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This article appears in the August Issue of Reflections and Connections

Michelle Majewski joined Marian University in 1987 as a faculty member in the psychology department. During her time there, she became program director, department chair, and the dean of two different schools within Marian University. In 2018, she retired from her teaching career and took a part-time position working for the Congregation of Sisters of St. Agnes as Sponsorship Advisor. In 2020, just as the pandemic was beginning to unfold, Michelle took on the role of Acting President and was named Marian’s 17th President just six months later. 

During her 37 years at Marian, she founded the Journal of Homeland Security Education, received the “Underkofler Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching” award, retired the university’s debt by raising $12.1 million, launched the Construction Management and Risk Management and Insurance programs, and led the renovation of a new, state-of-the-art nursing space. Just prior to her retirement in May 2024, Michelle was recognized with the Titan 100 award, a program recognizing the top 100 CEOs and C-level executives in the state.

Beyond her large list of accomplishments, Michelle is also appreciated as a relational leader. “By maintaining connections with colleagues and sharing ideas, I demonstrate that I value others’ ideas,” said Michelle. “I possess a ‘can do’ attitude that communicates my excitement for student, faculty, and administration achievements, and I seek growth opportunities and invite others to engage in purposeful discourse toward those objectives.”

Sister Sharon Pollnow, CSA General Superior, said, “Dr. Michelle Majewski’s retirement means a great loss for Marian University. We are grateful for her years of dedicated service to the Mission, both as a professor and as President, for thirty-seven years. Her wisdom, passion, and spirit will continue to live on at Marian. We wish her only the best as she transitions.”

The Congregation of Sisters of St. Agnes offers profound gratitude for President Majewski’s exceptional service to Marian University.
 

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This article appears in the August Issue of Reflections and Connections

On June 12, 2024, CSA Associate Frances Grace celebrated her 100th birthday and, just a few weeks later, was celebrated again as a 15-year associate jubilarian.

Frances Grace was born in Yonkers, New York, into the same family as CSA Sisters Emily Schug and Mary Frances Schug. As children, they were taught by Agnesians serving at Sacred Heart Parish. While her siblings felt a vocational call to religious life, Frances felt drawn to learning more about associate relationship after reading “Ordinary Sisters” by Margaret Lorimer, CSA.

During her discernment process, she understood and valued how the CSA Sisters were ever willing to try new ways of fulfilling Jesus’ work in the world. A sister might start with one mission, but realize that the times were calling her to change her approach and respond to the signs of the times. For example, Mother Agnes and her sisters started as teachers, then added the mission of healthcare when it was needed and continued to broaden their areas of service to the world’s needy.

Frances says one of the great blessings for her husband and her was their son Peter, who was born with Downs Syndrome. Peter inspired both of his parents to become involved in work with the disabled. As Frances sought out the special services Peter required, she saw a new mission for herself. Frances formed a group of parents of special needs children who approached doctors and other health professionals about how to give hope to parents confronted with difficult news. Her ministries have included serving as a catechist in the RCIA at Holy Family Parish, visiting and helping residents at St. Francis Home, and assisting at St. Francis Home chapel by giving communion to those less mobile, and serving as a lector and eucharistic minister. Frances currently assists the Associate Office by mailing birthday cards to CSA associates and prayer partners. On her birthday she was thrilled to receive cards of her own. “I got dozens of birthday cards from associates all over the country.  What a great surprise!” She celebrated with her five children and their families and then again with sisters and associates all of whom showered her with love.
 

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A groundbreaking ceremony for the new Heritage and Research Center (HARC) at Saint Mary’s, which will house the rich histories and collections of nine women’s religious congregations and Saint Mary’s College, took place at 11 a.m. Friday, July 26, 2024, on Saint Mary’s campus, Notre Dame, Indiana. CSA representatives (pictured left to right) were congregational archivist Jenny Lukomski, and  Sisters Sharon Pollnow, Peg Spindler, and Hertha Longo.

A vital asset to the tri-campus (Saint Mary’s College, University of Notre Dame, Holy Cross College), regional and digital communities for study, research and scholarship, the center will highlight the lives and ministries of thousands of religious sisters. These women launched and grew institutions of education, health care, and public outreach that became the standard and backbone of development within these fields in the United States. The extensive collection will highlight these efforts and institutions, many of which still thrive today, and the lasting impacts of sisters’ presence and service.

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 are excited about this collaboration that will deepen and advance the continued research and stories of women religious who have brought so much to the communities in which they served,” says Sister Suzanne Brennan, CSC, general councilor and treasurer of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Cross.

Though supported by each of the participating congregations, HARC will operate as an independent entity, employing an executive director, archivists and curators to manage the center’s collections, exhibits and programming. Part of the National Archives Project for Women Religious, HARC will share a technology platform with three other archival hubs—Cleveland, Ohio, Santa Clara University and Boston College—allowing users access to all four repositories.

“HARC is a significant new archives institution bringing together the historical records of nine Midwestern congregations of women religious,” says Monte Abbott, chair of HARC’s board of directors and director of archives for the Congregation of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd, St. Louis, Missouri. “More than just a repository, HARC will actively share the heartwarming stories of sisters in service to those in need over the past two centuries.”

HARC’s Council of Partners
Ladysmith Servite Sisters (Sister Servants of Mary), Ladysmith, Wisconsin
Our Lady of Victory Missionary Sisters, Huntington, Indiana
Saint Mary’s College, Notre Dame, Indiana
Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Dubuque, Iowa
Sisters of Mercy of the Holy Cross, Merrill, Wisconsin
Sisters of Saint Agnes, Fond du Lac, Wisconsin
Sisters of St. Francis of the Holy Cross, Green Bay, Wisconsin
Sisters of St. Casimir, Chicago, Illinois
Sisters of the Holy Cross, Notre Dame, Indiana
Sisters of the Most Precious Blood, O’Fallon, Missouri

HARC Mission
The mission of the Heritage and Research Center at Saint Mary’s (HARC) is to preserve and honor the rich history of women religious and their sponsored ministries through partnership and collaboration of congregations of women religious and Saint Mary’s College.

HARC Vision
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.

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. The vision for the Center is that future leaders, women religious, and the public will become aware of and inspired by the work of Catholic sisters, past and present, to act on behalf of the world’s suffering.

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