- March 14, 2024
On Tuesday, March 12, sisters and associates joined Fontbonne community members for a prayer service on campus in Doerr Chapel. Founded by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet over a hundred years ago, Fontbonne University announced their plans to close after the summer 2025 term. The Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet are grateful to have been apart of Fontbonne's lasting legacy, helping over 20,000 students of diverse background achieve their dream of becoming a college graduate.
The prayer service offered a much needed space for peace and reflection following a challenging few days. After press conferences, business meetings and financial discussions, the community was grateful to come together for prayer. While we are all sadden by the recent news, the service was a chance to celebrate Fontbonne and show support to the students and staff. The charism of loving unity lives in the Fontbonne community, evident by the fact that Doerr Chapel was full for the prayer service announced the day prior.
While the service was not recorded, we invite you to use the program below from the prayer service to continue lifting the Fontbonne Community through this transition.
March 12 Fontbonne Prayer Service Program
A PRAYER OF GRATITUDE
INTRODUCTION, Rita Marie Schmitz, CSJ
Good afternoon and welcome to each of you. As we gather today our hearts ache and we are saddened as we embrace the reality of the closing of Fontbonne University in summer of 2025. We offer our sympathy to Faculty, Staff, Students & Administration. Our condolences, too, to the Sisters of St. Joseph and Associates, St. Joseph Educational Ministries’ Members, Past Presidents, Former & Present Board Members, Faculty Emeritus, Alumni, Fontbonne Community Connections, our generous Donors, Friends and Family of Fontbonne University.
Today is also a time to give thanks, to remember, and to celebrate and honor the legacy of Fontbonne University. And so we turn to our compassionate and loving God.
READING from Ecclesiastes 3: 1-8, Mary Ann Nestel, CSJ
There is an appointed time for everything, and a time for every affair under the heavens. A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to uproot the plant. A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to tear down, and a time to build. A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance. A time to scatter stones, and a time to gather them; a time to embrace, and a time to be far from embraces. A time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away. A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to be silent, and a time to speak. A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.
RESPONSE:
“Because you cleave to Me in love, I will deliver you; I will protect you, who call upon my Name. When you call to Me, I will answer you; I will be with you in times of trouble, I will rescue you and reverence your life. All through the years, will I dwell in your heart, as Loving Companion Presence, forever.” Merrill, Psalms for Praying, p. 191
READING from JOYCE RUPP, Roseanne Cook, CSJ
In one of his journal notations Thomas Merton writes that we are always thinking that our life will be truly happy “when.”
Waiting for the “when” keeps me from appreciating what I now have. Longing for promises and dreaming dreams is not a harmful deed as long as the present moment is not overlooked, as long as gratitude rises for what is already here, as long as I do not base my happiness on what is still wanting. Thankfulness for what has already been given is the foundation for hoping for what is not yet.
Today I am going to put aside my “when this happens” and my “if only this could be” and my “when things get better” and my “as soon as I have this.” I am going to harvest what I now have, gather all the many gifts that are already mine. I am going to observe what has been placed in the granary of my heart and marvel at the abundance. I will stand before this heap of blessings and take a long, grateful look. I will say farewell to my “when” and be thankful for what is.
PRAYERS OF GRATITUDE, Mary Carol Anth, CSJ
Response: BOUNTEOUS ONE, WE GIVE YOU THANKS
In gratitude for the legacy that Fontbonne University holds for each of us.
In gratitude for the daily dedication and challenge given by Faculty.
In gratitude for our Staff who give lovingly each day.
In gratitude for our Students who embody Fontbonne’s Mission and care for one another.
In gratitude for the commitment to mission of our alumni, past Presidents, former Board Members, & Faculty emeritus.
In gratitude for the generous service of the Sisters of St. Joseph and Associates.
In gratitude for the generosity of our donors, members of Fontbonne Community Connections, friends and family members.
In gratitude for the support of St. Joseph Educational Ministries.
READING from JEREMIAH: 29: 11-13, Linda Markway, CSJ
For I know the plans I have in mind for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare, not for woe!
Plans to give you a future full of hope. When you call me, when you go to pray to me, I will listen to you. When you look for me, you will find me. The Word of the Lord.
PERIOD OF QUIET REFLECTION
EXCERPTS FROM “A FUTURE NOT OUR OWN” BY ARCHBISHOP OSCAR ROMERO, Jeanene Yackey, CSJ
This is what we are about: We plant seeds that one day will grow. We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise. We lay foundations that will need further development. We provide yeast that produces effects beyond our capabilities.
We cannot do everything and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that. This enables us todo something, and to do it very well. It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for God’s grace to enter and do the rest.
We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker. We are workers, not master builders, ministers, not messiahs. We are prophets of a future not our own. Amen.
FINAL BLESSING, Sisters of St. Joseph
While we grieve today, we do not lose hope. We turn to St. Joseph whom we honor this month. Joseph endured hardship and loss. As we grieve the closing of Fontbonne University, we honor its legacy. We pray this blessing taken from a Description of a Sister of St. Joseph.
We pray, that God bless us with eyes open to the world, the misery that exists and the Spirit that inspires. That God bless us with ears attentive to suffering and the joy of the world and of our companions in ministry. That God bless us with a vigilant spirit, never settling down, always with a restlessness, searching… In order to understand, to divine what God and the dear neighbor want from us for the body and the soul today. That God bless us with sleeves rolled up for service, without excluding the most humble, the less pleasing, the least noticeable. That God bless us with the grace to reflect in our faces continual joy of spirit. We ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen.