20 MAY 2023
A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated for Ann Haremza by her pastor, Father Terrance Klein, at Saint Joseph Catholic Church, Ellinwood, Kansas.
Link to audio of the homily
A Home As Long As Main |
Ann Haremza |
Fr Terrance Klein |
20.V.2023 St. Joseph Church |
Daniel 12: 1-3 Revelation 21: 1-5a, 6b-7 John 11: 21-27
Ann’s life ended much as it began, with a home, here in Ellinwood, that stretched most of Main Street. In her final years, Ann came home, living in an apartment at the Oaks, just off Main Street, behind Saint John’s. But if you couldn’t find her there, Saint Joseph’s would be the next place to look.
Ann came to Mass every chance she got. She came early, and she stayed late. That’s why I say that her home stretched the length of Main Street. Ann could just as easily be here as at the Oaks.
I didn’t realize that Ann grew up on North Main. The Spacil home is on a corner lot, same side of the street, two blocks north of here. Her niece Nancy told me about how the family would gather there each Christmas Eve. Come Midnight they’d make their way two blocks south, sometimes in snow, for the first Mass of Christmas. Then, north again for more merriment, food, and fellowship. So, even in her childhood, Ann’s home stretched a good length of Main Street. The Spacils were equally at home two blocks north or here in the church.
Of course, in between her Main Street residences, Ann lived a full life. After graduating from Saint Joseph Catholic School and Ellinwood High School, Ann went to Wichita, where she earned a degree in nursing from Saint Joseph’s. Over the course of her long life, Ann worked in several hospitals and clinics here in Central Kansas. Her last full-time employment was at the Dominican Motherhouse in Great Bend.
Anyone who’s ever been hospitalized knows the difference that a good nurse makes. In that regard, Ann has garnered an unusual number of accolades on the Minnis website Tribute Wall. Janelle Irwin wrote:
I used to work with Ann at the convent. She was a wonderful woman. She would give advice and teach us nursing staff new things. She was a great role model. She will be missed by all who knew her.
Sue Jaske added:
We were co-workers, Ann always put others first, she was a kind and caring person, I always enjoyed our time together.
And Brenda West Hagerman summed it up:
I found her to be a strong nurse who taught others how to do things right. She was passionate about how she lived her life. It was a purpose driven life of serving others in many different nursing roles. She was “one of the good ones,” and she will be greatly missed by all who had the chance to know her.
But just as frequently, there are testimonies about the sort of person Ann was. From Wyanette Harris:
Ann was a classmate of mine and was a wonderful person, there was none better.
And from Jane Zook:
Anne was a devoted mother, grandmother, wife, and a very generous person. She was a very hard worker and never complained when times were tough. Anne was a very knowledgeable person, especially when it came to the health care field. I will never forget the fun times we had at the track meets and I’ll always remember her sweet smile and the twinkle in her eyes.
The Church tells us that eulogies have no place in her funeral liturgies. We do not gather to extoll the dead, who are lost to us. Leave that small comfort to the unbelievers.
No, in the face of death, we Catholics come to Eucharist. It is the Church’s great act of petition and thanksgiving. We come to pray that the Good Lord forgive whatever sins Ann committed in human weakness. But we also come to thank the Lord for the gift of Ann, for the life she lived among us.
So, if I can sound as though I’m eulogizing, it’s only because all of God’s holy ones reproduce, play out, the life of Christ in their own lives. In baptism he gave himself to us, and in baptism Christ called us to give ourselves to him.
Not long ago, I preached a well-received homily, a rarity for me in Ellinwood. It was about Ann’s faith. I’ve never met anyone with a greater desire to share it. I wrote:
Ann had a great heart for sharing her faith. She was constantly finding people in her apartment complex who had been Catholic at some point in their life. Ann would bring them with her to Mass, and she made sure that I followed up with a visit to their homes.
The point that I made about Ann’s faith is worth repeating. It’s a great witness to us but also a challenge to live our own faith more deeply. A few weeks ago, I visited Ann for the last time in the hospital. I wrote of that day:
Eventually Ann and I moved into sacraments. We entered a realm rich in shared meaning: verses of scripture to be pronounced, gestures passed through generations, sensoria of taste and touch, everything infused with significance.
But the depth of that significance follows an unalterable rule of faith: God gives himself to us in the measure that we open ourselves to him. What that day’s holy Communion meant to Ann was a direct result of her lifelong faithfulness to her eucharistic Lord. Fidelity to the meal determined the fullness of the food she consumed. Whatever our limitations, Ann and I stood in holy communion, not only with each other but with Our Lord and with his Church universal, spread across continents and centuries.
A few years ago, I had foot surgery. Ann brought a scooter and shower supplies to the rectory. Stuff I didn’t even know I would need. That’s who Ann was. And I’ve received several, signal blessings since she died. I can’t help but to see them as Ann’s way of continuing her kindness and care for me as a priest.
As I see it, who Ann was is still who Ann is: a woman who began and ended her life in a home that stretched a good length of Main Street, a woman whose heart embraced her Lord and, with him, the whole world.
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