Occupational neurosis

Sister Ann Casper hard at work signing letters.

Well, I guess I could have called it writer’s cramp, but having an occupational neurosis has a much more interesting ring to it! And along about mid-December every year, I even look forward to having a serious case of it!

You see, I have the happy task of acknowledging all the financial gifts sent to the Sisters of Providence. It is both humbling and rewarding any time of the year, but especially at year-end when so many donors remember the sisters and their relationship with them.

And I love the notes that accompany some of the gifts. Notes that mention former teachers and how they impacted the person’s life, like the 87-year old gentleman who listed by name every SP who taught him in grade school and added, “Without the love and support of my Providence sisters I certainly would have failed in life and love.” Another  donor who gave a gift toward Saint Mother Theodore Guerin’s Shrine to honor her parents wrote, “My daddy would be so proud and happy to see this happening and to know that Mother Theodore is now SAINT Mother Theodore.”

Evidently a lot of other friends of Saint Mother Theodore are “proud and happy” to see the shrine happening, too, for as of the end of December 2012, our benefactors have sent more than $900,000 for the shrine capital campaign. We feel as Mother Theodore must have felt when she wrote to a benefactor in 1847 — “It seems that God wishes to render his gifts still dearer to us by causing them to pass through your hands before reaching us.” The Sisters of Providence are awed and grateful for such generosity.

If you would like to make a gift toward the shrine campaign, visit our donation form.