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Friend of Sister Thea very happy with sainthood drive

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The campaign to have former La Crosse nun Sister Thea Bowman declared a saint does not surprise a long-time friend of Bowman.

Franciscan Sister Charlene Smith recalls how Bowman, the first African-American nun in the FSPA, stood out in the mostly white community, but found the two of them had much in common — that they both wanted to be Franciscans, and both wanted to teach English.

Bowman taught in the Viterbo English department in the 1970s.

Catholic bishops in the U.S. voted this week to place Bowman, who died at age 52, in consideration for canonization.

Sister Smith says researchers will find a large amount of documentation of Bowman’s life and work, as they look for proof of miracles attributed to Bowman.

Smith says she knows of a miracle, one time when Sister Thea spoke to a group of bishops and taught them some dance moves.

A native of Prairie du Chien, Brad graduated from UW - La Crosse and has worked in radio news for more than 30 years, mostly in the La Crosse area. He regularly covers local courts and city and county government. Brad produces the features "Yesterday in La Crosse" and "What's Buried on Brad's Desk." He also writes the website "Triviazoids," which finds odd connections between events that happen on a certain date, and he writes and performs with the local comedy group Heart of La Crosse. Brad been featured on several national TV programs because of his memory skills.

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2 Comments

2 Comments

  1. sherian pero

    November 23, 2018 at 5:34 pm

    Since when was dance moves considered a miracle?

  2. Carolyn Heil FSPA

    December 15, 2018 at 9:42 pm

    It’s not the dance moves. Can you imagine a large number of bishops getting up to dance in a circle- holding hands? That’s the miracle; S. Thea got them out of their chairs to sing and dance a black spiritual.

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