The Dollhouse in the Chapel

At Girard House, if you take the back stairs (the “servant stairs,” in the old days) from the kitchen to the second floor, you find yourself in a small alcove with chairs in a half-circle around an altar: the Chapel. You cannot rush through this quiet room: pause, bow to […]

Sacred Places and Artwork in our Monastery

by Sr. Mary Virginia Schmidt, VHM As we continue to mark our twenty fifth year in north Minneapolis, as an inner-city monastic presence, we highlight sacred elements of our community. This blog features images of artwork in our Fremont and Girard Houses that comprise some of the inspiring spaces where we […]

The Crossroads of Suffering and Hope

by Sister Karen Mohan on December 5, 2020 As our community enters into our last Advent/Christmas season at Fremont and Girard, we chose as our Advent theme: “Our Graced Crossroads: the Intersection of Suffering and Hope.” This year’s Cycle B readings for Mass focus on Mark’s Gospel which was written […]

The Pearson Partners

by Dave Nimmer,* Guest Blogger Since the Sisters first opened the door of the Visitation Monastery of North Minneapolis, no one has had a more persistent and consistent presence in their lives than Maryann and Jeff Pearson. In three decades, they’ve given freely of their time, talent, and treasure. They’ve […]

Our Friend: Wazeer Brown

by Dave Nimmer, Guest Blogger Wazeer Brown, and his brother Emmanuel, are the first youngsters the Visitation Sisters “met” after they decided to locate their monastery in North Minneapolis in 1989. The two boys, about three and four years old, were standing on the street corner at 16th and Fremont as the Sisters were driving […]

Homeless: In the Shelter of our Hearts

The following post is from our Newsletter Archives. It first appeared in our Winter 1994 Newsletter.* by S. Mary Margaret McKenzie, VHM Homelessness happens: tenants have to move because a landlord can’t meet the mortgage payment; a single parent needs more space for growing children; a family of nine cannot […]