From the S&S archives: Nuns from Detroit aid German children

A LITTLE BIT of Michigan can be found at Carlsberg, Germany, where four Detroit nuns have established a home for refugee children.

Arriving in Germany in July 1956. the sisters carried few worldly possessions and had instructions from their superiors to start the very first mission of their order in Germany.

Commonly called Felician sisters, the nuns are members of the Franciscan Congregation of St. Felix of Cantalice, founded 102 years ago in Warsaw, Poland. Now numbering more than 3,000 members, the Congregation has been established in the U.S. since 1882, with headquarters at Livonia, Mich., on the outskirts of Detroit.

In Rome, at present, the sacred Congregation of Rites is considering the order's foundress. Marijka Angela Truskowska, for beatification, the first step on the road to possible sainthood.

Settling in an abandoned farmhouse in Carlsberg, the four American nuns named their new home the Marianum Children's Home.

"We did feel a bit strange when we first came here," says Sister Mary Julia, the sister superior of the group, "but the people of Carlsberg soon took us into their hearts and into their homes. Now the strangeness is all gone and I think it only existed in our minds anyway."

A friendly lady from Bay City, Mich., whose specialty is teaching high school mathematics, Sister Julia was principal of various archdiocesan high schools in the Detroit area and she also did social work in Baltimore, Md.

Established in their new home, the sisters commenced caring for a few of the many refugee children in West Germany who were in sore need of a little kindness and affection.

"In a short time," says Sister Julia, "our house could not accommodate any more children and we sought aid from our new friends and acquaintances in Germany — and they did not disappoint us."

They soon procured some old abandoned barracks buildings in Kaiserslautern. Enlisting the aid of Polish labor service units stationed at Pulaski barracks, they soon had a home, capable of accommodating 44 children. The men donated all of their spare time working on the project until it was completed.

Sister Mary Claver, from Jackson, Mich., is currently the convent's housekeeper, cook and maid-of-all-work. Gifted with a ready smile, Sister Claver says, "We're like the Army in that we all take a crack at KP. Fixing meals is something new for us because in the larger convents that is a regularly assigned duty. Since we are teachers we have always had our meals prepared for us. Now, we just have to learn all there is to knew about keeping house."

The novelty of four American nuns in the community soon attracted visitors. One of the first groups to come was the Sodality of the Madonna at Landstuhl. The ladies saw that the sisters lacked nearly all the basic necessities in their newly acquired home. They started a fund drive and soon the nuns had an electric washer with which to launder the children's clothes. Alter that the sodality continued to help the project in every way possible

And, as word got around, the nuns began to receive more American visitors. Soldiers, civilians and dependents, they all stopped by, for the most part just to say "Hello." But they told their friends. and gradually the sisters started to accumulate some of the things they needed to accomplish their mission.

Then came the day last summer when Mannheim's 34th AAA Brig was on maneuvers in the area and a helicopter from the unit landed in a meadow adjoining the home.

Within a few minutes school was "out" for the day and the children clustered around to see the strange new aircraft and to make friends with the crew. Soon other members of the 34th came on the scene and from that day forth the Marianum home became the 34th's special project in German-American community relations.

The brigade's headquarters battery has been taking an active interest in the children on a year-round basis. Not only have they been helping the home in a variety of group projects, but many of the men come and spend their off-duty time with the youngsters. They have planned a complete Christmas program for them and American families living in the Ramstein area have planned to take the children into their homes for a three-day holiday between Christmas and New Year's.

As if caring for the children at the Marianum home were not a great enough task in itself, the sisters have undertaken the additional duty of teaching catechism classes to U.S. dependent children at Mannheim, in Sembach, and at Patrick Henry Village in Heidelberg.

To get to their catechism classes the sisters at present have to rely on a loaned German car driven by one of their German friends. "But." says Sister Julia, "Sister Lucretia is taking driving lessons and maybe some day we may have our own transportation and be able to get around to our catechism classes and do the other things we have to do, and which cannot be done on foot."

Language has been a minor difficulty for the nuns. None of them knew German when they arrived, but they are learning the language rapidly.

"We have some records," said Sisler Claver, "and we are picking up quite a bit from the children and by just talking among ourselves. We have to talk German when we go into Carlsberg to shop for groceries and other necessities and the people in town are very helpful. And German is not the only language we are learning. Languages which may be heard here at the home include Lithuanian, Polish, Russian and Yugoslav. And, we in turn try to teach the youngsters a little English."

The work at the Marianum home is generally divided so that the individual talents of the sisters can be used to best advantage. Sister Celine and Sister Lucretia have the primary assignment of teaching the children.

Sister Celine, like Sister Julia, is a Bay City native. A specialist in social studies and homemaking, she teaches a grade school curriculum to the girls.

Possessor of a master's degree in music from Notre Dame University, Sister Lucretia, of Detroit, gives music and singing lessons to the children, and provides organ music for the group. Besides that she has general supervision of the boys school work.

Describing their job at Carlsberg, Sister Julia says, "Our work here is to give these youngsters a better outlook and to demonstrate to them that there is something better in life than the current misery of their circumstances."

With some emphasis, she adds, "Strictly speaking, we are not an orphanage. While it is true that we have some children whose parents are gone, most of our youngsters are with us only temporarily until their parents can find homes and are able to care for them properly."

Solely maintained by charity, the Marianum home depends on benefactors for support. "Without the many kindnesses shown us by the good people of Carlsberg and our American friends, our task here could become quite difficult," said Sister Julia.