by Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Writer
(April 10, 2008) A religious sister who was recently declared a martyr after being killed by Satanists in 2000 received high praise from Pope Benedict XVI for her heroic sacrifice.
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by Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Writer
(April 10, 2008) With the Pope’s historic visit on the horizon, the lay Catholic organization, Voice of the Faithful (VOTF), decided it was the perfect time to publish a full-age ad in the New York Times calling for “structural change” in the Church.
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by Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Writer
(April 9, 2008) German Cardinal Karl Lehman says a new report detailing the Church’s use of forced labor in Germany during World War II is “a burden of history that our Church will keep facing up to in the future.”
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by Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Writer
(April 9, 2008) After years of study and debate about the treatment potential of embryonic stem cells, a leading researcher in England has conceded that the controversial research may never deliver new treatments.
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by Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Writer
(April 9, 2008) With objectionable content occurring every three minutes during the 8 to 9 p.m. Family Hour of television, a renewed commitment from NBC to honor this time slot with more family-friendly fare shows that broadcasters may finally be listening to parents’ complaints.
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by Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Writer
(April 8, 2008) The emergence of “new models of the family” and “widespread relativism” makes the role of grandparents in the family more important than ever, says Pope Benedict XVI. They are “a treasure that we cannot take away from new generations.”
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by Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Writer
(April 8, 2008) The symbolic flame of the Olympic torch is illuminating the long and sordid history of human rights abuses by the People’s Republic of China. The protest-ridden route is far from what the Chinese government wanted for its “journey of harmony,” but many say this harmony needs to begin at home.
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by Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Writer
(April 8, 2008) The symbolic flame of the Olympic torch is illuminating the long and sordid history of human rights abuses by the People’s Republic of China. The protest-ridden route is far from what the Chinese government wanted for its “journey of harmony,” but many say this harmony needs to begin at home.
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by Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Writer
(April 7, 2008) After serving the Lord as a religious sister for 90 years, 109 year-old Sister Claude Feldner of the Congregation of St. Agnes is home at last. She died peacefully on April 2 in a nursing home in Fond Du Lac, Wisconsin.
‘‘It is a loss and a blessing — to have shared in the life of Sister Claude for these many, many years,’’ said Sister Joann Sambs, general superior of the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Agnes, to the Chicago Sun-Times. ‘‘Her fidelity for over 90 years stands as a witness for all of us. . . . I ask for her grace and blessing as she is now home with God.’’
Those who knew her say that throughout her lifetime, Sister Claude always saw herself as God’s servant and considered life a journey with God.
“We come from God and we go to God,” she once wrote. “What lies between those two poles is what we call the journey of life.”
Sister Claude began her journey of life on September 11, 1898. Born in St. Cloud, Wisconsin, she was only 13 years old when she took her first vows. The daughter of a shoemaker, she had a great talent for music which led to a bachelor’s degree in music with a major in violin from Fort Hays State Teachers College in Kansas in 1922, and a master in music education from De Paul University in Chicago in 1938. From 1917 on, Sister Claude taught primarily music and gave private music lessons to pupils in Kansas, Indiana, and Wisconsin.
As an educator and a mentor, Sister Claude was known for her infinite patience and for drawing the best out of the students she taught and the women she mentored.
In 1974, at the tender age of 76, she began a new ministry of service to the elderly in the Fond du Lac area, taking Communion to shut-ins and volunteering at the Senior Center. She officially retired in 1982, and kept true to her belief that “retirement is a time to be as active as possible, to live life to its fullest, to maintain varied interests and leave the rest to God.”
While continuing to play the organ for Masses and religious services, she kept abreast of current issues, especially those affecting the poor, and was not shy about writing letters to the editor on behalf of those who were unable to speak for themselves.
In 1998, she relocated to St. Francis Home in Fond du Lac, a retirement home which she referred to as her "vestibule to heaven."
“They didn’t think I would live this long,” Sister told the Fond du Lac Reporter when celebrating her 108th birthday last year. “I was threatened with tuberculosis as a young woman and was sent to Kansas to heal. At that time, they thought a dryer climate would help a person. It must have worked because here I am at 108 years old ready to enjoy a party.”
Her companions say she was still playing piano in the evenings until just days before her death.
“We have to use our lives to do good,” she once told reporters. “How your life goes depends on what you do with your time.”
Sister Claude ended more than a century of life the same way she started it - as a servant of God.
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The wisdom of a lifetime is often found in the last statements a person makes before they enter eternity. In “The Last Words of Catholic Saints and Sinners” Paul Thigpen compiles the last utterances of hundreds of faithful souls from the time of Christ to the third millennium. Available in our store at
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by Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Writer
(April 7, 2008) Police rescued more than 200 women and children from a secretive polygamist cult in West Texas after a 16 year old girl complained of physical abuse at the hands of her 50 year old husband.
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