July 10, 2009
People We Care About
Following is a feature in the Message, designed to help draw together the People of God in southwestern Indiana. Readers are invited to submit information about people who may benefit by some extra prayers and attention.
Benedictine Sister Mary Jane Ofer, (formerly Mary Joceal), 91, died June 30 at Our Lady of Grace Monastery in Beech Grove, Ind.
She was one of eight children born to Joseph and Cecilia (Kuhn) Ofer in Mount Vernon in 1917. She attended Academy Immaculate Conception in Ferdinand, and in 1933, while still in high school, she entered Monastery Immaculate Conception.
She received her bachelor’s degree in elementary education from St. Benedict College and her master’s degree from Marquette University.
In the early 1960s, she transferred from Ferdinand and became a founding member of Our Lady of Grace Monastery. She was in active ministry as a teacher and organist for 56 years before retiring in 1993.
Her assignments included the towns of Sellersburg, St. Meinrad, St. Henry, Cannelton, Floyds Knobs, Troy and Mitchell, all in Indiana, and Belcourt, N. D.
Her brother, Hubert Ofer of Thousand Oaks, Calif., survives.
Her funeral was held July 3 at the monastery.
In a July 2 e-mail, Benedictine Sister Geraldine Hedinger writes, “Just a little update. My first chemo treatment went well — only four and 1/2 hours. Now it is working on healing.
“Keep the prayers coming.”
She is the diocesan director for the Office for Adult Formation.
Please send information for PEOPLE WE CARE ABOUT to Mary Ann Hughes, The Message, P.O. Box 4169, Evansville, IN 47724. The e-mail address is mhughes@evansville-diocese.org.