Sr. Stephaine Mertens, Asc

SR. STEPHANIE MERTENS , ASC, 87, of the Adorers of the Blood of Christ, passed away at 11:53 am, Thursday, January 7, 2021 at the Ruma Center, Ruma, Illinois . She had been professed for 69 years.

She was born to the late Stephen and Leona (nee Henrich) Mertens on February 12, 1933 in St. Louis, Missouri.

She received her bachelor’s degree in Theology from Saint Louis University in 1961, and her master’s in Religion/Religious Education from Catholic University, Washington, D.C.

She taught elementary students in Illinois schools of St. Albert the Great in Fairview Heights, St. Elizabeth in East St. Louis and St. Matthew in Alton; in Missouri schools at Visitation in Vienna and St. Joseph in Zell and also taught one year at Holy Rosary in Fort Dodge, Iowa.

She coordinated Parish Religious Education in Pinckneyville and Tamaroa, both in Illinois. She served as Religious Education Coordinator for the Archdiocese of St. Louis for seven years.

She was concerned about the Farm Crisis in the late seventies, she responded to the call of this Social Concern, eventually broadening to many other areas of Social Justice. For ten years, served as Director of Social Concerns for the Diocese of Jefferson City, Missouri.

She was the Coordinator of Justice and Peace Office for the ASC community in the U.S. for 18 years.

She was called to Washington, D.C. in 1993 to testify before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s Subcommittee on African Affairs. Her testimony mentioned the nation-wide, and international, outrage over the October 1992 killings of five ASC sisters from Ruma as they were doing missionary work near Monrovia, the capital of Liberia, West Africa.

She was the Director of Social Concerns for ten years in the Diocese of Jefferson City, Missouri., led by Bishop McAuliffe. Here she saw the need to involve all the people in the diocese, asserting that “effective ways of moving into the future have to be found; every person in the diocese has a vital role to play.”

As convener of FARM, Farm Alliance of Rural Missouri, she was a leader in the cause of bringing parity to farmers, giving them fair prices for their products. It is not too late to effect a change, she said, “if we continue to release the power and the energy of the people. The only thing we must avoid is to say it can’t be done.”

Her interest in Nature was in tune with her intense concern for the land, earth animals, environment, air quality and all that God made and saw as “very good.” She was instrumental in organizing an Earth Summit at Ruma, a congregational conference about current and future concern for our planet.

The foundation for her spirituality was the “Blood of Christ,” true to her community of the Adorers of the Blood of Christ.

She is survived by her brothers Charles (Rose) Mertens and Robert (Kathleen) Mertens; her sisters Carol (John) Turbek and Bonnie (Tom) Jung, nieces and nephews, great nieces and nephews and members of the ASC community.

She was preceded in death by her parents.

A Vigil Service for Sister Stephanie, with attendance limited to the Sisters at the Ruma Center, will be held Tuesday, January 12, 2021. Burial will follow in the Ruma Convent cemetery.

A Memorial Mass for Sister Stephanie will be celebrated at a later date with Sisters, family and friends.

Donation in memory of Sister Stephanie Mertens may be sent to the ASC Retirement Fund, 4233 Sulphur Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63109 or online at www.adorers.org “Support our Ministries”