"We, the Sisters of the Third Order Regular of St. Francis, Oldenburg, are women of prayer,
committed to the Gospel values as lived by St. Francis and Mother Theresa Hackelmeier.
From our life in community we are sent to extend the mission of Jesus through our presence and service.
Enlivened by a spirit of justice, reconciliation and peace,​ 
we collaborate with others in responding to the needs of the world."

​We fulfill these words by being women of prayer in the ministries we do and the places where we are present. Since Vatican II opened the doors to the many needs of the world, we minister in education, parish ministry, social service, healthcare and social justice.
Our Chapel is open to the public. Join us for our Sunday Mass at 9:30 a.m.   
​We look forward to seeing you!
Please note that there will not be a regularly scheduled mass on Sunday, March 16. Instead, we will have a special mass at 4:00 p.m. on Saturday, March 15. This mass is for the intention of our donors.

Tax Information! 
We provide tax acknowledgements throughout the year. If you are in need of a donation receipt for tax purposes, please reach out to the Office of Advancement to get a duplicate copy. 
Contact Grace at 812-933-6495 or [email protected]

Sister Noella's thoughts
​ on new pope

As Americans we remember where we were when 9/11 happened. If we are older, we remember where we were when JFK was assassinated. Now many of us will remember where we were when we heard the astounding news that an American had been elected pope.
 
When many of us heard that he was taking the name of Leo XIV we were exuberant. This signaled that he would be a pope who is steadfast in speaking out for the downtrodden as Leo XIII had been a strong voice for the rights of workers who were exploited during the Industrial Revolution.
 
Then Leo XIV appeared and spoke, “Peace be with you” – such important words for all of us in our small towns and hamlets here in the United States and around the world. Here in the States we are profoundly aware of the division and even hatred that permeates our culture – our language, our lives. As an American, a son of Chicago, a White Sox fan, can Pope Leo XIV bring healing? As a Catholic, as a Sister of St. Francis I pray that our loving, compassionate, welcoming God can use Pope Leo to bring people together listening to the hearts of each other. Our hearts beat with the same desires: to love, to be loved, to belong, to live without fear.
 
On Pope Leo’s first full day as pope he met with the media who are so influential. He encouraged them – and challenged them. He voiced the church’s solidarity with journalists who with courage “defend dignity, justice and the right of people to be informed, because only informed individuals can make free choices.” 
 
Freedom of the Press is a constitutional right and core to who we are as Americans. Pope Leo continued with urging the press (and each of us) to use a communication style that “never separates the search for truth from the love with which we must humbly seek it…Peace begins with each one of us: in the way we look at others, listen to others and speak about others.”
 
In our small towns here in southeastern Indiana we know each other. Many of us have lived as neighbors for generations helping each other in times of need, comforting each other in times of loss, and coming together to celebrate milestones of graduations, weddings, and good harvests. All of us want a better future of safety and prosperity. Jesus said that he came that all of us might “have life to the full” - all of us.
 
“We do not need loud, forceful communication, but rather communication that is capable of listening and of gathering the voices of the weak who have no voice…(that) allows us to share a different view of the world and to act in a manner consistent with our human dignity,” he said. Pope Leo has spent years listening and ministering to and among some of the poorest people in our world community. He knows what it means for people to feel dismissed, unheard, thrown aside. He knows. Like Jesus, he knows those who get by day by day, those who feel insecure and fear what the future holds – he knows  there is wisdom to be mined if we are not afraid to enter into honest conversations with all those living on the edge: the elderly afraid of losing Medicare, the hungry child for whom SNAP (food stamps) is being cut, the farmer who faces the uncertainty of tariffs, the immigrant harvesting fruits and vegetables while fearing deportation and separation from his/her children. Each of these is deeply loved by the same Divine Being as me. “What you do to the least of these, you do to me”, Jesus tells us.
 
