Jubilarians celebrate service in consecrated life

Intermountain Catholic

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The women religious from the various orders within the Diocese of Salt Lake City bless Jubilarians Sister Danile Knight and Sister Celine Dounies as they renew their vows.IC photo by Christine Young

OGDEN — The 2009 Celebration of Consecrated Life at Mount Benedict Monastery in Ogden April 4, honored Jubilarians Benedictine Prioress Sister Danile Knight for 60 years, and Holy Cross Sister Celine Dounies for 40 years as women religious.

"Together they have given 100 years of service," said the Most Rev. John C. Wester, Bishop of the Diocese of Salt Lake City, at a Mass celebrated for the Sisters’ Jubilee. Bishop Wester met with all the women religious in the diocese to talk with them about their ministry.

"Today Sr. Danile and Sr. Celine come to rededicate that gift, which they first received from you," prayed Bishop Wester. "Intensify within them your gift of perfect love that they may devote themselves more fervently to the service of your glory, and the work of salvation."

In his homily, Bishop Wester said it was amazing to him at baptisms how babies completely transform the lives of the people with their innocence and freshness. Then the child grows and matures, and we relate to the child based on what the child says or what the child does.

"It seems to me, the beauty of the babies is that they draw us in to this relationship with God to where we recognize the goodness or activeness that comes from being who we are as children of God," said Bishop Wester.

"Today we celebrate with the jubilarians, and all of you sisters and your commitment to Christ," said Bishop Wester. "We are also celebrating who you are in the image of God. Not what you do so much – you do a lot, you are trained and receive praise for that, and all too often that is where we stop. But where we need to begin is with the gift you are to our Church, to our diocese, to your particular orders, and to all of us. That is what we celebrate today.

"You first heard the call of Christ in your heart, and that is what you responded to," said Bishop Wester. "So everything that you have done in these 60 and 40 years has been rooted in your response to Christ’s call. Christ has been working in you. But at the end of the day, it is you that matters and the difference that you have made.

"The key is never to forget what really counts," said Bishop Wester. "Through your ministries, when you engage and relate to us, then you draw us back to the Christ who first called you, and that is the essence of your ministry."

Sr. Danile knew she wanted to be a sister when she was 5 years old, and never thought of being anything else. There were Benedictine sisters in the grade school she attended in Minneapolis, Minn.

"I entered St. Benedict’s Convent in St. Joseph, Minn.," said Sr. Danile. "That was when they were called convents, now they are called monasteries. I like to say I really was forced into being a sister. We always had mother-daughter activities at our church, and when we would go, the sisters would say, ‘Mrs. Knight with all those girls, one of them should be a sister.’ All my four sisters would point at me because they knew they did not want to be a sister.

"I entered as a senior in high school," said Sr. Danile. "I have never regretted a day."

In Sr. Danile’s second year of college, the Mother Superior called and asked Sr. Danile if she would consider going into pharmacy rather than into the lab.

"My father was a pharmacist, and so were my two brothers. So I guess they thought it was in my genes," said Sr. Danile. "The sister at the hospital had come down with active tuberculosis, so they needed somebody to help her. I had a complete science program because I was initially going to work in the lab at the hospital and was set up for it. So I went to the University of Minnesota and graduated in 1954 in pharmacy.

Sr. Danile worked at St. Cloud Hospital in Minnesota for 10 years. She was then asked to come to Utah to work at St. Benedict’s Hospital in 1964.

"I was in pharmacy until 1980, and ended up with a bleeding ulcer, and thought it was time to look for something less stress-filled," said Sr. Danile. "I began working in materials management at the hospital. I did that for eight years, and I jumped from the frying pan into the fire. I worked six days a week and I was on call 24 hours a day. It was when St. Benedict’s was bought by Holy Cross Hospital, and we became part of the Holy Cross Health System.

"In 1988, Bishop William K. Weigand, then bishop of the Diocese of Salt Lake City, called the late Benedictine Sister Jeremia Januschka, who was our regional superior, and asked her if our sisters could take over management of Our Lady of the Mountains Retreat House," said Sr. Danile. "We formed a committee to look at the problems before taking it, and then I was asked to be director of the retreat house. I managed it for 18 years. I loved that ministry very much. I got to meet a lot of wonderful people. It was a wonderful experience because different denominations used the retreat house.

"Then in 2006, I was elected prioress of the monastery, and that is how I left the retreat house," said Sr. Danile. "We have a four-year term, so elections will be held in 2010. In a smaller community, being prioress is much more diversified because there is a lot less help. I am responsible for the maintenance of the building, the sisters, their spiritual and health welfare, and many more responsibilities in many areas, as well as involvement with 11 other monasteries in our federation throughout the United States, Japan, Formosa, the Bahamas, and Puerto Rico."

Sr. Danile said when God called her to be a sister there were not as many distractions as there are for women today. They could see leadership positions as presidents of Catholic colleges, executive officers of Catholic hospitals, and leadership positions in monasteries. It is not that way today as much, although sisters can become lawyers, principals, superintendents of Catholic schools, and in other leadership positions not so dominated by men.

"But you feel a call, and you enter wanting to answer that call," said Sr. Danile. "St. Benedict says you must truly seek God. So that to me is what is most important. Your spiritual life continues to grow no matter what career you choose."

Sr. Celine said she heard the call to be a sister when she was in first grade in Bakersfield, Calif., at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic School. The sisters were Dominicans from Tacoma, Wash.

"I did not meet Holy Cross sisters until I was a freshman in high school," said Sr. Celine. "They were in the hospital in Fresno, Calif., and came down for a vocation fair. When I walked out of the vocation fair, I said to my parents, if I am going to be a sister I am going to be Holy Cross."

Sr. Celine has taught second, third, and fourth grades in her ministry, and is now the fourth grade teacher at St. John the Baptist Elementary School, Draper.

"I entered St. Mary’s in Notre Dame, Ind., right out of high school. From there I went to the University of Arizona at Tucson. I began teaching in Salt Lake City at Bishop Glass School in St. Patrick Parish. From there I went to Boise, Idaho Falls, and Lynwood, Calif., and then to Israel.

"I was in Israel for three years in Mater Ecclesiae, a renewal center for African and Asian women," said Sr. Celine. "During the summer, the center was used for missionaries to Africa and Asia. We went on pilgrimage to holy places. I worked on staff there with 16 other sisters. It was a gift and a blessing. I wanted more time to walk the land of Jesus.

"I use the slides I took to explain the Holy Land to my fourth graders," said Sr. Celine. "It was a time to be a pilgrim, and get to know women religious from all over the world. I learned so much from the cultural exchange, and sharing with the sisters.

"When I came back, I came to Salt Lake City and taught fourth grade at Our Lady of Lourdes School," said Sr. Celine. "Then I taught one year at Blessed Sacrament for the group that was going to the new St. John the Baptist Elementary School.

"Being a Holy Cross sister has been a gift to me because it gave me the opportunity to be part of a larger group," said Sr. Celine. "I have been able to do things I had never dreamed of doing, and grow in my knowledge of God, prayer, and faith. When you know you have made the right choice you are at peace, and you know you are where God you wants to be."