Sister Barbara Wetterer, OP

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Sister Barbara Wetterer, OP 1928-2016 Sister Barbara Wetterer, known also as Sister Marie Giles, was born on July 7, 1928, in Chicago.

1 Sister Barbara Wetterer, OP Sister Barbara Wetterer, known also as Sister Marie Giles, was born on July 7, 1928, in Chicago. She was the second of three children born to Giles and Mildred (Thiel) Wetterer. Her older sister Mary was born in Barbara and her twin brother Giles were born four years later. In her autobiography, Sister Barbara described her family s gradual migration to Florida. She wrote: Ferdinand J. Wetterer, my fraternal grandfather, was the owner of the Germania Brewery in Cincinnati, Ohio. After the brewery was sold in the days of prohibition, my father moved to Chicago where he became the vice president of his uncle s rivet manufacturing company in Chicago. The three of us were born in Chicago and lived in Rogers Park until after the death of our father from cancer in My grandparents had moved to Miami Beach, Florida, and when my brother was found to be suffering from asthma, we also migrated to Miami Beach, Florida, to see if the salt-water would help my brother. We all attended and graduated from St. Patrick School in Miami Beach which was very different during WWII. The government had taken over all the hotels and 25,000 military were stationed there. A training school for officers was also located there. Sister Cathryn Deutsch, who taught at St. Patrick, was one of the first Sisters to talk to her about entering the congregation. Sister Barbara and Ellen Robertson, her friend and classmate, entered the postulate on June 23, In December, Sister Barbara received the religious name she chose, Sister Marie Giles, in honor of her father and brother. Following profession on December 31, 1947, Sister Barbara remained in Adrian to study at Siena Heights College until August 1948, when she was assigned to teach at St. Ambrose School in Grosse Pointe, Michigan. The year 1948 marked the beginning of her twenty-two years of teaching in seven schools that were located in Michigan, Illinois, Puerto Rico, Nassau, and the Dominican Republic. In her autobiography, Sister Barbara wrote about her brother s illness, which occurred during her first years on mission: Meanwhile in the spring of 1951 my twin brother, who had entered the seminary in Baltimore, became ill and was diagnosed as dying of heart failure due to a strep germ that had entered his blood stream and destroyed his heart valve. The doctors said that they could repair the damage in five years, but he didn t have five years. 1

2 In August 1951 I was one of the eight sisters who opened St. Rose of Lima School in Miami Shores. I found out later that Msgr. Barry had written to Mother Gerald requesting my transfer to Miami because of my brother s illness. In late August of 1952 my brother was taken to St. Francis Hospital where he died on September 9, The following August, Sister Barbara was assigned to teach at St. Nicholas of Tolentine School in Chicago. She taught third, fourth, and sixth grades for the next four years. These were good years for her because she felt at home. By this time, she had completed her undergraduate studies at Siena Heights College and received a bachelor s degree with a major in Spanish. In 1960 she was appointed to teach in Santurce, Puerto Rico at Academia Sagrado Corazon. She wrote, I was very surprised to receive this appointment. She was responsible for teaching religion, English and general science in the two eighth grade classes. She wrote the about the catechetical mission of the parish. Our high school students were trained as the catechists but we supervised the program and the reception of the sacraments. Our school was a private school, but the mission belonged to the parish church. Each year one of us was transferred to the catechetical mission, Las Matas de Farfan, a small area in the Dominican Republic near the Haitian border with about 5,000 people, 3,000 of whom were children. It was here that I felt the Lord calling me to the field of religious education. At the end of my second year, the 1965 revolution took place and we were ordered out of the country by Bishop Reilly who was concerned for our safety Aquinas College in Nassau, Bahamas, was Sister Barbara s last teaching assignment. She taught high school students during the first five years. During the last two years she continued to live at the convent to receive medical attention and time to rest and recuperate. It was during this period that her mother died and Sister Barbara had time to help her sister Mary in caring for her. After ministering for twelve years in the Caribbean, Sister Barbara was encouraged to return to the States in She received a position in Central Services at the Motherhouse as secretary for Sister Loretta Broderick, who was recently appointed lawyer for the Congregation. During this transition period, Sister Barbara focused on preparing for ministry in religious education. She studied at the University of St. Thomas in Houston, Texas, and received a master s degree in In her autobiography, Sister Barbara described her sixteen years of ministry in religious education. I answered a call for someone who was bilingual to serve as the DRE [Director of Religious Education] at St. Luke Church in Douglas, Arizona: a parish on the Mexican border. I remained there four years. Then finding myself highly allergic to cactus, I began looking elsewhere. My next position took me to Paradise Hills in San Diego, California, as DRE at St. Michael Parish. After two years I returned to Florida. In Miami I was fortunate to find a perfect position as 2

