Rest in Peace, Sr. Karen Thein SSND, formerly of the Crawford County parishes
“Be awake! Grace me with your presence!”
That was the final entry in a reflection book belonging to Sister Karen Thein of the School Sisters of Notre Dame (SSND).
Sr. Karen, 84, who served for nine years as pastoral minister for Holy Cross Parish in Cuba, St. Francis Caracciolo Parish in Bourbon and St. Michael Parish in Steelville, died peacefully on April 29 at the Benedictine Living Community-Shakopee Windermere Way, in Shakopee, Minnesota.
The Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated on May 7 in the Windermere chapel, with Father John Kunz presiding.
Burial was in Our Lady of Good Counsel Cemetery in Mankato.
A Memorial Mass will be offered on Thursday, June 18, at 6:30 p.m. in Holy Cross Church in Cuba.
Across 62 years of religious life, Sr. Karen served in schools, parishes, hospitals, prisons and missionary communities across the United States, Guatemala and Mexico.
“In her time here, she was the continuing presence of ministry through a progression of many pastors,” noted Father Mark Smith, pastor of the Cuba, Bourbon and Steelville parishes.
“Sr. Karen was a ‘live wire,’ who fully embraced life and all its beauty,” said longtime friend JoAnn Bayless of Holy Cross Parish. “She was a significant part of my life and the lives of so many others. Her joyful spirit was contagious; she radiated love and peace and was simply full of life.
“Sr. Karen was truly loving and compassionate toward everyone she met,” said Mrs. Bayless. “She had a wonderful way of showing kindness to all and was remarkably organized in her efforts.”
Sr. Karen was involved in every aspect of the Church community in Crawford County, including the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults (OCIA), faith formation, Baptism preparation, Hispanic Ministry, and visits to people who are homebound or living in nursing homes.
She was active in all three parishes and consistently made herself available to parishioners.
“She also supported the Altar Society, met with the bereaved to prepare for Funeral Masses and assisted with all parish fundraisers, such as Lenten fish frys, the Fall Dinner and Festival and our annual rummage sale,” said Mrs. Bayless.
Saying ‘yes’ anyway
Sr. Karen was born on April 22, 1942, in Clara City, Minnesota, the fourth of Eugene and Emma Thein’s five children.
The Thein family was tight-knit and immersed in their faith.
“Sr. Karen had a happy, joyful childhood,” said Sr. Patricia Frost SSND, “with Saturday evenings around the piano, singing and dancing.”
She learned songs and dance steps from her parents and spun them into expressions of joy and beauty.
“That kept her dancing joyfully with God as her partner through the rest of her life,” said Sr. Patricia.
Later in life, Sr. Karen would visualize God as “The Dancer.”
She cultivated a deep devotion to the Blessed Mother. Through her inspiration, Sr. Karen was able to say “yes” to doing difficult things.
Her mother became sick with cancer while Sr. Karen was in high school. Her death came just before Sr. Karen’s sophomore year.
“That morning, we had a conversation,” Sr. Karen once recalled, “and she said, ‘Karen, don’t leave me ... and I will never leave you.’ Those were almost her final words, and then she passed into the next life.”
Sr. Karen told God that whether or not he chose to restore her mother to health, she would do whatever he put upon her heart — “get married or be a religious.”
She felt drawn to being a sister.
“I had School Sisters of Notre Dame in grade school,” she said, “and they were wonderful role models for me.”
The SSNDs are an international religious congregation founded in 1833 in Germany. They now serve in Europe, North America, Latin America, Asia, and Africa, with leadership headquartered in Rome.
Named for the Blessed Mother (“Our Lady”) they established a strong presence in the United States during waves of immigration in the late 19th century and have been influential in the Church here ever since.
Sr. Karen entered the SSND candidature at the provincial motherhouse in Mankato, and was given the religious name Sister Mary Emmagene.
She professed first vows of chastity, communal ownership of goods, and holy obedience on July 17, 1962.
“You never know what you’re saying ‘yes’ to,” she once noted. “But God gives you the grace to say ‘yes’ anyway.”
Always on mission
Sr. Karen completed a bachelor’s degree in Latin and Spanish from Mount Mary College (now University) in Milwaukee in 1964.
She taught high school Latin and Spanish in North Dakota for four years, then for a year in Iowa and three years in Minnesota.
She then received certification in religious education from Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington, and spent a year teaching at Our Lady of Good Counsel Academy in Mankato.
She spent a summer with fellow SSNDs who were serving in Guatemala.
Two years later, she was asked to open a second mission in that Central American nation, located south of Mexico.
Sr. Karen began there as a catechist and pastoral minister in Nanhualá, Sololá.
She then spent 14 years teaching English at Colegio San Bernardino in Patzún.
An earthquake in 1976 leveled the school, convent and all but 18 houses in Nanhualá.
Sr. Karen helped rebuild the town and would remain in Guatemala until 1989.
“I loved it there,” she said in 2022. “I loved the people. I think I left part of my heart there.”
Sister Julie Brandt SSND Ed.D., who was the Jefferson City diocese’s assistant superintendent of Catholic schools from 2015 to 2020, knew Sr. Karen from their time together in the former Mankato Province of the SSND and later during her time in Missouri.
“I’ve always known Sr. Karen as a missionary,” said Sr. Juilie. “She was serving in Guatemala while I was in formation and had experienced both a devastating earthquake as well as the violence that was pervasive in the country in the 1980s.”
