More Than $7,000 Raised for Local Religious Orders

Sister made her much-anticipated return to Starlight Indoors last month in Sister Strikes Again!, with class in session Jan. 15-27 and audiences braving the snowy Kansas City weather to see their favorite Sister take the stage once again.

Recognizing that many nuns do not receive Social Security or other retirement benefits, the Late Nite Catechism series has made it a 25-year tradition to collect free-will donations at each performance to benefit local religious orders. Starlight Theatre was thrilled to participate in such a worthy cause once again for its third presentation of Sister.

This year, donations totaled $7,549.87, which was split among the following three orders:

• Little Sisters of the Poor, Raytown, Mo. – This order of nuns operates the Jeanne Jugan Center, providing independent living, assisted living and skilled nursing care for low-income seniors. The Little Sisters dedicate their lives to the elderly who live on-site and are available around the clock to respond to residents’ needs. Twelve sisters live in the Raytown home, and they range in age from 36 to 100 years old.
• Benedictine Sisters of Mount St. Scholastica, Atchison, Kan. - In 1863, seven Benedictine Sisters arrived in Atchison from Germany, by way of Pennsylvania and Minnesota. They opened St. Scholastica Academy to offer educational opportunities for young women and men across the Midwest. Today, the community consists of 115 Sisters devoted to a communal life of prayer, work and hospitality. The Sisters serve God’s people as hospital chaplains, teachers and school administrators, ministers of peace and justice, writers, physical and mental health care providers, parish ministers and caregivers for the elderly.
• Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth, Kan. – There are 201 members of the Sisters of Charity community. The order was founded in 1858 by Mother Xavier Ross. The Sisters of Charity minister in the United States, Peru and South Sudan. The Sisters are educators, administrators, pastoral ministers, counselors and fill many other roles in their service to people of all ages and needs.

Thank you to all who donated! Over the course of staging three shows in the Late Nite Catechism series at Starlight Indoors since January 2016, Starlight Theatre and its very generous patrons have donated a grand total of $29,062.81 to six orders of Catholic nuns in the metro and surrounding region. The beneficiaries have been the Benedictine Sisters of Mount St. Scholastica, Congregation of St. Joseph, Little Sisters of the Lamb, Little Sisters of the Poor, Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth and Sisters of St. Francis of the Holy Eucharist.