2006 Jubilee of Religious Life honors four sisters
SALT LAKE CITY — "The four jubilarians represent 210 years of vowed commitment and service. I want to congratulate and thank each one of you for your many years of faithful ministry as vowed religious," said Msgr. J. Terrence Fitzgerald, diocesan administrator in his homily. A Jubilee Mass and luncheon were held at Our Lady of Lourdes Parish, Salt Lake City, April 29. Daughter of Charity Sister Cecilia VanZandt was honored for 60 years as a religious, and Holy Cross Sister Miriam Joanne Frankenfield, Holy Cross Sister Genevra Rolf, and Benedictine Prioress Sister Mary Zenzen were honored for 50 years as religious. Msgr. Fitzgerald said the Catholic community of Salt Lake City and those where these religious have served, are more faith-filled and more aware of Christ’s mission because of the devotion and hard work of these women. "The Sisters of the Holy Cross arrived in Utah in 1875, to pioneer Catholic health care, Catholic education, and Catholic social services," said Msgr. Fitzgerald. "Sr. Genevra has dedicated her life to Catholic education and continues to dedicate herself to the formation of young people as the assistant superintendent of Catholic Schools. "Sr. Miriam Joanne has given many years to care for the sick through nursing," he said. "Now with the blossoming of Holy Cross Ministries and its outreach to the disadvantaged, she has found a new avenue of service. Msgr. Fitzgerald said the Daughters of Charity arrived in Utah in 1920, to staff schools and provide a range of social services throughout the diocese. Sr. Cecilia has given many years to education and continues to provide support for the diocesan scholarship program. "The Benedictines came to Utah in 1946, to establish St. Benedict’s Hospital in Ogden, and have responded to a variety of church needs over the past 60 years," said Msgr. Fitzgerald. "Sr. Mary has given many years to Catholic health care. She has overseen the growth and influence of the Benedictine community and continues in community leadership, enhancing the Benedictine charism in Utah. "These four women are living chapters in the long story of faith and commitment to the Church in Utah," said Msgr. Fitzgerald. "The role of women in society is not what it was when these jubilarians entered community life. They witnessed the death of many great institutions and the birth of new endeavors. May God give them many more years of good health and ministry." Sr. Cecilia entered the Daughters of Charity community in 1945, after graduating from high school at age 17, and took her final vows five years later. "As I look back over the past 60 years, it is almost unbelievable this amount of time has gone by," said Sr. Cecilia. "One thing that really sticks out in my mind is how many friends I have made. I have been in residence everywhere but the New England states. You go where you are sent based on the assignment, your qualifications, and your health, and in that assignment you work among many different people. "When the changes are taking place, you are not really aware that you are becoming a part of something different until afterwards," said Sr. Cecilia. "That is where the grace comes in. I had to grow in all ways within my community because I entered without any professional training. Somehow I learned by doing, learned from my mistakes, and learned from my professional education." Sr. Cecilia has a Bachelor of Science Degree in history, education, and philosophy, and a Master’s Degree in history. She taught kindergarten through eighth grade for more than 25 years, and also worked for 12 years in a 24-hour child care center in Mobile, Ala. She taught middle school at St. Olaf School, Bountiful. From 1990-1996, she was a member of the Daughters of Charity Provincial Council, and came to Utah once a year to visit the sisters at St. Olaf School, J. E. Cosgriff Memorial School, Salt Lake City, and Notre Dame de Lourdes School, Price. "Unfortunately, those were the years we were withdrawing sisters from the schools," said Sr. Cecilia. Sr. Cecilia returned to the Diocese of Salt Lake City in Aug. 2005, and is presently working with Daughter of Charity Sisters Stella Marie Zahner and Charlotte Marie Clark in the Diocesan Special Needs Tuition Assistance Program.
Sr. Mary first thought of becoming a sister when she was in grade school. She was just out of high school when she took her first vows July 11, 1956, in St. Joseph, Minn. She said before joining an order you must consider the people, the place, and the vows you will take.
In the Benedictine monastic life, prayer has high priority and is a main focus in the sisters’ lives, although they also do apostolic service within the community. Sr. Mary said the challenge is to have a balance between the two.
