News

Sr. Mary Jo Kirt dies

By Patricia Kasten
Compass Associate Editor

GREEN BAY -- Anyone who met Bay Settlement Franciscan Sr. Mary Jo Kirt, who died on April 20 at age 68, would never forget that meeting.

Her blend of humor, challenging wit, concern for others, love of life and ability to talk with anyone about anything made Sr. Mary Jo memorable. Everyone had a story to share.

"She'd give you the shirt off her back," said Sr. Florence Youngwirth, ANG, a friend for 40 years. "In fact, she did, for me." The two were attending a religious board meeting last year and Sr. Florence admired Sr. Mary Jo's new sweater. "By the end of the meeting, I had the sweater."

Sr. Mary Jo was born Oct. 7, 1939, in Oconto, to Dorothy (Pecor) and Joseph Kirt. She entered the Community of the Sisters of St. Francis of the Holy Cross, Bay Settlement, in September 1956 and was received into the order in August 1957. In 2007, she celebrated her golden jubilee.

Those who knew her know that Sr. Mary Jo (Sr. Teresa in her early days of religious life) wanted to be a nun so much that she wanted to enter the convent at age 14.

"I grew up in Oconto," she said, humorously explaining her decision. "There wasn't much else to do."

She started her career as a teacher in Green Bay and Marinette schools, and, after getting her master's degree in religious education from Fordham University in New York, she went on to become a religious education director in Green Bay and Combined Locks. She later became a retreat leader and, in 1983, she joined the diocesan staff. She served as associate vocations director and representative for religious.

"She was a very committed woman religious and did everything she could to be supportive and encouraging to all of us," said Sr. Paula Vanden Hogan, a past community director of the Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity in Manitowoc.

"She planned and attended celebrations for us; was present for our wakes and funerals and offered words of encouragement when she sensed we might need it," Sr. Paula added. "I saw her as a person who loved life and lived it to the fullest by giving her all for others."

Fr. Dave Pleier worked with Sr. Mary Jo as diocesan director of vocations and the pair gave numerous retreats and workshops around the diocese. He said that he learned from her "that God has a hand in even the simplest things in life and the smallest details of life, that God just isn't in the big events and the big moments, but in the very ordinary."

Eden Foord, who followed Sr. Mary Jo as director of Mount Tabor Retreat Center in Menasha, also found her friendship in little things - like candy.

"When my family and I first moved here," he said, "Sr. Mary Jo came to visit the first time with our family, she had a jar of M&Ms." Foord's children loved the candy and it became a tradition for Sr. Mary Jo to bring bags of it whenever she returned to the center for a visit.

"The last time her parish had a retreat (she became parish director of Ss. Peter and Paul Parish in Hortonville in 2003), several weeks ago," Foord said, "she wasn't able to come, but, sure enough, a three pound bag of M&Ms showed up."

Bishop Robert Banks shared a love of chocolate with Sr. Mary Jo, especially local chocolatier, Seroogy's.

"It was always a joy for people to be in Sr. Mary Jo's company," the bishop said. "And she was always reaching out to people, especially when someone was in need of a friendly voice or ear. She had the gift of making the Good News sound really good!"

That gift helped others discover their gifts. Fr. Tom Long, current vocations director for the diocese, said that Sr. Mary Jo "helped foster almost a generation of priests' and their vocations for our diocese. She's always had a real gift of recognizing and helping people acknowledge their gifts and call that out for service for the church."

Msgr. Jim Feely worked with her at Ss. Peter and Paul; he is the parish's sacramental minister. "She was wonderful," he said. "She is really eager about people. She had a wonderful pastoral sense, always eager to be in touch with the needs of folks and responded to them in a real homey way."

Sr. Florence remembered how, even when Sr. Mary Jo was in the hospital for the last time, she insisted that someone take a fish fry dinner to an elderly shut-in of the parish "free of charge."

"She cared about everybody - she was there for everybody else," said Jane Banker, parish secretary at Hortonville. "She'd get a call about someone being in the hospital and it was, 'Oh, I have to go.' And she was there, no matter what."

Sr. Mary Jo's own health problems had threatened her dream of being a parish director - a post she loved. As Fr. Pleier said, at Hortonville, she found "the whole gamut of life and death, young and old; she really felt close to the people."

In 2003, just before being assigned to Hortonville, she had learned she had cancer. And this always vocal person, admittedly in constant conversation with God, found herself facing silence.

"I learned there was nothing I could say," she told The Compass that year. "Then it dawned on me that this was prayer: the pain, the silence, the people. Prayer didn't have to be words, but walking with God and having him there."

She recovered from that cancer. But the last bout came suddenly - so suddenly that she and her parish never had a chance to say good-bye. It was Easter Sunday when she learned that cancer had reached her liver.

Fr. Pleier took her to the doctor for the news. "When we left the oncologist office - knowing how extensive it was and that no treatment would help," he said, "she said to me, 'Oh my gosh, what am I going to wear? I need a new outfit for the funeral.'"

"Her humor was always twinned with a real depth of character," Fr. Pleier said.

Sr. Paulette Hupfauf, first vice president of the Bay Settlement Franciscans, said that Sr. Mary Jo faced death in the same way as she faced life.

"In life and in her illness and death, she was the same joyful love of God person she always was," said Sr. Paulette. "She never changed; she accepted her sickness and dying because she knew God loved her."

Sr. Ann Rehrauer, community president, said that Sr. Mary Jo "was spontaneity; she was joy and she was energy, and she really loved the Lord."

Sr. Mary Jo is survived by her sister and brother-in-law Shirley (Paul) Hartl, Monroe, Ga., and their children Janelle and Jason (Jill); her brother and sister-in-law Joseph and Debra Kirt, Lake Mills, and their children, Christine and Thomas; and by the members of her Sisters of St. Francis of the Holy Cross. She was preceded in death by her parents.

Visitation was scheduled for St. Bernard Church in Green Bay April 23 and on Thursday, April 24, from 9:30 a.m. until the funeral Mass at 11 a.m. Bishop Banks will be the main celebrant. Memorials may be given to the Sisters of St. Francis, Building Fund.

A memorial Mass will also be held at Ss. Peter and Paul Parish in Hortonville at 7 p.m. on Friday, April 25.

Bishop Robert Morneau, auxiliary bishop of the diocese, said that Sr. Mary Jo will have a lasting impact on the diocese. "Through her leadership, hundreds of you people came to encounter Jesus," he said. "This was her mission: to introduce others to the Lord and to experience his love. In all of her talks and retreats, she had one basic message: God loves you."