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DAUGHTERS OF DIVINE CHARITY ASSOCIATES MAY CROWNING 2019.

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It is with great sadness that we announce that our first Daughter of Divine Charity

Associate has been called home to Our Heavenly Father. Mrs. MaryJane Truckenbrodt’s

relationship with the Daughters of Divine Charity began as a parent of students at St. Joseph Hill Academy.

Mrs. T, as she was endearingly called, truly attached herself to the Sisters and their

educational ministry. She served as a forensics coach, a teacher and eventually as the first lay principal of SJHA’s elementary school.

Her devotion to her students was evident in the classroom teaching junior high science. Inspiring teens through discovery was not her only gift. Through her strong friendship with Sister Raimonde she found another way to help teenagers develop practical skills through public speaking.

Mrs. T spent hours with junior high students honing their speeches for the Eddy TV

competition and other public speaking opportunities.

Alongside Sr. Raimonde, bonded by their shared love for theater, speech and debate, she devoted her afternoons and weekends to the SJHA High School Forensics Team. Under the guidance of Sister and “Mrs. T” the team became recognized both locally and nationally for delivering “quality, not quantity.”

This team moto became a mantra for most former members of the forensics team, a reminder always to have confidence in one’s ability and training and a reminder to deliver one’s personal best in all endeavors.

Mrs. T will be remembered by the Sisters for all her contributions to their ministry in education. She will be fondly remembered by hundreds of students for her creativity in the classroom. Last, but certainly not least, her forensics team alumnae will honor her each time they stand in front of an audience delivering a presentation with confidence and poise.

God Bless you, Mrs. T.

Sister Mary Coffelt, Provincial Superior, recently spent time visiting the Sisters in the Mid-West ministries:

• Franziska Residence and Leonora Hall in Akron, Ohio. Here the Sisters’ ministry serves elderly men and women and provides a safe home for women with special needs.
• Briarbank in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. Here the Sisters oversee an assisted living facility for women.
• Corpus Cristi Parish in South Bend, Indiana where the Sisters assist in the elementary school and serve  the parish community throughout the weekends.

According to the Constitution of the Congregation, the Provincial Superior is mandated to visit every convent each year. During this visitation as the trip is called, Sister Mary speaks to each Sister individually. This provides the Sisters an opportunity to express directly to the Provincial how she feels about where she is living, the services she is providing to God’s people, her hopes for the future and anything else she wishes to share. Simultaneously, Sister Mary can   explain her vision for her Sisters individually and how each Sister contributes to the mission.

While first and foremost, Sister Mary’s responsibility is for the welfare of her Sisters in all the convents, visitation provides the Provincial time to assess the mission itself. Time is taken to   evaluate the infrastructure of the building, the administration of the ministry, services provided to the community, financial feasibility of the mission and convent, and so on.

With an aged population of Sisters, one of the most important aspects of the Provincial’s visitation is to assess the needs of the mission. This allows her to create a strategic plan for the future of the Province, convents, ministries and so on.

The Sisters and all their supporters look forward to the next steps Sister Mary and the Council will determine to be necessary in the coming months.

Sister M. Edward Toth, F.D.C. a faithful Daughter of Divine Charity for 63 years, entered    peacefully into the loving embrace of her Savior on January 18, 2019. The daughter of Stephen and Margaret Toth (Gall) was born in East Chicago, Indiana on March 15, 1936 and   baptized Mary Magdalene Toth on March 22, 1936 at Holy Trinity Parish.
Sister Edward entered the Congregation of the Daughters of Divine Charity on September 5, 1951 and pronounced her Final Vows on August 15, 1960.
Sister Edward served her community as a dedicated teacher, principal and superior in California, Illinois, Indiana, New Jersey and Michigan. During the past ten years she lovingly served the residents of St. Elizabeth Briarbank, and during the last three years as superior of the religious community there.
Sister Edward is preceded in death by her parents, three brothers, Edward, Stephen, George, and three sisters, Helen Kish, Margaret Dick and Dolores Marvel. She is survived by her Religious Community the Daughters of Divine Charity of Holy Family Province, loving nieces, nephews and their extended families. Sister Edward will be missed by all those whose lives she has touched.

May she rest in peace.

Our Foundress, Mother Franzicka Lechner, was…

a PRAYING woman who fulfilled her mission through daily

communion with God;

a COURAGEOUS woman who was ready to face the social problems of her time;

a WISE woman who found ways to solve those problems;

an ACTIVE woman who overcame difficult and risky situations;

a TRUSTING woman who relied on the Providence of our Heavenly Father and

a JOYFUL woman who sought to bring the love of God to others.

Divine Providence guided Mother Franziska, our Foundress, to become familiar with the writings of the Rule of Saint Augustine.  In the conviction of this Doctor of the Church, a community of persons called by God is an essential pre-requisite for uniting the       contemplative and apostolic ways of life in the service of the Lord, and it is here that Mother Franziska saw a way to fulfill her mission.

According to the renewal efforts of the Second Vatican Council, the Congregation adapted Mother Franziska’s spirituality and constitutions to the changed situation in the Church and world.

The Rule of Saint Augustine remains the foundation of the Sisters’ religious life. The    Sisters today obviously cannot follow the letter of a rule that is over a thousand years old; however, the letter is also the carrier of the spirit.  Shaping her life in this spirit may help the Daughter of Divine Charity to fulfill her vocation to the Evangelical Counsels.