March 2, 2007

Batesville Mass honors St. Theodora

Regina Gerstbauer sits on the lap of her mother, Cindy, during the Feb. 26 Mass in honor of St. Theodora Guérin at St. Louis Church in Batesville. Regina’s sister, Rachel, sits to the right of their mother. All are members of St. Louis Parish.

Regina Gerstbauer sits on the lap of her mother, Cindy, during the Feb. 26 Mass in honor of St. Theodora Guérin at St. Louis Church in Batesville. Regina’s sister, Rachel, sits to the right of their mother. All are members of St. Louis Parish.

By Sean Gallagher

BATESVILLE—Catholics from the Batesville Deanery gathered with Archbishop Daniel M. Buechlein on the evening of Feb. 26 at St. Louis Church in Batesville for a Mass in the continuing series of liturgies throughout the archdiocese in honor of St. Theodora Guérin, Indiana’s first saint.

Although the Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, the religious order founded by St. Theodora, have only a brief record of ministry in the deanery when compared to their historical presence in other parts of the archdiocese, those at the Mass were eager to honor the woman that the archbishop described as “the virtual founder of much of Catholic education in our part of the world.”

“It’s very special,” said Denny Lents, a member of St. Louis Parish in Batesville. “It’s like the icing on the cake when the archbishop comes here and dedicates her here to the deanery.”

The Sisters of St. Francis, based in Oldenburg, have a long history of ministry in the Batesville Deanery.

Franciscan Sister Christine Ernstes, parish life coordinator at Immaculate Conception Parish in Millhousen and St. Denis Parish in Jennings County, was pleased to honor St. Theodora.

“I think it’s a privilege to be able to celebrate [her] and to have a saint in our own midst,” she said. “I think [she’s] an example for our younger children that saints aren’t somebody way out there, but they’re somebody who lived in Indiana.”

The next deanery Mass in honor of St. Theodora will start at 10 a.m. on March 12 at St. Anthony Church in the Indianapolis West Deanery. That Mass will include students from Catholic schools. †

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