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SEPTEMBER 17, 2007
Local nun picked for high honor By Mary Kay Sweikar DANVILLE – When Sister Charles Allen Reynolds of St. Paul’s Parish learned she would receive an award from the Vatican in Rome for her spiritual work in the parish, she responded with her usual humility. “I feel very honored by this award,” she said, “but I look at myself as representative of all the Holy Cross Sisters who have ever served Danville. This award is really meant for all of us.” Reynolds will accept her award at a presentation Nov. 18 in Peoria, headquarters for the Peoria Catholic Diocese, which includes Danville. Reynolds has played a vital role in St. Paul’s Parish and grade school for 30 years. For 15 years she taught art class to students from kindergarten through eighth grade. “I don’t think that learning art is a frill in school,” she said, “but rather, the expression of art is part of being fully human.” Reynolds had a reputation for her elaborate art exhibits that were an anticipated highlight of the St. Paul’s School calendar, and she’s gratified her tradition has been continued. “I’m so pleased that the art teachers who followed me carried out the sense of spirituality in art that I tried to instill in the students when I was their teacher,” Reynolds said. Mary Pat Shepherd, principal of St. Paul’s, said, “I have known and worked with Sister Charles Allen for 24 years and my memories of her begin when she was the art teacher for my three children. Being able to express their ideas with a pen and paper, crayons, water color, ceramics or paint had a positive effect on my children’s development, confidence and motivation.” Shepherd spoke fondly of the clay Nativity scene figurines that Reynolds helped the students make each year at Christmastime. “It gives me great pleasure to see those same Nativity pieces brought out and placed under the tree in the homes of my children who are all grown now and have families of their own,” she said. After retiring from full-time teaching, Reynolds has continued to serve her parish in adult faith formation, pastoral care, and services to the poor. She coordinates the Rite of Christian Initiation program, which prepares adults for membership in the Catholic faith. She also supervises two spiritual growth groups called Searchers and Seekers, and formerly made pastoral care visits to the hospital and nursing homes. Reynolds said, “I am also responsible for overseeing the church environment and helping out our pastor in any way I can, since we don’t have an associate priest at St. Paul’s. “I’ve truly loved my ministry here,” she said. “I have been given wonderful opportunities to fulfill my mission as a sister right here in my hometown.” Reynolds grew up in Danville and had two brothers. She was a member of St. Paul’s Parish, but attended public grade school because St. Paul’s School had not been built yet. She graduated from Schlarman High School and first met the late Monsignor Charles B. Motsett when she was a sophomore. “Father Motsett was very close to my family, and my religious name ‘Charles’ was actually chosen in honor of him,” she said. “The name ‘Allen’ was chosen in honor of my father, Allen Reynolds, whom I remained close to until his death three years ago at the age of 98. “Even though many sisters took back their baptismal names after Vatican II, I kept my religious name in honor of these two great men.” Reynolds entered religious life right after high school, and in 2004 she celebrated 50 years of being a sister in her order. She is currently the only Sister of the Holy Cross who serves in the Peoria Diocese. Father Greg Nelson, pastor of St. Paul’s Parish, said, “Sister Charles has been such a valuable witness of the longstanding and selfless service that the Sisters of the Holy Cross have given the people of our area over the decades. “Her award, which acknowledges her own personal generosity to St. Paul’s in so many ways, helps highlight the mission of the founder of her order, Basil Moreau, who was honored by Pope Benedict with beatification—the highest rank next to sainthood. “We are grateful that sister can still be a part of that great tradition, which even our own Bishop Jenky shares as a member of the Holy Cross order.” * * *
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