Sisters of Providence from Indy called to lead the congregation
The new members of the leadership team of the Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods stand on Sept. 5 in the sanctuary of the congregation’s church on the grounds of its motherhouse in St. Mary-of-the-Woods after being installed in their leadership positions. The are, from left, Providence Sister Jeanne Hagelskamp, Providence Sister Noreen Wu, Providence Sister Tracey Horan, Providence Sister Anne Therese Falkenstein and Providence Sister Lisa Stallings. (Photo courtesy of the Sisters of Providence)
By Sean Gallagher
Two women born and raised in Indianapolis a generation apart recently began working together to lead the Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, a community of women religious who have served the Church and the broader society in the archdiocese and beyond since 1840.
Providence Sister Jeanne Hagelskamp and Providence Sister Tracey Horan took up the respective offices of general superior and one of three general officers of the congregation based in western Indiana on Sept. 5 after being elected at the order’s 41st General Chapter in early July.
Sister Jeanne, who grew up in St. Andrew the Apostle Parish along East 38th Street in Indianapolis, entered the Sisters of Providence in 1975. Sister Tracey, who grew up in St. Jude Parish on the city’s southside, joined the congregation in 2014.
Both are committed to guiding the Sisters of Providence to be as committed now to sharing God’s love and mercy and promoting justice among those on the margins of society as they believe Mother Theodore Guérin did when she and five other sisters arrived in the woods of western Indiana in 1840.
“I see our vision as an outgrowth of Mother Theodore’s vision and mission in her time,” said Sister Jeanne who, as general superior, is the 19th successor of Mother Theodore in leading the Sisters of Providence. “It just takes a different shape given the needs of the world and the Church at this time.”
Elected alongside Sister Jeanne and Sister Tracey were Providence Sister Lisa Stallings, who serves as second in leadership in the congregation as vicar, and Providence Sister Anne Therese Falkenstein and Providence Sister Norene Wu, who, along with Sister Tracey, serve as general officers.
‘Big shoes to fill’
On July 3, the sisters taking part in the General Chapter processed from the O’Shaughnessy Dining Hall on the campus of the congregation’s motherhouse to its Church of the Immaculate Conception. The procession’s route took the sisters through the shrine of Mother Theodore, who was declared Indiana’s first saint 20 years ago.
As they made their way to the church for the election of their new general superior, the sisters prayed a litany, calling on the intercession of previous leaders in the congregation.
The election was the culmination of a months-long discernment process in which the sisters identified qualities they saw as necessary for their leaders moving forward and nominated various members of the congregation for those offices.
Thus. on the day of the election, Sister Jeanne knew that she was being considered to be called upon to lead the community.
“It was a humbling moment,” she said. “In those moments as people were casting ballots, I think I came the closest I’ve ever been to what St. Ignatius [of Loyola] called holy indifference. If this was God’s will, then I, then I accept it. And if it’s not God’s will, I accept that, too.
“I was calm because I knew that, no matter what happened, God would be walking with me.”
Nonetheless, if Sister Jeanne were elected as general superior, she’d be called to walk in the footsteps of Mother Theodore.
“It’s definitely challenging,” she reflected. “I don’t know that I could ever walk in those shoes. Those are certainly big shoes to fill.”
But, in a way, Sister Jeanne had already walked in those shoes.
Back in 2005, she had a good teaching position at the University of San Francisco, located in one of the most advanced and prosperous cities in the country, just blocks away from the famed Golden Gate Bridge.
Then she received a phone call from Providence Sister Ann Margaret O’Hara, the congregation’s general superior at the time. She asked Sister Jeanne if she would be willing to move across the country back to Indianapolis to start a new high school in an underserved neighborhood to educate students from families that struggled with poverty. It was a mission that many other religious orders had been invited to take on, but had declined.
“I think it might have been the shortest discernment on record, because within five minutes, I was like, ‘Yes, I’m in. I’ll do this,’ ” Sister Jeanne recalled. “It’s where my heart was.”
Although she never wavered in that conviction, Sister Jeanne soon learned that starting Providence Cristo Rey High School was a task that was “against all odds,” words much like Mother Theodore’s description of the prospect of starting a new religious order in primitive conditions on the edge of the American frontier: “All appearances are against it.”
“We were starting with absolutely nothing and trying to create a school,” Sister Jeanne recalled of the work to begin Providence Cristo Rey. “Over and over, I would read Mother Theodore’s letters and journals, seeing her trials and tribulations. I think her dogged perseverance, no matter what, and her dependence on God got me through those days.
“I don’t know that I would have made it had I not had Mother Theodore right there with me.”
‘The best thing that ever happened to me’
Sister Jeanne also had her own formation in the faith to lean on, the formation she received when she grew up in Indianapolis in the 1950s and ’60s.
