MADISON — Getting away for the weekend can often include a fun road trip, a new-to-you destination, and a lot of great memories, but for a local group, a recent weekend included something a bit atypical: Religious Sisters.
Last month, Fr. Greg Ihm, Diocese of Madison vocations director, led a group that included 10 St. Ambrose Academy students, a mother of one of the teens, and four other Madison-area women on a journey of prayer and discernment.
PRAIRIE DU SAC […]
SINSINAWA — Sister Helen Dailey, OP, died July 4, 2014, at Mercy Medical Center, Dubuque, Iowa. Her religious name was Sr. Joeline. The funeral Mass will be held in Queen of the Rosary Chapel at Sinsinawa July 9, 2014, followed by burial of the cremains in the Motherhouse Cemetery.
Sr. Helen made her first religious profession as a Sinsinawa Dominican Aug. 5, 1949, and her final profession Aug. 5, 1952. She taught elementary and middle school for 33 years and college for 14 years. Sr. Helen ministered as director of religious education for 12 years, seven of those while also serving as pastoral associate. She served in Illinois, Wisconsin, New Jersey, Nebraska, and Florida.
Losing a beloved spouse to death is one of the most painful human experiences. I saw this pain in my mother, two sisters, and other married women when their spouses died. I have also listened to men, whose wives died, pour out their grief.
The word “widow” comes from a Sanskrit word meaning empty. When a woman loses the husband whom she loves, she often experiences pain, emptiness, and even temporary anger. So does a widower. A good marriage joins the couple as two in one flesh, physically, spiritually, and emotionally. To marry is to open oneself to love and joy, but also to pain.
