SISTER ANN MRUGALA
1928-2007

In her autobiography, written in the third person, Sister Ann Mrugala described herself as an artist-writer and a member of the Dominican Congregation of Adrian. A most creative person, during her fifty-two years in the Congregation she ministered as teacher, counselor, artist, and writer of both prose and poetry. She also entertained with puppets and acted as a clown. All of this she did in order to help children (and also some adults) learn not only academic subjects, but to love the God who created everything.

After the fall of Communism, Sister Ann was one of several who answered the call of the Bishops of the United States to minister for a short time to the sisters in Central and Eastern Europe. They had been underground for years. Her ministry to these sisters included teaching English in a small town outside of Budapest, Hungary. The Forum for Sisters, an outgrowth of this ministry was the beginning of a dialogue between American and European sisters. In 2002 the European sisters came to the United States and some of them visited Weber Center in Adrian. In July 2005 Sister Ann, with a group of American sisters, again traveled to Europe.

The Forum for Sisters, with members from several different religious congregations, sent a message to Sister Ann Mrugala’s wake. In part, they wrote:

We, the members of the Forum for Sisters, express our deep appreciation for the ministry of Sister Ann Mrugala on behalf of the Sisters and Church in the United States and Central and Eastern Europe. Sister Ann shared her artistic and spiritual gifts, spiced with just enough humor to endear her to all she met. . . . Sister Ann was a gift of God to us all.

Ann was the eighth and youngest child born to Andrew and Catherine (Szypula) Mrugala. She came into the world on July 19, 1928. Two of her siblings died at early ages; she and five others survived. Both parents had been born in Poland, and had come with their families to the United States. Their families had settled in Pennsylvania, perhaps Colver, where Andrew Mrugala and Catherine Szypula met, married, and made their home. They sent their children to Colver Public Elementary School, and later to Ebensburg-Cambria High School in Ebensburg.

Sometime after graduation from high school, Ann moved to Chicago where she found work in an office, became a member of St. Mary Star of the Sea Parish, and met the Adrian Dominican Sisters. When she decided to become a religious sister, however, she investigated several other congregations but her final decision was to become an Adrian Dominican. She was twenty-six years of age when she entered the postulate at Adrian on February 2, 1955. With her group, she received the habit and her religious name (Sister Paul Regina) on August 4, at that time the Feast of St. Dominic. At the wake, Sister Christine Matthews said:

Ann and I entered at the same time, in 1955, and were members of St. Joseph Crowd. However, she didn’t make profession with that group [in August 1956]. The rest of us did. Instead, she became a member of the next group, St. Dominic Crowd, and made profession with them. Both groups claim her with affection, and she claimed both with affection. . . . Her reason for not making profession with St. Joseph Group wasn’t that she wasn’t ready for the Congregation, but that the Congregation was not ready for her, so she waited.

Sister Ann’s father died on December 2, 1956. This was undoubtedly a sad time for her, but she professed her first vows on December 28, 1956. Until February 1957, she was kept in Adrian and conducted a kindergarten classroom at St. Joseph Academy. She then traveled by train across the country to Charlottesville, Virginia, where she again ministered with kindergarten children for a year and a half at Holy Comforter School. In 1958 she returned to Illinois as a junior high teacher, for a year at St. James in Maywood and three years at St. Denis in Chicago. In 1962, as a result of summer study in Adrian, Siena Heights College awarded her a bachelor’s degree with a major in English and minors in history and secretarial science.

Once more, in 1965, she traveled across the country—this time to Solen, North Dakota, where she served for three years at Sacred Heart School as a teaching principal. Sister Arlene Seckel sent a fax to the wake, in which she wrote of that period of time.

We staffed a two-room school in a renovated lumber yard. She taught Grades five through eight and I taught Grades one through four. Since my major was history, Ann, in her thoughtful and generous way, said that one period each day I would teach eighth grade history and she would teach first grade.

In 1968, Sister Ann returned to Illinois, and taught seventh grade at Queen of Apostles in Riverdale for a year. At the wake Sister Mary Ellen Plummer shared a remembrance from that time.

That was my first mission. In the middle of the night, one time, we were awakened by a terrible crash of breaking glass, and all of us, except Ann, got up to see what had happened. We didn’t know what to do—whether to call the police or what. But we couldn’t find any evidence of a break-in and no broken glass anywhere. So we finally went back to bed. The next morning we learned that Ann had broken a vase in her room, and decided to wait until morning to clean it up.

She did a lot for me. She loved me and helped me find my self esteem, which was in very low supply. She helped me to find myself. No one can do more than that for you.

 Sister Ann’s next assignment was as coordinator at Maria Hall in Adrian for two years. In 1971 she received a master’s degree in Guidance and Counseling from Siena Heights College (now University), and began her ministry in that field, in Illinois schools for four years: a year at Mount St. Mary in St. Charles, a year at Santa Maria del Popolo in Mundelein, and two years at St. Philip Neri in Chicago. It was during this time, in 1974, that she and her siblings buried their mother.

In 1975, when the sisters were finding their own ministries, she accepted a position in Florida in the Diocese of Orlando Education Office, where she ministered as Counseling/Program Director, including art therapy, for ten years. During these years, she also was a regular feature writer for the Orlando Catholic Educator, and she earned certificates in mental health, assertiveness, and as a dietary consultant. Sister Carleen Maly remembered those years:

I was part of the community at Winter Park, Florida. I had never met her before, but we became aware that we were both Polish, and decided to call ourselves the “Polish Princesses.” The more we talked about our common heritage . . .  the more we realized that we would never be princesses because we worked so hard at home. We were really cleaning people. Probably “servants” would be a better title.

