“Today we will live in the moment. Unless it's unpleasant, in which case we will eat a cookie.”
— Cookie Monster

“Life is a cookie,
and friends are the chocolate chips.”
— Anonymous
Kolacky traditionally are filled with various flavors, including apricot, nut, poppyseed, raspberry and — Sister Norberta’s personal favorite — lekvar (prune).
Sister Norberta
For the Love of Kolacky
As usual, I have a memory from my good old days as a child. At Easter time when I was about 8 or 9 years old, my mother was baking her favorite Slovak kolacky (pronounced
ko-lachee) cookies. The kitchen was booming full of them in every empty space. When I came through the kitchen, I asked her if I could have a “kolach” because I knew they were very good. She pointed to a few along the edge of the table that were slightly burned and said I could help myself to those.
 
She noticed my hesitation about taking the “imperfect” ones. “They’re still good,” she said. “They will make your hair curl.” In my naivete, I took one and began chewing on the cookie, looking hard at my mother. I finally said, “Is my hair curling yet?” How puzzled I was when my mom giggled and turned away from me. And how disappointed I was when my hair didn’t curl after eating burnt Easter cookies. True, they didn't make my hair curly, but I always looked forward to my mother’s delicious Easter cookies.
— Sister Norberta Kralosky
Throughout Women’s History Month, our alumnae are honoring members of the School Sisters of St. Francis who touched their lives back then and who they consider to have been particularly influential in who they are now.
Everlasting Laughter
A 1981 St. Francis Academy alum is still paying forward the laughter that inspired her in Sister Carol Ann Papp’s art class.
Precious Life Lessons
A 1972 Mount Assisi Academy alum remembers beloved teachers who offered life lessons she still taps into today.
Do you have a Sister Story to share? Submit it through our Alumnae Portal.
The Great Three Days
The time between Holy Thursday and Easter Sunday is the holiest time of the year for Christians. During the liturgies of the Triduum, the Church uses in the fullest way possible the rituals and symbols that shape all of our liturgical celebrations throughout the year.
 
Join our St. Francis Center for Renewal for a special two-part online spiritual program, The Paschal Triduum: The Church’s Great Three Days, on Monday and Tuesday, March 29-30. Over two evenings, participants will “break open” some of the principal rituals and scriptural texts of these “once-a-year” liturgies, inviting fuller participation in the mysteries we celebrate.
 
The program will be conducted entirely online through Zoom. The $30 registration fee includes both sessions. For more details and registration, click the button below.
Part I (7 to 8:30 p.m. Monday, March 29): Holy Thursday: Mass of the Lord’s Supper and Good Friday: Commemoration of the Lord’s Passion

Part II (7 to 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 30): The Easter Vigil in the Holy Night
Sister Barbara Ann’s grandmother
Mary (left) and Aunt Frances
A Grandmother’s Unconditional Love
The most influential woman in my life was my grandmother, Mary Swart. Although I lived with my Aunt Frances, my Grandmother came to visit us every Thursday and every other Sunday. She had to work to support us, which she did with so much love.

Whenever I was naughty, she would take me in her arms, squeeze me tight and say, “Barbara Ann, I love you, but I don’t like what you did. Now don’t do that again.”

It was only many years later that I realized that is exactly what God says to me after I go to confession. My grandmother modeled for me God’s unconditional love.
— Sister Barbara Ann Webster
Upcoming Online Spiritual Programs
April 6
April 15
April 21
April 24