Benedictine Sisters
1910 Maple Ave
Lisle, IL 60532

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Christine Kouba, OSB

Sister Christine was born and raised in Hillsboro, Wisconsin, one of a family of six. Living on a farm was hard work, but Sister Christine is grateful for the benefits of living in the country. She came to Sacred Heart Academy in 1947, graduated in 1950 and joined the novitiate of the Benedictine Sisters. She was 17 years old at the time and felt she was ready to decide her future. She made her final vows in 1955.

Sister earned a B.A. degree in education from St. Mary of the Woods and began a teaching career in Berwyn, Chicagoand Joliet as well as Wichita Falls and Ft. Worth, Texas. She also taught in Richland Center in Wisconsin in order to be close to her ailing parents. After four years of teaching there, she took a course in nursing at Western Wisconsin Technical Institute in LaCrosse, Wisconsin, earning a LPN.

After her parents’ deaths in 1978, Sister Christine returned to Lisle and began working at Hinsdale Hospital. She studied to be a registered nurse at College of DuPage and entered the nursing program at Little Company of Mary Hospital School of Nursing, where she graduated in 1984. She then returned to Hinsdale Hospital in the medical/surgical unit and in 1987, joined the St. Thomas Hospice Home Care Program.

In November of 1989, Sister Christine was granted the privilege of spending a year in Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico, where she worked in the clinic of Nuestros Pequenos Hermanos (Our Little Brothers and Sisters) orphanage. She returned to Lisle in 1991, where she was able to participate in a variety of nursing and Spanish-speaking activities, including DuPage Community Clinic where doctors and nurses volunteered their time to care for people who did not have insurance coverage. She taught in a bi-lingual program, preparing children for First Eucharist. In 1993, Sister Christine was called back to the monastery where she was needed and has since provided loving care for the community’s infirm and dying Sisters.

In 1999, Sister Christine was appointed Vocation Directress. In 2000, she started a monthly Taize Prayer Service, which she continues to coordinate at St. Procopius Abbey during the monastery renovation.

Regarding all the changes here at Sacred Heart, Sister Christine dreams that the monastery will be a spiritual and ecumenical center where lay people can come to pray and work with the Sisters. She believes the rich Benedictine charism cannot be hidden and she hopes to see the ‘four corners’ in Lisle spreading the ‘Good News’ together.

“My life has been most fulfilling here at Sacred Heart Monastery and with the opportunities I have had, I am most grateful. I praise God daily for the gift I have received in being a part of a community where we form a miniature praying church coming together four times a day to praise God who gives us the energy we need to serve others. I would love to see more women join us to be able to experience this same depth of joy that I am experiencing.”