Seattle — Countless times, Sr. Anne Herkenrath, SNJM, has told the story of asking her great-uncle Fr. Solanus Casey for vocational advice.

“He looked at me and said, ‘That’s between you and God,’ with a twinkle in his eye,” said Sr. Herkenrath, who has now been a Seattle-based Sister of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary “for 65 years” this year.

When she was growing up, Sr. Herkenrath’s father had a small home recorder that he encouraged family members to speak into at gatherings: “We all had to say hello.”

Ven. Solanus was no exception.

“Fr. Solanus was recorded in June 1945 at a family gathering after the first Mass of his nephew Fr. John McCluskey, SJ,” said Sr. Herkenrath in March 3 telephone interview with The Michigan Catholic.

Years later, the family discovered the recordings on seven-inch discs, and Sr. Herkenrath had them transferred to cassette tape. She sent copies to the Capuchin friars, who were collecting memorabilia while researching Ven. Solanus’ cause.

As far as Sr. Herkenrath is aware, that is the only recording of her venerable uncle, or of his playing the violin.

Sr. Herkenrath and her cousin, Dr. Michael Casey, were the two family members present at the official exhumation of Ven. Solanus’ body in 1987, which Sr. Herkenrath describes as “an awesome experience.”

“(Ven. Solanus) was very recognizable, despite the fact that everything in the casket, including his habit, was in shreds,” she said. “(But) I recognized him instantly. There was no question that this was Solanus Casey.”

During a lunch break that day, Sr. Herkenrath “didn’t go to lunch. I just sat there with him. That was a blessed moment.”

Sr. Herkenrath served as the pastoral care minister at St. James Cathedral, Seattle, for many years. In 2005, she helped establish a special social outreach program out of the cathedral.

The cathedral staff wanted to have a center that would assist individuals living on the street, especially those recently discharged from the local hospital or released from the local jail.

During a staff meeting then-pastor Fr. Michael Ryan said the program was ready, “and we’re going to call it the Solanus Casey Center.”

Sr. Herkenrath said she nearly jumped out of her chair: “It was a wonderful surprise to me and a real honor that the parish named it this.”

Currently the center is a collaboration of the local Catholic Community Services and St. James Cathedral. Among helping with food, clothing and shelter, the center also helps clients obtain new Washington IDs if they had been lost or stolen.

Sr. Herkenrath added that sometimes, volunteers will just “sit and listen to some of these folks tell their stories.”

“Fr. Solanus was the doorkeeper, he was the porter,” she said. “The one who listened to the people when they came — which ties into what we do at the center.”

Sr. Herkenrath, said her great-uncle’s beatification “would be an awesome benefit.”

“Recognition would bring more people to him, and through him, to the Church, and it would be a tremendous blessing to us,” she said. “Of course, as a family member I would be absolutely thrilled.”