3 director of the Catechetical Media Center. I was there for ten years during which time I worked at the Center s three locations. While working part-time at Surfside Library in Surfside, Florida, she applied for and was granted a sabbatical year in he used the year to participate in a study tour to the Holy Land, took computer courses at Barry University, made a long retreat, and then, in her words the greatest gift of all, participated in the Lands of Dominic Pilgrimage. By the end of the year she was ready for a new ministry. She found it in the Archdiocese of Miami Department of Schools, where she served as religion coordinator for the diocese s fifty elementary schools located in the area from Key West to Deerfield Beach. She ministered in that position from 1992 to During her last year at the diocese she decided it was time to give up the highway driving and retire. She continued to live in the Miami area until 2007, when she moved to Adrian. Sister Barbara Wetterer died on December 15, 2016, at the age of eighty-eight and in the sixty-ninth year of her religious profession. Sister Maria Goretti Browne, OP, Vicaress of the Adrian Dominican Vicariate, shared the following remembrance during the wake service. Even during retirement, Barbara did not just sit and do nothing. She worked part-time for the Archdiocesan Religious Education Department helping to complete records for the Catholic school religion teachers so they could get their certification. She also assisted the African Sisters studying at Barry by driving them to grocery stores or appointments. Unfortunately, sometime during the ten years Sister Barbara lived in the DLC, that wicked dementia struck, and this vibrant woman gradually became almost helpless. The readings 1 selected for the liturgy provided the framework for Sister Marcine Klemm s reflection on Sister Barbara s life of ministry. Marcine compared the message flight attendants give about airplane safety procedures to the clear and focused message that the prophet Micah gave when he said, You have been told, O chosen one, what is good, and what the Lord requires of you: Only to do the right and to love goodness, and to walk humbly with your God. How well do we to listen to Micah s message? Sister Marcine asked. Barbara listened. Her life of fidelity to prayer and mission are constantly reflected in the broad range of ministries in the U.S. and in the Overseas Missions. Being fluent in English and Spanish opened new avenues of service for her which she readily embraced. In each situation, she walked humbly with her God. 1 Micah 6:6-8; Romans 14:7-9, 10b-12; John 11:

Left: From left, Sisters Mary Arnold Benedetto,

for their 45th Jubilee, June 1991, are, from

Therese Groulx, and Jean Irene McAllister.

4 Left: From left, Sisters Mary Arnold Benedetto, Barbara Wetterer, and Anne Liam Lees enjoy Christmas dinner. Left: Enjoying their visit to Colorado Springs for their 45th Jubilee, June 1991, are, from left, Sisters Barbara Wetterer, Sheila Flynn, Therese Groulx, and Jean Irene McAllister. Right: Sister Barbara and her twin brother Giles on the day of their First Communion. 4

5 Left: Sister Barbara, left, and Sister Jean Aufderheide. Right: Sister Barbara, center, with her sister Mary and brother Giles. Sister Barbara with one of the quilts created for Hearts Affire, June 22-25,

Sister Bernadette Mary Syron, OP

Sister Bernadette Mary Syron, OP 1927-2015 Sister Bernadette Mary Syron, born on April 1, 1927, in Detroit, was the third of six children born to Hugh and Elizabeth (Phillips) Syron. Her mother was born