Benedictine Sisters 1910 Maple Ave Lisle, IL 60532

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Our 2008 Jubilarian

Sisters Jo Anne Form, Barbara Ann Svec and Irene Jasien

Sister Jo Anne Form, OSB, was born in Fort Worth, Texas, to Carl and Josephine Form, the second of four daughters.  The family moved to Fort Worth from Lake Brownwood when Sister Jo Anne was in the 5th grade, and she made her first contact with the Benedictine Sisters at St. Thomas School.  A few months later, her father, an independent plumber, died of a cerebral hemorrhage.  Sister Jo Anne remembers that the Sisters were ever so solicitous of the four little girls.  Her mother was a nurse and took care of the Sisters at four local parishes anytime they were ill.  As she accompanied her mother from convent to convent, Sister Jo Anne got to know the Sisters quite well. Sister Helen Marie, who was Sister Jo Anne’s 5th grade teacher, was her source of inspiration in wanting to become a religious and live as Benedictine.  Sister Jo Anne remembers that Sister Helen Marie had a wonderful sense of humor, a warm and caring disposition, and was a patient teacher.  In particular, Sister Helen Marie helped her with her handwriting “which was atrocious, at the time.”  Today, Sister Jo Anne does beautiful calligraphy work - designing the Monastery’s Remembrance Prayer Cards and doing other community art work. At the age of twelve, Sister Jo Anne came to Lisle and entered the Monastery as an Aspirant.  She made her temporary monastic vows in 1958.  Her first teaching position was in the kindergarten at St. Vitus School in Chicago, and for over 24 years she served as a class room teacher in Illinois and Texas.  After receiving an Elementary Guidance Certificate, she took on the role of Freshman Guidance Counselor at Benet Academy for several years.  Jobs as grade school principal, coordinator at Rosehill Montessori School, and part-time financial aid counselor at Illinois Benedictine College, round out Sister Jo Anne’s career outside the Monastery. For the past ten years, Sister has served as the Development Office Coordinator.  Her job includes preparing all the mailings sent out by the Sisters; recording all gifts to the community and acknowledging our donors; and the design and layout of the Lisle Benedictine Women newsletter that you are reading.  She says about the LBW: “It’s a pleasure designing the Sisters’ Lisle Benedictine Women newsletter.  We wish to maintain a personal and informative communication with our families and friends and keep you updated on the lives and mission of the Sisters here is Lisle.” As Sister Jo Anne reflects on her 50 years as a Benedictine Sister, she says: “It has been an awesome experience being part of the historical changes taking place at the monastery.  My prayer is that we continue to meet the challenges that bond the Sisters and the Villa St. Benedict Residents, who have become an integral part of our lives.  I can identify with the person who was inspired to write the lyrics of the song, “Surely the Presence of the Lord is in This Place.”

Sister Irene Jasien, OSB, has served as the Pastoral Associate at St. James Parish in Glen Ellyn since 1972.  Born in Whitewater, Wisconsin, she was one of four children, Gloria, Frank, Irene and Raymond.  Her family was experiencing difficult times, and the children were sent to Sr.  Joseph’s Orphanage in Lisle.  Sister Irene “walked through the woods and over the fence” to Sacred Heart Academy for school.  She says that while she was a student, the Benedictine Sisters helped her develop her love of religion and of education.  St. Joseph’s closed before her senior year of high school, and she decided that this was the appropriate time to enter the Monastery.  She was eager to give back to the Sisters the love that they had given her over the years.  For ten years Sister Irene taught at the “mission” elementary schools in Texas, Wisconsin and Illinois that were staffed by the Benedictine Sisters of Sacred Heart Monastery.  It was while she was working as the Religious Education Coordinator at St. Joan of Arc in Lisle, that Sister Irene found a new interest that would lead her to her current position.  She realized she was a good listener, and enjoyed ministering to the needs of the sick and elderly in the parish.  Sister Irene was introduced to Father James Lennon, who invited her to become the first Pastoral Minister at St. James.  Pastoral Ministry was a new idea, and Sister Irene was able to shape her job to fit the needs of the parish.  She walked through the neighboring subdivisions doing a door to door census, meeting parishioners, and greeting those who were not a part of the St. James community.  The group, “Young at Heart” was formed to serve the needs of the senior members of the parish and remains a vital group today.  As a Pastoral Minister, Sister Irene brings the Eucharist to the homebound, those in hospitals and nursing homes.  She makes follow-up visits to the families of the deceased, and trains the Ministers of Care.  At Sacred Heart Monastery, Sister Irene is in training with Sister Celine Laketek, OSB, to learn the fine points of maintaining the Community’s Archives.  Sister prays that “the members of the Monastery will continue to be a vibrant sign of Benedictine values to the Lisle community and the world, and loving of one another.”  She believes the Sisters daily display courage, perseverance, love and trust.  Her hope is that others will be attracted to these values and encouraged to live their lives in a similar way.  Sister Irene feels so blessed and grateful to be a part of this Benedictine community.

Sister Barbara Ann Svec, OSB ,was born in Traverse City, Michigan, the youngest of four children.  Fr.  Denis was a monk of St. Procopius Abbey, Sister Agnes Ann is a member of Sacred Heart Monastery, and Frank is the proud father of six children.  The family moved to Chicago when Sister was a year old so that she could receive treatment for a congenital medical condition.  A month away from being five years old, she was enrolled in first grade at St. Pius School, and transferred to St. Vitus the following year, enrolling in third grade.  Sister Barbara Ann then continued her Benedictine education through the eighth grade at Holy Mount in Cicero.  She graduated from Sacred Heart Academy with thoughts of pursuing a degree in math or veterinary science.  Instead, she entered Sacred Heart Monastery and began her teaching career at local grade schools.  While teaching, Sister Barbara Ann completed bachelors and masters degrees in education at Loyola University, in Chicago.  For the next twenty years she worked at Benet Academy arranging all the course schedules as well as the teachers’, students’ and classroom schedules.  She says, “It was a challenging job, but I enjoyed it especially on the first day of school when all the students were in classrooms – no students or teachers standing in the halls or two classes trying to get in the same room.”  Despite continuing medical problems throughout her life, Sister Barbara Ann’s sense of humor remains intact – “I still have my tonsils and appendix.”  And she is described by one of her physicians as “one tough cookie.”  Sister enjoys reading and watching some of the wonderful, educational programs on cable television.  She is also an avid crafter, and her current interest is scrap booking.  She has done albums of the families of the Sisters as gifts for them. Throughout the years, Sister Barbara Ann has been active in the Lisle community.  She is a member of the Lisle Heritage Society and was the editor of their newsletter for many years.  She can also be found assisting at the twice yearly book sale sponsored by the Friends of the Lisle Library.  Here at the Monastery, Sister Barbara Ann has taken on the task of putting all of the Community’s history on the computer.  She is compiling the biographical facts and stories of all of the Sisters who have been a part of Sacred Heart Monastery.  As the story continues, so will her work.

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