By Paula Graham
Catholic Herald correspondent

Sister marks 50 years of commitment

LADYSMITH -- On Saturday, May 4, Sr. Cecile Marie Kees, CSA, will attend the first of many festivities honoring her Golden Jubilee. Religious from across the diocese will gather at the Servants of Mary Chapel for a reception sponsored by the Sisters Council. Bishop Raphael M. Fliss will celebrate Mass.

"It's a wonderful feeling, being able to celebrate 50 years of commitment," said Kees. Her joy comes from living out the vows she made when she entered the Congregation of St. Agnes. "These vows have freed me to serve the people of God. People think we deprive ourselves, giving up everything. Sure you give up, but you receive much more," she said. "Some people think of sisters entering the convent and being closed behind bars. It's not that at all. Our work is apostolic. We come together to receive the strength we need to go out and do God's work."

Kees remembers wrestling with God's call for six years before finally deciding to enter the convent. "I knew that I would have liked to get married, have a family, live in the country on a farm. Something inside of me, almost like a cloud over my head that was always there, kept asking, 'Are you going to listen or not?'"

Every night Kees prayed to the Blessed Mother that she would accept the life that God was calling her to. The hardest thing about entering religious life, she says, was telling her father. At age 15, Kees had lost her mother and assumed many family responsibilities. She kept planning to ask her father, but missed many opportunities because she couldn't summon the courage. One day she just blurted it out.

"One afternoon, we were milking cows and happened to be in the milkhouse pouring milk in the can at the same time. I said to Dad in German, 'Do you mind if I go to the convent?' He said, 'If you got married, I'd have to let you go.' I didn't know the priest had already talked to him. After that I felt so free."

Fifty-five years ago Kees left St. John, Wis., to enter the Congregation of St. Agnes in Fond du Lac. She made her first vows in 1952. "I have never regretted one minute of it," she said.

Kees has served in rural and urban settings in Indiana, Pennsylvania, New York and Illinois, working with the poor and needy. "The mission of the Sisters of St. Agnes is to participate in the mission of Christ, always aware that we, too, are among the needy and are enriched by those we serve. They can put that on my tombstone," said Kees.

In 1993, Kees arrived at the parish cluster of Our Lady of Sorrows, Ladysmith, St. Anthony, Tony, and St. Mary, Hawkins, to begin a new phase of her ministry at the age when most people retire.

"Our ministry never ends," she said. "We retire from full-time paid employment, but never from the ministry to which we are called, as long as the energy of the body and soul is able. Our life feeds itself. It sustains us."

Kees set to work, getting to know the parish and working with area clergy to establish new programs like Healing Grief Support Group and MANNA (Meals Available for the Nutritional Needs of All) meals. She went behind bars as a chaplain at the Rusk County Jail and sought paid employment at Indianhead Agency in personal home care. "I still had the physical ability to bring in a stipend and wanted to do that for my community," she said.

Neither mud, nor snow, nor ice-covered roads prevents Kees from teaching religious education, taking Eucharist to the homebound, visiting the bereaved and attending funerals. She's gotten stuck in the mud, spun on the ice, slid into ditches and experienced close encounters with deer. "Driving in bad weather doesn't frighten me. If I can get through I will go. I've driven in Chicago and New York. This is a joy up here."

Two years ago, Kees informed the Indianhead Agency that she was finally ready to retire from paid employment. "But they kept calling me, so I didn't retire, I just cut back my hours," she said.

Two weeks ago, she submitted a formal letter of resignation because she is returning to the Sisters of St. Agnes motherhouse in Fond du Lac. "Something inside tells me it is time to leave. Something is telling me to get back closer to my community to get refreshed and renewed. I'm going to relax a little," said Kees.

Kees says her past nine years have been fulfilling. "I've gotten to know a lot of people. I hope I have empowered them to recognize the tremendous gift they themselves are and their ability no matter what stage of life to reach out and touch others with the goodness of God."

Kees will take with her many memories. "As I gave, people gave back. The riches I have been given will always be mine."

As she prepares for her mid-June departure, Sr. Cecile Kees is lightening her load, sorting through books and nine years of accumulation. "I hope I can fit everything in the car. My aim is to drive down there in one trip." What's next? "I know God is calling me to a special place. What that is, I'm not sure yet. Even in my aging, if I need to spend days living in a nursing home, my ministry will never stop."

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© Superior Catholic Herald, 2002