March 1-3 — Sister Edna Hess, president of the Congregation, hosted the Precious Blood Leadership Conference at Salem Heights, our central house in Dayton. The participants were Sister Vicki Bergkamp, ASC, regional leader of the Adorers of the Blood of Christ; Sister Janice Bader, CPPS, president of the Sisters of the Most Precious Blood of O’Fallon, MO; and Father Jeffrey Kirch, CPPS, provincial director of the United States Province of the Missionaries of the Precious Blood.
March 8-14 — To celebrate Catholic Sisters Week, the Congregation highlighted our commitment to Laudato Si by giving reusable grocery bags to each Sister, as well as to Gem City Market, Miami Valley Meals and west Dayton food pantries. The initiative was a collaboration between Peace, Justice and Ecology Coordinator Jen Morin-Williamson and the vocations team.
March 14 — Sister Joyce Ann Zimmerman presented “What We Do & Use at Mass” as part of the Lenten Learning Series at the Maria Stein Shrine of the Holy Relics, former Motherhouse of the Sisters of the Precious Blood. She presented a second session on March 23. Sister Joyce Ann is founding director of the Institute for Liturgical Ministry in Dayton; an adjunct professor of liturgy; a facilitator of liturgy workshops; and a prolific author of scholarly and pastoral liturgical books and articles.
March 18 — Sister Joyce Lehman, former president of the Congregation, represented the Sisters of the Precious Blood at a panel discussion, “Coming Together to Celebrate Connections and Diversity.” The panel was hosted by the Precious Blood Spirituality Institute and held in person and virtually at the Precious Blood Renewal Center in Liberty, Missouri.
March 30 — Homefull held a groundbreaking on Gettysburg Avenue in Dayton for the first phase of their 16-acre Healthy Living in West Dayton Project. The project will include a grocery store, primary care physician’s office, a locally owned and operated pharmacy and a regional food hub for area farmers. Sister Margo Young, Peace, Justice and Ecology Coordinator Jen Morin-Williamson and Executive Assistant Peg Birkemeyer attended the ceremony. In 1988, Precious Blood Sister Dorothy Kammerer founded The Other Place, which evolved into Homefull and works to end homelessness.
March 31 — Sister Karen Elliot was honored with a Women of the Mount Impact Award, presented by the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Mount St. Joseph University in Cincinnati. Sister Karen serves as chief mission officer at the Mount.
March 31 — Sister Mary E. Wendeln and Peace, Justice and Ecology Coordinator Jen Morin-Williamson hosted a gathering to re-vision the Ohio Nuns on the Bus organization with a new identity as the Ohio Sisters Justice Network. Nuns on the Bus is a Catholic advocacy group that began in 2012, touring the country to visit community agencies and advocate for the principles of Catholic social teaching.
April 19 — Sister Mūmbi Kīgūtha participated in a panel discussion, “Change, Hope, and the Catholic Church,” cosponsored by Catholic Theological Union in Chicago and Discerning Deacons, a project dedicated to engaging Catholics in conversation about women and the diaconate.
April 22 — The Dayton Catholic Women’s Club celebrated its centennial jubilee with a Mass at Emmanuel Catholic Church in Dayton and a dinner at the Presidential Banquet Center. The club engages in religious, educational, social and charitable works. Sister Thelma Wurzelbacher currently serves as the group’s spiritual adviser.
May 12-13 — Sisters Mi-kyoung Hwang and Mūmbi Kīgūtha participated in a symposium, “A Praxis of Reconciliation: Trauma, Culture, and Spirituality” at the Robert J. Schreiter, CPPS, Institute for Precious Blood Spirituality at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago. The symposium explored opportunities and challenges for interculturally recognizing, narrating and healing various manifestations of trauma in praxes of reconciliation and restorative justice.
May 13 — Shannen Dee Williams, associate professor of history at the University of Dayton, gave a presentation at Salem Heights titled “America’s Real Sister Act: The Hidden History of Black Catholic Nuns in the United States.” Williams is the author of Subversive Habits: Black Catholic Nuns in the Long African American Freedom Struggle (Duke University Press, 2022), named a 2022 top five book in religion by Publishers Weekly and recipient of the 2022 Letitia Woods Brown Award for best book in African American women’s history from the Association of Black Women Historians.
May 16 — Sister Mūmbi Kīgūtha hosted a webinar titled “The Hope I Saw in South Sudan,” in which she shared photos and stories from her visit to Solidarity with South Sudan ministries. Sister Mūmbi currently serves as president of Friends in Solidarity, an initiative of U.S. Catholic religious men and women in support of religious working in South Sudan and beyond.
Top, Gem City Market employee Kimberly McGuire and Sister Margo Young at Gem City Market; Jen Morin-Williamson photo. Second, Sister Marita Beumer, Sister Rita Rogier, friend of Wesley Dayton, Executive Director Shawn Kerley, and Jen Morin-Williamson at Wesley Dayton, a community organization; contributed photo. Third, Lenten Learning Series with Sister Joyce Ann Zimmerman flyer. Fourth, the courtyard of the Precious Blood Renewal Center; contributed photo. Fifth, the groundbreaking ceremony at Homefull; Jen Morin-Williamson photo. Sixth, Sister Karen Elliott (second from right) with her colleagues Sandra Curtis, Elizabeth Barkley, Tina Blakley and Mary Mazuk at Mount St. Joseph; contributed photo. Seventh, Nuns on the Bus logo. Eighth, Sister Mumbi speaks during the “Change, Hope, and the Catholic Church” panel discussion; contributed photo. Ninth, Dayton Catholic Women’s Club centennial jubilee flyer. Bottom, Shannen Dee Williams; Jen Morin-Williamson photo.
