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Franciscan sisters leave Denver, but legacy remains
By Julie Filby
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Photo by James Baca/DCR Sister Regina Revers, in blue habit, is one of the last two sisters to have served in the Denver Archdiocese. When the new hospital opened she and fellow Sister Jeannette Marie Weber moved to the motherhouse in Colorado Springs. |
After 127 years of ministry in northern Colorado, the Sisters of St. Francis of Perpetual Adoration are no longer serving in the Archdiocese of Denver.
“It’s a letting go,” said Sister Nadine Heimann, O.S.F., provincial of the order’s Western Province. “A kind of dying so that a new birth can emerge.”
The Sisters of St. Francis arrived in Denver from Omaha in 1884 with a team of seven to operate the Union Pacific Hospital. As the population and need for healthcare increased, the sisters opened St. Anthony Hospital in 1893.
They maintained a presence there until this summer when two remaining sisters—Jeannette Marie Weber, a registered nurse, and Regina Revers, chapel sacristan—moved to the motherhouse in Colorado Springs.
“You know we never really retire,” said Sister Heimann. “We’re always engaged in some manner or another … I hardly gave them time to unpack their bags before I had plenty of tasks for them to do.”
In addition to providing healthcare throughout the years, members of the community also served at schools including Denver’s Our Lady of Lourdes and St. Mary Magdalene (closed in 1979); as well as St. Joan of Arc Parish in Arvada, St. Anthony Parish in Denver and Holy Trinity Parish in Westminster.
“Our fields of service have included healthcare, education and pastoral services, and care of the elderly,” said Sister Heimann. “When a call was issued for needed services within the Church of Denver, the sisters responded; sharing their expertise, gifts and talents.”
Rev. Dr. David Peters, interim vice president of mission integration at St. Anthony’s Hospital, worked with the two sisters who recently left the hospital.
“I have a great affection for Sister Jeannette Marie and Sister Regina,” said Peters. “They did amazing work for us.”
Peters said Sister Revers showed care and compassion to everyone she met.
“She was a real minister of care in the hospital setting,” he said. “She has a wonderful spirit about her,” he said adding that she was also difficult to replace.
“We’ve had to scramble to find a number of people to do all the things that she alone did,” he said.
Sister Weber was a nurse at St. Anthony’s for 37 years.
“She not only had tremendous medical expertise, but as a sister provided wonderful care,” he said. “She took the extra step of applying compassion.”
Peters recalled the sisters’ lengthy history at the hospital.
“Years ago (the sisters) served in the pharmacy, the laundry, the kitchen,” he said. “They were nurses and administrators—they were all over.
“They’re sorely missed,” he said referring not only to Sisters Weber and Revers but religious women overall in the hospital setting. “There are far fewer religious these days than in the past.”
According to the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University, the number of religious women has dropped from 180,000 in 1965 to 56,000 in 2011. The national median age for religious sisters is in the 70s, according to CARA.
“We have three to six deaths a year and we’re not really getting new members,” said Sister Heimann.
That reality has heightened their sense of responsibility for developing and forming lay people to carry on their work.
“Each time one of the sisters has left a particular ministry, it has paved the way for qualified and gifted lay person to find an even more integral way to participate in the life of Church ministry,” she said. “Yet, letting go is not easy.”
She expressed sadness that Franciscan sisters will no longer serve the Denver Archdiocese.
“I know people regret the absence of sisters, and we regret that too,” she said. “Our sincere hope is that we have been able to share a bit of our Franciscan spirit of peace and joy with the Church of Denver.”
There are 56 sisters in the Western Province; 44 reside at the motherhouse in Colorado Springs. Their ministries include Franciscan Retreat and Conference Center, Mount St. Francis Nursing Center, Franciscan Community Counseling and Women Partnering. For more information, visit www.nunsarewe.org.
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