Archbishop's web site Denver Catholic Register Parishes Catholic Pastoral Center
April 17, 2002
Dominican Sisters of Great Bend, Kan., celebrate 100 years
Nuns serve in health care, housing and pastoral work in archdiocese
Great Bend, KAN. — This year marks the centennial of the founding of the Dominican Sisters of Great Bend, Kansas.
On April 23, 1902, Mother Antonina Fischer and six sisters from Brooklyn, N.Y., arrived in Great Bend. Their purpose for starting a foundation in Kansas was to teach children, spread the Gospel, and spread the Dominican Order.
Upon arriving in Great Bend, the sisters began opening schools, and at the request of the city, opened St. Rose Hospital, which would later become Central Kansas Medical Center.
The sisters celebrated the 50th anniversary of their founding by responding to a call to accept a foreign mission. In 1956, three sisters went to Nigeria, West Africa, to spread the Dominican Order.
Since their founding in Kansas, the Dominicans have also ministered in Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas, and abroad to Jamaica, Japan, Kenya, Lebanon, Malawai, New Guinea, Nigeria, Philippines, and Thailand.
Sisters ministering in the Archdiocese of Denver are: Sister Peggy Martin, Catholic Health Initiatives Senior Vice President for Sponsorship, Denver; Sister Adeline Wedeking, Visiting Nurses Association, Denver; Sister Markita Haefling and Sister Kathleen Andrews, Mercy Housing, Inc., Denver; Sister Denise Mueting, Gardens of St. Elizabeth, Denver; Sister Yvonne Clark, Adolescent and Family Institute of Colorado, Denver; Sister Regina O'Rourke, pastoral ministries in Erie, Frederick and Mead; Sister Mary Martin Weaver, volunteer services in Northglenn.
This month the Dominican Sisters of Great Bend will celebrate their centennial with a festive Mass, dedication of a Centennial Garden, and blessing of a new statue of St. Catherine of Siena, a Dominican saint, in the Centennial Garden.
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