VIRIDITAS: SOUL GREENING
By Sister Malia Dominica Wong, OP
Hawaii Catholic Herald
From Bavaria in Germany to Wisconsin in the United States of America, for 140 years, the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration have kept the world wrapped in prayer 24/7 responding to global concerns and prayer requests in their chapel of the Sacred Heart. This spiritual practice has been the secret to the success of their work in living the Gospel in the United States and internationally beyond borders real and unimaginable. Hawaii has been a recipient of the ministerial outreach of the sisters.
Initially dedicated to the education of children (especially German immigrants) and caring for the disadvantaged, the work of the sisters grew to include the care of orphans, health care, and ministry in home and foreign missions. Their educational ministry expanded beyond Wisconsin and Iowa to Washington and other states. The congregation’s commitment to building Christ’s Kingdom of justice and peace, and its spirit as Franciscan women religious committed to “encouraging action to effect change where necessary,” attracted Sister Elisa Kamaka, a Hawaii native who transferred religious congregations to join the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration.
Other Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration with Hawaii ties include Sister Dominica Chen, a native of China who worked from 1979-1993 in hospital ministry in the Diocese of Honolulu bringing comfort especially to those who spoke Cantonese. Sister Jean Marie Menke, a Wisconsin native and nurse, arrived in Hawaii the same year working here through 2000. She was engaged in home health care, later serving as dorm mother at the University of Hawaii. Visiting Sister Helen Elsbernd remarked, “When I toured the dorm, I was surprised to see rice cookers up the gazoo as each student had a personal one. I asked, ‘Why don’t they just make one big pot?’”
Sister Mary Arnoldussen, a native of Wisconsin, taught at Cathedral School in Nuuanu from 1982 to 1985. She also did volunteer work at Pearl Harbor Naval Base training liturgists, lectors and eucharistic ministers while she completed her degree in pastoral ministry at Chaminade University. Of her favorite recollections of being in Hawaii, Sister Mary shared, “There was a creek (Nuuanu stream) behind our convent. It was beautiful waking up to the sound of the water and birds.”
“I always appreciated how the different religious communities got together. Every Christmas, Bishop (Joseph) Ferrario would gather us together at his house. Through those encounters and more I was able to learn of other communities I was not exposed to before in the farmlands of Wisconsin. Because of that I was able to make friends in different communities.”
Presently, Sister Mary works at Villa St. Joseph in La Crosse, Wis., taking care of finances, shopping, and other chores for the infirmed sisters of the congregation. She also volunteers at the Salvation Army a couple of times a month feeding the poor. She said, “The focus of the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration is always future-looking, to be involved in the lives of others through service and volunteering to remind people of God’s presence.” This is animated and sustained by the long tradition of perpetual adoration, a long tradition of sharing God’s love.
Sister Mary Arnoldussen is a Franciscan Sister of Perpetual Adoration. She transferred to the congregation after serving in Hawaii as a Franciscan Sister of Christian Charity. She is 57 years professed.
