Sisters of Humility Celebrate Jubilees

Two sisters who are in the Iowa-based Congregation of the Humility of Mary and used to serve in the Diocese of Helena celebrate jubilees this month.

Sister Ursula Keough celebrates 70 years in the congregation and Sister Margaret Johanna Rickl 50 years.

Sister Ursula taught at Catholic schools in Great Falls, Lewistown, Glendive, Red Lodge and Sidney, and subsequently worked in religious education and pastoral ministry in Plains, Thompson Falls, Missoula, Dutton, Power and Conrad. She also taught in Iowa, and worked in pastoral ministry and religious education in Wisconsin.

Born in Opheim in 1922, she studied at the University of Great Falls and at Iowa’s Marycrest College. Later she studied theology at St. Mary’s College in Moraga, Calif., and at Seattle University. Sister Ursula lives at the Humility of Mary Center in Davenport, Iowa.

Sister Margaret, born in Glendive, is a former pastoral administrator at St. William Parish in Dutton and did pastoral work at St. Michael the Archangel Parish in Conrad. Prior to pastoral service in Montana and in Chiapas, Mexico, she was a teacher whose work took her to Great Falls Central High School, as well as to schools in Iowa and Arizona. Her background includes medical interpretation for speakers of Spanish in Des Moines, Iowa.

Sister Margaret holds a bachelor’s degree in biology from Marycrest and a master’s in zoology from Arizona State University. She is vice president for the Congregation of the Humility of Mary and lives in Davenport.

A Mass of celebration for Sisters Ursula, Margaret and other jubilarians in their community will take place June 27 at St. John Vianney Church in Bettendorf, Iowa.

Sisters of Charity Celebrating 50-Year Milestone

Four Sisters of Charity, BVM, with ties to the Diocese of Helena will celebrate 50 years of religious life this summer.

Sisters Kathryn Bacon, Elizabeth Olsen, Elizabeth Seaman and Patricia Nooney are among 25 BVM golden jubilarians who plan to gather in the Mount Carmel Motherhouse Chapel, in Dubuque, Iowa, for a liturgy of thanksgiving on July 18.

Sister Kathryn Bacon (Kevin Francis) taught fifth grade at St. Anthony School in Missoula from 1970–77. She also taught elementary school in Kansas City, Mo., and in Las Vegas. For 20 years she taught in Palm Springs, Calif., where she became a member of an education sorority and was nominated for Teacher of the Year. Sister Kathryn is a native of Chicago.

Sister Elizabeth Olsen (Paul Thomas) is the chaplain at St. Patrick Hospital in Missoula. She taught at St. Anthony School in Missoula, in the California cities of Sacramento and Stockton and in Seattle. Sister Elizabeth worked in parish ministry in Anaconda and Wolf Point, and was a hospital chaplain in Monroe, Wis. She was active in BVM congregational service from 1993–2006. She was born in Butte.

Sister Elizabeth Seaman (Elizabeth Marie) taught first grade at St. John School in Butte. She also taught in Chicago and in Des Moines, Iowa. She was a school principal in Independence, Mo., and a teacher, principal and administrative assistant in Kansas City, Mo. Since 1996 she has been on the staff of Kansas City’s Operation Breakthrough, which provides services for children, nearly all from families living below the federal poverty threshold. Sister Elizabeth was born in St. Louis.

Sister Patricia Nooney (Ann Carol) is a Missoula native who was a nurse at St. Francis Hospital in Evanston, Ill., from 1971–2007. She has been involved in a variety of ministries during many years of membership in St. Mary Church in Evanston. During the past several years, she worked as a desk nurse at St. Francis Nursing Rehabilitation Center in Evanston.

Congratulatory messages may be sent online at www.bvmcong.org/whatsnew_jubs.cfm.


Published in The Montana Catholic Online, Volume 26, No. 6, June 18, 2010.