A New Chapter
Loretto Sisters and friends in the Log Chapel with Stephen Badin's Bible
Last summer, the Sisters of Loretto added a chapter to the Bible’s story. On July 6 the motherhouse community and friends blessed the Bible at a sending ceremony that included a procession from Badin’s former home to Mass, where Craig gave a post-communion reflection on the Bible’s history and Badin’s influence on the life of the Loretto community. The Bible was then displayed one last time and then packed away for the trip North. A delegation of sisters, including Craig, and several friends, including Carol Pike and Margaret and Mary Quayhagen, sisters who live in Badin’s original brick home, drove to Notre Dame from Narinx on July 14. They were met by staff of the Cushwa Center, the Hesburgh Library, and others at the Log Chapel, where Badin is buried. Father Peter Rocca, C.S.C., celebrated a welcoming Mass, and his sermon reminded those in attendance of the realities of the Catholic Church on the American frontier in the 19th century. Kathleen Sprows Cummings offered a reflection that focused on the cooperation between clergy and lay Catholics, including sisters, and how that cooperation played a necessary role in the original production of the Bible, its preservation over the years, and its new life at Notre Dame.