Pope Leo XIV is a man of humility. After an earthquake and flooding, Janinna Sesa Córdova, who led Caritas Chiclayo in Peru said, “He was the face of Christ, the one who went out into the mud to help his people… he was always there – in the floods, the pandemic, the celebrations, and the sorrows – a bishop of the people.” Now he is on the world stage endeavoring to bring healing and peace to all God’s people. “One of the most important challenges (for journalists and each of us) is to promote communication that can bring us out of the ‘Tower of Babel’ in which we sometimes find ourselves.” Let us pray for him and for each other, especially those among us who are the most vulnerable.
​𝐒𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐧𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐑𝐃𝐨𝐨𝐫 - Statement from Sister Maureen Irvin as read at the Oldenburg Town Meeting
I am Sister Maureen Irvin, the Congregational Minister for the Sisters of St. Francis. We have come to this meeting because we care about our neighbors in the Village of Oldenburg, just as we always have. Our foundress, who arrived alone from Vienna, Austria on January 6, 1851, was invited to come here by Fr. Franz Joseph Rudolph. He was the beloved and tireless pastor of Holy Family as well as many other missions in the area. From our earliest ministries in caring for orphaned children in our convent to teaching children of the early German settlers, we have been part of the very fabric of this much-loved village for nearly 175 years, educating your children and employing many local residents.
I would like to share with you some reflections about the Spires Senior Village partnership that we have with RDOOR. We are well aware of the opposition to this partnership and some people have suggested that we put out a counter petition to the “Opposition to Oldenburg Housing Project” on change.org. 𝐖𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐰𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐧𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐆𝐨𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐥. We do want to say that there is misinformation within the language of the petition.
However, we did provide an opportunity for any interested neighbors to learn more about the RDOOR plans in the public meeting we held at our home on February 18th. Since that meeting, we have had some follow-up meetings with local residents who wanted the chance to present us with their opposition research. We’ve also followed comments on the “812” story that was posted on social media after the public meeting. We also plan to meet with the volunteer fire department in Oldenburg to see if there are additional ways we can be more supportive of this vital emergency service for the entire Village.
What I want to express to you tonight is that our sisters are hope-filled and even excited about the prospect of Theresa and Olivia Halls, after an investment of $18 million dollars from RDOOR, being filled again with LIFE. Once the renovations are completed, our sisters are expecting the 65 one bedroom apartments to be quickly filled with area senior citizens who are yearning for attainable housing where they can enjoy independent living in a communal setting.
The Sisters of St. Francis will be the nearest neighbor to the Spires Senior Village, not the Oldenburg Academy students and staff nor any other Oldenburg resident. We have no brick wall of separation between our most vulnerable sisters in St. Clare Hall and the residents of Spires Senior Village. Theresa Hall is right across the street from St. Francis Hall and Olivia Hall is in clear view of all three floors of St. Clare Hall. Does anyone here think that the Sisters will sit idly by if there are ANY issues with either the facility’s condition, the property management company’s actions, or the behavior of any individual residents? As was pointed out by another speaker at the February meeting of the Oldenburg Town Council, the Sisters have some very important ties to the RDOOR management team, their non-profit Board of Directors, and their internal contractors. 𝐖𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐕𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐎𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐛𝐮𝐫𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐩𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭.
Finally, I just want to remind everyone that the Sisters have a pretty good track record in making sound business decisions, often as a result of changes in either the Church or in society. In early 1936, when the Indiana State Board of Education announced that the State was requiring a four-year program for all teacher training institutions, this led to the merging of St. Francis Normal and the Immaculate Conception Junior College under the title of Marian College. By the end of 1936, Mother Clarissa had mortgaged 13 convents in order to buy the Allison Estate in Indianapolis and move Marian College from Oldenburg to the capital city where she could train not just her own Sisters but also other young Catholic women. Yes, this bold move was made in the middle of the depression! Almost 90 years later, Marian University is a thriving co-educational Catholic University and the envy of many higher education institutions who are finding themselves in financial peril.
Much more recently, after much prayer and discernment by the Sisters, we sold the two buildings on the corner of Main and Pearl Streets to local residents. We have also sold our treasured Michaela Farm to Greenacres Foundation. If any of you attended their open house on Saturday, February 22nd, I think you’d agree that they are an amazing asset to have in the backyard of Oldenburg. And they are just getting started in their mission of educational programming, summer camps, agricultural education, etc. We can’t wait until they begin to bring their emphasis on arts education and performances to our Village.
Thank you for your kind attention this evening. Any member of our Leadership Team would be happy to meet with you if you have further questions about Spires Senior Village and our partnership with RDOOR. As we state in the Epilogue of our Rule and Constitution, “we venture on: with simplicity, with openness, with joy.”
CONVENT GUIDED TOURS IN 2025
Monday through Saturday 1:00-4:00 pm
Convent buildings are on the national historic site as is much of the town of Oldenburg. Tours include the Sisters' chapel built in 1890-1891, as well as earlier and later buildings.
All tours need to be pre-arranged, but group tours of 20-30 should be reserved at least two weeks in advance. View photos of the campus grounds and details to schedule a tour on the "campus tours" page here.

Publications and Programs:

Spring 2025 Celebrate
Montana Missions...
The Archives of the Sisters of St. Francis is launching an online site for viewing documents and photos of the Congregation’s Montana missions.
Click HERE to view the link.
​Learn more about our ARCHIVES here.

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