She served hundreds of children in Orlando. She was school counselor for the Diocese, going from school to school, and meeting with children referred to her by the teachers and principals. She would load her car with games and puppets, and then she became a clown so that she could go to the schools and become one with the children.

Sister Christa Marsik also lived in that community. She spoke about sharing artistic bents, such as wandering through antique shops, gathering Nature’s gifts, and sharing common Slavic roots—Polish and Czech.

Sister Ann moved back to the Midwest in 1985, and became associate pastor at Holy Ghost Parish in South Holland, Illinois. She continued her study, and earned a certificate in bereavement counseling. After five years, in 1990, she requested a sabbatical year that she spent at the University of Notre Dame in Notre Dame, Indiana, in the art department. She wrote in the third person, “Large wood sculptures became her prominent voice proclaiming the Word. Thus, in some measure, the Dominican mandate ‘to give to others the fruit of one’s contemplation’ is fulfilled.” Upon leaving Notre Dame, she served a year as coordinator of Star of the Sea Convent in Chicago. Her study did not end, however. She earned certificates in preaching and professional clowning, as well as additional hours in art, theology, and education.

Although she did not have a degree in art, Sister Ann was very talented in that field. In 1991 she began her ministry in spiritual direction, focused around her art and writing, at Ikon Studios in LaGrange Park, Illinois. During the summer of 1994, June through August, she answered the request of the NCCB (National Conference of Catholic Bishops) for volunteers to teach English to the staff at Caritas (International Catholic Relief Agency) in a small town near Budapest, Hungary.

While at Ikon Studios, she created art works that were widely exhibited and that earned honors and certificates, as well as writing a book illustrated with her drawings, Woman Space, that was published in 1998. She enriched her retreats in another way, as well, by performing for the retreatants as the clown, Popcorn Annie. After ten years at Ikon Studios, she continued this ministry on her own while living in Chicago Ridge, Illinois.

She also created some of the art work for “The Way of Gentle Truth: the Life of Catherine of Siena,” performed by Sister Kathleen Harkins at Siena Heights College and other places. In addition, she was a preacher for Mission appeals, served on the Global Peace and Justice Commission, and was Delegate of her Mission Group.

In July 2007 she died at a hospital in Palos Heights, Illinois, and a wake-remembrance service was held for her in the Chicago region shortly after her death. The wake-remembrance service in Adrian was held in Holy Rosary Chapel on July 19, 2007, her natal day and the day on which she would have celebrated her seventy-ninth birthday. Sister Sarah Fergus, Prioress of the Dominican Midwest Mission Chapter, extended sympathy and welcome to those present: Sister Ann’s brother John; her sisters Mary, Nellie, and Jo; several nieces and nephews; and many Dominican friends. Sister Sarah summarized Sister Ann’s life and ministry, and ended by saying:

Another aspect of Sister Ann’s life was her great love of people—her family, the sisters in the Congregation, those with whom she ministered. She took great joy in getting to know the sisters from Eastern Europe, who remained faithful to the Church under great persecution. She often engaged in conversation with people she met—taxi drivers, shoppers in the super market, sales clerks, postal workers. She took time to listen to the cares of those she met in the daily routine of life—those she called the “common folk”—the hidden church. Her love for her family was deep—she was a part of their lives. Her nieces and nephews, grandnieces and –nephews called her “Aunt Honey.”

Sister Sarah finished with a quote from one of Sister Ann’s poems.

I am with you always, you sighed
And I surrendered.
My darkness vanished in the Light of
Your passionate love.
Now I live my secret Fiat,
My Beloved and I.

Sister Mary Fran Fleischaker sent a message to the wake. She wrote in part:

My friendship with Ann developed over the years through our mutual passion for the arts as expressions of the soul and nourishment for the spirit. I admired her unbounded creativity and the beauty of her sculptures and poetry.

On many occasions, Ann showed me gracious hospitality when I would return to Chicago for community meetings and needed a place to stay. . . . She was a good listener. At times I would seek out her wisdom concerning my own spiritual journey. At our last visit, her advice was, “Be patient and allow God’s will for you to be revealed.” I knew she was right!

Finally, we shared an enthusiasm for her work with the sisters of Eastern Europe who emerged not long ago from fifty years of oppression under the yoke of Communism. I learned from her that we North American religious women have something precious to learn from our sisters who see religious life through a different lens.

Sister Christa Marsik read several expressions of sorrow from sister-members of the Forum for Sisters. She ended by saying:

Ann’s vision was global. She was so aware of the struggles of peoples in other countries. As part of her sabbatical she carved the bust of a woman and entitled it "Rachel Weeping.” She also wrote a beautiful poem along with it depicting the struggles of the people in Tiananamen Square, Bosnia, Nicaragua, Soweto. And I am sure she would add Iraq to that cry, as she did when she created the Nagazaki Cross depicting the sufferings of those experiencing WWII.

As requested by Sister Ann, Sister Christine Matthews read a poem by Michaelangelo that expressed Sister Ann’s philosophy that art is not a “sovereign lord to idolize” but that “its focus must be fixed on the love divine, outstretching on the cross, to enfold us closer, open arms.”

Sister Ann died on July 16, 2007. Her funeral was held in Holy Rosary Chapel, Adrian, on July 20. Father Art Kerwin of the Ashram Community on the Motherhouse campus presided at the funeral liturgy, Sister Mary Ann Ennis was the homilist, and Sister Ann was laid to rest in the Congregational cemetery. She will not be forgotten—the beautiful art works that she created will keep her memory alive.