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GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — Religious callings ran in Sister Faye Huelsmann's family but she wasn't planning that life for herself.
At least not until she attended her first year of college in 1958 — that's when she “really felt called by God,” to become a nun.
Sister Faye was 18 when she entered the Sisters of St. Joseph of Concordia, Kan., a community of Catholic women whose origins date back to 1650 France when six women and a Jesuit priest formed the order to serve God and their neighbors.
Those early sisters were widows who supported themselves by making lace. Their mission at the time was to find homes for street women, Sister Faye said. Today the Sisters of St. Joseph hold many occupations, including nurses, teachers, lawyers and counselors.
Sister Faye and the 16 other women who entered the religious order then lived in the “Mother House” in Concordia while they received their spiritual training and attended college for their chosen profession.
Sister Faye taught grade school, and later high school English and home economics.
She remembered the 1960s being a tumultuous time for the religious order.
“A lot of Sisters were questioning, and leaving,” Sister Faye said.
After the Roman Catholic Church's Vatican Council II, religious communities were asked to revitalize their communities, review their origins, and restructure outdated modes, she said.
“It was a difficult time for religious communities,” Sister Faye said. “Some liked the structure the way it was.”
When Sister Faye first entered the order, nuns were required to wear a habit — a robe-like black dress with a white bib, covering the entire body. The dress was accompanied by a “head dress” that included a veil.
Part of the 1960s restructuring called for discarding the old-fashioned habit and adopting modern attire.
“When we studied our origins we discovered the clothing we were wearing was clothing of the widows,” Sister Faye said. “It got written into our rules — this is how you dress — the rules didn't change although the times and dress did.”
Some sisters were slow to embrace the changes.
Sister Faye's friend, Sister Pat Lewter volunteered to be part of an experimental group, who began wearing contemporary clothing.
A year or so later, the freedom to dress in modern clothes opened up to everybody.
“I went into street clothes right away,” Sister Faye said.
“My first dress was made out of my habit.”
Sister Faye remembered wearing “regular” clothes for the first time teaching school.
“The kids didn't like it. They wanted us to get back into our habits,” she said. At least until they were assured the sisters weren't intending to leave the convent.
Sister Faye used her home economic skills to teach the other sisters how to sew new clothes.
“It was pretty traumatic (for some) after being covered up for so many years,” Sister Faye said. “Some went to a modified habit.”
There are still some communities in the world, including in the United States, where communities continue to wear the full habit.
Establishing a GJ counseling center
Sister Faye taught high school five years in Grand Island, Neb., where she met and became friends with Sister Pat Lewter. The two women later volunteered to open a House of Prayer, a place where both sisters and lay people could go for retreats, spiritual direction, or just time away.
Now called “Manna House of Prayer,” the center still exists and is located in the original Mother House where Sister Faye received much of her spiritual training.
Sisters Faye and Pat visited another prayer house in Kansas City where the director, Ed Hayes told the two women they would be good as a team and should work together. The women moved to Montrose where Sister Faye worked as a religious educator and Sister Pat did liturgy work.
Meanwhile, oil shale exploration was booming in western Colorado and the region was experiencing a large influx of people. The two women, who had each earned master's degrees in counseling, determined there was a need for their services — primarily for spouses and children of men who were gone, working in the oil fields.
The sisters moved to Grand Junction in 1981, and began counseling people in their living room. They formally founded their Counseling and Education Center, also known as the Center for Enriched Communication the following year.
Then the bust happened.
“It changed our focus some, but not the fact there was a need,” Sister Faye said. “Men were losing their jobs, there was more conflict in families, a lot of upheaval, a lack of money.
“Now we see it happening again — I think even to a greater extent because the whole country is having economic problems. People can't even move.”
The Counseling and Education Center has seen a 27 percent increase in clients in the last six months.
“That's a lot,” Sister Faye said. “Usually summers are kind of slow, but not this summer.”
‘Like going home'
The counseling center bought and moved into a house at 2708 Patterson Road in 2001. The nonprofit agency supports itself through grants from the United Way, foundations, businesses and individuals.
“We really depend on the community to help us stay afloat,” Sister Faye said.
People who seek counseling pay a sliding scale fee based on ability to pay.
“Our intention in establishing (the counseling center) is to see people who couldn't afford regular counseling (fees),” Sister Faye said. Today there are eight counselors who work at the Counseling and Education Center.
The center offers couples, family and individual counseling, as well as anger management and domestic violence group counseling.
“One of the satisfying things for me, is when I see children improve and get so much more at ease with themselves — either by working with the child or the parents,” Sister Faye said.
The counseling center and the Sisters of St. Joseph are separate entities. Sister Faye and Pat are the only counselors out of the group who are also nuns.
Twice a year the two sisters return to the Mother House in Kansas to meet with the other members of their religious order.
Sister Faye said they ask one another “how can we as a group be stronger? How can we be a help through whatever work we're doing?
“When you have a spirituality you have a place within you from where you are strengthened.
“So when you come together with other women you have that empowerment from all of them too. One of the values of being in a religious community, we have that support system,” Sister Faye said.
“It's like going home.”
