Last religious sister at St. Henry bids ‘a double farewell’

Sister Carrie Link visits with Johnny Kolako, right, and his daughter Carrie shortly after her baptism at St. Henry in Monticello June 12. DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

Sister Carrie Link was born in 1941, the same year her order, the Sisters of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, began serving St. Henry parish in Monticello. Her last official day as spiritual director and director of the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults was May 31, but she continued to wrap up office work as she prepared to retire after 32 years at the parish and as the last sister to serve there.

Based out of a motherhouse in Dubuque, Iowa, the order no longer has the numbers to send sisters to the parish, she said. “We have one candidate in our community now, but we are an aging community,” she said.

The parish honored the sisters’ contributions, including Sister Carrie’s, after each of three Masses June 11-12, followed by receptions. Sister Carrie made brief remarks after each Mass, and as a thank-you, she gave the parish an icon she wrote depicting Mary, Undoer of Knots. Father Patrick Barnes, the pastor, blessed the icon at 5 p.m. Mass June 11.

Sister Carrie, 81, said she plans to live at the motherhouse. Trained as an artist, she also plans to take icon classes with a local instructor.

Sister Carrie, who has been the only Presentation sister at the parish for the last 25 years, said laypeople have been stepping up to fill roles at St. Henry and other parishes for some time. “Laypeople have their theology degrees and Scripture degrees, and have taken positions on staffs in parishes, and they are equipped to do so,” she said. At St. Henry, for example, she said laypeople staff faith formation in the lower grades and serve as youth minister, music director, business administrator and administrative staff.

“Especially in faith formation, I would say the sisters who were here years back really instilled leadership among the faithful,” Sister Carrie said. “And it’s very noticeable here. People are engaged and I attribute that to our sisters, who just plain instilled this ownership in the parish.”

The Presentation sisters’ charism is hospitality, Sister Carrie said. Her role as coordinator of the RCIA process lends itself very well to hospitality, she said, “welcoming and meeting people where they are in their faith journey.” It’s a beautiful way to express hospitality, she said.

Back in 1941, St. Henry’s pastor, Father George Van Der Velden, invited the Presentation sisters to the parish to staff its “school of religion,” then housed at the convent that the pastor had purchased, according to a timeline posted on the parish website.

Up to four Presentation sisters served the parish in the sisters’ earliest days at St. Henry, Sister Carrie said. When Sister Carrie arrived at St. Henry, she was one of two sisters. Another two joined them but of her three roommates, “one went into prison ministry, one moved to CPE (clinical pastoral education) at Methodist Hospital and one worked at King’s House (retreat center) in Buffalo.”

She said the sisters who served before her were primarily involved in faith formation. But in years past, “we usually had a music teacher here,” she said, and one sister she lived with did pastoral ministry.

In her remarks after the weekend Masses at the parish, Sister Carrie shared what a longtime parishioner told her about life with the sisters years ago. In 1947, when the parishioner was in the fourth grade, her family moved from Big Lake to Monticello. When she asked her mother why the family was moving, her mother said “they have the Presentation sisters there, and they teach religion and piano.” At that time, the sisters were the only game in town for piano lessons, Sister Carrie said.

The parishioner recalled that the music students, Protestant and Catholic alike, rode their bikes to the convent with two quarters in their pockets. They soon learned that “you went in the front door for a piano lesson, and came to the back door for cookies and homemade treats,” she said.

Sister Carrie, who joined the Presentation sisters at age 17, has worked with the parish’s faith formation program all 32 years at St. Henry and was involved with the liturgy as well, coordinating liturgy committee meetings and ministry training. She coordinated the dedication of “the new church” Nov. 7, 1999, and served on its design committee.

Sharing words of farewell is difficult, Sister Carrie said, admitting to some butterflies a couple of weeks before she talked after the Masses, especially because her remarks pertained not only to her departure, “but for my community’s presence here at St. Henry’s. It’s like a double farewell,” she said.

Father Barnes, pastor of St. Henry since 2020, said the RCIA program is important in the life of the parish and “we will do our best to continue moving forward” with Sister Carrie’s retirement. He said transitional Deacon John Rumpza will serve the parish for one year as he prepares to be ordained to the priesthood next year. “He will be tasked with helping run the program and with helping to plan for its future,” Father Barnes said.

Father Barnes said Sister Carrie is diligent and organized in preparing the catechumens and candidates to enter into full communion with the Church. “She is flexible in meeting with people when it works for them in their schedule,” he said, “and she gives attention to each individual in accord with where they are in their faith journey.”

Parents name daughter after Sister Carrie

Sister Carrie is leaving St. Henry Parish. But Carrie Kolako is just getting started.

Before the first morning Mass June 12, Presentation Sister Carrie Link served as godmother for the 2-month-old baby born to Sonnie and Johnny Kolako, parishioners of St. Henry who emigrated from Liberia to the United States in 2019 and 2008, respectively. Sonnie, 40, was baptized and confirmed as a Catholic in Liberia. Johnny, 45, was baptized Christian in the African nation but received no further sacraments.

Sister Carrie met with Johnny Kolako one on one to prepare him to receive the sacraments of first Communion and confirmation in the Catholic Church. He was taught by Catholic sisters in Liberia, Sister Carrie said, “so he knew a great deal about the Catholic faith already. So, it was a fairly easy process, just helping him with maybe some doctrines that we needed to talk about, but he was particularly ready before he even approached me.”

Sonnie said, “Sister Carrie embraced us and welcomed us so warmly,” when her husband was confirmed. Sister Carrie also was her husband’s sponsor, Sonnie said, and she is “a good and kind sister.”

“One of the reasons why I just grew that love for her is because of her work … for God and St. Henry’s church,” Sonnie said. When she was told about Sister Carrie’s role helping to design the present St. Henry church, she said, “if a sister, a woman can do this kind of a design, she must be a great person devoted to God and the Church, and to helping others. So I just started loving her more.”

The couple had asked Sister Carrie to pray for them when they had trouble conceiving their older daughter, Zariah. When God blessed the couple with a second baby about a year later — and an ultrasound showed it was a girl — the couple wanted to name the baby Carrie for their beloved friend. “My husband said we can’t leave her out,” Sonnie said. “We have to name (the baby) so that we remember her in our family.”

Johnny called Sister Carrie from the delivery room March 23 to tell her about their latest daughter’s birth and that the baby would be named after her. “She was so excited, she started crying,” Sonnie said. The couple told her, “We love you as a mother, we love you as a sister, we love you as one of us,” she said. “Can you please allow us to name (the baby) after you?” The couple also asked Sister Carrie to be baby Carrie’s godmother, as they did for Zariah, now 14 months.

Sonnie said she wants her daughter to be like Sister Carrie, working and living for God. The family plans to keep in touch with Sister Carrie to keep her updated on her namesake.