“Visiting her in Cuba (Missouri) helped me see how she continued to live that missionary spirit as she served among the people,” said Sr. Julie.
Back in the United States, Sr. Karen earned a corporate ministry certificate from Saint Louis University in St. Louis while serving as a chaplain at the St. Louis City Jail.
She followed that with a master’s degree in pastoral studies from Loyola University of New Orleans.
She took up ministry to Hispanic Catholics at several parishes in Illinois, Iowa and Minnesota, referring to it as “the unwrapping of a beautiful gift of people in the Church.”
In Worthington, Minnesota, she accompanied families affected by sudden closures, deportations and mistreatment of hundreds of Hispanic immigrants when a nearby meat processing plant closed.
“Karen shared the pain and suffering and felt their loss and their need for community,” said Sr. Patricia.
Presence
Following a sabbatical, Sr. Karen served as a pastoral associate for the Hispanic community at St. Cecilia Parish in Kennett, Missouri.
She visited Holy Cross Parish in Cuba after making a discernment retreat at the SSND motherhouse in St. Louis.
Redemptorist Father Richard Boever, now deceased, who was pastor in Cuba, Bourbon and Steelville, asked her to come and “be a presence” in the three small communities.
“That is the ministry ... being a presence,” Sr. Karen said in 2024. “It is being present in times of joy, and walking with people in times of pain and struggles.”
She planned to stay for just a year or two but remained an integral part of the community until December 2025, when her health began to fail.
“It’s such a great community,” she said in 2024. “The people here are wonderful. The pastors have been great.”
Inquiring mind
Sr. Karen possessed insatiable curiosity and quickly endeared herself to strangers.
“Curious like, ‘Why are you? I want to get to know you,’” said Sister Roseanne Ficker SSND, who was friends with Sr. Karen for 65 years.
While in the hospital, racked with pain, she would be regularly visited by doctors and nurses, later revealing, “He just got engaged,” or “She just had a child.”
“That was Karen,” said Sr. Roseanne. “That curiosity was so beautiful and so connecting.”
Sister Kathleen Hennebery SSND once attended a three-month sabbatical with Sr. Karen.
“She made me laugh and laugh with her storytelling,” Sr. Kathleen recalled.
“Karen had a unique gift,” said one of her relatives. “She was just blessed by God with the incredible gift of loving everyone she met, whether it was a stranger or a doctor who just showed up, or someone who was caring for her.”
“Dedicated servant”
Sr. Karen died exactly seven months after being diagnosed with late-stage cancer.
Reactions on social media were fast and plentiful.
“She was an incredible woman,” wrote Stephanie Lewis. “A real disciple.”
“She is the sweetest and most caring,” wrote Kaitlyn Earhart. “She will be missed by so many.”
“Sis Karen is a true reflection of the love of God, a woman with God’s heart, a true servant that has lived her life godly, and for the love of God’s people,” wrote Jenny Gibson.
“Such a wonderful person and a huge part in my acceptance into the Church,” wrote Kelly Siekerman. “She is and always will be in my prayers.”
“Sr. Karen brought a special sense of peace and comfort to our family in our time of loss,” wrote Michelle Pinnell.
“What an incredible life of service and love!” wrote Peggy Cusick.
“She was a woman of service and love,” stated Jane Suzanne Reed.
“Such a dedicated servant to our Catholic community,” wrote Jean Heckmann.
“Sr. Karen truly was a blessing to this parish,” wrote Randy Nilges.
When Sr. Julie was preparing to serve on the Standing Rock Reservation in North Dakota, “She noted that my service among the Lakota people would be similar to her service in Guatemala, as I’d be immersing myself into a culture different than my own,” Sr. Julie recalled.
Sr. Karen advised her to remember her own culture and to not try to become Lakota.
“She noted that the worst thing we as missionaries can do is to lose our sense of self and try to take on the culture of those we served — something we can’t really do,” said Sr. Julie.
Sr. Julie did wind up growing in appreciation and understanding of the Lakota culture, joining the people in many prayer experiences and community celebrations.
“But I always saw myself as one who was learning from the Lakota people,” Sr. Julie noted. “I grew to love the people dearly but didn’t lose myself in the midst of my time there.”
“Be awake”
Sr. Karen was proud and fond of the SSND heritage at Holy Cross Parish, where sisters founded the school in 1927 and staffed it until 1969.
Last year at a farewell celebration for the former Holy Cross School in Cuba, Sr. Karen called to mind a blessing her fellow SSNDs would pass along to the students at the end of each school day.
“My dear children, I commend you to the Holy Spirit, through the powerful intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and I entrust you forever to her blessed hands. Amen.”
For her 60th anniversary in religious life in 2024, she composed her own version of the “Magnificat,” the Blessed Mother’s litany of praise (Luke 1:46-55).
It included: “For you have favored me with the gift of parents who loved me; brothers and sisters who continually forgave me and saw beyond my faults.
“You have done great things for me: calling me into religious life as a School Sister of Notre Dame!
“You have allowed me to see your greatness wherever I am sent ... in schools, in parishes, in hospitals, in the people of Guatemala and Mexico.
“You have filled me with new life, new understandings, and a desire to grow in your Love — to live the ‘NOW’ forever. Amen.”
“Karen is still with us, in new ways,” said Sr. Patricia. “So, be awake to the ways that she will now be present to us.”
A livestream recording of her Funeral Mass can be found at: ssndcp.org/obituaries.
