The Poor Clare Convent in Minooka Adds an Infirmary Wing to Care for Aging Sisters

The, whose blue-roofed monastery lies west of , dedicated an 8,000 square foot infirmary wing September 17.

An overflow crowd attended the dedication ceremony, which culminated in the entire group processing to the new facility where the Reverend Jim Lennon of Joliet blessed the new facility.                

Mother Mary Dorothy Urschalitz, the Mother Superior of the cloistered order, said the new facility will allow the sisters to take care of the sick and infirm sisters.                 

“We like to care for them right here,” she said. “Our current rooms (in the main part of the monastery) are so small; before we didn’t have the room to move around when one of our sisters, Sister Rose, was near death. She died in the library (because it was a bigger room).

“There’s no room once you get the necessities, the hospital bed, the commode, and other necessities to care for a seriously ill person.”

The new wing, with larger individual rooms, will allow the space needed to care for someone who is ill. Each of the individual rooms also has a sink and access to accessible bathing tubs or showers.  In the previously existing part of the convent, the sisters each have a small, simple bedroom and use communal lavatory facilities. In the new infirmary, there are five rooms for persons who are mobile, and two for persons with limited mobility or who are bedridden.

The Poor Clare Nuns, who are a Roman Catholic order of religious women, follow a strict contemplative and ritual tradition. The sisters wear a traditional dark veil and habit and sometimes go barefoot. The cloistered lifestyle of the fifteen nuns who currently live there does not allow interaction with the outside world. Only two members serve as greeters to the public when persons might visit the convent. The Poor Clares do not work in the outside world, and rely on donations. The nuns do work on making prayer cards, rosaries and First Communion veils, which are available for sale.

The Poor Clare chapel is open to the public, and the daily Roman Catholic Mass is also open to persons wishing to attend.

Fundraising for the new addition has been ongoing, and according to Mother Dorothy, the cost of the building was somewhere in the $700,000 range. A large, symbolic giving tree in the vestibule of the addition is a thank you to the numerous donors, for their contributions of $500 each. Steve Thornton, Minooka Building Official, said the lowered cost of construction of such a large facility was most likely due to donated work and materials. 

“It definitely is a unique situation,” he said.

The new facility also includes a central oratory, or chapel like area, for monthly services, with an adjoining kitchen for the dietary needs of the infirm. There is a meeting room on the lower level, as well as a room for the sisters’ card making and sewing activities.

The new part of the monastery is enclosed by a tall wall which isolates it from a view to Minooka Road, and also serves as a reminder of the private nature of life in the order. More information about the Poor Clare convent and the sister’s lifestyle is available on their Web site.