Sister Michele Kopp, OP

Transcription

1 Sister Michele Kopp, OP As each of us allows the beauty and love of God to shine through us, we free those around us to do the same Sister Michele Kopp, born on October 8, 1940, in Flasher, North Dakota, was one of five children born to Bert and Angela (Gustin) Kopp. Her two brothers are Marvin and Stephen. Her two sisters, Theodora and Antoinette, are deceased. Both of her parents were born in North Dakota: her father in Raleigh and her mother in Flasher. How does a North Dakotan link up with the Edmonds Dominicans in that state of Washington? Sister Michele gave the following explanation. I m a transplant from North Dakota to Washington s Olympic Peninsula where I first met our Dominican Sisters as a second grader. This relationship continued as I attended Holy Angels Academy in Seattle as a boarder. After graduating from Holy Angels Academy in June 1958, Sister Michele entered the Edmonds postulate in September at the age of seventeen. Following first profession two years later on June 14, 1961, she studied at Providence Heights College for two years and then finished her undergraduate studies the next year at Seattle University, where she received her Bachelor of Arts degree. Her eleven-year teaching ministry began in August In her Ministry Story for Jubilee, Sister Michele wrote the following about those years. [My] ministry began in August 1964 when I was missioned to St. Joseph School, as a first grade teacher in Chehalis, Washington. I had done my student experience there the previous fall. I loved it and was excited to start. I had dreamed of teaching first grade for as long as I could remember. After that successful first year, I was surprised to find myself on the faculty of Holy Angels High School where I taught for six years. Our principal, Sister Edwina Sweeney, gave me lots of encouragement and room to try out my fledging ideas on how to teach freshmen, sophomore and senior classes my first year. In 1971, I was offered a position at Moreau High School in Hayward, California, where I taught for three years. It was a large school run by the Holy Cross Brothers with a student body of 1,500 and 120 on the faculty. I team taught with Adrian Dominican Sister Anne Russell who chaired the Ethics Department with me and also became a good friend. In the spring of 1974, Sister Michele was elected to serve on the Congregation Leadership team. The team was engaged in a variety of challenges: rewriting the Constitutions for the Dominican Sisters of Edmonds and experimenting, i.e., exploring, as Sister Michele wrote, what we were about and to what community members were 1

2 responsive to, and what proposals were discussed at Congregation meetings and Chapters. Toward the end of Sister Michele s service of coordinating apostolic works for the Congregation, Sister Maureen Driscoll, President, said, I am particularly proud of your work with the due process group and the energy and commitment that you have brought to the somewhat difficult and painful topic. By the summer of 1982, Sister Michele was on her way to the University of Minnesota, where she began her graduate studies that led to a Master s Degree in Social Work. In her application to study, Sister Michele wrote: I see this educational preparation as fitting with the goals of the Congregation, as it would allow me to focus on the education of those already serving in ministry, for the purpose of enabling them to become more effective in their work of service to the Church and to the World. I also see it as an opportunity to particularly enable women, the largest percentage of active Church participants, with perhaps the greatest need for liberation. After graduating from the University of Minnesota, Sister Michele began working in the three largest counties in Minnesota: Hennepin, Ramsey and Dakota. This was during the period of President Johnson s War on Poverty and state funding was available for new projects. In her 1985 Christmas letter, Sister Michele described her activities at a mental health agency called Sharing Life in the Community (SLIC), where she did counseling and taught fifty Hennepin County adult clients who had some type of chronic mental illness. She wrote: With another SLIC team member, [we] initiated some family work with some of our Hennepin County clients. I also shared some spiritual counseling skills with staff members and am currently trying to put together a workbook of spiritual counseling techniques to assist some of our clients who request help in this very important area of their lives. Perhaps it is indicative of my experience of the aging process but at this time of my life I find myself focusing much more on how things get done than on what is being accomplished. This is somewhat of a scary awareness for me. It is also one that seems to bring integration and a peace to me so I am seeing it as positive and rejoice in it. In 1989, Sister Michele was licensed as an Independent Clinical Social Worker. Mental Health Resources, Inc., the agency where she worked, was awarded three additional contracts. As program supervisor, she was actively involved in interviewing, hiring and training new personnel for new positions in January That year was significant for two other reasons: the Edmonds Dominicans celebrated 100 years of service in the Pacific Northwest and Sister Michele celebrated her fiftieth birthday. Michele ministered in Minnesota for fourteen years in Mental Health Resources, Inc., as supervisor, and later as an independent social worker seeing clients in their homes and doing family practice. The agency eventually asked her to write a training manual that 2

