By Rita McInerney

Sister M. Bernardine Dorr, R.S.M., is a teacher, a comforting, loving presence to the sick and dying, a faithful companion in prayer and fellowship to the sisters in her community and parishioners at Our Lady of the Assumption parish. She will be 80 on June 3.

Her love of God is her strength, shared in her life of service as a Sister of Mercy for 60 years, an anniversary joyfully observed at a Eucharistic celebration on May 3 at OLA.

Sister Bernardine is one of seven sisters serving in the archdiocese of Atlanta who are celebrating jubilees this year. They were honored as a jubilee celebration held by the Atlanta Conference of Sisters on May 6 at the Village of St. Joseph with Archbishop Thomas A. Donnellan attending.

The other jubilarians, all celebrating 25 years as religious sisters, are: Sister Mary Catherine Conway, D.C., Sister Carol Durkin, D.C., Sister Irene Lukefahr, B.V.M., Sister Joan McCann, O.P., Sister Kathleen Purser, G.N.S.H., and Sister Sally Schmitt, C.S.J.

Sister Bernardine is still doing what she likes to do best, working with young people, the sick and the elderly.

For Sister Bernardine, the years have been rich. “God has showered His blessings on me.” She has served him well, teaching young people for many years: at the all-girls St. Vincent’s Academy in Savannah for 40 years “off and on,” at the coed Mount de Sales High School in Macon, and at St. Pius X High School here in Atlanta in 1968-1969. All these years were “very happy times.”

Her subjects were English, math, biology, or “anything that needed to be taught.” She spent a year in advanced study at the Sisters College at Catholic University in Washington, D.C.

She teaches at OLA every school day until 12:30 p.m. and does special tutoring in the afternoon. Her students are seventh and eighth graders ready for accelerated math. Some of the eighth graders have already completed Algebra I and hope to skip into Algebra 2 when they enter high school in September. “Each has a different pace. I teach them on a one-to-one basis,” she says.

Sister Bernardine’s classroom is in the convent. It’s not difficult for her, she says, and there are no disciplinary problems. “I have the cream of the crop. They want to succeed.”

“I’d be miserable if I had to stop teaching. As long as my mind is clear I’ll continue. Once I get befuddled, I’ll stop. I hope I can continue as long as God wants me to. It keeps me younger, working with young people.”

She makes her point that she wouldn’t be satisfied with just teaching by listing her other activities at OLA: she is a Eucharistic minister who takes communion to the sick and dying in the afternoon and evening: she has participated in 10 of the 11 parish renewals and is a member of the charismatic prayer and praise group that meets weekly at the church. “When I can, I go to the Sociables (seniors club) meetings. I’m interested in that group as you would expect me to be.” She also meets with a small group, six people, for adult Bible study every Thursday afternoon.

Her heart is full of gratitude and thanksgiving for her 60 years as a Sister of Mercy and she appreciates the changes that brought her close to parishioners. “It’s wonderful to be so close to the laity, to work with them.”

Sister Bernardine came to OLA seven years ago from Savannah where she had been acting as volunteer supervisor at the Mercy retirement convent for two years.

A native of Augusta, where the Sisters of Mercy taught her for 12 years, she entered the Savannah Institute of the Sisters of Mercy in 1923. She was one of seven children of a mother and father who were daily communicants. Her three brothers are dead, but her three sisters, to her great joy, were able to be with her at her 60^th anniversary celebration.

Sister Mary Catherine Conway, D.C.

Sister Mary Catherine Conway, D.C., is leaving St. Mary’s School in Rome after being principal there for six years. She has “really enjoyed these years. I love the people, they’ve given me so much that I can share with others.”

In September she will be teaching first or second graders in Portsmouth, Va.

She first met the Daughters of Charity at Seton High School in her hometown, Baltimore, Md. When she entered the provincial house at Emmitsburg, Md., she did not want to be a teacher. “But I was asked to teach. The Lord was in that plan. I have loved it.” The spirit of the Daughters of Charity that attracted her is the vow of service to the poor, always to look for those in need. There are many outreach programs and services in the schools where the Daughters teach, she says, which enable them to carry out this vow.

