Remembering Sister Thadine Kaminski, OSF

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Early in the morning of February 10, 2023, the heartfelt prayer of our Sister Thadine Kaminski was answered. The long-awaited time had come to complete her journey home to God,
and she was prepared. Trusting confidently in God’s gracious love and divine mercy, she believed that the sufferings of the past and present moment were nothing compared to the coming glory that soon would be revealed to her (Romans 8:18). Running with patience the race that was set before her, she held fast to an unwavering faith in the Lord’s promise of eternal life and looked forward with a certain hope to being reunited with all of the loved ones who made up the cloud of witnesses that had surrounded her throughout her life (Heb 12:1-2).

Born in Chicago, Illinois, to her loving parents, Stella (Kopczyk) and James Kaminski, Mary Ann was blessed with four brothers and three sisters. Growing up in a large family, she learned much about love, respect and caring for others. Influenced by the Sisters of St. Francis of Mary Immaculate who staffed St. Francis Xavier parish school, young Mary Ann was attracted to the spirit and life she witnessed in the community of the Sisters. Encouraged to discern her vocational calling, at the age of thirteen she became an aspirant with the Joliet Franciscans and attended St. Francis Academy in Joliet, Illinois.

Read More About Sister Thadine’s Life

If you would like to make a donation in honor of Sister Thadine or another Joliet Franciscan Sister, please click here:  Remembering our Deceased Sisters.

Remembering Sister Janet Rieden, OSF

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On the afternoon of February 8, 2023, our sister, Janet Rieden, was surrounded with the loving presence of family, Sisters and dear friends, as the final hours of her Christian journey were drawing near. Conformed throughout her life to the Word of God, it was most fitting that the Gospel reading for the day (Matthew: 25:6 -7) heralded the parable of the wise virgin who kept her lamp trimmed and burning, never growing weary until her work was done.

In 1934, as the New Year dawned in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, Catherine (Hentges) and Peter J. Rieden eagerly awaited the anticipated birth of their first child. Among the great joys of the holiday season was the arrival of their infant daughter, Janet Marie, on January 2, the ninth day of Christmas!

Together with her beloved brother, Gordon, Janet was raised in the wonder and beauty of life on the southern shore of Lake Winnebago. From an early age, she embraced the love of learning and the value that her family placed on education. Influenced by the example of the Sisters of St. Agnes, her teachers at St. Patrick’s Parish school and later, at St. Mary’s Springs High School, one of the first co-educational Catholic high schools in Wisconsin, Janet was drawn to the vocation of teaching. In the Fall of 1952, she made her way to Joliet, Illinois, to attend the College of St. Francis where she met the Sisters of St. Francis of Mary Immaculate. It was there that she was drawn to the charism of the congregation through the spirit and life of the sisters who were her mentors and her classmates.

Read More About Sister Janet’s Life

If you would like to make a donation in honor of Sister Janet or another Joliet Franciscan Sister, please click here:  Remembering our Deceased Sisters.