Editor’s note: This is the first of two stories celebrating years of service at the Dominican Sisters of Peace. More jubilarian bios will be published next week.
Dominican Sisters of Peace will celebrate Jubilarians on June 22 at the Motherhouse, 3600 Broadway Ave.
Jubilees are like anniversaries. They celebrate the number of years that a sister has been in community from the time she took her First Vows. There will be a special prayer service on Saturday evening, June 21 and a special Mass on Sunday morning followed by a festive dinner. During the Mass, the sisters will recite the vows that they made all those many years ago. The vow formula is: “I, (name of sister), profess the vows of obedience, celibacy, and poverty to God, to be lived in the light of the Gospel and according to the rule of St. Augustine and the Constitutions of this Congregation of the Dominican Sisters of Peace, for my whole life.”
75 Years
Sr. Martina Stegman
Sister Martina was an elementary school teacher for 20 years in Kansas, Oklahoma, and Nebraska. In her next 30-some years she ministered chiefly in religious education in parishes, regions, and in Kansas dioceses of Dodge City, Salina, and Wichita, setting up religious education programs and training catechists. For two years Sister Martina worked in formation for the native Dominican community in Nigeria, West Africa. For the next 18 years, Sister did retreat work in Kansas and Michigan. In 2019 Sister retired to the Great Bend Motherhouse and serves as sacristan and environment duties in the convent chapel. “Looking back at these blessed years, my heart is filled with gratitude to God, and to all who assisted me.”
Sr. Stella Weber
Sister Stella began her ministerial life as a parochial schoolteacher, but after 1963 she devoted more than 45 years to health ministry in medical records in Kansas and Arizona. When she returned to the Great Bend Motherhouse, she spent many hours volunteering at the Heartland Cancer Center and as an assistant in the convent library. She now spends her time in prayer in the Motherhouse Infirmary. Sr. Stella celebrated her 100th birthday last July.
70 Years
Sister Marie Hageman
Sr. Marie Hageman, the daughter of the late Bill and Minnie Hageman, grew up in Willowdale, with six brothers and four sisters. She answered the call to religious life while in high school. Sr. Marie’s ministries have led her to the people in Nigeria, Thailand, Alabama, Appalachia, Ozanam Home for Boys, L’ Arche for challenged adults both in Kansas City, to several hospitals and ministry to the elderly. She serves in a variety of ministries at the Great Bend Motherhouse. Sr. Marie is grateful for the numerous opportunities of the past 70 years in which she shared the spirit of the itinerant St. Dominic, as she gave witness to the gospel message.
Sister Esther Fiegel
Sister Esther, another of the community’s excellent teachers, taught primary grades for 18 years in parochial schools in Kansas. Then she served two terms as councilor on the Leadership Team, after which she was asked to join the Formation Team and assist with training of Postulants and the sisters in temporary profession. The following 20 years she served in parish ministry in the dioceses of Salina, Dodge City, and Wichita. She ministered as Director of Mission and Pastoral Care Services at Via Christi Village in Ponca City for 12 years until she moved to the Motherhouse in Great Bend where she currently is a spiritual director and team member of Heartland Center for Spirituality.
Sister Imelda Schmidt
Sr. Imelda Schmidt spent the majority of her 70 years in missionary work in Nigeria and on the Las Casas Team for the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma. She has been an active member of the Heartland Farm Staff near Great Bend. Very competent in body work, she has been a practicing massage therapist for more than 30 years. She also serves in a variety of ministries in the Motherhouse where she resides.
Sister Adeline Wedeking
Sister Adeline Wedeking, the oldest of 16, entered the Convent in Great Bend more than 70 years ago. She first taught grade school and then worked at Holy Trinity Parish in Colorado as a bookkeeper and secretary. For more than a decade, she served in Accounts Receivable with Archdiocesan Housing. That led to a ministry in SkyRidge Hospital as a Registrar. During all this time, music was important – teaching piano lessons and serving as organist in various parishes. She is ever faithful to exercise whether biking or swimming. She now resides in the Great Bend Motherhouse after many years of service with the people of Colorado.
More jubilarians’ biographies will be published in the June 21 Great Bend Tribune.
