Detroit — Two Detroit-area Sisters of Mercy were installed as leaders of the congregation’s West Midwest Community during a liturgy July 14 in Omaha, Neb.

Sr. Judith Frikker, RSM, and Sr. Maria Klosowski, RSM, were among six sisters appointed to five-year terms on the leadership team of the community, which came together in 2008 from six regional Sisters of Mercy communities.

Sr. Frikker, who served as president of the West Midwest Community’s leadership team after the death of Sr. Norita Cooney, RSM, in 2011, spent six years on the leadership team of the Detroit Regional Community. Sr. Frikker earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Mercy College (University of Detroit Mercy) and an M.D. from Michigan State University in 1978.

A Sister of Mercy for 45 years, Sr. Frikker practiced medicine for two years as a primary care physician at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital in Ann Arbor, four years at Mount Carmel Mercy Hospital in Detroit, and 12 years in clinics in Chile.

Sr. Klosowski spent many years ministering to the immigrant population in southeast Michigan, and also served the Detroit community in education, youth ministry, vocations and social services ministries during her 47 years as a Sister of Mercy. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Mercy College (University of Detroit Mercy) and a master’s from St. Meinrad School of Theology in Indiana.

The two Detroit sisters join Sr. Laura Reicks, RSM, the leadership team’s new president; Sr. Margaret Mary Hinz, RSM; Sr. Anne Marie Miller, RSM; and Sr. Susan Sanders, RSM, on the community’s leadership team. The Sisters of Mercy West Midwest Community is comprised of nearly 700 sisters and 600 associates, mostly centered in California, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois and Michigan.

The West Midwest community counts among its sponsored or co-sponsored ministries four health systems, four institutions of higher education, six high schools and three retreat centers, in addition to many other ministries.