Father Rick Phipps and Ann Hardy, principal, thanked everyone for their help in preparing for the blessing.
Christopher Green (above) reads a display about Sister Bowman set up in the school.
Sherman Nunn Abdur-Razzaq of the Mississippi Afrocentrik Dance and Drum Ensemble performs during the ceremony.
Students spell out Sister Thea Bowman as Yolanda Henderson, sixth-grade teacher, holds up a photo of Sister Bowman during the blessing ceremony for the Sister Thea Bowman Catholic School at Jackson Christ the King Church on Sunday, Oct. 29.
Springfield Dominicans write
history of St. Dominic’s By Fabvienen Taylor
MADISON — “It was a labor of love for me to be involved with the writing of the book,” said Sister Josephine Therese Uhll, former president of St. Dominic Health Services Inc. in Jackson, who spoke by telephone with Mississippi Catholic from the Springfield Dominican (OP) Motherhouse in Illinois.
Sister Uhll, who co-authored “The Life of Christ Impels Us: A Short History of St. Dominic-Jackson Memorial Hospital and St. Dominic Health Services Inc., 1946-2000,” with Sister Susan Karina Dickey, signed copies of the book last month at St. Dominic-Jackson Memorial Hospital in Jackson and St. Catherine’s Village.
Sister Dickey holds a doctorate in American history from Texas Tech University and is director of archives and historian for the Diocese of Springfield.
She was asked to prepare a short history of the congregation’s health care work in Jackson aided by Sister Uhll’s “St. Dominic Health Services, Inc.: a Chronicle with Commentary, 1946-2000,” a detailed 1,000-page account of her perspective as administrator from 1964. Sister Uhll retired in 1995.
‘Sister Karina did not know anything about St. Dominic’s hospital because her ministry had not taken her into health care but she is very interested in the ministry and I think will continue her interest. I think she was happy to have me by her side to give her some help in correcting things and double checking the accuracy.”
Five hundred copies of the 74-page book were printed; 400 were brought to Jackson. All but about 40 have been sold. The book costs $20 plus tax and is available in the hospital’s gift shop.
Sisters Uhll said the lines at the booksignings were long. “But I was just delighted to see old friends, retired physicians and retired and new employees. At St. Catherine’s I met a lot of new residents who were happy to meet me, of course that got me all puffed up. I was really excited they were so happy there and delighted to get the history.
“It was very encouraging and made me very happy,” Sister Uhll said. “And I was very happy to meet Bishop Joseph Latino and to see Bishop (William) Houck too.”
Sister Uhll works part-time in her congregation’s archives and is active, as needed, in other ministries.
involved with the writing of the book,” said Sister Josephine Therese Uhll, former president of St. Dominic Health Services Inc. in Jackson, who spoke by telephone with Mississippi Catholic from the Springfield Dominican (OP) Motherhouse in Illinois.