For the nursing-home residents of the Ursuline Center of Toledo, the year began with a question: With plans announced to shutter the facility by December, where would they like to live?
The Sisters of St. Francis of Sylvania offered one answer. And, on Tuesday, they offered a welcome as well to the 13 vowed sisters who had moved into their Rosary Care Center.
“The Ursuline Center has been a wonderful resource in the community for many years,” said Sister Nancy Linenkugel, congregational minister for the Sylvania Franciscans, speaking before a lunch attended by new and old residents, as well as visiting leaders representing the Sisters of Notre Dame, Sisters of the Visitation, and Ursuline Sisters of Toledo.
“Closing any kind of a service organization is so tough, not only tough on those sisters and residents who needed to find another place, but just wrenching that you would have to close something that was near and dear to you and part of your mission,” Sister Nancy continued. “So this is a very, very special event for us … just to welcome them and say, ‘This is your a new home.’ We are thrilled to be able to offer care.”
The Ursuline Sisters of Toledo announced in February that they planned to shutter their Ursuline Center, a sponsored ministry that served religious sisters, priests, their immediate relatives, and their associates. It opened in 1985. The difficult decision followed years of conversations about the future of the facility, and raised immediate questions about the futures of its residents, who at the time of the announcement were filling 24 of 36 beds at the Ursuline Center.
Staff committed to working with residents to explore options and relocate according to their preferences, and, on Tuesday, Sister Sandra Sherman, the congregation president, said it proved to be a smooth process.
“We gave all of the residents until June 1 to at least choose a new home,” she said. “They were all gone by the end of May. They were just very proactive in their own futures, and our sisters, particularly, the very next day were telling us where they wanted to go.”
Six of seven Ursulines who were residents relocated to Rosary Care Center. So did six Sisters of Notre Dame, one Sister of the Visitation, and one diocesan priest.
The Ursuline Center is already shut down as a nursing home, now that all its residents have relocated, although they're still clearing out the space, Sister Sandra said. The congregation previously said they would donate it to St. Ursula Academy, another sponsored ministry.
The new religious residents join other lay and religious residents at the 76-bed Rosary Care Center, a skilled nursing facility that, like the Ursuline Center, was initially established to care for aging members of its sponsoring congregation. Established in 1975, it, too, gradually opened its doors to members of other religious congregations and lay residents.
Jason Phillips, executive director, said it was convenient that they had more beds than usual available around the time that the Ursulines announced their plans for the Ursuline Center. They knew they would be “the first call,” he said, and were prepared to welcome relocated residents.
“We were very, very excited, very, very fortunate to be able to serve the other vowed religious communities. That’s what we’re here for, that’s what our mission states,” he said.
Tuesday's lunch was an opportunity for welcome, for thank-yous, and for introductions to sisters who had lived there for years and to sisters who had moved in recent months. That they were able to gather at all wasn't lost on the guests, either, after a year of pandemic lockdowns.
“It's extra great to be able to get together today, now that the world is opening up,” Sister Nancy said. “We’re thrilled to be able to have an event for the sisters, but also their leadership teams.”
First Published July 6, 2021, 6:34 p.m.
