Mysterious work of providence brings women religious to Sellersburg parish

With Archbishop Charles C. Thompson looking on, Mother Olga of the Sacred Heart reads a pledge of fidelity to him and the Church during a Dec. 14 Mass at St. John Paul II Church in Sellersburg while seven members of the Daughters of Mary of Nazareth, which she founded in 2011 in Boston, kneel beside her. Two members of the religious community will begin ministry at the parish in early 2026. (Photo by Sean Gallagher)

By Sean Gallagher

SELLERSBURG—How does a fledgling community of women religious, with less than 10 members and founded only 14 years ago in Boston, come to live and minister at St. John Paul II Parish, nestled in Sellersburg in the hills of southern Indiana?

For Mother Olga of the Sacred Heart, foundress of the Daughters of Mary of Nazareth, it all happened through the mysterious working of divine providence.

Even though Mother Olga’s life has been touched by providence from the time she lived in her native war-torn Iraq to coming the U.S. and starting an order in Boston, seeing how God has led her and her community to Sellersburg has moved her soul.

“It’s definitely emotional to see God’s hand at work,” she said. “I came from my country only with a suitcase. I never imagined that I would be a foundress of an order in this country. Then to see God opening all of these doors for his people, I just sit in awe of the goodness of God.”

On Dec. 14, Mother Olga didn’t sit in awe—she knelt. She and seven other members of the Daughters of Mary of Nazareth knelt in prayer before the sanctuary of St. John Paul II Church during a Mass as Mother Olga prayerfully pledged fidelity to Archbishop Charles

C. Thompson and the Church in anticipation of two members of the order beginning to live and serve at St. John Paul II in early 2026. (Related: See a photo gallery from the Mass)

“As we prepare to begin our mission, we renew our consecration to God and to the one, holy, Catholic and apostolic Church,” Mother Olga said in the pledge she recited. “We promise to be in the Church, with the Church and for the Church. We pledge to uphold and teach in word and action the teachings of our Catholic Church.

“ … We trust that the hand of God and his divine providence, who has led us to this day, will grant us the grace to carry this mission faithfully, humbly and joyfully to fruition for his greater glory, the love of our Catholic Church and the service of all people that he will lead us to serve and care for.”

Moments before Mother Olga made the pledge of fidelity, Archbishop Thompson, the principal celebrant of the Dec. 14 Mass, described in his homily the religious community as “women of great faith” who “provide a living proclamation of the good news by their very presence among us.”

Their presence at St. John Paul II Parish came about through God’s providence working in several mysterious steps.

‘If it’s of God, I can’t stop it’

Father Thomas Clegg has been a close witness to this work of providence that has kept him in wonder at every turn.

He has kept his feet firmly on the ground as pastor of St. John Paul II Parish, leading the growing New Albany Deanery faith community in a business-savvy way, successfully overseeing the campaign that led to the construction in 2022 of an $8 million new church.

So, when a parishioner came to him that same year and told him that God told him in prayer that an old rectory on the parish campus slated for demolition should be saved, Father Clegg was a bit skeptical—but maybe not as much as he would have been earlier in his life as a priest.

“In my younger days, I would have shut him down,” Father Clegg said in an interview with The Criterion. “I wouldn’t have really listened. Now I’m older and hopefully a little wiser. For me, I think it was, ‘Let’s let it play out and see. If it’s of God, I can’t stop it. If it’s not of God, it’ll die out on its own.’ It hasn’t died out of its own.”

That old rectory, which Father Clegg had sensibly thought should be torn down, has now been renovated and will soon be the home of the two members of the Daughters of Mary of Nazareth who will minister there. Archbishop Thompson blessed it after the Mass.

Other works of providence, marked by tragedy, generosity and wonder, led to the religious sisters pledging their fidelity during the Mass.

‘You will want for nothing’

In 2017, 3-day-old Emerson Rose Cristiani, a granddaughter of St. John Paul II parishioners Dan and Anne Cristiani, died of sudden infant death syndrome.

A cousin of Dan lived in Boston and knew Mother Olga. He immediately asked her and her sisters to pray for the Cristiani family in Indiana. Dan and Anne later met and befriended Mother Olga.

When the possibility that the old rectory at St. John Paul II might be saved, Anne showed Mother Olga photos of it during a visit in the summer of 2022 to the community’s convent in Quincy, Mass.

“She looked at it,” Cristiani recalled. “She looked up at me … and said, ‘I need to come there.’ We were all so excited.”

Looking back on her relationship with Mother Olga and how it led her and her religious community to St. John Paul II, Cristiani sees the mysterious nature of God’s providence in the midst of a family tragedy.

