After receiving Vatican approval, the Franciscan Sisters of Mary will transfer SSM Health Care to a new sponsoring body, SSM Health Ministries on Friday, November 15 during a special afternoon ceremony at The Sarah Community. The sisters chose his date to commemorate the official beginning of the Franciscan Sisters of Mary. On November 16, 1872, Mother Mary Odilia Berger and her four companions landed on the St. Louis riverfront with the mission of caring for the poor and sick of the St. Louis area.
For the past two years, the FSM Leadership Team has been working on the transition. SSM Health Ministries will assume ultimate responsibility for ensuring SSM Health Care retains its Catholic identity and values. The body will also serve as SSMHC’s liaison with the Vatican.
SSM Health Ministrieswill consist of six individuals – three Franciscan Sisters of Mary and three lay people. They will help to ensure that the FSM legacy of compassionate care will continue in the health care system.
Sisters Rose Mary Dowling, Susan Scholl, and Sandra Schwartz will serve as the first FSM members of SSM Health Ministries. Lay members of the leadership team have extensive board and not-for-profit experience. The lay members are Jennifer Grantham Stein, board member of Catholic Charities for the Diocese of Madison, Wisconsin; Thomas M. Gunn, president of The Gunn Group, Inc.; and Thomas E. Hilton, president of the Board of Governors for Cardinal Glennon Children’s Medical Center, director of Forensic and Valuation Services Group for Anders Minkler Huber and Helm LLP and adjunct professor for the John Cook School of Business, Saint Louis University.
FSM said the transfer of sponsorship will not in any way affect the everyday administration of SSMHC for employees, physicians, patients or families.Â