Southern Nebraska Register
Sister Andrea Goeckner, FSGM, sat down for an interview this fall with Corbin Hubbell, social media coordinator for the Catholic Diocese of Lincoln, to speak about the religious life and her service at Bonacum House for retired priests in Lincoln.
Sister Andrea spent the last 16 years working at Bonacum House, “caring for the priests like a mother does, and just simply being present to them and their needs.” At the end of September, she received a new appointment, and is now serving at a hospital in Illinois.
Bonacum House opened in 1987 and has been staffed since then by Sister Andrea’s order, the Sisters of St. Francis of the Martyr St. George.
She said the arrangement has been a blessing for her religious community, as well as for the priests and the Diocese of Lincoln.
The home was named for Bishop Thomas Bonacum, the first Bishop of Lincoln. He served as bishop from 1887 until his death in 1911.
“But ‘Bonacum’ actually means ‘with goodness,’” Sister Andrea pointed out. “So that’s kind of our motto here at the house, to treat everyone with goodness.”
She shared that some of the most beautiful moments of her service at Bonacum House– of her religious life – have been when she was present as priests were dying.
“A priest is never more a priest than he is on his deathbed,” she explained. “He’s still saving souls as he’s lying there, giving his life for Christ.”
She said she was able to be with three priests at the time of their deaths, and each experience was beautiful.
“That is one of the most beautiful things,” she said, “to both accompany them in life, and in death.
“Obviously we love taking care of the priests!” she exclaimed. “But there is something so sacred in that moment.”
She said caring for the sick and the dying is actually invigorating, because “there’s so much we get from them and so much we can give to them.”
In addition to service at Bonacum House in Lincoln, the Sisters of St. Francis of the Martyr St. George also serve the Diocese of Lincoln by teaching at Hastings Catholic Schools.
Sister Andrea recounted a story in which she, and another sister, were at a store in Lincoln, wearing their habits. Another shopper approached the women religious angrily and remarked on their habits, saying they shouldn’t “have to” wear something so warm in the heat.
“No, actually it’s really not that bad,” Sister Andrea replied, and she explained that the habit sets religious apart.
“How do you know a police officer is a police officer?” she said to the woman. “Because of his uniform, right?”
The woman agreed and then became emotional, and asked if the sisters would pray for her son-in-law.
“I said ‘Absolutely,’” Sister Andrea related, “and so we prayed.”
They talked for a time, and at the end of the conversation, the woman asked for the sisters’ names.
“Until the day I die,” the woman said, “I will pray for both of you, by name, every night.”
The sisters thanked her, and as the woman walked away, she stopped and turned back to them.
“You’re right,” she said. “If you wouldn’t have been in your habit, I wouldn’t have approached you.”
Having visible signs of religious life, Sister Andrea said, makes religious more approachable and therefore able to reach people. The habit, she said, is a witness, and a testimony, “of who we are, and Who we belong to.”
Sister Andrea was inspired to consider the religious life while attending World Youth Day in 1993 in Denver. She was moved by Saint Pope John Paul II and his call for young people to “go out to the rooftops and announce the Good News,” as well as interactions with consecrated women at that event. She entered the religious life in 1997.
“I can absolutely say (religious life is) so fulfilling, it’s so freeing. Because God has fulfilled every desire that I have, that I dream, that will happen,” she said. “God conquers our hearts if we let Him.”
The interview with Sister Andrea is available on the Catholic Diocese of Lincoln YouTube page, @CatholicDioceseofLincoln.
