Sister Michaela Hedican was elected prioress of the Sisters of the Order of St. Benedict Feb 27. She will be installed as the religious community’s 16th prioress June 5 at the monastery’s Sacred Heart Chapel in St. Joseph, Minn.
Sister Michaela served as prioress of St. Bede Monastery in Eau Claire, Wis., from 2008 until the community joined the Sisters of the Order of St. Benedict in St. Joseph last August. She is a native of Virginia, Minn.
Sister Michaela will replace Sister Nancy Bauer, who has served as prioress for the last six years.
St. Matthew anniversary
St. Matthew in St. Paul will kick off a yearlong 125th anniversary celebration March 5.
The event begins with a 4 p.m. Mass celebrated by Archbishop Emeritus Harry Flynn. A Mardi Gras dinner and dance in the social hall will follow and are open to the public.
The dinner features traditional New Orleans food including gumbo, rice, Kings cake and bananas foster. City Vibe will provide music from 7:30 p.m. to midnight. Tickets are available through the parish by calling (651) 224-9793.
St. Matthew parish, the German Catholic parish on the city’s West Side, was formally organized in 1886, but the church and school buildings weren’t finished until a year later. While they waited for their own space, parishioners gathered at St. Michael, the Irish parish on the West Side, where the first weddings and baptisms were performed.
The anniversary celebration will continue through Mardi Gras 2012 when the school begins its 125th anniversary. Events planned include a speaker series, fall festival, a Mother’s Day brunch and an all-school reunion. For more information, visit the parish website at http://www.st-matts.org.
Perfect student
John Hanson, a senior at Hill-Murray School in Maplewood, may have trouble being humble as he takes perfection to the limit. Besides scoring a perfect 36 on his ACT test, he is a National Merit Commended Scholar, an academic letter winner, AP U.S. History Student of the Year and was nominated for the Presidential Scholar Award.
He also earned the Hill-Murray Bronze Service Award for his volunteer work to serve the poor and vulnerable.
Hanson’s perfect score helped Hill-Murray School capture its second consecutive Red Quill Award for academic excellence from the American College Testing Service. The school is one of only six schools and the only Catholic school in Minnesota to receive the award.
Kudos to Father McDonough
Father Kevin McDonough, pastor of St. Peter Claver in St. Paul and parochial administrator/chaplain at Incarnation/Sagrado Corazon de Jesus in Minneapolis, was honored during the Jan. 17 Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday Breakfast with a Local Legend Award for community involvement and service, which demonstrates King’s legacy of nonviolent social change.
Spirit staffer home
John Wolszon, production supervisor at The Catholic Spirit, returned home safely Feb. 17 from a month-long trip to Egypt. Watch a video interview in which he talks about his experience of the history-making protests at TheCatholicSpirit.com.
