It is June and it is time to open our Motherhouse to about 55 girls ages 6th grade through college for Camp Franciscan. The Camp allows girls to interact with Sisters. This is especially important because there are fewer opportunities for girls and young women to interact with a Sister, as there are fewer Sisters teaching in our Catholic schools.
Each year, I bring girls to Camp from where ever I am missioned at that time. This year I invited five girls to Camp. Three of them traveled with me from Sierra Vista, Arizona by plane and it was fun! They were great traveling companions.
Our journey began at the Tucson Airport at 5:00am on Tues., June 17th. We flew to Denver and then on to Milwaukee where we met up with a former student and parent who moved to Texas and came with me to our last Camp and definitely wanted to go again.
Sister Donalise, from our Motherhouse picked us up and drove us north to Manitowoc to Holy Family Convent, our Motherhouse. Here is what we saw along our 1 1/2 hour journey in the van.
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| Milwaukee skyline |
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| Green Bay-heading into Packer Country - "YES!" |
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| On I-43 we saw the tallest flag in the United States. |
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| It is taller than the statue of liberty. |
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| The very wide pole was made in Manitowoc. |
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| We made it to the Motherhouse at last. We stopped at the top of the driveway to allow girls their first look at the Motherhouse. The green of Wisconsin was overwhelming to us from Arizona where we haven't had any moisture since September. We are "very brown" in Arizona. |
HEY LOOK!! A 70's radio!
This is what I heard when I showed the girls the bedroom I would be staying in off of the dorm in case they needed anything. This radio is definitely an antique to them.
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| This is the dorm about 30 of the campers stayed in. It looks so quiet now but not for long. After unpacking, I gave them a tour of our Motherhouse which they have heard so much about. |
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| We started by going to the front of the Motherhouse, right in front of the large bronze statue of St. Francis of Assisi and the wolf. We are Franciscan Sisters and you know that before you even enter the front door of our home. |
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| The Franciscan Tau Cross forms the design for the flowerbed. |
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| I remember as a young girl being at the bottom of these steps and walking all the way up to ring the doorbell by the big brown wooden door so we could visit with my cousin, Sister Judy Simons. |
FLOWERS!
The girls enjoyed all the beautiful flowers you can find on our grounds. Each flower bed is taken care of by some Sister.
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| The back of our Motherhouse-it is 4 stories tall and it also has a basement and a sub-basement. A very large building and easy to get lost in when you are new. And, yes, the girls did get lost a couple times. |
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| The "Wailing Wall!" I did a presentation about our Motherhouse to the 6th and 7th graders at All Saints Catholic School in Sierra Vista, AZ, where I am the principal. The girls wanted the experience of standing here and to shed a few tears for their families. The "Wailing Wall" received its name years ago when we had a high school for girls. Those first days away from home, they often were homesick at first and came here to be by themselves to think of their families and I am sure shed a few homesick tears. |
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| Admiring the beautiful vegetable garden. The fence is up to keep the bunnies out. |
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| They gazed upon Silver Lake which borders our property. A great place to come and pray. |
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| Sacred Heart Grotto |
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| Our Lady of Lourdes Grotto, where we came each night with the campers to pray night prayer by candlelight. A beautiful way to end the day. |
After dinner we joined the high school and college campers who came a day early to take part in Leadership Days so they could lead the group of younger campers assigned to them.
Minute to Win It
This was the game of the night that brought lots of laughter to all.
Nose Dive-for this game, the girls could not use their hands. They had to put vaseline on their nose and then put a cotton ball to their nose, run to the next desk and shake off the cotton ball. The one who got the most cotton balls to the other desk in one minute was the winner. Sometimes the girls got too much Vaseline on their nose and the whole plate stuck to their nose!!!
At the end of the games we all processed outside for night prayer by Our Lady's grotto.
Wednesday, June 18th, we had the morning to sightsee since the leaders were still in training. We had to report at 12:30pm. The girls had asked, "Are we going to have time to see Wisconsin?" So off we went. My sister-in-law, Jodi, came with her car to help take some of the girls.
First stop, we went to Manitowoc harbor to tour the World War II submarine. Before we crossed the bridge to tour the sub the girls were shocked to see the bridge lifting up.
A boat was moving underneath the bridge-all traffic is stopped on both sides. You would never see something like this in the deserts of Arizona!
During World War II, Manitowoc was one of the areas that won the contract to make submarines. My father was part of this work force. He tried to sign up for the Army during the War but was declined because he had scarlet fever and lost hearing in his right ear. So he instead, chose to work building the subs while still keeping the Seidl farm going in Luxemburg.
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| Along the way to the dairy we saw deer with very furry antlers. I thought it was a reindeer farm but another Sister told me it was an elk farm. See the beautiful green field. I forgot how green Wisconsin looks in the summer time. |
Look at all the varieties of cheese-made in Wisconsin!
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We saw butter being made. |
Time to head back to the Motherhouse to begin Camp! The girls were excited. The girls saw "Icebreaker" on the schedule and kept asking, "What is this?" They were soon to find out as they met girls from Louisiana, Wisconsin, Ohio, Mississippi, Nebraska and a couple other states.
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Crashing in the dorm after their first full day at the Motherhouse. |
Thursday, June 19th
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| One of the sessions they went to was "Stitchery Class" |
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| Look Mom! I know how to use a needle and thread. |
Making a Memory Box of their days at Camp was another session.
Time to get some exercise in.
Sr. Elaine and I taught the girls with the use of a DVD, a variety of international dances.
Their favorites were the Virginia Reel from the U.S.A and a German hand-clapping dance.
Here are the records with the dances on we played on the record player when I was at the Motherhouse first learning them.
I am sure they are older than that "70's Radio!"
I had a break so I took advantage of the time to go and see our new Franciscan Center of Music located right next to our college-Silver Lake. I was very impressed!
We also took time to visit our "Penpal Sister". I lived with Sr. George Ann in Yuma, AZ. We have kept in contact ever since. My campers, and their teacher, who also came to Camp , wanted to be sure to see Sister. Sr. George Ann, who will turn 97 in August, wins the "PenPal Award". She always answered their letters and often times writing a separate letter for each student. Like she told another Sister who told her to write just one letter to the class, "No, they each write individually to me so I write back to each person." Lots of sharing has gone on in these last two years. She has prayed for many requests from them and they have sent her different gifts too. When she wrote and told how cold this last Wisconsin winter was the class sent her a blanket to keep warm. When they went on retreat at San Xavier Mission in Tucson they each sent her a postcard from there which she had visited numerous times when she was in Yuma.
It is time to say good-bye.
A closing picture of all of us as Camp came to an end. Many friendships were made and great memories!
The most asked question was, "Are you coming back to Camp next year? I am! :):):)"
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