Mother Agnes Day
March 06, 2025
Mother M. Agnes Hazotte (1847-1905)
Superior General, 1864-1905
In 1863, 16-year-old Mary Hazotte joined the fledging Society of St. Agnes and was given the name Sister Mary Agnes. She was elected superior general only a year later. Tensions with the congregation’s founder, Father Caspar Rehrl, flared due to differences over the sisters’ mission, training, and living conditions. With no rule or ecclesiastical approval, they were under threat of being disbanded. Father Francis Haas helped them write an acceptable Rule and Constitutions in July 1870 which saved them.
That year Mother Agnes moved the group from tiny Barton, Wisconsin, to the bustling railroad town of Fond du Lac. Under her leadership, the Sisters of St. Agnes established a hospital, sanitarium, and home for the aged in Fond du Lac; a refuge for women immigrants in New York City; and provided education to children and care for orphans, the sick, and elderly throughout the country. Her spirit and apostolic zeal embodied in her call to courageous initiatives continue to inspire the congregation.
On March 6, 1905, Mother Agnes died in Kansas, surrounded by other sisters of St. Agnes whom she had served dutifully until her last breath.
February 2025 Issue of Reflections & Connections
February 13, 2025
The February 2025 issue of Reflections & Connections is now available online for your viewing.
This letter appears in the February Issue of Reflections and Connections
Dear Friends,
Pope Francis declared 2025 as a Jubilee Year of Hope, beginning his letter doing so with Romans 5:5: “Hope does not disappoint.” In a climate of dangerous and disappointing division, polarization continues, wars refuse to end, marginalization of and violence against various groups grows, creation cries out for healing, inequity soars and the common good is dwarfed by out-sized individualism. But, in Hebrews 6:18-20, it says, “We have this hope, a sure and steadfast anchor…” What is that anchor? That anchor is God’s love. Where are the signs of that tender but powerful upholding love?
We only need to look around to see: Children in Gaza or Israel who somehow find the joy to play games in bombed out streets. A neighbor in Ukraine wiping a tear from a widow whose home has no heat. A community of folks in Sudan who gather to rebuild a house and cook a meal. Members of a family here in the U.S. who Zoom together to support each other in the shock of losing election 2024. Parents who circle round their LGBTQIA+ children to defend them. Educators, librarians, and members of communities who attend school board meetings to defend the right to read widely. CNAs who tenderly turn the elderly in their beds. Green shoots, finding their way through the ashes and rubble of destruction. You, our readers and donors, making the work of CSA possible, the work of the Gospel, in many small ways so that “Hope does not disappoint.”
Thank you.
Sisters Sharon Pollnow, Peg Spindler, Madeline Gianforte, and Lael Niblick
CSA’s General Council, 2022-2026
Sharing Archives for the Future
February 11, 2025
This article appears in the February Issue of Reflections and Connections
A groundbreaking ceremony for the new Heritage and Research Center (HARC) at Saint Mary’s, which will house the rich histories and collections of at least nine congregations of women religious, took place on Friday, July 26, 2024, on Saint Mary’s campus, Notre Dame, Indiana.
HARC is set to open in late 2025. The life stories of thousands of Catholic sisters will now be in one place where all can come together to study, research, and apply initiatives and models to lead communities, parishes, organizations, schools and centers. The extensive collection will shine a light on the sisters’ models of leadership and organization and their processes for growing community development and advancing social justice. These approaches to living justly can serve humanity well, and the archives will ensure that they can be shared more broadly.
“We’re excited for this opportunity because our collections will complement and be complemented by the archives of the other member congregations,” said CSA Archivist Jenny Lukomski. “Future researchers will benefit from the wide scope of primary source materials available in this one location.”
HARC will feature storytelling, artifact exhibits, archival preservation and digitization. Learning rooms, group dialogue and classes will also share the history of women religious. Together, these resources will present role models of women that can help guide others—today and in the future.
Called by the Spirit: Celebrating 50 Years of CSA Associate Relationship
February 11, 2025
This article appears in the February Issue of Reflections and Connections
A Letter from Kelly Robe, Director of Associate Relationship
From Vatican II emerged a universal call to holiness for all people that prompted a new sense of responsibility for the mission of Jesus. In 1974, Melva Olson approached Sister Rachel Doerfler, vicar general at the time, and asked if the Congregation of Sisters of St. Agnes would be open to inviting people to become associates. Never doubting that one person can make a difference, Melva persisted for a full year and became the first CSA associate in 1975 on the Feast Day of St. Agnes. Fifty years later, we are a community of 103 associates and prayer partners living gospel values in varied ways as lay people, in service to the mission of Jesus and CSA charism.
This year marks a milestone of our faithful commitment to expressing love in action, presence, and being through spiritual growth, hospitality, and courageous initiatives for justice and peace. That may not sound like a media-worthy, epic feat like crossing the Gobi or climbing Everest. But living intentionally to be present and loving as a charism carrier in our world is not simple or easy. When considering political polarization, wealth disparity, immigration, human trafficking, etc., perhaps Everest is a less demanding goal, one that doesn’t require vulnerable open-heartedness, spiritual growth, or seeing Christ in everyone.
Here's to the beautiful lay people who have discerned their call to associate relationship, the charism carriers who live and love intentionally, the light-filled and hope-filled serving mission and charism. Cheers!
A Response from the Sisters of St. Agnes to These Times
February 03, 2025
CSA’s Mission Statement (1990) states that we “respond in our own times to those whose faith life and human dignity are threatened.” These threats are always around us, but recent rhetoric has increased them by implying that only specific groups of people are entitled to be treated with dignity. This is not true. We see inherent human dignity in everyone: people of color, people with cultural traditions different from our own, LGBTQIA+, immigrants, people with disabilities, believers of all creeds, those with mental illnesses, people suffering from addiction, people experiencing homelessness, people experiencing poverty in rural or urban settings who feel they cannot seem to get ahead, and those pushed out of their countries because of climate or power. To them and any who are feeling marginalized, we address the following:
You are safe with us because we believe in your innate dignity as human beings. You are safe with us because we believe you are images of God. Jesus gladly gathered with you and so do we. Jesus celebrated with you and so do we. Jesus built community, the Kingdom of God, with you and so do we. Jesus challenged the systems and structures that oppressed people and so have we and we will continue to do so.
We call on all people of every class and nation, of every religion and tradition, of every way of life and belief to recommit with us to the common good of all, the healthy wholeness of Earth, our common home, and to the diversity among us that weaves the most beautiful of tapestries ever imagined. Let us lay aside the swords of hatred, division, and greed and fashion the powerful plowshares of love and mercy, the only strengths that have ever changed anything.