Ten men and women are marking their anniversaries this year as sisters and brothers. They have served the Church continuously for 25 to 80 years.
80 years
Sister Laurene Favre, RSM, entered the Sisters of Mercy in 1933 in Webster Groves, Mo. She has taught in Catholic schools in Little Rock, North Little Rock, Fort Smith, Tontitown, El Dorado and Hot Springs. Sister Laurene currently lives at Catherine McAuley Convent in Barling.
70 years
Sister Marie Rose DeSalvo, OSB, formerly known as Sister Angela, made her profession on June 24, 1943. She attributes her vocation, as well as the vocations of her brothers, the late Father Raphael and Brother Tobias of Subiaco Abbey, to her parents’ prayers. She taught 25 years in Catholic schools in Arkansas, Oklahoma and Missouri. In the later years of her career she felt called to social work and pastoral care. She worked as a social worker in the Diocese of Amarillo for seven years and in pastoral care ministry at St. Edward Hospital in Fort Smith from 1986 to 1997. Sister Marie Rose resides in the monastery infirmary.
Sister Agatha Knittig, OSB, is the eldest of eight children, growing up in Morrison Bluff. Sister Agatha was inspired to enter religious life by the example of the Benedictine sisters who taught at Sts. Peter and Paul School and her pastor, a Benedictine priest from Subiaco Abbey. She taught primary school at Holy Redeemer School, Clarksville; St. John and St. Boniface schools, Fort Smith; St. Pius School, Moberly, Mo.; St. Francis de Sales School, Lebanon, Mo.; St. John School, Russellville; St. Vincent de Paul School, Rogers; and St. Theresa School, Little Rock. She most enjoyed preparing students for First Communion.
“It was such a joy to see and experience their joy to prepare to receive Jesus,” she said.
Now retired from teaching, Sister Agatha can often be found baking bread and cookies in the center kitchen, especially in the months before the monastery bake sale.
60 years
Sister Maria DeAngeli, OSB, St. Scholastica Monastery’s current prioress, grew up as the eldest of seven children in Lake Village. When she told her eighth grade teacher, Sister Annunciata, that she had been thinking of becoming a missionary sister, Sister Annunciata responded by saying she’d been taught by Benedictines throughout her school years and that she should join St. Scholastica. After making her profession in 1953, Sister Maria served in many ministries — as a domestic worker, primary school teacher, parish associate, formation director, community liturgist, formation director and subprioress. She was a director of religious education for 23 years. In the seven years immediately preceding her election as prioress in 2009, Sister Maria managed the gift shop and served as St. Scholastica’s formation director.
“I have most enjoyed my years of ministry working with and among the people of God of all faiths,” she said. “It was a work of ministry that opened my heart and mind to the many avenues of the lives of people. I can say I’ve enjoyed all of my work.”
Sister Leona Marie Selig, OSB, formerly known as Sister Veronica, the middle of three children, felt called to religious life after making a retreat her sophomore year at St. Scholastica Academy. After making her profession in 1953, she worked in domestic service at Shoal Creek, St. Joseph Orphanage and the monastery infirmary. She spent her last 30 years in active ministry as a nurse’s aide in nursing homes, including 15 years at MediHome Nursing Home in Fort Smith and the monastery infirmary.
“As my immediate family is now in heaven, I thank God for all of our Benedictine sisters. I am grateful for having been a nurses’ aide for many years,” Sister Leona said.
Sister Doris Moore, DC, of Perryville, Mo., has been a teacher, religious educator, parish worker, wellness coordinator and outreach coordinator at Helping Hand food pantry in Little Rock. She is currently a volunteer teacher at St. Edward School in Little Rock. From 1992 to 1998 she worked at El Carmen Center in San Antonio as a wellness coordinator. She also served on the Anti-Death Penalty Diocesan Committee. She attended an anti-death penalty national conference in 1998. At the end of the conference, everyone was given the name of a death row inmate to contact, and Sister Doris was given the name of Vicente Gutierrez. She visited twice a year, corresponded with him and sent him art supplies. She accompanied him before his execution March 28, 2007, in Huntsville, Texas. Among her hobbies are bird watching, reading and making pies.
50 years
Sister Carol Anne Corley, RSM, is a twin and the fifth child of Harry and Charlotte Corley. She was active in team sports and loved to swim, hike, hunt and fish. While attending St. John School of Nursing in St. Louis, she got to know the Sisters of Mercy and entered the community in 1963. She graduated from Marillac College with a bachelor’s degree in nursing in 1969. Over the next 30 years she served in various roles in Mercy-owned hospitals in Missouri, Kansas, Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas. After a year of sabbatical in 1999, she began her new ministry at St. John School and Parish in Hot Springs. She teaches about nature and the environment, coordinates the Stream Team, the Classroom Aquarium Program and the annual science fair, and teaches fly-tying as part of the art program. Sister Carol Anne has served as the co-coordinator of the St. John’s ESL Program. She is an avid flyfisher and fly-tyer and has taught and demonstrated these skills to youth and adults for more than 25 years. She has served as a volunteer flyfishing instructor for Casting for Recovery for more than 10 years. She has worked in retreats in Arkansas, Missouri, North Carolina and South Carolina.
Sister Elise Forst, OSB, grew up in Subiaco as the eldest of 10 children.
“I admired the teachers I had at St. Benedict School in Subiaco and wanted to be like them,” she said. After making her profession in 1963, she taught intermediate grades at Holy Rosary School, Stuttgart; St. Joseph School, Paris; and St. Edward School, Little Rock. She worked as an educational examiner in Little Rock and Fort Smith. She has served the monastic community as its subprioress (1985-1993) and prioress (1993-2001). Since 2002 she has been St. Scholastica’s development director.
“I am most thankful for the opportunity to live the Benedictine way of life among the great women who are my sisters in this community,” Sister Elise said. “I feel I was led to the place in which I can be my truest self.”
Brother Richard Sanker, CFP, was invested as a Brother of the Poor of St. Francis on March 19, 1963, and made final profession on March 19, 1969. He earned his bachelor’s degree in French from Manhattan College in New York and a master’s degree in counseling from Xavier University in Cincinnati. He has been stationed at grade schools in Northvale and Emerson, N.J., Cincinnati, Morris School in Searcy and Burlington, Iowa. He is currently serving his 31st year at Catholic High School in Little Rock as a counselor and teacher. In his religious community, he has been a novice master, formation director and general councilor.
25 years
Sister Chetachi Chikezie, DMMM, grew up in Nigeria in a family of nine children. She got to know the Daughters of Mary Mother of Mercy and made her first profession in 1988. In 1992 Sister Chetachi, who had always wanted to be a nurse, was asked by her superior general to study philosophy in Rome because only one sister in their order was a philosophy professor.
She completed her bachelor’s degree in 1996 and her master’s degree in 2000 from St. Thomas Aquinas University in Rome. She also got a bachelor’s degree in education at Salesian University and served as the superior of her community in Rome.
She was assigned as a hospital chaplain and to teach philosophy at St. Joseph and St. Peter Seminary in the Diocese of Brownsville, Texas, in 2006. In 2010 she took a residency in pastoral care at Valley Baptist Hospital in Harlingen, Texas. She was then offered a position at Mercy Hospital Fort Smith as a chaplain where she has remained ever since.
