Sr. Della Marie Doyle was elected as our new Reverend Mother on Saturday, June 6. Bishop Jeffrey Monforton celebrated her installation Mass on Saturday, June 13 at Father of Mercy Chapel. We also elected Sr. Monica Spates as the First Councilor (assistant to the Reverend Mother) and Sr. Elizabeth Beussink, Sr. Mary Rose Bratlien and Sr. Miriam O’Callaghan as the remaining General Councilors. Together the five sisters will lead the community until 2026.
Mother Della Marie, 47, is from Seaside, Oregon. She has served on the General Council for two terms, from 2008 to 2014 and from 2014 to 2020.
She shared recently that she is still discovering the Lord’s purpose in calling her to this position.
“I feel privileged and humbled by the Lord calling me to serve his brides and build them up,” she said. “I have the sense of being called to strengthen our fraternal life.”
Mother Della Marie will have many opportunities to do this, since it is her responsibility to lead our community of 34 sisters in faithfully living our founding grace to be Franciscan contemplative penitents committed to works of mercy; our charisms of crucified love, mercy, poverty and contemplation; and our mission to glorify God and make known His merciful love. It is her task to promote ongoing renewal and growth in each sister's spiritual life, in our common bonds of love and unity, and in our enthusiasm in living the vows of chastity, poverty, and obedience.
In her 25 years in community, Mother Della Marie has helped to open three of our four mission houses: Heart of Mary Mission House in downtown Steubenville in 2001; Greccio Mission House in Gaming, Austria in 2004; and St. Elizabeth Mission House in Tallahassee, Florida in 2015.
From 2006 to 2011, she lived at Heart of Mary and served at various times as the coordinator of LAMP Ministry (a twice-monthly catechetical soup kitchen) and Samaritan House (a thrift store and emergency food bank). Mother Della Marie was drawn to Franciscan religious life because of her passion for seeing and serving Christ in those who are materially poor, a passion borne from service experiences she had in high school. She loves to experience how God often works miracles for those who depend on his Divine Providence.
In 2011, she became the community’s Vocation Coordinator and served in that role for three years, accompanying women as they discerned a vocation to our community. She has also served as our kitchen coordinator for a total of about seven years, most recently from 2014-2015. In 2015, she became the Local Sister Servant at the new St. Elizabeth Mission House in Florida and served in campus ministry and outreach to the poor until April 2019, when she returned to Toronto to become the Local Sister Servant of the Professed House at Our Lady of Sorrows Monastery.
Mother Della Marie entered the community in 1995 and made her Perpetual Profession of vows on August 10, 2002 with Bishop Daniel Conlon presiding only four days after he was installed as bishop of Steubenville.
She was born the fifth of 12 children and the oldest daughter. Since she was in 2nd grade, she has had an interest in cooking and loves to serve through feeding people. She is known among the sisters for her delicious homemade bread and for her love of gardening.
Mother Della Marie studied nutrition and nursing at George Fox University and Franciscan University of Steubenville before entering the Franciscan Sisters. In 2006, she received a Bachelor’s degree in theology from Franciscan University of Steubenville. Mother Della Marie wrote her thesis on the role of the Holy Spirit in living out the feminine vocation, drawing from holy women like St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross.
The four General Councilors meet regularly with the Reverend Mother to advise and assist her in the administration and government of the community. Sr. Monica Spates, the new First Councilor, is originally from Minneapolis and has served as a General Councilor since 2014. She entered the community in 1991 and made her Perpetual Profession of vows in 1999. She holds a BA in Spanish from the University of Minnesota-Morris and a MA in Christian Spirituality from Creighton University. Some of her past assignments include Postulant Formator, Local Sister Servant of Heart of Mary Mission House and Greccio Mission House. She was also one of our first sisters to live our hermitage setting at San Damiano on the motherhouse property (2017-2019).
Sr. Elizabeth Beussink, from Jackson, Missouri, is new to the Council. She entered in 2007 and made her Perpetual Profession in 2014. She has served as the coordinator of women’s ministry at Franciscan University of Steubenville (2010-2014), the community’s Vocations Coordinator (2014-2017), and most recently as the Local Sister Servant at Greccio House in Gaming, Austria, where she ministered to Franciscan University students through spiritual direction and leading women’s Scripture groups. She has a Bachelor’s degree in theology and religious education from Franciscan University of Steubenville.
Sr. Mary Rose Bratlien, from San Diego, entered the community in 1989 and made her Perpetual Profession of vows in 1994. This is her first time in the role of a General Councilor. She has served as Vocations Coordinator (1989-2000), Postulant Formator (1995-2000), and Novice Formator (2000-2004). Sr. Mary Rose worked at Franciscan University of Steubenville as the Assistant Director of Evangelization from 2005-2006 and again from 2007 to 2011. Then she returned to the motherhouse to serve as Mission Advancement Assistant and later Director (2011-2016). Most recently, she was the Local Sister Servant at St. Elizabeth House, where she ministered to Florida State University students through spiritual advising and women’s ministry. She graduated from Franciscan University with a Bachelor’s degree in theology and elementary education and received a MA in spiritual theology from St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in 2003.
Sr. Miriam O’Callaghan, from Dublin, Ireland, entered in 2007 and made her Perpetual Profession of vows in 2018. She is also new to the Council. With her background as an accountant and qualified tax consultant in Ireland, she has served as the Finance Coordinator (2011-2012), Coordinator of the sisters’ past altar bread business (2015-2016) and Ministry Coordinator (2016-2017). She also served in campus ministry at Franciscan University’s study abroad campus in Gaming, Austria from 2012 to 2015. From 2017 until the present, she has served in the role of Vocations Coordinator.
The new Council began work immediately to make living, work, and ministry assignments for all the sisters for the coming year.
Sr. Mary Gemma Harris, T.O.R.
