WE Are Because YOU Are - Celebrating 150 Years
“Ubuntu” is an African Bantu word meaning “humanity.” It is sometimes translated as “I am because we are” or “we are because I am.” It is how we grow as humans, living with and for others. It refers to the idea that we each are who we are because of all those whom we have touched, and whose lives have touched ours – our shared humanity.
On this October 15 we will begin the celebration of our 150th Anniversary year as the community of Sisters of St. Benedict of St. Mary Monastery. All those with whom we share “Ubuntu” cannot be counted! They began with our arrival in Nauvoo in Oct. 1874 and the first seven students who enrolled in St. Mary’s school for young women in Nauvoo, IL. They continued over the 123 years that St. Mary’s Academy existed until 1997. They have extended over these many years to the thousands of young people taught in the 30+ elementary, high schools and multiple colleges where our Sisters served, to the 20+ parishes where the children were taught their religious education in catechetical programs in summers and during the school years, to other parish settings where sisters led faith formation programs for adults, and trained them to do the same when the Sisters moved on. Our Sisters’ lives touched others in need of Social assistance through counseling, or in work with the poor, the homeless, and prisoners. They served in Diocesan offices, as administrators, and more recently in sharing our faith in Christ and our Benedictine values through Benet House Retreat Center and our Oblate program.
We are today who we are as community because of all of YOU! You are because of us. That is “Ubuntu”. We are all a gift from God to one another. We are grateful! We have shared your lives in times of joy, and in sorrow. We attended your graduations, weddings, the baptisms of your children and even family funerals. And you have accompanied us on our journeys.
The bells on the cover of our most recent edition of Connecting Point tell our history from the single bell that rang in the school and priory tower in Nauvoo in 1892 to the 3 “new bells” given to us in 1962 that hung in the modern bell tower in Nauvoo, and now in Rock Island. We honor them as we ring them during this year of celebration. Those bells rang out many times in joy and in sorrow over these 149 years and they will continue to ring throughout the coming year and beyond. We ask that you be with us this year in person or in spirit, as together we celebrate this 150th year of life in community with all of you. WE are because YOU are!
With Love and Gratitude,
Sr. Susan Hutchens, OSB and the Sisters of St. Benedict