JONESBORO — A trumpet blew and the organ began playing as a celebration got underway July 11 at Holy Angels Convent in Jonesboro, celebrating a combined 150 years of Benedictine religious life.
A Mass and reception were celebrated at the convent for the golden jubilee of former prioress Sister Eileen Schneider, and the silver jubilees of Sisters Judith Dalesandro, Marya Duscher, Miriam Burns and Ann Marie Ferricher.
For Sister Eileen, who now serves as minister to religious for the Diocese of Little Rock, Holy Angels and religious life has always been close to her.
“My father was very involved with the hospital and the convent. He was in the maintenance department in the early years, so we saw the sisters a lot,” Sister Eileen said.
She attended Blessed Sacrament Church in Jonesboro and Holy Angels Academy, which was then a school that the sisters ran.
Sister Eileen taught school in Arkansas and Louisiana for 30 years before returning to Holy Angels permanently in 1993.
The path for Sister Judith, a native of Chester, Mass., was quite different. She got her bachelor’s degree at Hendrix College in Conway and served as a VISTA volunteer for a year before an accident changed her life.
“I was in a car wreck and ended up at St. Vincent’s (Infirmary),” Sister Judith said. “I was like St. Paul getting knocked off his horse. The Lord said you’re going to listen to me.”
She currently works to ensure that the sisters have affordable prescription drug coverage. Sister Judith, who has been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, was recently named one of the 10 most interesting people in northeast Arkansas by Celebrate magazine.
A health situation led Sister Marya, a Minnesota native, to Holy Angels.
“I have epilepsy, but it’s well controlled and has been for some time. But when you want to enter a community, a lot of them won’t accept you like that,” Sister Marya said.
After a bit of searching she found her answer.
“It was the providence of God that led me here,” she said.
She currently helps with retreat groups that the convent hosts.
For Sister Miriam, a native of El Dorado, 25 years in religious life has a great meaning.
“It means a time of passage for me, a time that I will now pass to the next jubilee year, and a time that I can look forward to with even greater vigor.”
Sister Miriam is in her second year as formation director at Holy Angels. Prior to that, she served in West Memphis, Little Rock and Pocahontas.
And for Sister Ann Marie, a native of North Little Rock, 25 years in religious life has been a great experience.
“It’s been a lifetime,” Sister Ann Marie said. “There’s been a lot of joy, and a lot of great things that I have been a part of since I came here.”
Sister Ann Marie has been at Holy Angels for 27 years. She serves as a nurse at St. Bernards Regional Medical Center in Jonesboro.
And the next 25 years? “I don’t know,” Sister Ann Marie said. “That’s in God’s hands.”
