Sisters honor Ladner with Dujarié award

On Saturday, June 7, the Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, Indiana, hosted approximately 250 benefactors and others in the O’Shaughnessy Dining Room for the annual Saint Mother Theodore Guerin Donor Dinner.

The dinner takes place yearly to honor benefactors while also presenting special awards.

This year, the Sisters of Providence honored the late Julia Margaret Rooney Ladner with the Dujarié award. Julia’s daughters Mary, Peggy and Ann Marie, along with her sons Tom and Will, accepted the award on her behalf.

“This award is reserved for persons whose gift or gifts have been transformational for our community,” General Superior Sister Dawn Tomaszewski said. “How were Julia’s gifts transformational? Often, they were the major lead gift that propelled a capital campaign or project.”

So much support

For example, Sister Dawn said Julia helped with the renovation of the Church of the Immaculate Conception in 1986 and with the health-care building project in 2001.

She also supported the cause of Saint Mother Theodore in 1998 and 2006. And she pledged $1 million for the renovation of Providence Hall in 2009.

Julia helped with the repair of stained glass windows in the church in 2011, and with the Saint Mother Theodore Guerin Shrine Campaign in 2013 as well as the Church Bell Tower repairs in 2015.

“I am not sure where we or Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College would be today without her,” Sister Dawn commented. “We hope we let her know in her lifetime how much she meant to us – the college library is now known as Rooney Library. And we had honored her with both the Queen Amelia and Rooted in Providence awards.

“And please, understand that the monetary gifts were not her only blessings for us. She had a presence; she was a gentle and determined woman of faith. I trust that from her place in the Communion of Saints, she fully knows our heartfelt gratitude.”

The Dujarié Award honors a donor or multiple donors whose gift or gifts have been transformational.

In 1806, Father Jacques Francois Dujarié traveled to Ruille looking for workers to “transform God’s vineyard.” He established the Congregation of the Sisters of Providence of Ruille, France in 1806. That Congregation sent Saint Mother Theodore Guerin and her five companions to the United States in 1840.

The theme for this year’s event was “Jubilee 2025: Pilgrims of Hope.”