5 Cedar Rapids sisters celebrate milestones

Five Sisters of Mercy of the Mercy West Midwest Community will celebrate their jubilees in a liturgy at 1 p.m. Sunday in the Chapel of Mercy on the Mount Mercy campus. Receptions will honor each jubilarian from 2:30 to 4 p.m. on the campus and at Sacred Heart Convent as follows:

'Sister James Marie Donahue will celebrate 60 years with a reception in the Mount Mercy University Commons

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Donahue wanted to be a nurse from childhood.

She entered the Sisters of Mercy at Our Lady of Mercy in Marion in 1953, two years after she graduated from the School of Nursing at Mercy Hospital. She went on to receive her bachelor's degree from Mount Mercy and her master's degree in nursing education from the University of Minnesota in 1972.

She was a nursing instructor, director of the Mercy Hospital School of Nursing and then chairwoman of the Department of Nursing at Mount Mercy College from 1970 to 1987. During those years, she received a doctorate in educational administration from the University of Iowa and was also in leadership of the Mercy Community in Cedar Rapids. Since 2000 she has been chairwoman of the Board of Mercy Medical Center Foundation in Cedar Rapids.

'As I reflect on my 60 years as a Sister of Mercy my strongest feeling is gratitude for the gifts and graces that God has given me,” she says.

'Celebrate 60 years with Sister Lucy Frien in Sacred Heart dining room.

Frien has ministered in teaching and cosmetology since she entered the Mercy Community in 1954 in Our Lady of Mercy in Marion.

In Iowa, she taught from 1958 to 1973 at All Saints in Cedar Rapids, St. John in Waterloo, Sacred Heart in Oelwein, St. Matthew in Cedar Rapids, St. Joseph School in DeWitt and St. Patrick School in Garryowen.

She was a receptionist at Kirkwood Community College and a books on tape specialist in Cedar Rapids from 1994 to 1996. She became a cosmetologist and practiced her skill on the sisters at Sacred Heart Convent from 1978 to 1993. She has volunteered at Sacred Heart Convent, Birthright and Mount Mercy University in Cedar Rapids from 1996 to 2014.

Her service has stretched beyond Iowa as well.

'A service immersion trip to help with the homeless in Harlem, New York City, a number of trips serving the poor in Mexico, a March for Life trip in Washington D.C., plus other trips have greatly enriched my life experiences,” she says. 'During these years I have committed my life, talents and resources in solidarity with the economically poor of the world, by trying to serve God's people from a multicultural and global solidarity with respect for the human person from conception until a natural death.”

'Sister Rose Mary Kucera will mark 60 years with a reception in the Sacred Heart dining room as well.

Kucera taught in primary schools from 1956 to 1985 after entering the Sisters of Mercy in 1953 in Our Lady of Mercy in Marion.

The schools in Iowa included Immaculate Conception, Elma; St. Patrick, Garryowen; St. Joseph, Marion; St. Henry, Marshalltown; St. Benedict, Decorah; St. Nicholas, Evansdale; and All Saints, Cedar Rapids.

She also taught at Our Lady of Grace, Edina, Minn. In 1985 Sister Rose Mary moved into child care at the Crisis Center in Houston, Texas, and then became a parent counselor at Systems Inc. in Iowa City. In 2001 she began a seven-year ministry as staff for Mercy Home Health Care Aides in Iowa City. She continues as a volunteer in Iowa City at St. Patrick Church and with Iowa City Hospice.

'I'm grateful for the Mercy opportunities in teaching, caring for children, and ministering to the elderly and hospice patients. It's a blessing to share God's gifts with them,” she says.

'Sister Alice Maiers entered the Sisters of Mercy in Cedar Rapids half a century ago on Sept. 24, 1964.

She began her first ministry as a medical technologist at Mercy Hospital in Cedar Rapids. Work at Anamosa Community Hospital and Kallispel General Hospital in Montana followed.

She moved into parish ministry at St. John in Waterloo and St. Nicholas in Evansdale. In 1981, she was trained in clinical pastoral education at St. Luke's Hospital in Cedar Rapids and served as chaplain at Mercy Hospital in Oelwein for 10 years. She used her skills in the ministry of housing at St. Mary's Villa in Waterloo, House of Mercy in Waterloo and Marian Plaza in Denver, Colo.

'Through these ministries, I have been able to share my life with many people of varied races, cultures, creeds and needs,” she says. 'These experiences have helped me to find meaning in my life and brought me closer to the God who gives us life and calls us to live in peace and harmony with all of creation.”

She is now a hospice volunteer for Hospice of Mercy in Cedar Rapids. Celebrate with her in the Mount Mercy Campus Ministry Area.

'Sister Kathy Thill will celebrate 50 years in the Mount Mercy Library Atrium.

Thill grew up in Dysart. She felt a call to religious life as a child.

'I credit this to the influence of my parents, primarily through their faith life and their concern for others,” she said.

Her first ministry after entering at Our Lady of Mercy in 1964 was in teaching. She was a teacher in primary grades in five schools in Iowa and Montana from 1968 to 1982. She then began work in the Archdiocesan Office of Education in Dubuque for five years.

She became director of Ascension Respite Care Center, then associate director of Chase House, which provided day care and services for families living with HIV and AIDS, one of the first of its kind in the United States.

She then took the role of program director at ARISE in Edinburgh, Texas, a ministry founded by the Sisters of Mercy at the border of Texas and Mexico for immigrant families.

She created parenting programs and reading programs for children in grades one and two. She has had leadership roles in the Mercy community and today is ministry director of the West Midwest Community of the Sisters of Mercy in Omaha.

'Through all of my experiences in ministry, I learned that the value of life is not found in what I have acquired or the position I hold, but rather from what I have received by opening myself to new experiences and persons unknown to me.”