Early in the morning of February 10, 2023, the heartfelt prayer of our Sister Thadine Kaminski was answered. The long-awaited time had come to complete her journey home to God, and she was prepared. Trusting confidently in God’s gracious love and divine mercy, she believed that the sufferings of the past and present moment were nothing compared to the coming glory that soon would be revealed to her (Romans 8:18). Running with patience the race that was set before her, she held fast to an unwavering faith in the Lord’s promise of eternal life and looked forward with a certain hope to being reunited with all of the loved ones who made up the cloud of witnesses that had surrounded her throughout her life (Heb 12:1-2).

Born in Chicago, Illinois, to her loving parents, Stella (Kopczyk) and James Kaminski, Mary Ann was blessed with four brothers and three sisters. Growing up in a large family, she learned much about love, respect and caring for others. Influenced by the Sisters of St. Francis of Mary Immaculate who staffed St. Francis Xavier parish school, young Mary Ann was attracted to the spirit and life she witnessed in the community of the Sisters. Encouraged to discern her vocational calling, at the age of thirteen she became an aspirant with the Joliet Franciscans and attended St. Francis Academy in Joliet, Illinois.

Read More About Sister Thadine’s Life

If you would like to make a donation in honor of Sister Carlene or another Joliet Franciscan Sister, please click here:  Remembering our Deceased Sisters.

“I’m going to have to do some getting used to it. In the first place I’m going back to my hometown. But I know Mansfield more than I do Joliet.” These were Sister Bernard Marie Campbell’s words expressed eight years ago to a reporter for the Mansfield News Journal who interviewed her and Sister Paula Bingert on their departure from Mansfield after 144 years of our Sisters’ having served there.

Yes, that change in 2015 did require some adjustment. But Bernard found comfort in the work that she did weekly for the Congregation at the Joliet Franciscan Center when she called donors to thank them for their contributions. Expressing that gratitude reminded her of the 19 years she had spent at Saint Peter’s High School Development office thanking the alumni and benefactors for their support. Being at Our Lady of Angels, next door to Joliet Catholic Academy, where her nephew was the baseball coach, gave Bernard a chance to stay in touch with the high school athletic scene which had meant so much to her. Living at Our Lady of Angels where her brother Bob became a resident before he died there also brought family within reach in a new way. She had talked to her brother Tom in Florida twice a day for years following his heart transplant, but this was another special connection with “the boys.” Her nieces and nephews were close at hand, also, including the children of her sisters Patricia and Dorothy, both of whom predeceased her.

Read More About Sister Bernard Marie’s Life

If you would like to make a donation in honor of Sister Carlene or another Joliet Franciscan Sister, please click here:  Remembering our Deceased Sisters.

Sister Mary Carlene Howell was born in Chicago, Illinois, on June 12, 1934, to Frances (Fisher) and Gilbert Howell. She was Baptized, Gwendolyn and given the name Mary Carlene upon her entrance to the novitiate of the Sisters of St. Francis of Mary Immaculate in Joliet, Illinois. Carlene has one brother, Durk and a sister, June. As children, Carlene was given the nickname “Gwenie” by her brother.

Carlene loved learning as much as she did teaching. After receiving her bachelor’s degree at the College of St. Francis in Joliet, Illinois, she earned a Master’s degree in English at Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, and a Master’s degree in Religious Studies at St. Louis University in St. Louis, Missouri. She continued post-graduate studies at the University of Minnesota, University of Detroit, University of Southern California, DePaul University and St. Louis University.

She served as Chair of the English Department at the University of St. Francis for several of her 13 years as an Assistant Professor of English. She once said, “The literature courses I taught provided a means for students to study human nature in a context that was fictional but at the same time very real! I loved seeing students blossom into thoughtful and questioning individuals.”

Read More About Sister Carelene’s Life

If you would like to make a donation in honor of Sister Carlene or another Joliet Franciscan Sister, please click here:  Remembering our Deceased Sisters.