Environmental Historian Meine Addresses 2020 Rural Political Value

SINSINAWA, WI — Conservation biologist Curt Meine will be featured in Politics of Our Rural Land: An Interview with Curt Meine, sponsored by Sinsinawa Mound Center. Join us via Zoom from 7 to 8 p.m. on Wednesday, October 28, as we delve into the political importance of rural Wisconsin, the realities of America’s urban-rural divide and the transformation and challenges of today’s agriculture. “As rural Wisconsin’s fortunes declined, its political importance has grown,” wrote journalist Dan Kaufman in an Aug. 10 The New Yorker article on the importance of Wisconsin ahead of the 2020 election. See why in this discussion. Meine is an environmental historian who has researched and written about Aldo Leopold and is coeditor of “The Driftless Reader.” The registration deadline is Oct. 27 at 4 p.m., and the fee is $10. Please register by contacting Guest Services at 608-748-4411 or visiting our website at www.sinsinawa.org/moundcenter.

September 29, 2020

Mary Magdalene: Apostle to the Apostles Virtual Workshop Moved

SINSINAWA, WI — Mary Magdalene: Apostle to the Apostles has been rescheduled to Saturday, October 17 from 10 a.m. to noon. The virtual workshop is sponsored by Sinsinawa Mound Center and will be facilitated by Sister Mary Ellen Green, OP, a Dominican Sister of Sinsinawa. Over the centuries, there have been many misunderstandings about Mary Magdalene. Who was she really? What was her role in the early Church? What does she have to say to us today? Explore these and other questions with Sister Mary Ellen. She has worked in retreat facilitation, congregation leadership, and education. Theological study and prayer have always and continue to provide the context for her service. Sister Mary Ellen is currently serving in financial development and programming for Marywood Franciscan Spirituality Center in Arbor Vitae, Wis. The registration deadline is Oct. 15, and the fee is $20. Please register by contacting Guest Services at 608-748-4411 or visiting our website at www.sinsinawa.org/moundcenter.

September 29, 2020

Workshop Explores Integration of Christianity and Cosmology

September 18, 2020, Adrian, MI – Father Roger Haight, SJ, a member of the Eastern Province of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), offers an in-depth look at how faith and science relate to each other and how our cosmology affects our understanding of God, ourselves, and creation.

Father Roger’s virtual talk, “Integrating Christianity and Cosmology,” is from 9:15 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. EDT on Saturday, October 10, 2020, through Weber Retreat and Conference Center.

Father Roger, Scholar in Residence at Union Theological Seminary in New York, taught in the graduate schools of theology in Manila, Chicago, Toronto, Boston, and New York. He specializes in fundamental theology, with focus on the areas of faith, revelation, Jesus Christ, the Church, grace, and spirituality.

The cost is $30. Registration is required and is available at www.webercenter.org; click on “programs.” Registrations may also be made by calling 517-266-4000 or emailing webercenter@adriandominicans.org. Limited scholarships are available.

September 29, 2020

Sister Celebrates her 106th Birthday

The Sisters and staff at the Dominican Sisters of Peace Mohun Health Care Center celebrated the 106^th birthday of Sr. Edwina Devlin on September 18, 2020. In the spirit of social distancing, a small group of Mohun residents and staff joined her for cake in the dining room, while others enjoyed cake in their rooms. Sr. Edwina still visits her Sisters in the care center on her daily walk. Sister Edwina is shown here with Venie Coleman, right, Human Resources Coordinator at Mohun. On the left is April Queener, Mohun Administrator. Both women are Associates of the congregation.

September 29, 2020

Painting Her Way Through the Pandemic

During the seven months of quarantine due to the pandemic, S. Mary Anna Euring has created hundreds of pieces of artwork: paintings bushed on rice paper, origami earrings lovingly folded and greeting cards enhanced with her photos of Long Island. But what to do with all this art? This past week, she decided to host a sale of her art to sisters and Motherhouse staff to raise money for the congregation’s OPening Word Program, an adult literacy program for immigrant women which operates on Long Island, NY.
She raised more than $4,000!

“All the money will go to the OPening Word Program whose students are really hurting at this time,” said S. Mary Anna. She added that each piece of art is imbued with prayer for the person who receives the art, as well as for the women in the OPening Word program.

“The gifts from this art show will be very welcome as our funding sources are diminished during the pandemic,” said S. Elaine Jahrsdoerfer who is on the Board of the Program. “The ‘preaching’ of Mary Anna’s art is enabling the ‘preaching’ of The OPening Word, (as the care and support of our women are surely good news to them).”

S. Mary Anna wasn’t always an artist. In fact, she didn’t begin painting until seven years ago when she retired. The Islip Art Museum offered a course in Asian Brush Painting. “When I picked up the brush, it was like I always had it in my hand,” she said. Where her interest in Asian culture came from, she is not sure. Although she vividly recalls her mother taking her to The Brooklyn Museum of Art. She said, “I stepped into the room filled with Asian art, I never wanted to leave that room.”

In mid-September, the St. Martin de Porres room in the Queen of the Rosary Motherhouse was filled with hundreds of her paintings, the surprising fruit from her time in quarantine.

“When I knew we would be locked down, I brought supplies from the art studio,” Sister Mary Anna said. She knew it would be hard for her and for other sisters in isolation. She wanted to give everyone, staff and the sisters, something beautiful to look at when they were depressed. “I wanted to give them something they could look at to feel uplifted, peaceful and inspired.”