St. Catharine’s Motherhouse is amid some of the most beautiful country of the Ohio Valley in northeastern Kentucky. In the midst of the, it, the “Kentucky Holy Land” was settled over 200 years ago when early Marylanders came across the Cumberland Gap to make some of the first American settlements west of the Alleghenies. There has been a close relationship between the sisters at the Motherhouse and the people of this land for those two centuries. In fact, when St. Catharine College closed in 2016 and then we had COVID after that, the sisters here became isolated from their roots. Immediately following COVID, some attempts were made to connect with those around us but was difficult to re-establish those bonds of affection.

However, sometimes it takes more than one effort to accomplish, or in this case to begin to restore a desired relationship, so I set off as the Mission Group Coordinator in part of July and all of August to let people in the parishes know that we are still here. Each time one of the sisters (16 total) from St. Catharine’s came along. One spoke in Spanish, and another connected via cell phone from Sansbury to her parish of origin. It is all quite exciting!

An interesting fact about this rural setting, is that there are 18 churches (You heard right, 18!), and 18 parishes, within about a 35-minute drive of St. Catharine’s Motherhouse in Washington County!

• 3 are in the city of Springfield; 2 in other areas of Washington County.
• 2 are in the city of Bardstown; 5 in other areas of Nelson County outside the town.
• 1 is in the city of Lebanon; 5 others are scattered in other areas outside Lebanon in Marion County.

Because they are small, a priest often serves in two parishes and oversees two parish councils.

Of course, each sister and I could not get to all 18 parishes, but we managed to attend most of the weekend Masses at half of them! In addition, we were able to distribute flyers at the Proto-Cathedral of Bardstown and at St. Gregory’s in and near Bardstown. We expressed our desire for reconnection and offered the possibility of coming to Farm Day (September 7th) and for young women 18-45 the possibility of attending our annual “Come and See Discernment Retreat” the following week, Sept 13-15. We stabilized our Mass time at 10:30 a.m. on the days we have it, so that it is easy to know when Mass starts. And, when we have Sung Evening Prayer on Thursday and Sunday at 4:45 p.m., we have opened the chapel for those who wish to join us. People in this area love to sing and many of them are part of the Mid-Kentucky chorus directed by Teresa Tedder who wrote our 200th Anniversary Song, “Garden of Peace“.

When we are out and about in town, some of us have already started personally reinforcing the general invitation for Mass or Vespers. We’ll experiment with inviting an interested parish to use our grounds for a morning or afternoon of reflection. And then we keep walking and listening into the future as things unfold.

So we’re off on an adventure of interconnection with those around us once again. We’ll keep you posted about how things are going. There is much to be encouraged about even at this stage. When I mentioned the idea of reconnection in the short talk I gave and mentioned how much we missed people, there was visible smiling and agreement with positive headshakes among the congregations. In a few places, there was even applause at the end of the talk. Never underestimate the power of relationship! Join us for a visit!