Sister M. Elvon Huser, O.S.F. died on Monday, January 6, 2020 at 3:50 p.m. at St. Francis Convent, Springfield, IL.

Sister Elvon, the former Marie Cecilia Huser, was born in Hanson, WI, on March 20, 1919, the daughter of Frank and Anna (Wirtz) Huser. She entered the Congregation on October 1, 1936 and professed her religious vows on June 13, 1939.

Sister Elvon graduated from St. John’s Hospital School of Nursing, Springfield, in 1942. In 1944, she graduated from DePaul University with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Biology. She completed Post Graduate Studies in Surgery at St. John’s Hospital, Springfield, in 1945. In her long life of ministries, Sister Elvon served as a surgical nurse, OR Supervisor, and Director of Pastoral Care. She continued in her pastoral care ministry until her retirement and then volunteered at HSHS hospitals in Illinois and Wisconsin.

In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by seven brothers: Louis, Joseph, Jerome, Herman, Victor, Charles, and Edmund; and four sisters: Hospital Sisters' Sister M. Elaine Huser, O.S.F., Sister M. Nerine Huser, S.S.N.D., Sister M. Petranda Huser, S.S.N.D., and Gertrude Pleyte.

She is survived by two sisters: Hospital Sisters' Sister M. Elreda Huser, O.S.F., Springfield, and Betty Bymers of Wisconsin Rapids, WI; many nieces, nephews, great nieces, and great nephews, as well as her Franciscan Sisters with whom she shared her life for over 83 years.

Visitation will be held at St. Francis Convent from 4:30-7 p.m. with a Wake Service at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday, January 9, 2020. The Eucharistic Celebration and Rite of Christian Burial will be celebrated by Father Dennis Koopman, OFM, on Friday, January 10, 2020, at 10 a.m. in St. Clare of Assisi Adoration Chapel at St. Francis Convent. Burial will be in Crucifixion Hill Cemetery. Staab Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

To view her feature story from 2006, please click here.

Sister Maretta Kurk, O.S.F. died on December 19, 2019 at 8:10 p.m. at St. Francis Convent.

Sister Maretta, the former Norma Jean Kurk, was born in Quincy, IL on June 15, 1932, the daughter of Clarence and Edith (Schaich) Kurk. She entered the Congregation on September 12, 1951 and professed her religious vows on June 13, 1954. 

Sister Maretta served at Our Lady of the Ozarks (Carthage, MO), St. John’s Hospital (Springfield, IL), and St Joseph’s Home for the Infirm and Aged (Monroe, LA). The remainder of her ministry was in departments at St. Francis Convent.

She was preceded in death by her parents and two sisters, Lila Jane Fredericks and Mary Ellen Lohman.

She is survived by one brother, Alvin Kurk, Quincy, IL.; several nephews and nieces; several great nephews and nieces as well as her Franciscan Sisters with whom she shared her life for over 68 years.

Visitation will be held at St. Francis Convent from 4-7 p.m. with a Wake Service at 6 p.m. on December 22, 2019. The Eucharistic Celebration and Rite of Christian Burial will be celebrated by Father Dennis Koopman, OFM on December 23, 2019 at 10:30 a.m. in St. Clare of Assisi Adoration Chapel at St. Francis Convent. Burial will be in Crucifixion Hill Cemetery. Butler Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

To view her feature from 2011, please click here.

A message from the Catholic Health Association of the United States (CHA)

As we await the birth of Christ, who came for all and dwelled among the poor and lowly, it is fitting that Catholic health care mark International Human Solidarity Day on December 20. This video is a reminder of the history of Catholic health care's commitment to solidarity and it features photographs shared with CHA by members with long-standing international programs.

On December 1, 2019, at The National Shrine of Our Lady the Snows (Belleville, IL), Sister Thomas Kundmueller, OSF, received a Humanitarian Award from Bethany Place for her 30 years of service. The Black Tie Affair and Award Ceremony was organized with the theme of "Aging with HIV" and was presented by the Writers, Planners, Trainers, and Bethany Place in conjunction with the 2019 World Aids Day.

Sister Thomas reflected upon her time at Bethany Place by saying, “Thirty years with many joys and sorrows, and good and hard times, have had wonderful memories all mixed in. I give thanks to the Good Lord for all of them."

Sister Mary Immaculate Creedon, Sister Rosily Menachery, and Sister Thomas’ friends were also in attendance.

To learn about Bethany Place, please click here.

It is with solidarity that the Hospital Sisters of St. Francis stands with Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) in disappointment by the US withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement. Recognizing our Catholic teaching that climate change is a grave moral issue that threatens our commitment to life, we will continue to advocate against climate policies that harm the Earth and its inhabitants and promote environmental justice.

The Hospital Sisters of St. Francis welcomed seven new Franciscan Associates on November 17 during the morning liturgy in St. Francis of Assisi Church. The new Associates are Mary Bonner, Jane Locascio, Linda Mueller, and Alicia Shapinsky, Springfield; Bernie Curry, Decatur, IL; Jerrilyn Zavada, Streator, IL; and Peggy Pendergast, Eau Claire, WI.

“Years ago the Church found ways to welcome men and women who desired a way to deepen their baptismal commitment by accepting God’s call to live according to Jesus’ Gospel but not profess vows,” explained Nancy Davis, Associate Coordinator. “One of these ways was through an Associate relationship to a religious community and our Associates seek to model themselves in some way in the spirit of St. Francis and St. Clare of Assisi and the example of our Hospital Sisters of St. Francis,” explained Davis.

These seven Associates join the Hospital Sisters’ family of 136 Associates who embrace Franciscan values and the Hospital Sisters’ healing spirit while bringing the compassion of Jesus to others in ways that fit their lifestyle. Associates meet monthly to share their faith on spiritual and Franciscan topics, share in the Hospital Sisters’ spirituality and join with them in prayer, community, celebration and ministry. Associates do not take vows.

Founded in 1987, Associates of the Hospital Sisters of St. Francis is a ministry that is open to baptized Christians 18 years or older with gatherings in Decatur, Effingham, Highland, Springfield, and Streator, IL; and Eau Claire, Green Bay, and Sheboygan, WI. For more information, please visit our website, contact Nancy at 217/522-3387, ext. 664 or send her an email.

The Leadership Team of the Hospital Sisters of St. Francis, in the light of the recent mass shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio, asks how we can be instruments of healing and non-violence that help bring about the change necessary to counteract the direction that division, racism and violence seem to be taking us? As consecrated women empowered by Franciscan Spirituality that reverence all life, we have dedicated our lives to be a healing presence in society and agents of change.

We join other religious communities in a shared response to these incidents of violence through the August 6, 2019 statement of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) and their call to end gun violence.

“The recent mass shootings in our country impel us to once again beg all citizens and all elected leaders to end the rampant rage and division that has overpowered the nation and too often result in mass, indiscriminate violence. We implore all legislative bodies to pass legislation that effectively prevents gun violence. We call for the passage of laws that ban assault weapons, require universal background checks for all gun sales, provide funding for gun violence prevention research and makes the trafficking in weapons a federal crime.”

We choose to join the thousands of other citizens and religious communities across the country to ask our Federal Government to take action now to prevent this continuing violence from spreading. We join our brothers and sisters in Christ in prayer, advocacy and education to bring healing to all from this stochastic terrorism - the public demonization of a person or group resulting in the incitement of a violent act, which is statistically probable but whose specifics cannot be predicted.