Peace Maker Award

Franciscan sisters, brothers, priests and associates – members of the Franciscan Federation of the United States - will gather in Denver in July for the Annual Federation Conference. This year's theme is: Pilgrims and Strangers: Eyes Fixed on Christ. Keynote speakers/presenters include Joanne Schatzlein OSF and Rev. Tod Laverty OFM.

A treasured feature of the Conference is naming the annual “Peacemakers” - sisters, brothers, priests and associates nominated by their congregations as exemplifying an ideal selected by the Federation that represents the Franciscan charism.

The 2008 Peacemaker will honor a member of each congregation or province whose life and actions model for others a person who has moved out of his/her comfort level toward a deeper sense of Franciscan Evangelical Life and who inspires others to do the same.

The Banquet will take place on Saturday evening, July 26, and the guest speaker will be Rev. John Cella OFM. The Franciscan Pilgrimage Program also will be honored at the banquet.

Previous Clinton Franciscan “Peacemakers” include Jan Cebula, Marilyn Shea, Joan Theiss and Teresa Kunkel, Marilyn Huegerich, Mary Smith, and Phyllis Morris.

The 2008 Clinton Franciscan Peacemaker, nominated by the sisters and selected by the leadership council, is Marjorie Wisor OSF.

Marjorie Wisor stepped out of her comfort zone over 30 years ago when she embraced the vision of Jean Vanier, experienced the life of the first L’Arche community in France, and then founded the L’Arche community in Clinton, Iowa – the second one in North America.

L’Arche is a Christian community where persons with mental handicaps (core members) and those without (assistants) live together and make a home for each other.

Today the community Marjorie founded with 3 core members numbers 18 core members and 22 employees.

Marjorie is now on the Board of Friends of L’Arche in St. Louis which is working to establish a L’Arche community there.

She has inspired her congregation to follow her in ministry. Another Clinton Franciscan, Maria Zeimen OSF, was the founding director of L’Arche in Chicago and continues to work for L’Arche International. Another sister, Anne Martin Phelan OSF, serves on the L’Arche Board in Clinton. Yet another sister, Mary Luke Sondgeroth OSF, and an associate, Katey Simon, are assistants with L’Arche in Clinton. Many sisters, associates and former members volunteer with their local L’Arche communities around the country, bringing them into community life where they share in prayer and celebration. One Clinton Franciscan Associate, Brenda Connell, is a core member of L’Arche.

Trained as a college French teacher, Marjorie now works with a GED program in St. Louis that serves the poor and marginalized, again moving out of her “comfort zone” and willingly accepting hardship in support of her students’ right to education.

She is a devoted member of several peace advocacy groups and participates in weekly prayer vigils, standing publicly for peace with justice.

Marjorie is a prophetic woman who, by her life, her ministry, her commitment to simple living and her steadfast devotion, calls the Clinton Franciscans to be a prophetic congregation.

A Clinton Franciscan for 56 years, Marjorie Wisor, teacher and advocate, stepped out of her comfort zone over 30 years ago when she embraced the vision of Jean Vanier, experienced the life of the first L’Arche community in France, and then founded the L’Arche community in Clinton, Iowa – the second one in North America.

A leader within her congregation and the Federation, Marjorie is a prophetic woman who, by her life, her ministry, her commitment to simple living and her steadfast devotion, calls her sisters and associates to be a prophetic congregation.

Marjorie, who is now on the Board of Friends of L’Arche in St. Louis and is working to establish a L’Arche community there, is shown with Gerry Potter, the first core member of the Clinton, Iowa L’Arche community that Marjorie founded, which now numbers 18 core members and 22 employees.

Marjorie, a veteran of the Nevada Desert Experience, is a devoted member of several peace advocacy groups in St. Louis where she participates in weekly prayer vigils and has even donned overalls to work with “Sisters’ Build.”

Marjorie, who has participated in the November prayer vigil at the SOA for 10 years, is shown with

students and faculty from The Franciscan University of Clinton just before they left for Fort Benning and later during the prayer vigil in Georgia.