Conceding that every vocation has “its ups and downs,” she has been “very happy and grateful to the Lord who has given me this vocation. I feel the Lord is gifting me with enthusiasm, to look ahead and see the possibilities.”

She will be returning to the motherhouse in August for a retreat and celebration of the jubilee. One gift, a heritage trip to Paris and Rome, has been postponed since the present is not the best time to travel.

Sister Carol Durkin, D.C.

Sister Carol Durkin, D.C., returned to teach at St. Mary’s School last year, 10 years after her first assignment in Rome.

She has been in the teaching apostolate 21 years; in Johnson City, N.Y., Pikesville and Baltimore, Md., at both the junior high and middle grades level.

She first encountered the Daughters of Charity at Seton High School in Baltimore and entered the provincial house at Emmitsburg. The order, which had its root in Paris, was founded in America by Saint Elizabeth Anne Seton who was canonized in 1975.

“I’m very happy with my life,” Sister Carol says. “Some changes are more challenging than others, but I’m sure they’re all to the good.” She enjoys teaching and says she is very open to spiritual and professional development.

She is grateful to her community for preparing her for her apostolate and for the “great support among the sisters in our community.”

She will be going to Emmitsburg in August for a retreat and celebration for the jubilarians. Like Sister Mary Catherine, another jubiliarian at St. Mary’s School, her heritage trip to Paris and Rome must await a less troubled time.

Sister Irene Lukefahr, B.V.M.

Sister Irene Lukefahr, V.B.M., is director of religious education at St. Joseph’s Church in Dalton and the first sister to serve the parish on a fulltime basis. She is the only sister serving in Whitfield County in the north Georgia mountains.

A native of St. Louis, Mo., her life as a Sister of Charity, Blessed Virgin Mary, began in 961 when she entered the motherhouse at Dubuque, Iowa. She graduated from Mundelein College, Chicago, where she majored in English and education in 1966.

She taught elementary school in Kansas City, Mo., Lincoln, Ill., Davenport, Iowa, and Rock Island, Ill., before becoming an elementary school principal in Memphis, Tenn., her introduction to the south. From Tennessee she entered the College of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minn.

After receiving her master’s degree in community education she decided to return to the south and sent out resumes to several dioceses. She was hired by St. Joseph’s four years ago.

“When I was in Memphis I worked with the black community and became very much aware of the need for women religious in the south…I would like to see more coming to the south from more populated areas.”

She misses her community very much and is looking forward to September when she will be joined by a retired member of her congregation who will work with her as a volunteer.

She gets support from members of her congregation in Chattanooga, in David, Ky., and in Holy Trinity, Ala. “The more isolated the place, the more important it is to take time to be together, to make it a priority to be together.” Just recently, she says, the B.V.M. sisters from four states gathered in Cleveland, Tenn., for a day of prayer, planning and play.

On the local level she is active in the Dalton-Whitfield Ministerial Assn., serving as secretary for the past two years; she has served as vice president of the Church Women United and is “semi-active” in Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

How does she view her 25 years as a religious sister? “I wish I knew Jesus better. There has been lots of joy and lots of changes, things were changing from day one.”

She sees a need for the witness of women religious in the church and for closer affiliation between lay women and women religious, more teamwork of laity and clergy in parishes.

Her life, she says, “will continue to be a life centered on Jesus and the needs of His people wherever the needs take me.”

Sister Joan McCann, O.P.

Sister Joan McCann, O.P., is in her fourth year in Atlanta where she is assistant superintendent of archdiocesan schools.

She returned several weeks ago to the motherhouse of the Sinsinawa Dominicans in Wisconsin where she celebrated with 77 other jubiliarians on April 27. It was a happy time for her, a chance to catch up with other members. The high point of the weekend was the liturgy and dinner on Sunday that families of the jubiliarians attended. It meant a great deal to Sister Joan that her family was present for the celebration. This hadn’t been the case earlier. “Our family was never included in our professions.”

