Ten Sisters of Providence mark 50, 60 and 70 years of religious life
Ten Sisters of Providence are slated to celebrate 50, 60 and 70 years of religious life on Saturday, August 1, at Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish, 7000 35th Avenue SW, Seattle. Most Rev. J. Peter Sartain, D.D., S.T.L., Archbishop of Seattle, is the celebrant. The Rev. John R. Walmesley, pastor at Guadalupe, is the principal concelebrant for the liturgy, which will be followed by a reception in Guadalupe Hall.
These two sisters have distinct connections to the Diocese of Great Falls-Billings.
Kathryn Rutan, SP – Sixty Years
(Sister Jean Patrice)
Montana native Sister Kathryn Rutan has led the religious community’s international congregation from its headquarters in Montreal as the first non-French-speaking general superior. Today, she has returned to El Salvador, where she and four other Sisters of Providence first arrived in 1995 to establish a mission in the civil war-ravaged Central American country. Known as “Kitsy,” she and other sisters in El Salvador are helping to reinvigorate a ministry to provide scholarships and life skills to young people from campesino families in the region of Jiquilisco, which is made up of many small communities including La Papalota and Angela Montano.
Born in Great Falls, Mont., Sister Kathryn joined the Sisters of Providence as a postulant after graduation in 1954. She professed first vows in 1956 at Mount St. Vincent in Seattle. Her zeal for living and working with the poor and disadvantaged has been at the heart of every ministry, including 15 years of teaching at the elementary, secondary and college levels, 13 years in provincial administration and leadership, and four years as superior at Mount St. Joseph in Spokane. She has worked with low-income Montana residents, served as an international observer of the return to democracy in Haiti, helped install stoves in homes in Guatemala with Providence Health International, and served as interim superior of the local Providence community in Winooski, Vt.
Frances Stacey, SP – Fifty Years
Sister Frances “Fran” Stacey was born in Los Angeles to Episcopalian parents and attended an Episcopalian school in North Hollywood before enrolling at Providence High School in Burbank. She was a junior when she converted to Catholicism. After graduation she attended the University of Portland and in 1964 she entered the religious community. She professed final vows in 1972. For 18 years she was a member of the former Sacred Heart Province and then transferred to the former St. Ignatius Province. Her varied ministries included teaching at Providence High School and being a consultant for adult education for the Diocese of Spokane. In Montana, she was a parish services consultant for the Diocese of Great Falls and the director of campus ministry at the College (now University) of Great Falls. She was formation advisor for Bishop White Seminary in Spokane and became a provincial councilor in 1989.
Sister Fran studied Spanish, not to just learn the language but to live it. While in Chile to strengthen her language skills she accompanied families as a listener. Her knowledge of Spanish was a blessing when she volunteered as a Witness for Peace in Nicaragua for two weeks in 1989, and again when she accepted the call to become one of five sisters to pioneer a mission in El Salvador in 1995. Sister Fran helped the people reeling from the civil war in any way that she could: taking them to the doctor, getting medical supplies from the United States, home visiting, interceding for the people in official situations, starting a fund for the education of young people, and working with liturgies for the parish priest. On her return to Seattle from El Salvador in 2011, after 16 years of service there, she was the guest of honor at several festivities and celebrations in her honor.
Sisters of Providence are Catholic women of faith who respond to the needs of the poor and vulnerable through education, parish ministry, health care, community service and support, housing, prison ministry, pastoral care, spiritual direction and retreats, and foreign missions. Mother Joseph Province encompasses Alaska, Oregon, California, Idaho, Montana, Washington, El Salvador and the Philippines. For more information, go to the website at sistersofprovidence.net.
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