History of the Poor Handmaids of Jesus Christ in Donaldson, Pt. 3

Beginning in 1967, Ancilla College broadened its liberal arts degree offerings and began admitting students from around the area when it became a commuter college. In 2015, Ancilla opened the first of two newly-built residence halls. They followed up with a dining hall/student center and another residence hall the following year. In 2021, Ancilla College became Marian University’s Ancilla College.  

Ancilla College’s former Director of Mission  Integration Sister Jolise May, PHJC, studied at Ancilla College before going onto Alverno College for her undergraduate degree. She’s always loved the sense of community here.  “It was an atmosphere where learning was appreciated,” she told Ripples in 2017. “The instructors were teaching with purpose. They gave us an excellent education and placed high expectations on us.”  

The Poor Handmaids of Jesus Christ celebrated their first 100 years in America with an open air Mass at Hessen Cassel on August 25, 1968. 

Masses were also celebrated that year in the eight dioceses they served. During their first 100 years, the Poor Handmaids listened to the Spirit and served joyfully at eleven hospitals, four nursing schools, four senior care homes, three orphanages, and 24 schools.  

“Sister America,” a play written and directed by Sister Jeffrey Hegger, PHJC, commemorated the PHJC Centennial. “Sister America” symbolized the spirit of the American Poor Handmaid, joyful in her service to God and her neighbor. Portrayed through song and dance, the play dramatized the Sisters’ service to God’s people as they traveled across America. The 40-member cast, comprised of PHJC Sisters and four children, took to the road during 1968.

It was an amazing experience, according to the late Sister Celine Tomasic, PHJC, as she belted out the theme song “Sister America” during a 2017 interview for Ripples. The lyrics came back to her like it was yesterday, not 50 years ago. “We hit the road, and I loved it,” she laughed. Sisters Deanne Blume, PHJC, and Michelle Dermody, PHJC, were also cast members, and cherished the experience, too.

“We reached out to a lot of areas where our Sisters ministered,” said Sister Deanne, also in 2017. “She (Sister Jeffrey) wanted perfection.” Sister Michelle recalled, that “the community needed it, the world needed it, and our families saw us having fun. “My Mom came to see us at Andrean High School in Merrillville, Indiana. It would be so perfect today. People would say, ‘oh, they’re nuns, I love this; they’re fun!’”

As Sisters, residents, and co-workers watched the ten-part Ken Burns PBS documentary on Vietnam, which aired in 2017, some may not have known that two Poor Handmaids, Sisters Helen Watkins and Justine Buescher, served there for eighteen months, caring for the sick and malnourished in South Vietnam at the height of the war in 1968.

Established in 1968, the Vietnam Assistance Program, part of the United States Catholic Conference, recruited Sisters to serve in war ravaged Southeast Asia. “We received one month of training in Hawaii,” Sister Helen told Word Gathering in a 1988 story. She and Sister Justine then served  in two civilian hospitals in the cities of Nha Trang and Bac Loc, Vietnam. The Sisters cared for collateral war causalities and sick patients alike. “I wanted to go where I was needed,” Sister Justine said. 

Sister Helen was surprised by the many  misconceptions about Americans serving  in Vietnam, and she spoke of her own  readjustment period upon returning to the U.S.  in the same Word Gathering story. 

In July 1970, Sister Flora Offerle, followed by twenty Poor Handmaid Sisters, became the first residents of Catherine Kasper Home. During that year, 80 Sisters moved to CKH. In 1973, Sister Justine Buescher, then the home’s administrator, declared, “This is not a place of retirement, but a place where Sisters are active in service to others.” 

Catherine Kasper Home began as the dream of Sister Symphoria Miller, who raised funds to build a place for the Sisters to retire on the grounds with the Ancilla Domini Convent and Chapel. It didn’t remain a Sisters’ only home for long. CKH welcomed the first lay residents, John Kirchhoff and Clara Wagner, in 1978. 

In an entry in the CKH Chronicles dated April 1970, Sisters Ernestine and Mercedes wrote about a visit from Sister Jolise May, who spoke to the  retired Sisters about how to adjust their lives from “active duty to retirement to make it more meaningful.” The day’s entry recalls that the Sisters in the attendance were receptive to the ideas and that they shared in Mass and lunch together after the presentation.  

Catherine Kasper Home completes as a ministry on March 31, 2023. Motherhouse Sisters will move into the former CKH during a renovation of their living areas in the Motherhouse. Catherine Kasper Home Sister residents will move to Catherine’s Cottage. 

In the late 1970s, as Thailand opened its borders to Cambodian refugees fleeing the  brutality of the Khmer Rouge, ten Poor Handmaid Sisters were  dispatched to serve at refugee camps there in 1980. Upon their return, five more Sisters left for another three-month stint of service.  

Ancilla College 

Donaldson, Indiana
April 21, 1967 
Ancilla College became a commuter college and was opened to the public.

100^th Anniversary of PHJC in America

1968
In celebration of the 100th Anniversary in America, PHJC Sisters performed a musical, “Sister America” throughout the U.S. Midwest.

PHJC went to Vietnam 

1968
Sister Helen Watkins and Sister Justine Buescher went to Vietnam to provide nursing. 

Catherine Kasper Home 

Donaldson, Indiana 
July 16, 1970 
Catherine Kasper Home opens to 22 Sister residents. 

PHJC went to Thailand

1980 
Fifteen Poor Handmaids went to Thailand to  provide nursing and childcare to Cambodian  refugees.