Journeys Ended Journeys Begun - Part One

During the construction of Ursuline Center, Sister Kathleen Padden and her Council made plans for the “Grand Exodus” from the Motherhouse. Sister M. Claudia Holtz “master minded” floor plans for packing, transportation for moving Sisters and furniture, and an auction and sale of movable properties accumulated over the years.

Sister Kathleen gave each Sister living in the Motherhouse the option of moving to the Center, to St. Ursula Academy Convent, or to a parish convent. With option indications completed, the Sisters prepared spiritually, psychologically, and physically for this “passage” in their personal and communal lives.

Twenty-five Sisters of Notre Dame gave help in packing. Their gracious and generous response will long be recalled in the memory of their smiling faces and disciplined energy.

June 19, 1985, was a memorable day with the moving of “historic” statues of the Community: the Sacred Heart statue in the garden and the figure had stood on the mound marking the location of St. Joseph Chapel on Cherry Street from 1889 – 1918. Moved to the Collingwood Convent in 1918, its outstretched arms greeted and guarded as it had on Cherry Street and now it traveled once again, this time to Indian Road where it was placed near the Center’s patio.

In company with the Sacred Heart statue, that of St. Angela moved to the Center on Indian Road. Mother Marguerita Horan, Superior in 1928, had commissioned the statue which was carved in Italy and erected in the Collingwood chapel in January of 1928. Now it was placed lovingly in the niche designed for it in the new chapel.