MADISON — Parishioners of St. Mary and St. Mark Parish in Madison and Venice held a farewell celebration July 17 for Sister Mary Clare Fichtner, OP, who is leaving after 10 years as their parish life coordinator.

For 12 years Dominican Sister Mary Clare has worked tirelessly to help Catholics in far southwestern Madison County reaffirm and grow their parish identity as they answer the call to be a witness to their faith, parishioners say.

Sister Mary Clare came to the area in 2000, two years before the consolidation of St. Mary, Madison, and St. Mark, Venice, into one parish.

“Bishop Daniel Ryan did not want to see the Catholic presence in Venice depart altogether, so he asked our community if somebody could come and live in the rectory at Venice, minister to Catholics in the neighborhood, increase the number of Catholics in the parish, and staff the parish,” Sister Mary Clare said.

“It was the same kind of work I had been doing for two years on the east side of Springfield,” said Sister Mary Clare, a former principal of St. Patrick Catholic School in Springfield. “The city approached us at St. Patrick’s, and asked for our help working on social issues. We learned to network, to work with other groups to accomplish our goals.

“The church has been quietly supporting the educational needs of the black community, and was fighting racism in many places,” Sister Mary Clare said. “When I agreed to take over St. Mary and St. Mark Parish, no way did it have anything to do with fighting racism. For the most part, I just had to give up neighbourhood organizing. I couldn’t do any of that while running a parish.”

But Sister Mary Clare soon discovered parishioners had their own thoughts on the matter.

“At the very first finance committee meeting at St. Mary, the people wanted to set up an outreach right here in this neighbourhood,” she said. “They set aside $100 a month of the parish collection which could be utilized to help people.

“We regularly refer people who come to us in need to Catholic Charities. But we do try to do our part to help them. Whoever came to the parish door, whether it was asking for help paying an electric bill, or to be taken to the grocery store to buy food, we helped them,” Sister Mary Clare said. “I would never give people money, but I would take them to wherever the place was, to buy what they wanted. I would go with them to the gas station, to the exchange to pay their water or light bill, or wherever.”

Sister Mary Clare found a local grocery store in Madison that was willing to accept vouchers, and was also agreeable to handle the paperwork involved with vouchers. “I told the guy at the store I hoped people who came in with vouchers would also spend some money there,” Sister Mary Clare said.

But a few months ago the grocery store burned down. “We are back to where we started,” Sister Mary Clare said.

“People give me a lot of credit for things we have done in the parish. But the parishioners already had that goodness in them, especially the people who stayed here in Madison, and live next door to people of color.”

Father Jeffrey Goeckner, dean of the Alton Deanery, described Sister Mary Clare as a “faithful pastoral minister for a parish without the full-time presence of a resident pastor. She has given us helpful insight in our recent pastoral planning sessions.”

“Sister Mary Clare has compassion and fortitude, boundless enthusiasm. She has that charisma, spiritual passion, to help people,” said parishioner Marilyn Krause. “Her compassion for the sick and for those who are in nursing homes is wonderful. Just through her smile, you see it comes from her heart.”

“Just nothing was happening in the parish when she came,” said Rosalee Sterm, a parish trustee. “Things were not the way they should be. She held a series of meetings with parishioners in general. She talked things over with people; she didn’t just say ‘This is what we are going to do.’ She is very good at that. She listens.

“In the 10 years she had been our parish life coordinator, I think a lot of parishes in a changing community would have lost a lot of people, and might stand a very good chance of having their doors closed,” Sterm said. “Well, our doors are still open.”

Sharon Brinker worked in the parish office under Sister Mary Clare for a few years. At the farewell celebration Brinker presented Sister Mary Clare with a note, on behalf of the entire congregation.

Dear Sister Mary Clare,

The parishioners of St. Mary and St. Mark Parish in Madison and Venice would like to extend our thanks and gratitude for:

• Your strong and dedicated leadership as Parish Life Coordinator.
• Your compassion and presence to the sick, homebound and dying.
• Your commitment and voice in promoting justice for all.
• Your encouragement and wisdom shared with our youth.
• Your smile, sense of humor, and for sharing yourself with all of us  for the past 10 years.

God bless you, Sister. You will be missed but never forgotten!