OUR LADY OF FATIMA
CATHOLIC CHURCH
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OUR LADY OF FATIMA CATHOLIC CHURCH |
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Sister Mary Michaela I.H.M. was born in St. Michael's Hospital in Stevens Point, Wisconsin. Even from birth, providentially, Sister had an association with her patron she would later bear in her religious life. She was baptized in St. Stephen's Catholic Church. At the age of four, her family relocated to Phoenix, Arizona. Sister attended the local Catholic parochial school attached to the Parish Church of St. Gregory. She received her First Holy Communion and made Confirmation at the same Church by Bishop Francis Green the Ordinary of Tucson, Arizona. In her teenage years she attended West High School, in Phoenix. Her senior year of High School was completed at Maria Regina Academy in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho - her family having relocated again to keep their Traditional Catholic Faith in the wake of the turbulent late 1960s following the upheavals in the Church after the Second Vatican Council.
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| St Michael's Hospital, Stevens Point | St Stephen's Catholic Church, Stevens Point |
Divine Stirrings
Heeding the call to follow Jesus Christ, she entered upon a period of vocation discernment that began on September 15, 1973. Her postulancy with the traditional Order of Oblates of Mary Immaculate Queen (an association of Catholics originally approved by Bishop Sylvester William Treinen of the Catholic Diocese of Boise, Idaho in 1967) began the following year on July 2nd, 1974. Her novitiate began September 8, 1974 and concluded with the ceremony of her first vows August 22, 1975. With the conclusion of her novitiate, Sister began what would later become twenty years of teaching the Kindergarten class. She made her perpetual profession, August 22, 1979.
Perpetual Profession 1979
In addition to her teaching assignment, Sister was given additional duties over the years: dinner cook, sacristan, house mother to boarders. One of her most difficult yet privileged tasks was to be chief medical care-giver to the Very Reverend Denis Chicoine who had been the first Superior General of the order after it had adopted a new rule and constitution in 1986. For almost a year, in addition to teaching school she took care of Father Chicoine. He finally lost his battle with Cancer and passed away August 10, 1995.
Scenes over the Years
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| The Kindergarteners dated May 1988 | With Boarders on the Jesuit Cemetery Steps |
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| Outdoor Rosary Procession (First Nun in Photograph) | At the door to the Choir loft |
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| House-Mother to Boarders | The Last Kindergarten Class 1995-96 |
"A Reform of the Reform"
In 1996 Sister Mary Michaela and the then Father Terence Fulham co-founded a religious institute the Little Company of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and with episcopal approval of their new rule (largely modeled on the Rule written by the late Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre for the Society of St. Pius X and the original "Norms" or "Minims" of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate Queen) they arrived at Our Lady of Fatima parish in 1996. Father arrived November 22nd and was joined December 7th by the new parish assistant.
In the ensuing ten years both Pastor and Assistant have labored strenuously bringing the Sacraments and Catechism all over the State of Florida making many dozens of life-long friends in passing.
Recently, Sister was inspired to compose an audio catechism for younger children in the parish preparing for their first reception of Penance and Holy Communion as well as Holy Confirmation which you can access elsewhere on this site.
St John the Evangelist, Green Bay,
Wisconsin
Completed in 1915 by Sister's paternal grandfather's construction company.
This is the oldest continuous Catholic parish in the State of Wisconsin
  
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Copyright© Our Lady of Fatima Spring Hill, |
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