There are 200 Dominicans in residence at the Sinsinawa motherhouse. Many are in retirement, others in the congregation government and others in maintenance. The complex includes a dairy farm and large vegetable garden which yields much of the food for the sisters’ table throughout the year.

One topic the sisters seemed to want to talk about during the weekend were the sisters in retirement. “Those of us who are working have a responsibility to those who aren’t,” Sister Joan says. Her congregation is asking its members to work in the local dioceses for increases in the stipends paid them. “I think every diocese has to think about it,” she says of the looming problems of aging sisters who must be cared for by fewer numbers of younger members of the congregation.

The 25 years have been happy ones for the Dominican who received her degree in elementary education and history from Edgewood College in Madison, Wisc., and her master’s in education and mathematics from Northeastern Illinois University in her native city, Chicago. She earned a master’s in management and supervision from Loyola in Baltimore during the seven years she served as principal in that city.

Once almost completely involved in education, her congregation has broadened its involvement in other areas of parish ministry and in social work. Many serve in the Hispanic ministry around the country.

“I think the congregation is still working toward a broader interpretation of women’s ministry. As far as the leadership of the church, women still aren’t being recognized. In congregations such as mine where many of the members are highly educated, this is often difficult to accept.”

Sister Kathleen Purser, G.N.S.H.

Sister Kathleen Purser, G.N.S.H., is the only native of Atlanta among the sisters celebrating jubilees.

She has been principal at St. Paul of the Cross School for the past three years, moving from Immaculate Heart of Mary School where she served seven years as principal. Earlier, she had taught one year at IHM and two years at Christ the King School. She is recognized for her commitment to the ministry of Catholic education in the archdiocese and the importance of education in the black community by way of evangelization.

Sister Kathleen attended Christ the King School until the 10^th grade, then entered St. Pius X School where she was a member of the second graduating class. Her school years at Christ the King influenced her decision to enter the Grey Nuns of the Sacred Heart community.

Her undergraduate studies were at the order’s D’Youville College in Buffalo. She received her master’s degree in educational administration at Teacher’s College at Columbia University. Before returning to Atlanta she was principal of a school in Buffalo for six years.

Parishioners at St. Paul of the Cross helped her celebrate her silver jubilee at a Mass and reception on April 13.

Of her vocation, Sister Kathleen says, “I thoroughly enjoy being at St. Paul of the Cross and am challenged by the many opportunities for children here. My 25 years as a sister have been rewarding ones for me. The Lord has blessed me with unique opportunities to work among very dedicated and grace-filled people. I have been constantly exposed to the Lord’s goodness through the people I minister to, I have grown and been sustained by the goodness of others.”

Sister Sally Schmitt, C.S.J.

Sister Sally Schmitt, C.S.J., is in her second year as principal and teacher at the Village of St. Joseph in southwest Atlanta where she teaches boys from nine to 11 in an individualized, self-contained approach.

She is happy with her work at the Village and with her 25 years as a Sister of St. Joseph. She feels fortunate that the sisters of her age group “were on the front end of changes” of Vatican II and didn’t have the conflict some of the older sisters had to face in accepting the sweeping revisions of the council.

Sister Sally was taught by sisters of St. Joseph for one year in her hometown of Littleton, Colo. This association brought her to the order in 1961. Later she received her bachelor’s degree from Fontbonne College in St. Louis, Mo., and her master’s in early childhood education from Georgia Southern College in Statesboro.

Her first assignment as a teacher was at St. Anthony’s in Atlanta where she taught first and second grades for three years. Between her first and current assignment in Atlanta she taught at Brunswick, Ga., for nine years; St. Louis, Mo., and Muskogee, Okla., where she served as principal. She spent a year away from the classroom as a chaplain at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Kirkland, Mo.

She is optimistic about the second 25 years and is “constantly remaking” her decision on how to be of service. “You always have to be open. I find myself moving in new directions. I don’t expect to be doing the same thing in the next 25 years.”