Mother M. Clemens Rudolph

Mother Clemens Rudolph was a remarkable woman known for her humility, gentleness, and kindness. She served as president of the School Sisters of St. Francis, and international congregation of nearly 4,000 members from 1960-1966. Those were turbulent years in the country and the Catholic Church during the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965). Mother Clemens herself wrestled with change. Her steadfast love of God and the Church, and obedience to the Vatican compelled her to courageously move forward thorough the confusion and turmoil of renewal. This Biography reveals her life in such a way that it evokes gratitude, inspiration, and reflection to do "always more, always better, always with love." About the Author Sister Barbaralie Stiefermann joined the School Sisters of St. Francis in 1950. She earned a B.S.Ed. from Alverno College, Milwaukee; an M.A. in English from Loyola University of Chicago; a Ph.D. in English from Western Colorado University, Grand Junction. She has been a teacher, school administrator, organist and choir director, campus minister, director of the School Sisters of St. Francis Alfons Gallery, and an author. Sister Barbaralie has been affectionately known in her religious life as "the woman of diversity." Her interests in Tai Chi Chuan, Qigong, Wabi Sabi, ikebana, kinesiology, numerology, Feng Shui and Taoism are just a few of the special pursuits that gave her this well-deserved title. When questioned about her exciting and rich life as a sister, she simply smiles and says: "In the final analysis, the greatest tribute and richness is to love and be loved. All the rest is background music."