Dee Thatcher: Living as a Cojourner
Kathy Colescott: A Faith Journey That Spans Decades
Don Kaple: Jonah’s House

Dee Thatcher: Living as a Cojourner

Dee Thatcher of Rochester became a Cojourner when she turned 50. Feeling she’d earned a massage, she visited Integrative Therapies, formerly housed at Assisi Heights. Here she came to know S. Linda Wieser, and through her, S. Tereselle Fihe, with whom she became friend and companion. They soon found themselves attending Mass and having lunch together. Dee simply fit in so well, so loved the Heights, and found God so clearly in each Sister’s dedication, that though she hadn’t been a “church” woman—she found God out-of-doors —she discovered that St. Francis and she had a good deal in common, and her interest in the Church took root. (As a child, on Sunday mornings, Dee would often go off alone to the nearby water and sit...so she wouldn't have to go to church!)

It was at Pax Christi Parish, in 1997, where she was welcomed into the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults; the program that brings adults from other Christian religions in to the Catholic faith. There were obstacles, to be sure; she knew her family, her stepfather in particular, wouldn’t take kindly to this new woman, despite her desire. But Dee worked as a volunteer in the Assisi Community Center for four years, learning every nook and outlet in the whole building as she set up equipment, registered participants, and followed S. Joy Barth in whatever the task. She found such openness, such willingness, among the Sisters—and she grew always more intrigued. When S. Colleen Byron gave her a biography of St. Clare--Clare, companion to Francis and founder of her own community—Dee saw how Clare’s family opposed her desire to be a poor woman of God, and how she followed the Spirit anyway. Like Clare, she felt torn; yet she saw the path clearly. And so, on September 17th, the feast of Francis’s Stigmata, she signed her covenant as a Cojourner with the Sisters of Saint Francis; she was baptized at the Holy Saturday ritual in 1998.

Her family recognized that she was the happiest she’d ever been. And after her mother’s death, she realized its fruit in a warm friendship with her stepfather, Stewart, in his last weeks. Asked about this new life, she said she’s “Franciscan first, then Catholic”—though there’s no real separation. Retired now from the Mayo Clinic, she finds herself busier than ever as a volunteer. The whole of Franciscan life as she has come to know it gives her a fresh place on the earth each morning. This community is her connection to Francis.

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Kathy Colescott: A Faith Journey That Spans Decades

Kathy Colescott graduated from the University of Michigan with a BSN degree (in nursing). She taught nursing students and has been in direct service in the health care field for thirty years, retiring in 1987. Married to a United Methodist minister for 47 years, they raised two children, who have blessed them with two elementary age granddaughters.

Kathy's faith journey began with assisting in various churches in Minnesota, where she could be found teaching classes, planning retreats for women, and coordinating a state-wide Short Term Volunteer in Mission program. As a matter of fact, she spent the last twenty years as chair of a Mission Scholarship program. She enjoys this work and continues to serve in mission and women's activities at Christ United Methodist Church.

Kathy first became a Cojourner in 1988 because of the respect and friendship of several Sisters, especially Sister Colleen Byron who led a retreat for United Methodist Women at Assisi Heights and encouraged her to become a Cojourner. She is deeply appreciative of the friendships with the Sisters, learning about the lives of Francis, Clare, Mother Alfred and the ongoing legacy of the Franciscans in Rochester and the world community. In the late 1980's and early 1990's, Kathy served on the planning committee of the Assisi Community Center.

Presently, Kathy participates in the Rochester Area Rochester Franciscan Life Team, planning and supporting the program for Interested Persons becoming Cojourners. She also serves on the Assisi Heights Spirituality Center Advisory Council. She is co-organizer, along with Cojourner Lorraine Heenan, to plan and recruit Franciscan volunteers for the monthly Dorothy Day meals. On February 14, 2010, she celebrated a ceremony becoming the first Life Covenant Cojourner as a Wesleyan Franciscan.
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Don Kaple: Jonah’s House

Don Kaple’s spiritual journey started at a very young age. After the eighth grade, Don entered the seminary at the Josephium in Columbus, Ohio. From there, his pastor got him into St. Meinrad’s the Benedictine Monastery in southern Indiana. He thrived there! However, Don’s wake-up call came when his father became an invalid and he could no longer afford to support his tuition at St. Meinrad’s. Don was determined. He worked long hours all summer to pay for his own schooling. While attending St. Meinrad’s, he heard about the Glenmary Home Missioners. It appealed to the romantic in him, so he left St. Meinrad’s and continued his education in Cincinnati. Even though he missed the spiritual atmosphere at St. Meinrad’s, he was carried by the enthusiasm and idealism of Glenmary. He spent his novitiate and four years of theology at Glenmary. In 1958, he was ordained as a priest.

At this point in his life, after achieving all he sought to do, he became disenchanted. He was not ready for such responsibility and his high ideals for the priesthood were impossible to achieve. Entering the seminary before Vatican II – Don served in different assignments with various parishes. What he found was that he was moving faster than the Church, and became disillusioned. At age 40, Don took a leave of absence from the priesthood. He started all over in exploring his Catholic faith, and also other religions. He discovered that God’s revelation is rooted in human experience, that is, in the very depth of the human soul. Here is where we can experience the stirrings of the Holy Spirit.

He had a difficult time adjusting to life as a lay person. In his inner self, he continued to be a priest. Work had to be more to him than making money to support him, and his new family: wife Marion, and soon to follow, a daughter and a son. His apostolate became adult literacy. He went to graduate school, and with Marion’s help and support, he earned a doctorate in Adult Education and embarked on his new career.

Now, Don and Marion are retired and live in a small cottage on Jonas Ridge in the mountains of western North Carolina, Jonah’s House, where Don intends to spend the rest of his years in prayer and study. Don and Marion live a quasi-monastic life in our house of prayer, our hermitage. Don chose to become a Rochester Franciscan Cojourner because following Francis shows him a way to lose himself in God – the way of absolute detachment from all material things. Says Don, “Francis is a romantic, a poet, a dreamer, a lover. With him, it’s all or nothing at all. He is my ideal. To follow Francis is a no-holds-barred adventure. He pursues God with reckless abandonment.” And Don appreciates that Francis’ way is open not only to clerics and vowed religious, and not only to Catholics, but to other Christians and to other religions.
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