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news FROM dear neighbor ministries
  

New Board Structure Announced for Two Area Not for Profit Corporations

The reconfiguration of the Congregation of St. Joseph in 2007 has brought about the need to realign the 35 sponsored ministries of the Sisters around the country.  In Wichita, Dear Neighbor Ministries and StepStone will now become part of the newly formed corporation called, CSJ Ministries.

Sister Helene Lentz, CSJ,  the current Dear Neighbor board chair said ,”In the past, the leadership team of the Wichita congregation served as the sole board members for our Dear Neighbor and StepStone ministry boards.  At the present time we believe it is important to have local presence on these ministry boards so we are expanding board membership to include lay members.  This will also gift us with the wisdom and expertise of local business men and women who are concerned with serving the needs of the community.”

The newly formed board will begin their term on July 8, 2009.  They will be responsible for both Sisters of St. Joseph Dear Neighbor Ministries and StepStone Inc. While the governance will be one board, they will remain separate 501 (c) 3 corporations of CSJ Ministries.  Sister Helene explains, “We believe having a joint board will reduce duplicity and better serve the overall good of the ministries.”

StepStone is jointly sponsored by the Congregation of St. Joseph and the Adorers of the Blood of Christ.  In the new board structure the ASC Sisters will have two “ex-officio” positions on the board recognizing their co-sponsorship of the StepStone Ministry since it began in 1996.
The newly appointed board includes: Sister Helene Lentz who will continue as Chair.  Sister Mary Ellen Loch, CSJ; Sister Arlys McDonald, CSJ; Sister Barbara Smith, ASC, Sister Margaret Knoebler, ASC all of whom served on the past board.

New board members are; Clemens Ast, Dan Urenda, Brent Moerer, Leslie Jensby, LMSW and Scott Nygaard, MD., Sister Joan Burger, CSJ and Sister Connie Beiriger, CSJ. 

2009 Sister Cecilia Bush Award Winners Announced

The 2009 Sister Cecilia Bush award recipients and nominees were honored at a dinner Friday May 8 at Mount St. Mary Convent.  The annual award was established by Dear Neighbor Ministries in 2007 to honor those who exemplify the wishes of the founder of the Congregation of St. Joseph...”to serve the dear neighbor with the same devotion as Joseph had for Jesus and Mary”.

This year’s recipients were selected from 15 nominees.  They are: Dr. Louis Agnese, Jr., Sister Lory Schaff, CSJ, Sister Kathleen Bahlinger, CSJ, Sister Clara Pfeifer, CSJ and Donald Kent.

Louis Agnese, Jr. is the president of the University of the Incarnate Word (UIW) in San Antonio, TX;  he was unable to attend the award ceremony due to UIW’s commencement.  Dr. Agnese was nominated for his tenure, leadership and commitment to minority education in Texas.  UIW is now the fourth largest private university in Texas and has a focus on minority education.   Dr. Agnese is a graduate of the former St. Mary of the Plains College in Dodge City, KS and became president of UIW in 1985.

Sisters Lory Schaff,CSJ  and Kathleen Bahlinger, CSJ live and work in New Orleans, LA.  They were nominated for their lifetime of work with the poor and undereducated in Louisiana.  Following the destruction of Hurricane Katrina, they both moved from Baton Rouge to New Orleans to help  adults recover from the impact of the storm.  Today they work at St. Vincent DePaul Adult Learning Center, where Sister Lory is the director.   

Donald Kent, also a graduate of St. Mary’s of the Plains College, lives in Brooklyn, NY.  He has spent 36 years as a teacher and basketball coach devoting his life to inner-city teens. Coach Kent has received almost every honor possible for his work in Catholic education in New York.  He was joined at the awards dinner by some of his college classmates and friends.

Sister Clara Pfeifer, CSJ was selected for her years as a member of the pastoral staff at St. Vincent de Paul parish in Andover.  Her work as a catechist in adult education, RCIA, Bible studies, book clubs and faith formation is well known throughout the archdiocese.

The award is named after Sister Cecilia Bush, CSJ, who is known for her career in education throughout the Diocese of Wichita, her years as editor of the Catholic Advance and her work with young seminarians and priests.

Dear Neighbor Ministries is one of 35 sponsored ministries of the Congregation of St. Joseph and was founded in 2001. 
 

 
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