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"Share in the Care"

December 08, 2006
The 2006 Retirement Fund for Religious campaign, taking place December 9-10, asks us to “Share in the Care” of the men and women who for years have shared in the care of our souls. Compelling as that statement may be, the reality of the situation is that skilled care and assisted living expenses for religious past age 70 exceed $450 million annually. Begun in 1998, the Retirement Fund for Religious has collected approximately $500 million in 19 years; however, as just expressed, that sum barely covers the cost of just one year of care for our men and women religious.

More than 32,000 women religious and more than 5,200 men religious are past age 70 and their costs of living exceed $925 million annually. Having received small stipends through their years of service to the church family, a retired religious receives only about one-third the Social Security benefit of the average U.S. beneficiary. In addition, most elderly religious continue volunteer ministry long after they retire from compensated ministry. These are major factors on top of other economic stresses that the already cash-strapped religious institutes face.

Last year in the Diocese of Gaylord, thanks to your generous donations, $178,659 was raised; an increase of $5,500 over the 2004 contribution. On the average, that means that each Catholic in the Diocese of Gaylord contributed $2.35 to the fund. While that amount is more than double the national average (estimated to be just more than $1 per adult Catholic), when you compare that to the fact that the average family spends over $60 yearly on cookies, potato chips and take-out coffee, it is very apparent that we could probably do more to support the Retirement Fund for the Religious.

Many men and women religious have undoubtedly had a positive effect on our individual spiritual growth throughout the years; quite probably, some of our early schooling was provided through religious. Though one can’t put a price on that education, we need to think for a minute what those building blocks are worth, and how they contribute to the person each one of us is every day. How valuable are the lessons learned from religious men and women who throughout those years never stopped to count the cost?

We are happy to share with you two profiles of religious who spent some of their professional years in northern Michigan. Maybe one or both of them will remind you of a long-forgotten Priest, Brother or Sister who helped you in the past and who may be in need of skilled nursing care right now. They were there for you then. Please do what you can to be there for them now.

Sister Marylene Weber, SSND, was always a “servant of the servants of God.” The seventh child born into a family that would eventually have 14 children, she was raised on a farm in Appleton, Wisconsin. As is the case on farms, she shared daily household duties and outdoor chores. Though she gladly helped in anyway she could, the young girl preferred the house chores and prided herself on her cooking and baking. Little did she know that this type of work would become her life’s calling.

In the Novitiate, Sister Marylene assisted in the dining room, dormitories, laundry, and bakery. Leaving home when she was 15 to enter the Aspiranture at Longwood, Sister Marylene found the life that she knew would make her complete. After her Profession of Vows in 1945, she spent the next 30 years working at the Motherhouse and Academy, being the chief baker for the final 15 years.

“For the first fifteen years of my religious life I felt I was a tool in God’s hands as I helped with the meals for the sisters and students in the Motherhouse. During the last ten years in the bakery, I helped provide the daily bread for the house. This is something Our Lady did for her Divine Son. In my own way I can try to imitate our Blessed Mother,” stated Sister Marylene in an autobiography she wrote in 1970.

In 1976, Sister Marylene was assigned to Holy Childhood Convent, Harbor Springs. Her labor of love as a cook and baker at Holy Childhood continued for 20 more years, until she retired to Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Mount Calvary, Wisconsin. For five years there she continued to assist in the bakery until she was admitted to Havenwood Nursing and Rehabilitation Center to be cared for by her community. Today, Sister Marylene receives total care from the professional staff at the Sister’s Health Care Unit at Notre Dame of Elm Grove. Sister remains very pleasant, though she has rather serious health struggles.

Gifts to the Retirement Fund for Religious help support the many like Sister Marylene who labored joyfully in the vineyard of the Lord and now requires serious medical care in her years of declining health.

Father Sylvester Micek, OFM, was one of seven children born and raised in Columbus, Nebraska. He entered the Franciscan Order in Teutopolis, Illinois where he received his habit in 1944, making his profession of vows the following year.

Remembered most fondly for his pleasant disposition, positive attitude, and his magnetic smile, Father Syl twice ministered in the Diocese of Gaylord. His first assignment after ordination—May, 1953 to August, 1959—was to St. Francis Xavier Parish in Petoskey. Besides serving as an associate pastor, Father was chaplain to the Sacramentine Sisters (then living on Howard Street).

For nearly the next 30 years, Father Syl served as an assistant, vicar, and pastor in Illinois, Iowa, and Missouri.

Father Sylvester then moved back to the Diocese of Gaylord to finish his active ministry days. From 1988 to 2002 he was pastor of St. Clement’s Church, Pellston. As a retiree he volunteered his services for nearly four more years at Cross in the Woods Parish, Indian River.

At the age of 81, Father Sylvester returned to the Franciscan Health Center, Villa West, in Sherman, Illinois. There he is “on call” for sacramental needs.

Today Father Syl encourages the faithful to continue to support the Retirement Fund for Religious, noting it is, “a worthwhile venture that enables religious to have the needed medical care in their respective care facilities.”

The 2006 collection for the Retirement Fund for the Religious will be held in the Diocese of Gaylord the weekend of December 9-10. Be assured that 94-cents of every dollar you contribute goes directly to the care of retired religious men and women. Please give generously.