Sister Eva Manney

Our beloved Sister Eva Manney, 93, died peacefully at 10:20 a.m., Thursday, August 4, 2016, in Notre Dame Health Care, Our Lady of Good Counsel, Mankato, Minnesota. She had entered Hospice about one week before she died. Her sister, Sister Marlene Manney, and her good friend, Sister Pauline Eischens, were with her when she died. The Funeral Mass for Sister Eva, with Father Eugene Stenzel as presider, will be at 10:30 a.m., Tuesday, August 9, in Good Counsel Chapel, Mankato, followed by burial of her cremains in Good Counsel Cemetery. The vigil service will be at 7:00 p.m. on Monday. We extend our sympathy to Sister Marlene and her brother, Don, her niece and nephews and their families, her friends and colleagues, and her sisters in community, the School Sisters of Notre Dame. She was preceded in death by her parents, Robert and Elizabeth (Jost) Manney, and her sister, Ruth Hanson. Sister Eva was born February 4, 1923, in St. Paul, and baptized Dorothy Cecilia about six weeks later in Sacred Heart Church. She was the second of four children in the Manney family. She grew up on St. Paul’s East Side and started first grade in 1928 at Sacred Heart School, where she was taught by School Sisters of Notre Dame. She received her First Communion in May 1931 and wrote about that day, “It was at this time that the first desire to become a sister took root in me. I talked about my desire, but my parents thought it was a passing fancy of mine.” She later commented, “I was firmly rooted in my religious vocation. No one was going to talk me out of it.” Dorothy was confirmed in April 1935 and described how her call grew stronger: “It was during this year that I helped the sisters with church work. This was an important time for me, for the desire to become a sister became more intense.” Toward the end of her eighth grade year, Sister Euphemia (Helfenbein), the principal, talked to my parents and made arrangements for me to enter the aspiranture at Good Counsel, Mankato. Sister Petronilla (Turska), my eighth grade teacher, was a great influence in my decision.” Dorothy entered the aspiranture in the fall of 1937, and one year later, petitioned for entrance into the candidature. She was only fifteen at the time, and her parents were at first opposed to this step. However, they accepted her decision when they realized that she could come home if she no longer wished to be a sister. She began training for home-service work almost immediately and spent the 1939-40 year at St. Matthew Convent, St. Paul, assisting with cooking and other housekeeping work. In August 1940, she became the cook and housekeeper for All Saints Convent, Madison Lake. She later described her four months there as a very good learning experience. She also recalled the November Armistice Day Blizzard as “the worst storm that I have ever experienced” and told how she struggled to get clothes off the line and into the house as the storm hit. In December, Dorothy left Madison Lake and returned to Good Counsel, where she began preparations for reception into the Novitiate. She was received on July 18, 1941, and given the name Sister M. Eva. Profession of vows followed one year later, on July 20, 1942. Sister Eva’s first mission assignment was home service at John Ireland Convent in St. Peter, where she stayed for seven years. In 1947, the centennial of the arrival of SSND in North America, home service sisters published a cookbook of favorite recipes. Three of Sister Eva’s recipes were published: Clothespin Buns, Cabbage Strudel and Prune Salad. In the fall of 1949, Sister Eva returned to Good Counsel, where she began a variety of ministries that would span the next 26 years. She worked in the priests’ department for one year, and then served five years as a “housemother” for the high school age aspirants. She wrote, “I liked being with the girls. I was one of them once.” For the 1955-56 academic year, she was the home service sister for young sisters in residence at St. Albertus Hall in St. Paul who were studying at Diocesan Teachers College. After that year, she came back to Good Counsel and continued her work with young sisters in the newly-established Juniorate. She remained in this ministry until the fall of 1960. Again she wrote, “I loved working with the young sisters.” In 1960, at the request of Mother Bernardia Gores, Sister Eva started her next Good Counsel Hill ministry, that of nursing assistant in the infirmary. Sister Eva described her sixteen years working with elderly and infirm sisters, “These were fruitful years for me as these sisters taught me a lot of what it means to grow old gracefully and what commitment to God was all about when one reaches the end of life’s journey.” She expanded on this idea in comments prepared for her 70th Jubilee celebration in 2012: “While I have loved all my ministries, I have loved most my years in our infirmary as a nurse’s assistant with our sisters. There were so many beautiful, elder women, who taught me, as a younger sister, so much about living and appreciating religious life. I saw transformation in many ways that touched me greatly.” Sister Eva was involved in another new venture in August 1976. The Center for Spiritual Development, which had been housed at Good Counsel, was moving to the convent in Olivia, Minnesota. Sister Eva became the Center’s homemaker, and continued in this ministry for thirteen years. The Center moved to Bird Island in 1979, and Sister Eva also became involved in the broader Bird Island community. In addition to cooking, baking, cleaning, canning and freezing produce, and providing gracious hospitality for the Center, she volunteered weekly at ACTS (Adult Client Training Service), which provided services for mentally and physically handicapped clients. She also volunteered in the Renville County Hospice Program. Following a six-month renewal experience in Chatawa, Mississippi, in 1990, Sister Eva moved to St. Mary Parish in Worthington, where her ministry was listed as Pastoral Visitor. A 1997 contract listed her job description: “1. Hospital Visitor; 2. Ministry to homebound-visitations and worship services; 3. Taped radio messages; 4. Ministry to the nursing homes through worship services; 5. Ministry to bereaved; 6. Prayer services at apartment buildings for the elderly. Sister is given a lot of freedom. Her value is first as presence and community.” Sister Eva commented, “Father Andy Olsem asked me to do the Ecumenical Talks on the radio for a week at a time. I told him that I had no education in that line. He said, ‘But you have lived experience so you can do it.’ I did it for ten years.” In 1992, when Sister Eva celebrated her Golden Jubilee as an SSND, the city of Worthington issued a proclamation in her honor. Sister Eva called her years in Worthington “grace-filled times and a privilege – a blessing.” In 2000, Sister Eva retired and moved to Good Counsel. She continued to give community service, but she also used this time to grow closer to the God she had served for so many years. Always creative and artistic, she used her talents to embroider dishtowels, create crocheted bookworms and craft over 100 knitted bears for the Mother Bear program. She much appreciated the extra time for prayer and also enjoyed staying connected with her family, playing cards, working on puzzles and doing odd jobs. In 2012, she wrote, “I have used my hands in many ways during these 70 years of vowed life. I am grateful to God for this great gift to have used them in many ways to serve God through others. God, bless the hands you gave me, to continue using them for your glory and for others.” Sister Eva reflected on her life in Aging, a poem written during her retreat in 2005. She wrote in part, “Aging is the twilight time of my life/A time to pray,/To prepare for the final journey, /A time to be./ . . .As aging turns to dying/My God, I wait!” Sister Eva’s “wait” is over. For over 93 years she lived her Liturgy theme – “Love gives everything gladly” – and now may she know her eternal reward!