Reach Sharon Sullivan at ssullivan@gjfreepress.com.
At least not until she attended her first year of college in 1958 — that's when she “really felt called by God,” to become a nun.
Sister Faye was 18 when she entered the Sisters of St. Joseph of Concordia, Kan., a community of Catholic women whose origins date back to 1650 France when six women and a Jesuit priest formed the order to serve God and their neighbors.
Those early sisters were widows who supported themselves by making lace. Their mission at the time was to find homes for street women, Sister Faye said. Today the Sisters of St. Joseph hold many occupations, including nurses, teachers, lawyers and counselors.
Sister Faye and the 16 other women who entered the religious order then lived in the “Mother House” in Concordia while they received their spiritual training and attended college for their chosen profession.
Sister Faye taught grade school, and later high school English and home economics.
She remembered the 1960s being a tumultuous time for the religious order.
“A lot of Sisters were questioning, and leaving,” Sister Faye said.
After the Roman Catholic Church's Vatican Council II, religious communities were asked to revitalize their communities, review their origins, and restructure outdated modes, she said.
“It was a difficult time for religious communities,” Sister Faye said. “Some liked the structure the way it was.”
When Sister Faye first entered the order, nuns were required to wear a habit — a robe-like black dress with a white bib, covering the entire body. The dress was accompanied by a “head dress” that included a veil.
Part of the 1960s restructuring called for discarding the old-fashioned habit and adopting modern attire.
“When we studied our origins we discovered the clothing we were wearing was clothing of the widows,” Sister Faye said. “It got written into our rules — this is how you dress — the rules didn't change although the times and dress did.”
Some sisters were slow to embrace the changes.
Sister Faye's friend, Sister Pat Lewter volunteered to be part of an experimental group, who began wearing contemporary clothing.
A year or so later, the freedom to dress in modern clothes opened up to everybody.
“I went into street clothes right away,” Sister Faye said.
“My first dress was made out of my habit.”
Sister Faye remembered wearing “regular” clothes for the first time teaching school.
“The kids didn't like it. They wanted us to get back into our habits,” she said. At least until they were assured the sisters weren't intending to leave the convent.
Sister Faye used her home economic skills to teach the other sisters how to sew new clothes.
“It was pretty traumatic (for some) after being covered up for so many years,” Sister Faye said. “Some went to a modified habit.”
There are still some communities in the world, including in the United States, where communities continue to wear the full habit.
Establishing a GJ counseling center
Sister Faye taught high school five years in Grand Island, Neb., where she met and became friends with Sister Pat Lewter. The two women later volunteered to open a House of Prayer, a place where both sisters and lay people could go for retreats, spiritual direction, or just time away.
Now called “Manna House of Prayer,” the center still exists and is located in the original Mother House where Sister Faye received much of her spiritual training.
Sisters Faye and Pat visited another prayer house in Kansas City where the director, Ed Hayes told the two women they would be good as a team and should work together. The women moved to Montrose where Sister Faye worked as a religious educator and Sister Pat did liturgy work.
Meanwhile, oil shale exploration was booming in western Colorado and the region was experiencing a large influx of people. The two women, who had each earned master's degrees in counseling, determined there was a need for their services — primarily for spouses and children of men who were gone, working in the oil fields.
The sisters moved to Grand Junction in 1981, and began counseling people in their living room. They formally founded their Counseling and Education Center, also known as the Center for Enriched Communication the following year.
Then the bust happened.
“It changed our focus some, but not the fact there was a need,” Sister Faye said. “Men were losing their jobs, there was more conflict in families, a lot of upheaval, a lack of money.
“Now we see it happening again — I think even to a greater extent because the whole country is having economic problems. People can't even move.”
The Counseling and Education Center has seen a 27 percent increase in clients in the last six months.
“That's a lot,” Sister Faye said. “Usually summers are kind of slow, but not this summer.”
‘Like going home'
The counseling center bought and moved into a house at 2708 Patterson Road in 2001. The nonprofit agency supports itself through grants from the United Way, foundations, businesses and individuals.
“We really depend on the community to help us stay afloat,” Sister Faye said.
People who seek counseling pay a sliding scale fee based on ability to pay.
“Our intention in establishing (the counseling center) is to see people who couldn't afford regular counseling (fees),” Sister Faye said. Today there are eight counselors who work at the Counseling and Education Center.
The center offers couples, family and individual counseling, as well as anger management and domestic violence group counseling.
“One of the satisfying things for me, is when I see children improve and get so much more at ease with themselves — either by working with the child or the parents,” Sister Faye said.
The counseling center and the Sisters of St. Joseph are separate entities. Sister Faye and Pat are the only counselors out of the group who are also nuns.
Twice a year the two sisters return to the Mother House in Kansas to meet with the other members of their religious order.
Sister Faye said they ask one another “how can we as a group be stronger? How can we be a help through whatever work we're doing?
“When you have a spirituality you have a place within you from where you are strengthened.
“So when you come together with other women you have that empowerment from all of them too. One of the values of being in a religious community, we have that support system,” Sister Faye said.
“It's like going home.”
Reach Sharon Sullivan at ssullivan@gjfreepress.com.