“My parents were focused on making sure that others were taken care of,” she recalled. “And there always was a focus on religion and on Catholic values. In October and May in particular, we prayed a family rosary at night, and we were faithful in going to church on weekdays and weekends.
“There’s no doubt that this had an influence on me, more than I think I ever realized at the time.”
The members of the Sisters of Providence who staffed the former St. Andrew the Apostle School where she was a student also influenced her to put her “focus on doing things for love of God and on reaching out to others for love of neighbor.”
Sister Jeanne felt so moved by the sisters at St. Andrew that, after graduating from the eighth grade, she entered a high school aspirancy program at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods for teenage girls considering entering the congregation later.
After her first year there, the program came to an end, and she returned to Indianapolis where she became a student at the former Ladywood School for Girls in Indianapolis, which was staffed by the Sisters of Providence.
Looking back on it, Sister Jeanne said that the closure of the aspirancy program was “the best thing that ever happened to me.”
“I lived a normal high school and college life, dating guys and really living a regular life,” she said. “While I was at Ladywood, I still had the opportunity to see the Sisters of Providence in those moments after Vatican II and see what they were like. So, when I finally entered the congregation, I think I knew the Sisters of Providence at their best and I also knew what their warts were, if you will.”
Through her experience of being educated by the Sisters of Providence at Ladywood and then at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College, Sister Jeanne became convinced that the congregation would fulfill her “attraction to work with more vulnerable people.”
‘Deep-rootedness in prayer’
It was the desire to dedicate herself to serving people on the margins of society that drew Sister Tracey to the Sisters of Providence.
During her 12 years in the congregation, she has served in Indianapolis to bring together people of various faith traditions to advocate for justice for people in need. In more recent years, Sister Tracey ministered in Nogales, Ariz., and Sonora, Mexico, along the U.S.-Mexico border, giving aid to immigrants and advocating for their just treatment.
On July 7, her fellow sisters asked her to take this experience and apply it to helping to lead the congregation as one of its general officers.
“It was really humbling,” said Sister Tracey. “It felt Spirit-led. I just have a lot of gratitude.”
The ministry she’s done in Indianapolis and along the border were a response to current needs related to justice in the broader society. It’s this focus on the here-and-now that Sister Tracey feels was what led to her being elected to help lead the Sisters of Providence.
“I had this question about whether my desires and hopes for change and for really responding to the signs of the times would align with our broader congregation,” she said. “The more I talked with sisters and shared my hopes and vision, the more I received affirmations. It became clear to me that I’m not alone in really desiring to move into this time with a new energy and responding to what the world is asking of us now.”
The groundwork for Sister Tracey’s “hopes and vision” were laid in the “deep-rootedness in faith” that she experienced growing up as a member of St. Jude Parish and as a student at Roncalli High School, both in Indianapolis.
“I think about my parents and the model that they set for us,” she said. “Prayer was a part of our life and a cornerstone. Thinking about the ministries that I’ve done and thinking about this moment and this invitation to leadership, I think none of that would have been possible if it wasn’t for that sense of groundedness in prayer.”
Prayer was at the heart of much of her education at Roncalli, which also opened her up to a possible religious vocation after she graduated from there in 2006.
Benedictine Sister Anne Frederick, a member of
Our Lady of Grace Monastery in Beech Grove, was a teacher for Sister Tracey at Roncalli.
“She was really instrumental in my next steps after high school,” Sister Tracey recalled. “I remember telling her that I really felt called to some kind of missionary work.”
Sister Anne got her student in contact with a missionary program in New Mexico, where Sister Tracey ended up spending time with religious sisters who ministered along the border there.
“That really opened my eyes to what religious life can look like in the day-to-day, actually being part of a local community and sharing meals and prayer together,” Sister Tracey said. “That really was a formative experience, and it wouldn’t have happened if it wasn’t for Sister Anne.”
Sister Tracey sees her experience of ministry to immigrants as touching on the heart of the history of the Sisters of Providence, which started with a group of six religious sisters who came to western Indiana from France.
Mother Theodore, she said, “came as an immigrant and didn’t speak the language. We’re in a moment when immigrants in our country are living in fear and are being detained indiscriminately. Many are languishing in detention. So, there is a real connection there between our founding as an immigrant community and what immigrants are facing today.”
Whether it’s Mother Theodore and her five companions braving the challenges of living their vocation in the wilderness of western Indiana in 1840, or their successors living in the 21st century, Sister Tracey is convinced that providence is the key.
“My hope is that we continue to be grounded in trust in providence,” she said. “This is a time of a lot of change for everyone, and a lot of uncertainty.
“The only way we’ll be able to move forward and really respond to what the Church and what the world is asking of us is if we stay grounded in that trust in providence.”
(For more information on the Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, go to spsmw.org.) †
