In Remembrance of the Felician Sisters Lost to Coronavirus

Floor Speech

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Ms. STEVENS. Madam Speaker, I rise today to memorialize the beautiful lives of thirteen nuns taken from our community by the scourge of coronavirus between April and June of this year.

We honor the memory of Sister Mary Luiza Wawrzyniak, Sister Celine Marie Lesinski, Sister Mary Estelle Prints, Sister Thomas Marie Wadowski, Sister Mary Patricia Pyszynski, Sister Mary Clarence (Adeline) Borkoski, Sister Rose Mary Wolak, Sister Mary Janice (Margaret) Zolkowski, Sister Mary Alice Ann (Fernanda) Gradowski, Sister Victoria Marie Indyk, Sister Mary Martinez (Virginia) Rozek, Sister Mary Madeleine (Frances) Dolan, and Sister Mary Danatha (Lottie) Suchyta.

These righteous women spent their days working and living together as members of the Felician Sisters at the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary convent in Livonia, Michigan--some for more than a half century. At the time of their deaths, they ranged in age from 69 to 99, still wholly committed to serving the most vulnerable among us.

Prior to the pandemic, the sisters could be found working in our local schools, libraries, and medical facilities, providing enrichment to our students and care to our sick. Many of them pursued degrees in higher education during their lifetimes, always seeking new ways to instill a sense of peace, justice, dignity, and truth in the world around them. My heart aches for the harm done to the soul of our community.

This distinguished group has been responsible for the founding of multiple schools and care centers in Michigan's 11th District, including Madonna University, which has become one of the nation's largest Franciscan universities with a student body of approximately 3,000 students. We, in Michigan's 11th District, are forever indebted to them for their mission and impact. We grieve for the virtuous lives lost, and we hold their extended community in our prayers.

Madam Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in reflecting on the indelible mark left by these sisters on our community. May the grieving find comfort in the extraordinary legacies of faith and service they leave.

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