Sister Karen Freund, OP

Sister Karen, who was previously known as Sister M. Siena, has had a multi-layered ministerial life. As a young sister she taught middle and junior high students in Illinois at St. Bernadette, Evergreen Park; Sacred Heart School, Granite City, and Christ the King, Springfield. Then, after eight years teaching English and theology at Sacred Heart Academy, Springfield, she was appointed director of novices for the Springfield Dominican Sisters, nourishing and guiding women in discernment for religious life.

About her own vocation, she says the seed was planted and nurtured by her family and home parish, St. Thomas, Crystal Lake, Ill., where she discovered that the Springfield Dominican Sisters who staffed the school were excellent educators and joyful, approachable women. “As I thought about my own future, I felt a deepening call to join them,” she said.

Sister Karen's parents Edwin and Vera Freund, brother Ken, and sister Mary Lou Dvorak are deceased. Her brother Allen lives in Wausau, Wisc., and her sister Eunice Lockwood lives in Crystal Lake, Ill.

After a period of study and renewal she began a period of pastoral ministry in the rural communities of Sacred Heart Parish in Spring Valley, Wis; and Holy Spirit Parish in Jamestown, Ky. She was then elected to leadership for the congregation, serving a four-year term on the general council. After that, for eleven years she was the pastoral associate and spiritual director at St. Thomas More Newman Center Parish in Columbia, Mo., where she accompanied students, faculty, and parishioners by providing spiritual direction, leading study groups, and encouraging the spiritual life of the Newman community.

In 2021 she returned to Springfield where she lives in the community at St. Rose Convent and continues her ministry of spiritual direction. At this stage in her life, she says, she enjoys her spiritual direction ministry because, “It allows deep conversations about prayer, faith, and life’s everyday challenges.”