• Feather-Icon
    Author archive

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 Easter Vigil in the Holy Night

By Eleanor Craig SL / April 8, 2023 /
Study for 'Christ', Kenyon Cox

Our Jewish kin celebrate Passover this week. Around family tables they are passing on the stories of their ancestors, the story of themselves as a people. We have just read…

Read More

Cherished Loretto tails

By Eleanor Craig SL / April 1, 2023 /
A woman wearing sunglasses with a floral umbrella on a sunny day with her cat outside.

Every once in a while, some Loretto person suggests that we write a book titled “Only One Tail” about pets dear to Loretto households in our 210-year history. As one…

Read More

A rewarding visit to Shaker Village

By Eleanor Craig SL / March 1, 2023 /
Visitors enjoy a carriage ride through historic Shaker Village with a white horse.

Recently a small group from Loretto Motherhouse paid a neighborly visit to the site of one of Kentucky’s oldest religious communities. We sought wisdom from their experience, so like Loretto’s.…

Read More

Reflection on the First Sunday of Lent

By Eleanor Craig SL / February 26, 2023 /
Heart, love symbol on beach

Genesis 2:7… 3:7                 Romans 5:12, 17-19            Matthew 3:13, 16-17; 4:1-11 This morning we have in the Genesis…

Read More

Intrepid sisters travel to Santa Fe in 1852

By Eleanor Craig SL / February 17, 2023 /
Ink drawing of a horse-drawn buggy bearing three bonnetted women.

Adapted by Eleanor Craig SL from PJ Manion SL’s “Beyond the Adobe Wall” Santa Fe, historic capital of New Mexico, has long been known for its jewel-like setting at the…

Read More

Reflection on the Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God

By Eleanor Craig SL / January 1, 2023 /

Numbers 6:22-27 Galatians 4:4-7 Luke 2:16-21 It is an article of our faith that Mary brought Jesus to life in a relationship entirely and exclusively with God.  We take for…

Read More

Artist Residencies at the Motherhouse

By Eleanor Craig SL / December 1, 2022 /

The Loretto Community at the Motherhouse is partnering with the Kentucky Foundation for Women (KFW) to offer artist residencies of one to three weeks. The residencies are open to feminist…

Read More

Reflection on the Feast of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe

By Eleanor Craig SL / November 20, 2022 /
statue of christ the king under blue sky

2 Samuel 5:1-3.         Colossians 1:12-20.         Luke 23:35-43 There are many passages in both the Hebrew and the Christian scriptures similar to those…

Read More

Remembrance of the Life of Evelyn Donohoo CoL

By Eleanor Craig SL / November 6, 2022 /
A woman with short white hair and oval-shaped glasses wearing a burnt orange shirt and white dangly earrings smiling brightly for a headshot picture indoors.

Loretto Co-member Evelyn Donohoo died Nov. 6 in St. Louis, just three months short of her 100th birthday and in the 29th year of her Loretto life. She made every…

Read More

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…

Read More

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…

Read More

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…

Read More