“It has grown much more powerful than we ever thought it would,” Sister Elaine said. “We keep adding to it. We go a lot by the evaluations to make it better.
“It’s been a learning experience, a spiritual uplift,” she said. “It’s broadened my way of looking at spiritual direction. It’s built a community between Sister Ann, Sister Marietta, and me. We are open to each other’s ideas.”
Sister Marietta said Sister Elaine “has a zest for life that is contagious. She doesn’t often let the negative things that happen to all of us at times defeat her. She’s determined to keep going.”
The team of sisters involved with the Spiritual Direction Institute, from left, Sister Marietta Wethington, Sister Elaine, Sister Ann McGrew, and Sister Amelia Stenger, director of the Mount Saint Joseph Conference and Retreat Center, share a laugh during the graduation ceremony in 2008.
Generosity is a word that comes up often when people speak of Sister Elaine. “As the only member of the spiritual direction training course that has musical talent, she is always the one called on to lead the music for our prayer,” Sister Marietta said.
“She cares about people and that makes her very valuable in the spiritual direction training,” Sister Marietta said. “The person in front of Elaine is the person of importance at the moment. The person knows Elaine cares and will listen attentively and is often validated by her listening skills.”
One of Sister Marietta’s favorite memories of Sister Elaine occurred during the January 2009 ice storm, when Maple Mount was without power for days.
“Elaine sat at the table with me one evening — in candlelight and with whatever the kitchen staff had been able to provide without lights and power. She said, ‘I love this deprivation. It brings us together in a way that is different. It gives us a deeper appreciation of each other and reminds me not to take for granted the things I have.’”
Music and a ball in the air
Sister Elaine grew up in Louisville, Ky., the middle of 11 children born to John and Esther Burke. She has five brothers and one sister living.
“My parents were just great people,” Sister Elaine said. “My dad was always out playing with us. My mom and dad’s love for each other was phenomenal. My dad opened the car door for my mom every time. If we ever said something disrespectful to my mom, look out.
“My mom grew up in St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Marion County (the home parish of the new bishop of Owensboro, William Medley)” Sister Elaine said. “She was a teacher, she taught first through fourth grade in a two-room schoolhouse in Loretto, and my Aunt Ethel taught fifth through eighth. They taught a lot of our sisters.”
Sister Elaine likes to stop by the music room in Saint Ursula Hall a few times a week to play the piano.
Her mom came to Louisville to work for the L&N Railroad as a secretary, and met her future husband in the big city. “My father was a plumber, who worked for his father, who owned a plumbing business,” Sister Elaine said. “Three of my brothers became master plumbers.”
There were always instruments around Sister Elaine’s home growing up – a piano, trumpets, clarinet, and drums. Her brother played Taps in the Marine Corps. “We all loved to sing,” she said.
All the Burke children were sports-minded. Sister Elaine played basketball, volleyball, softball, and field hockey as a youth. “As I got older, I got into tennis,” she said. “As I got even older, I started bowling.”
Coming from a big family was “absolutely wonderful,” Sister Elaine said. “There was always something to do. Horseshoes, basketball, I never had to find someone to play with.”
Sister Elaine’s family moved to the suburbs of Louisville when she was 6. “Mom decided the boys needed more space, so we moved to Okolona in 1937.” Sister Elaine went to school at nearby St. Rita, where the Ursuline Sisters of Louisville taught.