Issue of September 14, 2003

Teacher

Adrian Dominican Sister Marie Urban Schwartz, 81, died Sept. 8. Born in Adrian, Mich., she was in the 62nd year of her religious profession. She spent 27 years ministering in education. In the Archdiocese of Chicago, Sister Marie Urban served at St. Kilian, 1949-53; St. Francis de Paula, 1953-57; St. Mel-Holy Ghost, 1957-59; St. Gregory, 1959-64; and Queen of Angels, 1964-69. She also served as councilor and co-provincial for the St. Dominic Province at St. Dominic Provincial House in Hometown from 1969-73.

Mother Beatrice Rybacki

Former superior general

Mother Mary Beatrice Rybacki, 102, of the Franciscan Sisters of Chicago died Sept. 6. Born in Pakosc, Poland, her family moved to Johnstown, Penn., when she was a year old. She entered the Franciscan Sisters of Chicago in 1919 and was professed in 1926. She ministered in education for more than 30 years, serving in several states. She was elected superior general in 1958. Upon election to this position she received the honorary title of Mother. She served two six-year terms as superior general, during the Second Vatican Council. She was one of the founding members of the Federation of Franciscan Sisters in the United States, which is now known as the Franciscan Federation. She was elected to the provisional board of the federation in 1996.

Sr. Mary Brian Durkin

Teacher

Sinsinawa Dominican Sister Mary Brian Durkin, 91, died Sept. 2. Born in Milwaukee, she made her first religious profession in 1933 and her final profession of vows in 1936. She served as a teacher at the elementary, high school and college levels. In the Archdiocese of Chicago, she was an English professor at Rosary College, 1952-63, 1965-71, and 1975-82. She was hospital chaplain at Mercy Hospital in Chicago from 1982-89, and at Loyola Medical Center, Maywood, from 1991-96. She was prioress of Rosary Convent from 1989-91. Sister Durkin also served as director of the Rosary in London Program and was director of graduate studies at Villa Schifanoia in Florence, Italy.

Sr. Margaret Knight

Teacher

Adrian Dominican Sister Margaret Denis Knight, 91, died Sept. 2. Born in Houghton, Mich., she was in the 71st year of her religious profession. She spent 48 years ministering in elementary education.

In the suburbs of the Archdiocese of Chicago, Sister Margaret Denis taught at St. Celestine, Elmwood Park, Bishop Quarter, Oak Park, Queen of Apostles, Riverdale, and Our Lady of Loretto, Hometown. In Chicago she was a teacher at St. Clare of Montefalco, St. Carthage, St. Columbanus, St. Kevin, St. Rita, St. Denis, and Our Lady of Good Counsel.

Sr. Adelma Knapp

Teacher

Holy Spirit Missionary Sister Adelma Veronica Knapp, 95, died Aug. 28. Born in Haubstadt, Ind., she was in the 75th year of her religious profession. Sister Adelma entered the Holy Spirit Missionary Sisters in Techny in 1926 and professed her first vows in 1929. She served as a teacher in several states and then served in England and Ireland.

Sr. Janeal Szafranski

Teacher

School Sister of St. Francis Janeal Szafranski, 72, died Aug. 28. A Chicago native, she was received into the School Sisters of St. Francis in 1949 and was professed in 1951. She lived her religious ministry in education, teaching and serving as a guidance counselor. In the Archdiocese of Chicago, she served as a guidance counselor at Nazareth Academy in La Grange Park, 1973-75; and at St. Benedict High School, Chicago, 1994-2000. She also served in the dioceses of Joliet and Rockford.

Fr. Matt Bednarz

Ministered to the Polish

Father Matt A. Bednarz, 86, who ministered to Polish Catholics in the Archdiocese of Chicago for over four decades, died Aug. 25. Father Bednarz died at St Benedict Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Niles.

A Chicago native from the city’s Northwest Side, Father Bednarz graduated from Quigley Preparatory Seminary and the University of St. Mary of the Lake Seminary in Mundelein. Ordained by Cardinal Stritch in 1942, he began his ministry at St. John the Baptist Parish, Harvey. In 1948, as assistant pastor, he began a 12-year term at his home parish of Holy Innocents.