3 included an orientation schedule and ongoing team building procedures that she had used in the program. The interest spread to Dakota County, and Sister Michele was asked to train new social workers in the rural areas. But all this changed in 1998 when Sister Michele was elected Prioress of the Edmonds Dominican Congregation. In her Ministry Story, Sister Michele wrote: In 1998 I was elected to the Dominican Sisters of Edmonds Leadership team for a third time. Our other team members were Sisters Karen Rossman, Carolyn Roeber, Dorothy Berg and Francine Barber who served the Congregation from 1998 to 2003 at which time our Congregation merged with Dominican Sisters of Adrian. Our discernment to join with another Congregation was a challenging quest. I believe we have come through it well, cherish our journey as Edmonds Dominicans and appreciate our welcome into the Adrian Dominican Congregation. After a sabbatical year, Sister Michele ministered with the Holy Name and Providence Communities as a social worker. She provided services for the Sisters in both congregations who were retired, lived independently, or had need for services. Of this ministry, Sister Michele wrote, I continue to be grateful for the blessings I have received during these past 50 years of ministry. During her seventh year of service to the Holy Names and Providence Sisters, Sister Michele suffered a stroke and retired in She died November 9, 2016, at Northwest Medical Center in Seattle, at the age of 76 and in the 56th year of her religious profession. Sister Francine Barber, OP, gave the homily at Michele s funeral on November 17, 2016, in Seattle. It was a reflection on the readings 1 Michele selected. The following are excerpts of Francine s message. If Michele could talk to us right now, what do you think she might say? A good clue is in the second reading from Paul s letter to the Ephesians. Putting Paul s comments in the first person, we might hear Michele say, My hidden self has grown strong through the power of the Spirit. Planted in love and built on love, I have with all the saints the strength to grasp the breadth and length, the height and depths of knowing the love of Christ, which is beyond all knowledge. I am filled with the utter fullness of God. This is infinitely more than I could have ever asked for or imagined. But if we are to bring Christ to others, then we need to accept his unfathomable love for us. This may seem odd, but how can we give forgiveness and love to those around us if we can t let ourselves receive it from God? To quote St. Catherine of Siena in one of her letters, It is the nature of love to love as much as we feel we are loved The way Michele interacted with others makes it plain 1 Sirach 4:11-16; Ephesians 3:16-21;Matthew 5:1-12 3

4 that she got this. A woman of Wisdom, she also knew when and how to challenge someone. Michele was a delight to work with and to live with. May we all learn from her example. Sister Karen Rossman gave the homily at Michele s memorial Mass on December 9, 2016, in St. Catherine Chapel. The following is an excerpt from her reflection on the readings Michele chose for her funeral. The Michele that I admired most is the Michele characterized by the Beatitudes. The beatitudes are not just simple blessings or a philosophical speech; rather they challenge us to live as disciples.the beatitudes are strong blessings meant to reshape our lives into a new community of faith. I believe that Michele leaned into the blessing of the beatitudes and she was stunned with their unimagined grace. Yes, she was kind and gentle but she was also strong and clear-focused. Michele respected, valued, and loved each one of our Sisters. She wrote: My search for the Spirit has often been found in opening myself and I have reaped the benefits of the synergy that happens when we unite our energies and realize that together we are more than the sum of ourselves. 4

5 Right: Sister Mary White, OP, left, with Sister Michele at Hurricane Ridge, Washington. Left: Sister Michele at the Women s Enrichment Center, St. Paul, Minnesota, in the spring of Right: The last residents of Rosary Heights, Washington, in November 2004 are, from left, Sisters Dorothy Berg, Michele Kopp, Mary White, Philomena Perreault, and Judy Byron. 5

6 Left: Sister Cathy Olds, OP, left, with Sister Michele at the Grand Canyon, around Right: Sister Rose Celeste O Connell, OP, left, with Sister Michele. 6

7 Right: The General Councils of the Edmonds Dominican Sisters and the Adrian Dominican Sisters at the merger in June 2004, from left: Sisters Carolyn Roeber, Janet Capone, Barbara Rund, Michele Kopp, Molly Giller, Kathleen McGrail, Dorothy Berg, Maureen Comer, and Francine Barber. 7