Sisters Carolyn Puccio and Lynore Girmscheid worked side by side for several years in their roles at the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, with their workstations next to each other at the Archdiocesan Catholic Center in St. Paul. Then, they stepped down from their posts together at the end of June.
Sister Carolyn, of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, was the delegate for consecrated life for 10 years, while Sister Lynore, of the School Sisters of Notre Dame, was the coordinator of the Retirement Fund for Religious for five years. Both have helped create growth in their respective ministries, and both are joyful as they move on to new challenges and give others a chance to keep the progress going.
Sister Carolyn was appointed to her role in 2013 by Archbishop John Nienstedt, who has since resigned. Archbishop Bernard Hebda continued her appointment after arriving in 2015. It is a three-year term, and she continued through more than two renewals before deciding to step down.
“I served as the archbishop’s representative to all the religious priests, brothers, sisters, members of secular institutes, societies of apostolic life, consecrated virgins living in the world, and hermits,” said Sister Carolyn, 80, describing the scope of her role. “The position is one of service — service to the archbishop as his representative, service to the men and women in consecrated life, and service to the archdiocese in making this particular vocation known and valued.”
One of her goals was to increase familiarity and fraternity among all the different religious orders and organizations, to ultimately strengthen consecrated life and draw others to it. To that end, she created the Archdiocesan Commission for Consecrated Life, which began in 2019 with 14 members representing various forms of consecrated life.
“Through their interaction, and their advice to me, which has been invaluable, they have grown to appreciate one another and learn about one another’s particular vocation,” she said. “And that has spilled over, I think, into the archdiocese, where there’s much more appreciation among the different expressions of consecrated life.”
Sister Lynore had a practical, concrete mission in her role with the Retirement Fund for Religious — raise funds to help care for religious men and women after their many years of faithful service to the Church. Under her leadership, the archdiocese remained one of the top contributors in the country, holding steady at between $450,000 and $500,000 a year in donations to the fund.
The theme she has carried through her five years of service to the fund is “generosity inspires.” These words are on the cover of a card she sends to every donor, with this message from her on the inside: “Through your gift, you have helped hundreds of religious communities meet their pressing retirement needs, even as they continue to serve the People of God. Your generosity inspires me; many thanks on behalf of all those who have given a lifetime!”
Sister Lynore, 77, is one of several School Sisters of Notre Dame who have held this position over the last 20 or 25 years.
“It’s been a blessing for our community to have been part of this,” she said. “And it’s just been really overwhelming to keep being aware of the generosity of the parishes and individuals who, since 1987, have contributed to this appeal.”
She is especially proud of the way people have responded during and since the COVID-19 pandemic, which presented significant challenges to fundraising. With the opportunity to do in-person campaigning curtailed, Sister Lynore and others working on the appeal turned to producing videos as a way of reaching donors and potential donors.
It worked. Donations have held steady over the last few years, and this year’s total should be right around $500,000, she said. Along the way, the Catholic Community Foundation became a supporting partner in the effort, and parishes also participate by holding collections at designated weekend Masses. Sister Lynore calls it “a great privilege to help facilitate” the annual campaign. Money collected from each diocese and archdiocese goes to the national retirement fund office in Washington, D.C. Then, it is distributed in a grant-based system to individual communities based on need.
“The need is huge” overall, Sister Lynore said. “I don’t know exactly what that looks like throughout the United States, but I do know the communities that are really in need are really in need.”
As Sister Lynore and Sister Carolyn pursue new opportunities with their respective communities, they expressed gratitude for the chance to work side by side and collaborate with one another in their roles. For a time, Sister Carolyn was Sister Lynore’s supervisor, but it was a relationship of mutual respect.
“It’s been a great collaboration,” Sister Lynore said.
“Both of us have said this — that it’s been a great blessing,” Sister Carolyn said, noting that she appreciates “the fact that we’ve been able to work together as well as we have and enjoy one another and appreciate the gifts and skills that each of us brings to this kind of ministry.”
