Comprehensive work: Heckel authors expansive history of Ursuline Sisters of Mount Saint Joseph

Sep. 3—When Dan Heckel was asked in 2017 to write about the history of the Ursuline Sisters of Mount Saint Joseph and its surrounding western Daviess County community, he embraced it as a new challenge given to him by then-Congregation Leader Sister Amelia Stenger.

"I had never written a book, and it was a pretty massive undertaking," said Heckel, director of mission advancement and communications for the Ursuline Sisters of Mount Saint Joseph.

Five years and countless hours of research later, Heckel released the 650-page book "Hope and Firm Faith: The Story of the Ursuline Sisters of Mount Saint Joseph" in mid-August.

Heckel said Stenger didn't give him a deadline, and the COVID-19 pandemic slowed him down, limiting his access to the Mount's archives.

Heckel added that he set his own goal of finishing the book before Stenger ended her term as congregation leader, which occurred in July.

"I had it done before she left office, but we didn't get it back until (August)," he said.

Although the Ursuline Sisters arrived in Daviess County in 1874, the book chronicles what began as the Order of Saint Ursula in 1572.

"It's not just about this (community); it's about every place they've been — New Mexico and South America; it's a full history," Heckel said. "It's the first one of everything."

And within that journey, Heckel said readers will also learn about how the Roman Catholic Diocese of Owensboro took shape, especially through the Ursuline Sisters' mission of education.

The Ursuline Sisters were responsible for starting most of the private Catholic schools in Daviess County.

"It's also about how your school in the Diocese, where the sisters may have worked, and how that developed," Heckel said. "...Pretty much in Daviess County, if you went to a Catholic school, you probably had an Ursuline Sister at some point."

Heckel started his research with the archives maintained at Mount Saint Joseph, where he found many writings and first-person accounts from the sisters who lived there.

At their peak in Daviess County, there were 500 Ursuline Sisters. That number is now down to 84.

"A lot of it is just told through the eyes of the sisters; there was a lot of correspondence in the olden days," Heckel said. "I don't know how people are going to write histories of this era with email. But luckily for us, we saved everything. Our religious archives are some of the best in the country."

And for Heckel, he feels good about how the book turned out and so far has received positive feedback from Stenger and other Ursuline sisters.

"It makes me happy for the sisters who are reading it saying, 'It stirs a lot of memories for me,' even if it's not a story about them, but it's a story about a school where they taught or a sister they served with."

The book is $35, plus tax. To purchase a copy, visit www.ursulinesmsj.org/hope-and-firm-faith-book.

Don Wilkins, dwilkins@messenger-inquirer.com, 270-691-7299