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Making quilts into Peruvian footbridges

Mission help What: Sunday, Oct. 19, is World Mission Sunday. How: Several possibilities for individual or group projects to help the missions exist. Where: Copies of the World Mission Service booklet on individual or group projects for the mission are available by phoning (920)437-7531, or 1-877-500-3580 (toll-free), ext. 8193. A pdf copy can also be downloaded by going to the Green Bay Diocese's website, www.gbdioc.org, clicking on World Mission Services near the bottom of the departments on the left side, then "other services."

Money from the sale of quilts made by a Sister of the Sorrowful Mother in Oshkosh will help a missionary priest in Peru build a bridge in the Andes Mountains.

Sr. Frances Meyer, 78, raised $200 for Augustinian Fr. Chris Steinle by making and selling twin bed size patchwork quilts in her spare time at Franciscan Courts, her community's retirement home in Oshkosh.

Ten hours to Mass

Fr. Steinle's parishioners in the Andes often walk 10-12 hours to get to Mass and some are unable to make it to church because doing so would mean they would have to swim or ford a river.

So Fr. Steinle told World Mission Services of the Green Bay Diocese that he wanted to build a footbridge to allow people living in remote villages "to have easier contact with the outside world. We will try to cover the expense of buying cement and steel rods to make the bridge." The cost of the bridge is $1,000 to $1,500.

Project booklet

His plans for building a footbridge for his parish were included in a project booklet published every year by World Mission Services so that groups and individuals can learn how to help in the mission fields.

Sr. Meyer read about it there and decided to help by making and selling quilts.

Fr. Steinle, she said, was a friend of her community, even before he was ordained. The sisters all prayed for him while he was discerning which order to join. He chose the Augustinians in Chicago, who send missionaries to Peru. Whenever he returns to Wisconsin, he visits her and the other sisters at Franciscan Courts.

Sr. Meyer took over quilting in 2002 from Sr. Jane Retzer, who returned to the Sisters of the Sorrowful Mother motherhouse in Milwaukee.

Can do anything

Although Sr. Meyer said she learned to sew while growing up in Germany, she didn't know how to quilt until she began watching Sr. Retzer.

"When you know how to sew, then you can do anything," she smiled.

People donate the fabric she uses. One of the community's associates comes in periodically to cut quilt squares. Twice a week, Sr. Theodora sews smaller blocks into larger ones.

Sr. Meyer puts together the larger blocks, adds borders and backing to the quilts and ties them with yarn.

She uses the sewing machine in the Franciscan Courts' activity room in the morning or afternoon, whenever she has time. It takes her about three hours to put a quilt together.

Gone fast

While she gives many of the quilts to Sr. Patrick Flanigan, SSM, for migrant worker families in Wautoma, employees purchase others "as fast as I make them." They see her working on them, she said, and want them for birthday, wedding and Christmas presents.

Sr. Meyer estimated that she had made 20 quilts in the past year. They sell for $20 each.

One of her favorites was a special order from a Franciscan Court employee, who brought in 28 t-shirts her son had collected. Sr. Meyer sewed together squares made from the shirts and added a white border and black backing.

Future gifts

In the future, she said, she will probably sell her quilts in the gift shop that will be part of the Franciscan Courts' renovation.

She also sews the sisters' habits and makes gowns for those who are patients in the retirement home infirmary. The former elementary school teacher has worked in the infirmary for 14 years, doing patients' laundry and sewing, and writing letters for them.