“Losing our 3-day-old granddaughter was so horrific, but look at the joy and the blessings that have come from this,” Cristiani said.

Although intrigued by seeing the photos of the old rectory in the summer of 2022, Mother Olga took her time in discerning the possibility that God might be calling her community to send sisters to Sellersburg.

She didn’t come to St. John Paul II until the end of December 2023, 18 months after seeing the photos of the old rectory. That was, in part, because of Mother Olga’s tentative approach to discerning God’s will.

“The only way I know that it’s God’s will is if he opens a door that I didn’t knock at,” she said. “This is how I know that this is him, not me, not anybody else.”

As it turned out, God indeed was opening a door in the old rectory at St. John Paul II, and meeting her at it was parishioner Ray Weisenbach.

“He said to me, ‘Will you come here one day?’ ”

recalled Mother Olga in an interview with The Criterion. “I said, ‘If God wills it.’ And he replied, ‘I want you to know, if you come here, you will want for nothing.’ ”

Three months later, Weisenbach unexpectedly died at 71 and left most of his $3 million estate to the parish with the stipulation that funds from it be used to renovate the old rectory.

Mother Olga returned to the parish, met with Weisenbach’s family and learned about his life.

“He was never married, never had children,” she said. “He always lived on his own with his dog. Nobody really knew him very well.”

Mother Olga also prayed at Weisenbach’s grave, marked by a tombstone which has an image of the old rectory on it. This is something she’s done in every visit to Sellersburg.

When she thinks of Weisenbach now, Mother Olga imagines him as a kind of biblical figure.

“It almost reminds me of so many passages in the Scriptures,” she said. “In the eyes of so many people in that area, Ray was nobody. Yet God used him.”

‘They radiate the very essence of hope’

Father Clegg and Mother Olga met in the summer of 2024 with Archbishop Thompson, who gave his approval for the parish to move forward in renovating the old rectory and having members of the Daughters of Mary of Nazareth live there and serve in the parish.

Earlier that summer, Mother Olga came to Indianapolis and was a keynote speaker at the National Eucharistic Congress, keeping tens of thousands of listeners in Lucas Oil Stadium rapt with attention as she told of her difficult life in her native war-torn Iraq, and how God led her eventually to the U.S. and to start a religious order there at the invitation of Cardinal Seán P. O’Malley, now the archbishop emeritus of Boston.

In his homily at the Dec. 14 Mass, Archbishop Thompson prayed for the ministry of the Daughters of Mary of Nazareth in the archdiocese.

“During these last days of the Jubilee Year of Hope, they radiate the very essence of hope in their witness to all they encounter, Catholic and non-Catholic, rich and poor, strong and weak, healthy and vulnerable,” he said. “May they radiate the love of God, the mission of Jesus, and the grace of the Spirit as they strive to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.”

After the Mass, Archbishop Thompson blessed the old rectory that will now serve as the convent for the two members of the Daughters of Mary of Nazareth who will live there. Father Clegg sees great possibilities in having the religious order in his faith community.

“For the parish and the area, the sign value of seeing women religious is going to be more powerful than any of us even realize, because it’s been so long since that’s been a presence in our area,” said Father Clegg. “The last time we had [religious sisters] in our parish was in 1989.”

Cristiani agreed.

“It’s overwhelming and humbling,” she said. “I think it’s going to open a door for so many children to realize how important their faith is and to see these women who are happy and joyful, but also so faithful in how they act.”

Dan Cristiani, an excavation contractor, parishioner Bob Day, a general contractor, and other members of St. John Paul II have given of themselves to make the old rectory ready for the sisters.

“It’s just brought people together,” Cristiani said. “I can tell how it has brought the parish community together. It’s just so beautiful.”

Father Clegg sees beauty in the effect that getting to know Mother Olga has had on his priestly life and ministry.

“She makes me want to be a better priest,” he said. “I don’t get starstruck, you know? But I really believe when I’ve walked with her and talked with her that I’m in the presence of a saint. There’s just a joy that radiates from her. There is a prayerfulness that radiates from her. She has an ability that when you’re talking to her, you’re the only person in the world. And it’s genuine.”

Father Clegg also sees the work of God’s providence in bringing the Daughters of Mary of Nazareth to his parish at this particular time.

“Last year, we added 90 families and had 60 infant baptisms,” he said. “We’ve got a core of young people. I think getting a couple of young [religious] sisters here who have some life in them … is going to help our families quite a bit.”
 

(For more information on the Daughters of Mary of Nazareth, go to dmnazareth.org.) †