Exhibit looks at contributions of women religious

Sisters of Mary of the Presentation arrived in 1902 in North Dakota to minister to new immigrants. (Photo courtesy of "Women & Spirit: Catholic Sisters in America)

A three-year traveling exhibit looking at the lives and contributions of women religious to American society debuts this weekend in Cincinnati.

A project of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, “Women & Spirit: Catholic Sisters in America” opens May 16 at the Cincinnati Museum Center and runs through Aug. 30. Click here for hours.

The exhibit tells the story of women religious since their arrival in the United States in 1727. It features 70 items from among thousands gathered from more than 400 religious communities. Traveling trunks, journals, vintage health care equipment, diaries, musical instruments and even a few artifacts from several saints are among the items that are included.

Designed by Seruto & Co. in Pasadena, Calif., the show can accommodate artifacts and photos from the archives of local religious communities in each city where it stops.

After its Cincinnati run, “Women & Spirit” moves on to the Women’s Museum in Dallas, followed by stops at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, and the Mississippi River Museum in Dubuque, Iowa, over the next 23 months. Other bookings are being sought for 2011 and 2012.

In line with the exhibit’s opening, Rep. Marcy Kaptur, a Democrat from Toledo, Ohio, has introduced a resolution in Congress commending women religious for their contributions throughout American history.

Fine dining in the upper Midwest

What’s the point of ordering the same-old, same-old when traveling and when you have hosts and companions who can point out menu delicacies?

During a reporting trip to the Midwest, CNS photographer Bob Roller and I were at a restaurant a block from St. John Church in Rochester, Minn., with Bishop Bernard Harrington of Winona. In one of his last offical acts before retiring as bishop there, he insisted photographer Bob Roller and I try the walleye sandwich. And not just any walleye sandwich, but the beer-battered walleye sandwich.

I’m game for just about anything, but Bob, who maintained a running and fitness regimen while on the road for CNS’ “On the Farm” series, had to be rather strongly encouraged to ask for it. The verdict: He liked it. So did I. 

At Sabor Latino I (no sign of a II) in Postville, Iowa, I saw rabbit on the menu and ordered it. But the waiter-manager came back with his apologies for not being able to fulfill the order. “We didn’t go hunting last night,” he said. So, a form of breaded Swiss steak with melted cheese atop the steak, and fries atop the cheese, had to do. Confidentially, it was delicious.

So, too, was the lunch the following day at the parish hall of St. Bridget Church in Postville. Guatemalan women who had been arrested in the meatpacking plant raid nearly a year before cook lunch for parish staff and volunteers. It’s their way of saying thank you for the help given by the parish and its people. The lunch included taquitos, salad, yellow rice, and chicken that fell off the bone before you could put it on your plate.

The bartender at a watering hole in Decorah, Iowa, offered Bob and me some “Ole and Lena” fortune cookies. Rather than the expected Chinese adage or prediction, the slip of paper inside the cookie offers jokes about a Nordic-American couple. The cookies tasted good, though.

For sheer audacity, though, one must go to the Irish Shanti (that’s right, an “i,” not “y”) in Gunder, Iowa. The Irish-themed restaurant-bar is one of the biggest enterprises in the tiny town. And it has menu items that nearly match it. I would have tried the thick pork burger sandwich were it not for the Gunderburger, whose reputation extends into Minnesota.

The Gunderburger gives the soul who orders it a pound of ground  beef with a wide choice of toppings, condiments and assorted slatherings. The bun is only regulation size, though, so one must use a knife and fork to cut away slices of the burger in order to pick up the rest of it. I have to say it was well worth the effort.

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