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Sr Lorena Bolte OP |
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Great Bend Dominican Prioress Dies Suddenly Great Bend, KS — July 5, 2007 — The entire Dominican Family mourns the loss of Sister Lorena Bolte OP, 58, prioress of the Dominican Sisters of Great Bend, KS, who died Wednesday, July4, 2007, in a car accident near Syracuse, KS. Sr Lorena was chairperson of Region XIII of LCWR, served on other national boards of religious and justice topics and was active in RCIA in Prince of Peace Parish in Great Bend, KS, and taught on the diocesan ITV series. She attended national meetings of the Dominican Leadership Conference, and leadership team meetings of the Dominican Alliance and the Dominican Cluster. She was Dominican to the core — loving prayer, study, community, and ministry — especially the Dominican charism of preaching. She was an avid gardener who liked houseplants around her and grew great vegetables as well. She will be especially grieved by all the members of the Cluster congregations and the Dominican Sisters of St Catherine of Siena of Gusau, Nigeria. Born January 27, 1949, as Marie Bolte, Sr Lorena was the daughter of Bernice Kathman Bolte and the late Lawrence Bolte. She entered the Dominican Sisters’ Community August 26, 1965, and pronounced her first vows June 13, 1968. She celebrated 25 years of religious profession in 1993. Sr Lorena was an instructor at Luckey High School in Manhattan KS from 1972 - 1974. She ministered in Nigeria, West Africa, in several capacities from 1975 - 1995. She was a teacher, and a formation director for the indigenous congregation of the Dominican Sisters of St Catherine of Siena of Gusau, Nigeria (a foundation of the Dominican Sisters of Great Bend), and later its major superior. She served in Goodland KS as a pastoral minister for Our Lady of Perpetual Help parish from 1998 - 2002. Following her ministry in Goodland, she was Assistant Prioress of the Great Bend Dominicans for four years and at the time of her death was Prioress of the Dominican Sisters of Great Bend. Sr Lorena’s body will be brought to the Domincan Sisters’ Motherhouse, Great Bend, at 4:00 p.m. Friday, July 6, 2007, where it will lie in state until the Liturgy of Christian Burial at 1:30 p.m. Monday, with Most Rev. Ronald M Gilmore, Bishop of the Diocese of Dodge City, presiding. A wake service will be held at 7 p.m. Sunday. Burial will be in the Sisters’ Resurrection Cemetary. Representatives of the Dominican Leadership Conference will attend her memorial along with many other Dominicans. Sr Lorena is survived by her mother, Bernice; two brothers, William and James, and three sisters, Elizabeth (Betty) Daake, Alice Buser, and Lora Messbarger. Memorials in honor of Sr Lorena may be sent to: Dominican Sisters Ministry Fund, Office of Mission and Ministry, 3600 Broadway, Great Bend, KS 67530-3692 |
