• 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

By Eleanor Craig SL / April 16, 2022 /

Romans 6:3-11   Luke 24:1-12 Blind night surrounds us in our long vigil.  We gather in the dusk to recall both the darkness of the womb and the darkness of…

Read More

Reflection on the Second Sunday of Lent

By Eleanor Craig SL / March 13, 2022 /

Genesis 15:5-18      Philippians 3:20-4:1      Luke 9:28b-36 In these days of war and mounting danger, I find it difficult to know how to pray, for whom and…

Read More

Remembrance of the Life of Mary Lou Gomez-Leon CoL

By Eleanor Craig SL / March 8, 2022 /
A woman with short white hair smiling softly for a portrait picture wearing a blue shirt and sitting in a plush dark blue recliner chair indoors.

Mary Lou Gomez-Leon was born May 3, 1927, to Laurencia Aizpuru and Ignacio Gomez-Leon. She was the older sister of Ignacio (Nacho) and Eddie. Mary Lou’s passions were her family, friends…

Read More

Loretto and the Saint

By Eleanor Craig SL / February 1, 2022 /

Imagine having an income of $1000 a day and an inclination to be helpful to the most neglected communities of people. What would you do with your money? In 1885,…

Read More

Reflection on the Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

By Eleanor Craig SL / January 30, 2022 /

Jeremiah 1:1-19       Psalm 71: 1-17       1 Corinthians 13:1-13       Luke 4:21:30 This morning’s Gospel reading from Luke follows directly from last Sunday’s reading.  And the two together bring to completion Luke’s…

Read More

Remembrance of the Life of Sister Angela Mary (formerly Sister Stephen Mary) Murphy SL

By Eleanor Craig SL / January 16, 2022 /
A woman with short white hair wearing a blue turtleneck, a dark-colored striped sweater, and a blue jacket smiling brightly for a picture outdoors.

Angela Mary Murphy was born in Sterling, Ill., the daughter of Stephen Andrew Murphy and Genevieve Angela Potts.  Angie was very proud that her great grandfather, Henry Potts, was a…

Read More

Remembrance of the Life of Mary Edith Jones Seematter CoL

By Eleanor Craig SL / January 8, 2022 /
A woman with short white hair and wire-framed glasses wearing a long sleeve white undershirt and a red and green plaid collared button-up shirt smiling for a portrait picture while posing by resting her elbow on an iron fence.

Mary Edith Jones was born on March 28, 1937, at DePaul Hospital in St. Louis, the first of eight children of Ernest Robert and Rosemary Furlong Jones. She grew up…

Read More

Reflection on the Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph

By Eleanor Craig SL / December 26, 2021 /

1 Samuel 1:20–28        1 John 3:1-24        Luke 2:41-52 Yesterday we celebrated Jesus’ “Birth Day,” and today we celebrate his family. Jesus was given to us in a family, given to…

Read More

Remembrance of the Life of Sister Ann (formerly Sister Ann Maurice) Barrett SL

By Eleanor Craig SL / December 13, 2021 /
A woman with short grey hair and black-framed glasses wearing a white collared blouse, a red sweater and a grey jacket smiling brightly for a headshot picture indoors.

Sister Ann Barrett wrote a brief account of her family life in 1976.  We recognize in these two paragraphs her lifelong love for her family and place of origin, an…

Read More

Reflection on the First Sunday of Advent

By Eleanor Craig SL / November 28, 2021 /
A mandala being created on a small square paper with a black pen on a wooden desk.

Jeremiah 33:14-16      1 Thessalonians 3:12-4:2      Luke 21:25-36 Last Sunday, the final Sunday of the liturgical year, Mary Swain pointed out to us that the Feast of…

Read More

Reflection on the 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

By Eleanor Craig SL / November 7, 2021 /

1 Kings 17:10-16     Hebrews 9:24-28     Mark 12:41-44 Widows are the heroines of today’s readings.  That’s an odd reversal of scriptural stereotypes.  Widows are poor and rarely…

Read More

Bernalillo Indian Boarding School

By Eleanor Craig SL / November 1, 2021 /
Indian School Archived Image: A black and white image of a large light-colored stone boarding school with a two-story balcony and deck filled with numerous students in dark-colored long dress uniforms on both the upper and lower levels of the balcony and deck.

Loretto’s school at Bernalillo opened in April 1875 as a day school for local children. It did not at first include Native American children but did have 15 orphan girls…

Read More