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Eleanor Craig SL

Eleanor has been a Sister of Loretto since 1963 and an educator since birth. She graduated from two of Loretto's best known St. Louis institutions, Nerinx Hall High School in 1960, and Webster University in 1967. She taught mathematics at Loretto in Kansas City, where her personal passion for adventure history inspired her to develop and lead treks along the historic Oregon Trail. From 1998 to 2010 she created an award-winning program of outdoor adventure along the Western trails for teens who are visually impaired. Eleanor claims to have conducted more wagon trains to the West than the Mountain Men! From 2012 to 2021, Eleanor led a talented staff of archivists and preservationists at the Loretto Heritage Center on the grounds of the Motherhouse. Now retired, she still serves in the Heritage Center as Loretto Community Historian.

Reflection on the 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time

By Eleanor Craig SL / October 9, 2022 /
achievement confident free freedom

2 Kings 5:14-17 2 Timothy 2:8-13 Luke 17:11-19 Today’s Gospel builds on the first reading, taking the story 10 steps further.  Where one man in the Hebrew story is cured…

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Reflection on the 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time

By Eleanor Craig SL / September 11, 2022 /
black cross on top of mountain

Exodus 32 1 Timothy 1 Luke 15 This morning’s Gospel tells the story of our confusions about enough. Enough trouble, enough loss, enough yearning, enough resentment. And enough love to…

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Remembrance of the Life of Sister Mary Lee Murphy (formerly Sister Marie Dolores Phillips) SL

By Eleanor Craig SL / August 24, 2022 /
A woman with short white hair and glasses wearing a blue and white striped collared button-up shirt smiling brightly for a headshot picture outdoors in front of greenery on a sunny day.

Sister Mary Lee Murphy (formerly Sister Marie Dolores Phillips) SL died Aug. 24 at Loretto Motherhouse Infirmary. She was 93 and in the 74th year of her life as a…

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Remembrance of the Life of Jane Elizabeth Kosters CoL

By Eleanor Craig SL / August 10, 2022 /
A woman with short grey hair and round black-framed glasses wearing a navy blue and white polka dot collared button up and colorful patterned tie smiling for a headshot picture indoors.

(Editor’s note: Loretto Co-member Jane Elizabeth Kosters died Aug. 10, 2022, in Denver. She would have turned 80 years old Aug. 17.) Jane Kosters began telling us about herself in…

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Reflection on the 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time

By Eleanor Craig SL / July 24, 2022 /

Genesis 18:20-32  Colossians 2:12-14 Luke 11:1-13 Today’s readings are very familiar, and each is rich in multiple meanings and deep, compassionate reassurance. The most familiar reading, of course, is the…

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Remembrance of the Life of Sister Marian (formerly Sister Marian Joseph) McAvoy SL

By Eleanor Craig SL / June 30, 2022 /
A woman with short blonde hair and glasses smiling softly for a headshot picture in a dimly lit room wearing stud earrings and a grey jacket.

Loretto Sister Marian (formerly Sister Marian Joseph) McAvoy died June 30 at Loretto Motherhouse Infirmary in Nerinx, Ky., in the company of many of the Community. Marian would have been…

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Remembrance of the Life of Sister Mary Louise ‘Billie’ Vandover SL

By Eleanor Craig SL / June 12, 2022 /
A woman with short grey hair and oval glasses smiling candidly looking off to the side while wearing a blue shirt and a white and embroidered vest outdoors on a sunny day.

Loretto Sister Mary Louise “Billie” Vandover SL, died Sunday morning, June 12, at the Loretto Motherhouse Infirmary in Nerinx, Ky., in the company of close friends, including Marie Lourde Steckler…

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Reflection on Pentecost Sunday

By Eleanor Craig SL / June 5, 2022 /

Acts 2:1-11       1 Corinthians 12:3-13       John 14:15-26 This feast of Pentecost is an inflection point. We hear a lot about inflection points, especially in…

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Loretto Celebrates Neil Tucker’s Co-Membership in Kansas City

By Eleanor Craig SL / June 1, 2022 /

“My desire is that this event will allow me to honor Loretto and tell the story of how I encountered and connected with the Loretto Community.” That’s the way Neil…

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Reflection on the Fifth Sunday of Easter

By Eleanor Craig SL / May 15, 2022 /

Acts 14:21-27      Revelation 21:1-5      John 13:31-35 In today’s passage from John’s Gospel, Jesus is at the Passover table with his disciples.  It is his final meal…

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Remembrance of the Life of Gabriel Mary Hoare SL

By Eleanor Craig SL / May 1, 2022 /
A woman with short grey hair and dangly earrings wearing a light-colored patterned blouse smiling brightly for a headshot picture while sitting in a plush pink chair in a living room with a house plant branch behind her head.

Loretto Sister Gabriel Mary Hoare died early morning May 1 at the Loretto Motherhouse Infirmary in the company of the nursing staff. Gabe, as she was affectionately known, was 93…

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Trust Empowers Us

By Eleanor Craig SL / May 1, 2022 /

Recent calls for Loretto to do something to meet the urgent need for low-income housing sparked me, as Loretto’s historian, to review Loretto’s contributions to housing for low-income elders and…

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