He served as delegate judge in the archdiocesan separation court from 1952-72. During much of this time he was associate pastor of St. Constance Parish. His first assignment as pastor was at St. Valentine in Cicero in 1966, where he served for two years before being named pastor of St. Thecla from 1968-1987. He retired in 1987 and lived in St. Hillary Parish.

Father Bednarz’s became assistant director of the Catholic League for Religious Assistance to Poland in 1967.

Renelda Guth

Catechist for deaf community

Ms. Renelda Guth, 70, a convert to Catholicism and the first deaf person certified by the Archdiocese of Chicago as a catechist, died July 11. She was also a care minister to the deaf community.

A native of Chicago, Ms. Guth devoted years to teaching religion to deaf children and training other instructors, often at St. Francis Borgia on the Northwest Side. She also visited deaf people who were homebound, in nursing homes or in hospitals.

She was an invaluable volunteer to the Catholic Office of the Deaf for many years.

A funeral Mass was to be celebrated Sept. 11 at St. Mary Cathedral in Lansing for retired Bishop Kenneth J. Povish, 79, of Lansing, Mich., who died Sept. 5.

Bishop Povish, who had battled with cancer since his retirement in 1995, served as Lansing’s bishop for 20 years.

Born April 19, 1924, in Alpena, he was ordained to the priesthood in the Diocese of Saginaw in 1950. He served there 20 years before being appointed bishop of Crookston, Minn., in 1970.

Bishop Povish was appointed to the Diocese of Lansing in 1975 and served there for 20 years until his retirement at age 71 in 1995.

While a Saginaw diocesan priest, Bishop Povish was the first dean of the college department at St. Paul Seminary in Saginaw and served in several parishes.

As a bishop, he was an ardent supporter of Catholic education, was instrumental in founding the Michigan Ecumenical Forum and was the national episcopal moderator for the Council of Catholic Women for a decade.

Bishop Povish opened 26 new offices and councils during his tenure as Lansing’s bishop. He also ordained 57 priests and 67 permanent deacons.

Fr. Howard Ralenkotter

preacher

Passionist Father Howard Ralenkotter, 93, died Aug. 25. He was the oldest member of his order’s Holy Cross Province. Born in Kentucky, he was a high school dropout and mill worker before entering the Passonists. He graduated, made his first profession of vows in 1930 and was ordained in 1939.

After serving three years as director of students at the Passionist Prep School, he began his career as a preacher, conducting parish missions across the country and served as retreat preacher for Passionist retreat centers in the 1950s and ’60s.

Raymond Eipers

St. mary parishioner

Raymond Nicholas Eipers, 87, died Aug. 15. A former priest in the Rockford Diocese, he was founding pastor of St. Margaret Mary Church in Algonquin from 1954-62. He also served as pastor of St. Thomas the Apostle, Crystal Lake, and Holy Angels Church in Aurora. He later left the priesthood and was married to Carole Eipers, former director of the Archdiocese of Chicago’s Office for Catechesis. He was a parishioner at St. Mary Church, Riverside at the time of his death.

Mae Juckniess

St. Mary parishioner

North Riverside resident Mae Juckniess, 93, died Aug. 21. A parishioner at St. Mary Church, Riverside, she was a member of the church choir, the St. Mary Altar and Rosary Society and a Girl Scout leader for St. Mary School. She was mother to Carole Eipers, former director of the Archdiocese of Chicago’s Office for Catechesis.

Sr. M. Siena Uliczny

Former treasurer general

Felician Sister Mary Siena (Helen) Uliczny, 88, died July 27 in Our Lady of the Angels Convent. A Chicago native, she was a member of the Felician Sisters for 70 years. From 1958-76 she served in Rome as the treasurer general of her order.

In the Archdiocese of Chicago, she ministered at St. Hedwig Orphanage and at Montay College. In 1984 she also assumed the position of local promoter of the cause for the beatification of Mother Angela Truszkowska, foundress of the Felician Sisters. She attended her beatification in Rome in 1993.