Letter from Mother Mary Gertrude to Fr. Peter Bowe

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St. Joseph's Academy Tipton, Indiana March 12, 1944. V. Rev. Father Peter, O. S. Fo., Kilkanney, Ireland. V. Rev. and dear Father : Rev. Father Luke Shechan, of Bend, Oregon, has, no doubt, presented our cause to you previous to this time. While our Mother House is some two thousand miles distant from his Mission, I am making a great effort to help him in the western country. Here, in Indiana, we have a large and commodous Novitiate, where young ladies may be trained and educated, preparatory to entering our Novitiate. We are well equipped, for the work, having excellent Sisters to give both religious and secular instructions, that when subjects are permitted to enter the Novitiate they are qualified to handle the teaching of the little ones entrusted to their care. V. Rev. and dear Father, I know that there are many pious and holy souls among your people, who will be glad to come and help us to establish a Convent in Oregon. Unless you have visited the western country you can not understand the great need for Sisters to help the good Fathers in extending God's glory and His love among the ignorant and forsaken in those regions. I am asking our good St. Joseph to appeal to you in my name, telling you of the urgent call for assistance for this new field of labor for his own daughters. Father Shechan requested me to give you some of the requirements and qualifications for applicants for our Order. We receive young ladies from sixteen years to twenty-two years of age. We prefer them young, -- they do not enter the Novitiate, as this would be too St. Joseph's Academy Tipton, Indiana 2. severe on their constitutions. They form a class called Aspirants, giving their time to studies and prayer. When they are sufficiently instructed, they are admitted to the Novitiate, and given the holy habit. We would like for the young ladies to have their passage money, and wardrobe. However, should they not be able to meet the expense of coming I am willing to help them all I can. I trust and pray, dear Rev. Father, that by May or June, you will have a goodly number of strong and brave souls to send us. It will be most encouraging to Father Shechan and the Sisters. Whose you send us will form a foundation of the "Sisters of St. Joseph" in the Western diocese. Should you desire any further information, only write, and I shall be pleased to answer. Trusting that I may have the pleasure of hearing from you at your earliest convenience, and leaving our cause in the hands of good Saint Joseph, under whose patronage we are, Believe me, Sincerely yours in Christ, Mother Mary Eustrude, Aug. 4. Sister of St. Joseph. The wardrobe for extension is simple. Need not be expensive.