Sister Paul Therese Saiko, SSND

Our beloved Sister Paul Therese Saiko, 83, died at 10:40 a.m. on Monday, April 17, 2017, in Notre Dame Health Care, Mankato, Minnesota. The previous week she had been hospitalized in St. Paul, but returned to Good Counsel on Good Friday and entered Hospice. Sisters and family members were keeping vigil with her during her last days and were with her when she died. The Funeral Liturgy, with Father Eugene Stenzel as presider, will be held Monday, April 24, at 10:30 a.m. in Our Lady of Good Counsel Chapel, followed by burial in the Good Counsel Cemetery. A prayer service of remembrance will be held at 9:00 a.m. Monday, with visitation until the Funeral Liturgy. We extend our sympathy to her nieces and nephew and their families, her friends, former students and colleagues, and her sisters in community, the School Sisters of Notre Dame. She was preceded in death by her parents, William and Paulina (Hopfauf) Saiko, her sisters, Sister M. Cecile, SSND (Dorothy) and Rosemary Opitz, and her brothers, Father Bill, SVD, George (who died in infancy), Bob and Jim. Sister Paul Therese, the youngest of seven children, was welcomed into the Saiko family on December 1, 1933, in St. Paul. She was baptized Phyllis Therese on December 10 at the Church of St. Agnes. In later writings she attributed her strong faith life to both her “loving and devout family” and parish church community: “In addition to my family, a faith-filled domestic church, the parish church community contributed immensely to my life of faith. It was there I watched as my parents actively participated in its vibrant life. Both my father and mother attended daily Mass, were active members of its various organizations and spoke with reverence and deep respect about the priests and sisters who served there through my growing-up years.” In 1938, Phyllis enrolled in kindergarten at St. Agnes School. She wrote of her school days, “It was there that I came to admire the School Sisters of Notre Dame, who were not only excellent teachers, but great friends. I loved staying after school to erase blackboards or carry Sister’s briefcase to the convent. An amusing question asked often by my mother was, ‘Why is it you love to work at school, but find it such a burden here at home?’ . . . When I was old enough to drive, several of my friends and I would chauffer the sisters to and from the Catholic Youth Center where they taught during the summer.” She learned about helping others as she accompanied her father when he delivered food to the poor as a member of the St. Vincent DePaul Society. From her mother, who traveled extensively, she received a spirit of adventure. Her mother also started a mission club among her friends to help raise funds for her son, Father Bill, who was a missionary in New Guinea. As a high school student, Phyllis began to think seriously of religious life. Her brother was already a member of the Society of the Divine Word (SVD) and her sister Dorothy had become a School Sister of Notre Dame. As a sophomore, she discussed this with her parents and made the difficult decision to leave St. Agnes, which she loved, to become a junior aspirant at Good Counsel Academy in Mankato. She graduated from Good Counsel in June, 1951, and entered the SSND candidature in August. She later commented, “The unique spirit of friendliness, dedication and prayer that binds these women with one another in this congregation continues to inspire and attract me to this day.” As a second year candidate she did her practice-teaching at St. Peter, Hokah. She enjoyed the year as she looked forward to reception into the novitiate. At her reception, she was given the name Sister Mary Paul Therese (which was often shortened to “PT” by friends and colleagues). She professed first vows in 1954. In her first years of SSND ministry, Sister Paul Therese taught at John Ireland, St. Peter (1954-56); Sacred Heart, St. Paul (1956-59); St. Joseph the Worker, Mankato (1959-61); Holy Childhood, St. Paul (1961-65); and St. Anne, Bismarck, North Dakota (1965-67), where she was also principal. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Mount Mary College in 1963. She described the next chapter of her life in this way: “In 1967 my life changed dramatically when Sister Margareta Bertrand, our Provincial Leader, called me into her office and invited me to prepare for a new service within the community. Sister Alberta, our dearly loved and highly venerated novice director, was nearing retirement. I was to go off to school to prepare to be the next novice director. I was stunned.” She spent the 1967-68 year studying theology and scripture at the University of San Francisco, where she later completed a master’s degree in theology. In 1968 she met her first of several classes of novices. In 1984, she recounted her time with the novices: “I entered upon an assignment that ranks among the richest of my life. These were the days of radical change and unanticipated crisis in the world, the nation, the Church and religious life. Vatican II, the Vietnamese conflict, and a raised consciousness regarding minorities, the poor and the oppressed surfaced new questions in the nation and in the Church. For the next eight years, I interacted with some truly outstanding groups of young women who came from this new world with myriad questions, deep Christian commitment, radical generosity and a hope for the future that energized all of us.” Sister Paul Therese was elected to the SSND Mankato Provincial Council in 1975. She wrote about the experience: “Working with the community as a whole added yet another dimension to the deep respect and admiration I have for the goodness and generosity of religious women. Administration also brought me into contact with bishops and laity, Church representatives of all kinds, in a variety of dioceses.” Following the completion of her second term in 1983, Sister Paul Therese spent the next year on sabbatical. In 1984, Sister Paul Therese was invited to join the formation staff as a spiritual director at St. John Vianney Minor Seminary and the Saint Paul Major Seminary. These two part-time positions eventually became a full-time position at the Saint Paul Seminary: a member of the formation faculty and a teacher of Scripture and spiritual direction. An article, written at the time of her retirement in 2014, listed her titles at the seminary as she worked for five rectors and with eight spiritual directors: “Academic Advisor; Teacher; Full-Time Formation Faculty Member; Admission Committee Member; Coordinator of Evaluations; Coordinator of the Wednesday Morning Spirituality Program; and Coordinator of the Retreats and Days of Recollection.” As a member of the seminary staff, Sister Paul Therese had many opportunities for education and enrichment. She wrote, “The most enriching was traveling to Jerusalem a number of times. Here it is where Scripture came alive in a whole new way. . . . The land where Jesus walked not only has enriched my teaching; it has entered into my very being as daily study of it was part of my life.” In her 30 years of ministry, Sister Paul Therese touched the lives of many priests, seminarians and colleagues. One of them wrote to her a few years ago: “You were consistently one of my finest colleagues. Your capacity to take on most any task, your enthusiasm for working with our students . . . and your appreciation for the ironic oddness we carry as individuals and institutions endeared you to me. I can’t think of you without hearing descriptors like ‘strength of character,’ ‘optimism,’ ‘long vision.’ ‘great heart,’ and ‘enjoyment of life.’” She was known as “the institutional memory of the seminary. Everyone could turn to her with so many questions, and she would answer each one with joy and efficiency.” Sister Paul Therese shared her love of Scripture with many others as she conducted days of recollection, taught classes to sisters, or gave talks at parishes. In her retirement years, it was her plan to continue this ministry. Her final presentation was a reflection on Scripture and the Psalms to the Mankato Serra Club in March. Family and friends were very important to Sister Paul Therese. For several years she spent every weekend with her sister, Sister Cecile, a resident in Good Counsel’s Health Care. She valued the time spent with her sister, nieces and nephews, as well as with friends. She has been described as “a person of relationships.” Sister Paul Therese began and concluded a 2010 autobiography with the words “Incredibly blessed and overwhelmingly grateful.” May she now “Sing of the Lord’s Goodness” in the Lord’s presence, continuing that spirit of being “incredibly blessed and overwhelmingly grateful.”