially the poor in Cuba, Puerto Rico and Miami,” she said.

Brother Lavigne joined the Marist Brothers in 1950 and taught at high schools in New York and New Jersey. In 2008 he came to Miami, where he serves as director of the Marist House of Hospitality for senior brothers.

Sister Favier entered the Adrian Dominican order in 1960. She taught elementary and junior high school in Michigan, served in Puerto Rico for three years, then spent 19 years helping sugar cane workers in the Dominican Republic. She moved to Miami in 2003.

Brother DeMaria and Brother Moffett are Christian Brothers who both have taught and acted as administrators at Iona College in New York. Brother DeMaria served as principal of Archbishop Curley-Notre Dame High School in Miami from 1993 to 1998, and Brother Moffett has been principal since 2004. In 1998, Brother DeMaria became superintendent of schools for the archdiocese.

Sister Hanisch entered the Carmelite Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart of Los Angeles in 1985 and worked as a clinical dietician at Santa Teresita Hospital and Manor for 14 years. In 2002, she was assigned to Archbishop Coleman F. Carroll High School where she chairs the theology department and teaches scripture.

Sister Rosenthal joined the Society of the Sacred Heart in 1950. She has taught all grades — from kindergarten through post master’s degree — at schools in St. Louis, Mo., Cincinnati, Ohio and Miami. She also spent 20 years as a missionary in Chile, founded the Spirituality Center at St. Thomas University and has taught there since 1986. She coordinates the international certificate program in spirituality studies and teaches in the training program for spiritual directors.

MARLENE QUARONI | FC Golden jubilarian Brother Patrick Sean Moffett of the Congregation of Christian Brothers, receives a certificate of appreciation from Auxiliary Bishop John Noonan, center, and retired Auxiliary Bishop Agustín Román.

MARLENE QUARONI | FC A member of the Daughters of Mary, Mother of Mercy, shows golden jubilarian Sister Helene Kloss, an Adrian Dominican, how to play a gourd, one of several typical Nigerian musical instruments played by the Nigerian sisters during the reception which followed the annual Mass in honor of consecrated life.

MARLENE QUARONI | FC Religious jubilarians fill the front row at St. Mary Cathedral during the annual Mass in honor of consecrated life. From left: Sister Helen Rosenthal, Sister Francisca Jauregui, Sister Helen Faiver, Brother Patrick Sean Moffett, Brother William Lavigne and Sister Helene Kloss.