Wake Reflection for Sister Mary Leon Riney, OSU
In the name of the community, the Ursuline Sisters of Mount Saint Joseph, I offer our love and sympathy to Sister Mary Leon’s family and friends, especially to her sisters Mary Lou, Pat, Trudy, and Ginger, and to her brothers Father Phil, Jack and David. To the health care and pastoral care staff, our deepest respect and appreciation. To Sister’s classmates, Sisters Mary Victor, Miriam, Clarentia, and Mary Emily, our hearts go out in sympathy, and to you, Sister Barbara Jean, Sister Mary Leon’s chosen Ursuline Sister surrogate, our loving gratitude.
Sister Mary Leon was born Ruth Helen Riney on February 25,1919, the oldest daughter of Thomas Leon and Irmine Mulligan Riney. She was the third child of 11 children. “I lived on a farm about two miles from the Mount,” Sister Mary Leon writes, “until I was ten years old. I loved to climb trees and we had a large one in our front yard that had a natural seat where I perched in the summertime and read all of the Little Colonel books. I had two older brothers so I was a tomboy, wore khaki knickers and played baseball and football. We were in the same grade from grade 3 through 12, so we had many common interests.”
In reflecting further on her memories of childhood, Sister Mary Leon highlights one memory in particular- “One special outstanding happening was my first batch of biscuits. I was not quite six years old when Phil was born and Grandma was late in arriving. We had no light bread in the house and Mom told me to bring the mixing bowl and all ingredients to her bedside where she directed the mixing. I rolled out and cut the biscuits in the kitchen and baked them. I still recall Daddy’s words of praise on their lightness and taste. He was like that!”
Ruth Helen’s formal education began at St. Alphonsus in the spring of 1925, where she attended classes until January 1930 when the family moved to Owensboro. Sister Mary Leon writes: “The second semester was spent at St. Francis Academy, but the family returned to Ursuline schools in the fall of 1930, and I continued my education with them at St. Joseph, until my senior year, when I studied at St. Francis again, and graduated in June 1936. In the fall, I enrolled at Mount Saint Joseph College, where I majored in commercial for one year. The following summer, I took a secretarial job at Anderson Wholesale Department. I enjoyed the work and the money, but I finally listened to the invitation of God.”
On July 19, 1938, Ruth Helen wrote to Mother Teresita, the Superior of the Ursuline Sisters of Mount Saint Joseph: “I have quit my job at Anderson’s and am going to have my tonsils removed Tuesday. The doctor wants me to stay in for a week. So, Mother, if it is alright with you, I would like to enter on Monday, the first of August. Please pray for me. I need prayers now.” Mother Teresita responded with a letter on July 25. “My dear Ruth Helen, we will be happy to have you enter on Monday, August 1, as you desire. You can be sure that the Sisters are praying for you. We have all gone through the ordeal and we realize how hard it is, yet God gives grace at this time such as we have never had before.”
On August 1, 1938, Ruth Helen entered the postulancy program of the Ursuline Sisters of Mount Saint Joseph. She received the name of Sister Mary Leon on August 14, 1939, made temporary profession of vows on August 15, 1941, and perpetual profession of vows on August 15, 1944.
With zeal and enthusiasm, Sister Mary Leon entered into the ministry of education and Christian formation in elementary and high schools in the diocese of Owensboro, the archdiocese of Louisville, and at St. Bernard Academy in Nebraska City, Nebraska. She was an outstanding educator throughout her years of teaching and was recognized by her students and colleagues with many awards of excellence in the fields of science and mathematics, in particular. One of her students writes: “In my opinion, Sister Mary Leon is a marvelous teacher. She is able to communicate her ideas to her students effectively, and is always considerate when it comes to providing help on an individual basis. She is an excellent teacher, who is fair. She doesn’t demand absolute perfection, but the best, the absolute best you can do.”
After 47 years of teaching, Sister Mary Leon began pastoral ministry in parishes in the Owensboro diocese with that same zeal and enthusiasm. In 1995, after nine years of pastoral ministry, she came to the Motherhouse. During some of those years between 1995 and this present day, Sister Mary Leon was commissioned to minister in the archives, in MSJ Shop, and in various other ways and places on campus. It was on November 8, 2002 that Sister Mary Leon was diagnosed with cancer. It was on January 28, 2003 that our Sister Mary Leon went home to God. During that short span of time, she and the rest of us were forced to live with the inevitable. Little by little we learned to be at peace with what was. We learned a little more about waiting, about silence, about befriending the dark. We came to believe a little more deeply that there is no light here that does not also know the darkness, no joy that does not also contain suffering, and conversely, too, no terror that does not have peace standing by.
And so, today, our Sister Mary Leon, we wish one another peace, we wish one another joy. Remembering you, your life, your dying, we can embrace with trust the journey of our own lives
Sister Rose Marita
Congregational Leader 200-2004
January 29, 2003