On July 4, 1874, the foundress of our Congregation, Sister Maria Aloysia Wolbring, stepped onto American soil, having been exiled from Germany by Bismarck. What was our foundress feeling? What fluttered her heart? I imagine that her feelings foreshadowed the feelings of Sister Mary Dianne Rumschlag who on July 5 of this year becomes the provincial leader of SND-USA 152 years and a day after our foundress disembarked the ship that brought her and our congregation to America.

Perhaps like Saint Julie Billiart, who would become a favorite saint of our congregation, our foundress managed to breathe and believe “How good is our good God!” as she looked around at this new land and her fellow immigrants. “So this is where God led me!” Will Sister Mary Dianne look back to her beginnings—her childhood in Fostoria, Ohio; her high school at Notre Dame Academy in Toledo, her years of teaching and administration in various schools including her last place in Jacksonville, Florida? “So this is where our good God led me!”

     Known for her strong character and openness to God’s will, Sister Mary Dianne will lead us apostolic women religious to witness God’s goodness and provident care in a community of love. Her vibrant spirit will surely inspire with the compassionate love and foresight of our foundress. Sisters from across the country will arrive by car, plane, or bus in Chardon, Ohio, to join in Sister’s ceremony “taking up the reins” as provincial leaders have done before her.

Let us pray for her:

God in your goodness, bestow on Sister Mary Dianne a double portion of our Notre Dame charism. Give her the guidance of your Holy Spirit and direct her life to you alone as she looks at her “new land” and the sisters who travel with her. Dear God, in trust we pray that you have always taken care and will certainly continue to do so” (letter of Sister Maria Aloysia, 1886).