Dear Parishioners,

I am pleased to welcome on our parish staff, Sr. Deborah Campbell, SP, as our new business manager. Sr. Deborah replaces Lori Trinche who held this position for 2 years. Grateful for the dutiful and dedicated service that Lori brought to our parish, I wish her the blessings of success and prosperity as she undertakes her new but similar position at another faith community.

Sister Deborah is a Sister of Providence of St. Mary of the Woods, Indiana. She is a Chicago native and attended Mother Guerin High School and DePaul University. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Business of success and Education and an MBA from the University of Notre Dame.

Sister has ministered in Illinois, Indiana, and Maryland. Her most recent ministry was teaching English in Madagascar. Prior to that, she spent 13 ½ years as an audit manager with Catholic Relief Services, traveling around the world to third world countries. She enjoys baking, crafts, and weaving. Her professionalism combined with an engaging sense of humor are wonderful additions to the atmosphere of our parish office.

Sr. Deborah belongs to a congregation of Roman Catholic women religious – Sisters of Providence who are committed to living lives of love, mercy and justice in imitation of Jesus. By means of prayer, education, service and advocacy, the sisters collaborate with others to help create a just and hope-filled world.

The foundress of the Sisters of Providence was St. Theodore Guerin who was born Anne Therese Guerin on October 2, 1798 in France. At an early age she felt called to a life of radical service to God and God’s people. When she was 15 years old, tragedy struck her family when bandits killed her father causing her mother to suffer from severe depression. She cared for her mother and sister at home until she entered the congregation of the Sister of Providence in France. She professed vows on September 8, 1825.

In the early years of her religious life Sr. Theodore worked as an educator and later studied medicine thereby qualifying her to attend to the sick. While ministering to victims during a smallpox epidemic she herself contracted the illness that permanently damaged her digestive system. For the rest of her life she could eat only a bland, simple diet.

On July 15, 1840, St. Theodore and five sister companions arrived in the United States and eventually settled at St. Mary of the Woods, Indiana. There she formed a new religious congregation and became known as Mother Theodore. She proved to be a skilled business woman and founded schools and other institutions that served the church.

Mother Guerin died on May 14, 1856 at the age of 57 and was canonized a saint on October 15, 2006. On her tombstone in the sisters’ cemetery is the Latin inscription which translated reads: I sleep, but my heart watches over this house which I built. Today her sisters continue Mother Theodore’s distinguished and noble legacy.

Blessings,

Fr. Gabriel, OSB

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