Archbishop Weisenburger thanks religious sisters, brothers and priests for years of service that ‘reach out and touch the Lord’
DETROIT ─ Thirty-eight religious jubilarians from eight communities celebrated 2,145 years of consecrated life Oct. 31 during the annual jubilee celebration for religious at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit.
Detroit Archbishop Edward J. Weisenburger celebrated the Mass, reading the names of all the jubilarians and tabulating the collective years of service to the Church, which, added together, would reach back to the days when Christ walked the earth.
“If you think about the perspective of it, if we line all these years up, they would reach back all the way and touch our Lord,” Archbishop Weisenburger said. “And I really like that image, and as I was preparing for today, I thought, Sisters, Brothers, Fathers present, it is indeed in living out the charism of ministry and prayer and service in the Church, that indeed our Church does reach out and touch the Lord.”
Archbishop Weisenburger reflected on the Gospel reading from St. Luke, in which Jesus told the Pharisees not to seek a place of high honor at the table, but rather to take the lowest place and wait for the master to call him closer.
Archbishop Weisenburger said the message Jesus is trying to teach is one of humility, a lesson St. Luke, when writing the Gospel, knew the upstart Christian community would need to embrace.
“It begins with humility, and I doubt I have to tell even one person in this chapel, the root word of ‘humility’ is humus, ‘dirt’; it reminds us of the beginning words of the Old Testament in Genesis. Our origins, our true origins, are dust. And that dust only has dignity because life has been breathed into it by the Holy Spirit. And we all know that it is the same humus and humility which is our destiny until our God breathes that Spirit into us at the Resurrection.”
Archbishop Weisenburger commended the religious jubilarians for their many years of humble service in building the Kingdom of God.
“Brothers and Sisters, you have brought your witness to the world with charity and so many good works and commitment to reveal our true origins,” Archbishop Weisenburger said. “And then, having embraced that spirit of humility, let us anticipate that grand banquet of the heavenly kingdom where each of us might anticipate being called up to a higher place.”
Sr. Mary Kremges, RSM, celebrated 60 years of being a Sister of Mercy, during which she spent most of her ministry in the classroom, mostly intermediate grades, including at St. Thomas Aquinas School in Detroit, St. Edward on the Lake School in Lakeport and Most Holy Redeemer School in Detroit, where she taught for 20 years.
“I’m a teacher at heart, mostly teaching 10-year-olds,” Sr. Kremges told Detroit Catholic. “Recently, I worked in a resource room where teachers could send kids who needed one-on-one help. Most of the kids who came were first-graders, and they are so enjoyable. I also ended up substitute teaching mostly for junior high, and they were a bit more challenging, but I was glad to step in when I was needed.”
Sr. Maxine Kollasch, IHM, president of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in Monroe, was celebrating her 25th jubilee. During her time with the IHM Sisters, Sr. Kollasch served in a variety of ministries, including A Nun’s Life Ministry, an online platform that helped young people discern their vocation.
“There are more blessings than I can even count: the blessing of living in community, the blessing of prayer, all the elements that are part of religious life that have been wonderful,” Sr. Kollasch.
Following Mass, Archbishop Weisenburger joined the jubilarians and other religious gathered for lunch, where the religious from communities across the Archdiocese of Detroit could celebrate their years of humble service to the Lord together.
“It’s definitely wonderful to celebrate religious life together with all these other communities in the Archdiocese of Detroit, and in another way, to be part of a global sisterhood and a global religious consecrated life,” Sr. Kollasch said.
2026 Religious Jubilarians
75 Years
- Sr. Frances Mary Kernasovich, OP
70 Years
- Sr. Kay Louise Aerts, IHM
- Sr. Alice Baker, IHM
- Sr. Judith Bonini, IHM
- Sr. June Johnson, IHM
- Sr. Jean Morsch, IHM
- Sr. Sandra Schneiders, IHM
- Sr. Brigid Wade, IHM
- Bro. Bede Luzon, OFM Cap.
- Fr. Jerome Odber, SJ
- Fr. Richard Bollman, SJ
- Sr. Catherine DeClerq, OP
60 Years
- Fr. Mark Henninger, SJ
- Fr. Lawrence M. Ober, SJ
- Fr. Justin Kelly, SJ
- Fr. Robert Sears, SJ
- Sr. Kathleen Wood, OP
- Sr. Nancy Zajac, OP
- Sr. Mary Ann Bredice, IHM
- Sr. Mary Ann O'Kane, IHM
- Sr. Lenore Pochelski, IHM
- Sr. Candyce Rekart, IHM
- Sr. Mary Grace Decuir, OP
- Sr. Suzanne Sattler, IHM
- Sr. Barbara Ann Rund, OP
- Sr. Janet Stankowski, OP
- Sr. Mary Kremges, RSM
50 Years
- Fr. Juan Gonzalez, SM
- Fr. Leon Olszamowski, SM
- Sr. Julie Bruss, SND
- Fr. Robert Scullin, SJ
- Fr. Dennis Noelke, CSB
25 Years
- Bro. Begashaw Teklemarian, OFM Cap.
- Bro. Johan Paul Gill, OFM Cap.
- Sr. Maxine Kollasch, IHM
- Lisa Small, Regnum Christi
- Sr. Faustina Marie Staskiewicz, OP
- Sr. Marie Grace Howe, OP
