OBITUARY: Mother Therese, founder of Basilian Contemplative Nuns (07/28/96)

OBITUARY

Mother Therese, founder of Basilian Contemplative Nuns

MIDDLETOWN, N.Y. - Mother Therese Bochnewich of the Basilian Contemplative Nuns died on June 10.

It was with the authorization of the Sacred Congregation of the Oriental Church and during the administration of Mother Zenobia Bezushko, general superior of the Order of the Sisters of St. Basil the Great, that Mother Therese was chosen as the first superior and with three other nuns began the Contemplative Monastery of the Sacred Heart on September 8, 1958, in Astoria N. Y. Their main objective was to live an intensive prayer life with the daily offering of the Byzantine liturgical praises and adoration of the Holy Eucharist for the universal Church and the Ukrainian Catholic Church in particular.

Under Mother Therese's leadership the nuns engaged in ecclesiastical and Ukrainian arts and tutoring, living their monastic lives in Astoria until 1992 after which they relocated to the rural area of Middletown, N. Y.

Mother Therese Bochnewich entered the Order of the Sisters of St. Basil the Great on July 23, 1936. She taught in parochial schools in Watervliet, N.Y.; Chicago; Chester, Pa.: New Kensington and Olyphant, Pa.; and St. Basil Orphanage in Philadelphia before being called to fulfill her contemplative vocation.

On May 28, Mother Therese celebrated the 60th jubilee of religious life. For this occasion the divine liturgy was served by Msgr. John Squiller in the chapel of the Sacred Heart Monastery.

She is survived by her sister, Vera Colgan; her brother, Paul Bochnewich; and her sister in the Basilian Order, Sister Marina Bochnewich.

On June 12 services for the deceased (panakhyda) were offered in Middletown by Bishop Basil H. Losten of Stamford, Conn.; Msgr. Squiller, director of Holy Spirit Ukrainian Catholic Cemetery in Campbell, N.Y., and spiritual director of the Nuns at Sacred Heart Monastery; Msgr. George Valastro, dean of Orange County and pastor of St. Joseph Church in Middletown, N.Y.; and the Rev. George Mikolajczyk M.M. of Holy Rosary Church in Greenwood Lake, N.Y. Also in attendance were the Rev. Louis Angella of St. Joseph Church in Middletown, N.Y.; and the Rev. Edward Young, rector of the seminary in Stamford, and relatives and friends of Mother Therese.

On June 14 the body of the deceased was taken to the Sisters of St. Basil the Great in Fox Chase Manor, Pa., and that evening Rev. Wasyl Sivinsky, chaplain to the sisters there, served a parastas to which the sisters sang the responses. On Saturday morning four priests were present to concelebrate the divine liturgy: the Very Rev. Christopher Woytyna OSBM, provincial of the Basilian Fathers, Astoria, N.Y.; the Rev. Sivinsky, chaplain; the Rev. Canon Yaroslav Shust and the Rev. Wasyl Kharuk CSsR from Trenton, N.J. Interment took place at the cemetery of the Sisters of St. Basil the Great and a reception followed in the refectory of the Motherhouse.

Mother Therese was the sister of the late Msgr. Michael Bochnewich, who was pastor of St. John the Baptist Church in Detroit. During the years of her apostolic ministry she brought out the students' musical and artistic talents as she herself was gifted in these fields.

Her sterling character and motherly attributes were revealed in her loving care of the school children and the orphan boys who were her responsibility. The following incident also exemplifies this.

When Msgr. Stephen Hrynuch from Olyphant, Pa., was told of her death he immediately wrote to the Basilian Sisters to give his condolences and to express his reminiscence of Mother Therese in the following beautiful tribute quoted from his letter:

"She, as our unforgetable principal and teacher in our parochial school, wisely guided our pupils during the difficult and turbulent times in the history of our parish. I shall never forget her faith and love with which she comforted and consoled many, among them, me personally when I was sent here by my bishop... Sister Therese was chosen by God and instrumental to bring peace by her word, constant prayer and example, teaching all to live with God..."

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