Sister Rita Marie Range celebrates jubilee

Sister Rita Marie is in her second term as subprioress at Sacred Heart Convent in Springfield, Ill., where she looks after the needs of the roughly 100 sisters who call the convent home. Before that, she dedicated 54 years to Catholic education at schools throughout Illinois.

Born in Granite City, Ill., to Anthony and Ruby Range, she attended Sacred Heart Academy  and joined the sisters immediately following her graduation. She made her first profession of vows on June 19, 1964, and spent that first year at Sacred Heart Convent. In 1965 she began her teaching ministry in a first-grade classroom at St. Bernadette School, Evergreen Park, Ill. During the period 1968-1976 she taught primary, then junior high students, at St. Vincent De Paul, Peoria, Ill.

She was principal of Sacred Heart School, Pana, Ill., 1976-1978 and then at St. Vincent School, Peoria, 1978-1985. She taught math and served as assistant principal at Marian Catholic High School, Chicago Heights, Ill., 1986-1987 and then was principal of Our Saviour School, Jacksonville, Ill., 1987-1996. After a year’s sabbatical, she resumed her commitment to Catholic education at Our Lady of Grace, Chicago, once again as principal, 1997-2019. She began her current ministry as subprioress at Sacred Heart Convent in 2020.

“As I reflect on my 60 years as a Dominican Sister of Springfield, I realize what a blessing these years have been,” Sister Rita said. “I have been able to bring the love of God to hundreds of students and adults to whom I had the privilege of ministering as a teacher and/or a principal in the parishes, both rural and urban, to which I was sent.”

Sister Rita also counts as a blessing those many other ways she touched the lives of countless children and adults wherever she served. “Besides my educational ministry, I was able to develop and share my gifts in the parishes to which I was assigned: serving on RCIA teams, participating in music ministry as a cantor and choir member, ministering at Mass as lector and Eucharistic minister, preparing liturgies for Eucharist and sacramental celebrations, preparing children for the reception of the sacraments and coordinating parish activities,” she said.

Community life has also been a blessing, Sister Rita states. “Living in community with sisters, young and old, was enriching as we shared the fruits of our prayer, study, and ministry—and our lives—with one another,” she reflected. “When I answered God's call to religious life, I never imagined where the Lord would lead me, but I have definitely received "the hundredfold" the Lord promised to those who would follow Him!”