"Our tendency might be to focus on service because that is what needs to be done, but for Benedictines the prayer component is equally as important," said Sr. Mary. "Very close to where I went to high school were Poor Clare sisters, who resemble the Carmelite sisters here in Holladay.
"I don’t know if I prayed about it, but I know I considered joining the Poor Clare sisters," said Sr. Mary. "But it became clear to me that was not what I wanted to do, and I became more interested in service and in nursing and health care. So I was given the opportunity to go to college and earn a Bachelor of Science Degree in nursing. After that, I went to the College of St. Scholastica in Duluth, Minn., to become a registered nurse. I graduated in 1961."
She began working at St. Cloud Hospital in Minnesota in pediatrics and in obstetrics. About 10 years later, she discussed with her prioress coming to Utah , and arrangements were made. She began working at St. Benedict’s Hospital in Ogden in 1974.
Sr. Mary said the highlight of the last 20 years came in 1979 when they started working on becoming an independent monastery. They became dependent in 1980, and independent in 1995. Part of the service of the Benedictine ministry here in Utah is not just in health care, it is also their presence in the community for all the Christian people around them.
Sr. Genevra decided when she was in the eighth grade she wanted to be a sister. She was influenced by Holy Cross Sister Margaret Mary Duggan, her eighth grade teacher.
"I liked what I saw in her, the way the sisters enjoyed each other, and the work they did, and felt that would be a good way of life for me. I entered the Holy Cross order when I got out of high school, and went to St. Mary College in Notre Dame, Ind. I made my first vows in 1956, and was sent out to teach. I taught in Beverly Hills, Calif., for one year; Oakland, Calif., for 7 years; Pocatello, Idaho for 2 years; Seattle, Wash., for 10 years, and was principal for nine of those years; and I was also in Ventura and Modesto, Calif., before coming to Utah."
Sr. Genevra was superintendent of Catholic Schools in Utah from 1990-1994, before being elected to the Holy Cross Leadership Team for five years. She took a one-year sabbatical and returned to the Diocese of Salt Lake City in Aug. 2000, as the assistant superintendent.
"Being a sister has allowed me to be a part of not only the sisters in my community, but also the lives of a lot of families, and the ability to work with children, and hopefully to influence them to live lives of faith," said Sr. Genevra. "Those very same people and sisters have called me to be faithful. If you are a sister, people expect certain things of you and you live up to their expectations. They have been part of my journey and have called me to be more than I am.
"The same is true with my own family," said Sr. Genevra. "My mother and father are no longer living, but if my nieces and nephews are in some kind of trouble, they call me to pray, and to ask my sisters to pray. That encourages, challenges, and calls me to be a better person."
Sr. Miriam Joanne realized she wanted to be a sister when she was in elementary school.
"Church, God, and people were always very important to me," said Sr. Miriam Joanne. "I remember we used to have to walk quite far to go to Mass, and I wanted to go every morning. God was always very special to me. But I also started to have a lot of good fun when I got into high school. You know when God calls you, you can put all kinds of obstacles in the way, but the thought was always there."
Sr. Miriam Joanne said becoming a sister was always special to her, and was something she felt she needed to follow to see if it was really what she wanted to do. She thought if she got married or did something else, she did not want to look back and wish she would have become a sister.
Sr. Miriam Joanne was born and raised in Wyoming, and attended St. Mary Catholic Elementary and High School in Cheyenne. It was the only Catholic high school in Wyoming. After graduation, she entered Holy Cross Nursing School in Salt Lake City because she always wanted to be a nurse.
"I met and worked with the sisters of the Holy Cross, and they greatly appealed to me," she said. "I felt God really wanted me to be a sister. The sisters were prayerful, joyful, and they were wholesome. So I left in my junior year of nursing in to go back to our motherhouse in Notre Dame, Ind., for three years. I returned to Salt Lake City as a Holy Cross sister to graduate and to begin working at Holy Cross Hospital.
"I think being a nurse and being able to help people is wonderful," said Sr. Miriam Joanne. "Now I am working with Holy Cross Ministries doing outreach with Holy Cross Sister Jacinta Millán in the Parish Health Program. We cover five lower income parishes in Utah, including Wendover, by visiting the sick and home bound, and we conduct blood pressure and blood sugar clinics after the weekend Masses at these parishes."
Each one of the jubiliarians said they would choose religious life again if they had to do it over.
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