Women religious communities blessed by bishop’s support

After Bishop Andrew Cozzens’ Mass of Thanksgiving Nov. 28 at the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul, members of several religious communities of women offered him well wishes and received a blessing.

Among them were four members of the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist, who teach at St. Agnes School in St. Paul and live in the parish’s convent. Sister Teresa Christi Balek handed Bishop Cozzens a copy of a book he wrote that the sisters wanted him to sign so they could give it to the mother general of their order. Called “A Living Image of the Bridegroom: The Priesthood and the Evangelical Counsels,” it is a published form of a doctoral dissertation he wrote in 2008 as a way to help priests live the evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity and obedience — modeled by Christ, the bridegroom of the Church — that women and men religious adopt.

Bishop Cozzens contacted the sisters shortly after their arrival in August 2018, when they moved into the convent at St. Agnes and began teaching at the school. That connection is one example of the way he has built relationships with several religious communities of women in the archdiocese, including the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia, Pro Ecclesia Sancta, Missionaries of Charity, the Little Sisters of the Poor and, most notably, the Handmaids of the Heart of Jesus, which he helped form in the Diocese of New Ulm and which now includes his niece, Annemarie Healy, as a member.

“He’s really been like a father to us — very personable and very present to us,” Sister Teresa Christi said, noting that he played a role in their coming to St. Agnes. “He came here within a week of us coming to the convent and wanted to say Mass.”

The Dominican Sisters of St. Ceclia arrived in 2001 to teach at St. Croix Catholic School in Stillwater. The school’s current principal, Sister Maria Ivana Begovic, said Bishop Cozzens has made connections with the sisters both at the school and at the motherhouse in Nashville, Tennessee, where he has given talks to the entire community, both in person and virtually.

“That has been a gift, to have him share his wisdom and his love for the consecrated life with us, and helping to delve more deeply into the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience,” said Sister Maria Ivana, who has been principal for three years and also taught at the school from 2005-2008.

She noted his support of education, both in terms of visiting her school and creating programs to help both teachers and principals. She embraces the Roadmap for Excellence in Catholic Education that he helped create, calling it “beautiful and powerful.”

Sister Teresa Christi also acknowledged how Bishop Cozzens has supported Catholic education, having gone through the Institute for Catholic School Leadership that Bishop Cozzens helped create at The St. Paul Seminary and School of Divinity in St. Paul. That and all of his other good works, she said, come from a deeply-rooted prayer life.

“The most comfortable thing he can talk about is prayer, which I think says a lot,” she said.