Saying 'good-bye' And 'thank You'
At 12:30 p.m. last Sunday afternoon, the parking lot at Evansville’s St. Benedict Cathedral was almost full. Despite the chilly temperatures, the elderly residents across the street were being wheeled over to attend a 1 p.m. Mass of Thanksgiving for the Little Sisters of the Poor.
As the cathedral filled up, Little Sister of the Poor Gonzague Castro said, "We're very happy they are coming out to show their gratitude to us and that we can show our gratitude to them. It's a day of thanksgiving."
Thanksgiving and sadness too, as southern Indiana said farewell to the Little Sisters of the Poor after 131 years of service to the elderly poor.
Msgr. Kenneth R. Knapp was early for the Mass. He said that his mother had lived at St. John's Home for the Aged with the Little Sisters for 10 years, noting, "they served so well."
Their foundress St. Jeanne Jugan, taught them to be at the bedsides of their dying residents, a tradition that continues to this day around the world.
The doors closed at St. John's Home at the end of October, and the facility is now under new management. Last Sunday, over 20 Little Sisters returned to Evansville to say "thank you" for all the community support they received over the years, and to be thanked for the work they had done.
Little Sister Carolyn Martin said, "We thank God for all his goodness to us and for all the people of the Tri-State who made our work possible.
"It's a little bittersweet," she said of their departure, adding that, "when you have a family member who moves away, it's painful. You miss them. As we leave Evansville, the people of the Tri-State are still our family."
Bishop Emeritus Gerald A. Gettelfinger delivered the homily during the Mass of Thanksgiving. He said, "It is right and just that we give thanks to Almighty God for the Little Sisters, that they said 'yes' with generosity."
He added, "It is not only right that we give thanks for the Little Sisters, it is just."
At the conclusion of the Mass Father Ted Tempel and St. John resident Frances Muensterman made a presentation of more than $131,000 to the Little Sisters, which included donations from all over the country.
