Providence Sister Marie Kevin Tighe presented with Torchbearer Award
Criterion Staff report
Providence Sister Marie Kevin Tighe has earned the prestigious Torchbearer Award presented by the Indiana Commission for Women.
The recipients were announced on
Jan. 22 at the Indiana Roof Ballroom in Indianapolis.
Sister Marie Kevin, previously a member of the former Holy Trinity Parish in New Albany and a member of the Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods since 1942, served for nearly 11 years as promoter of the Cause of Blessed Mother Theodore Guérin and later as the vice postulator for the Cause.
Pope Benedict XVI canonized Mother Theodore on Oct. 15, 2006.
St. Theodora, who founded the Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods in 1840, also was honored with a Torchbearer Award at the 2007 ceremony.
The awards are presented annually to recognize Hoosier women who have overcome or removed barriers to equality or whose achievements have contributed to making Indiana a better place in which to live, work and raise a family.
The Torchbearer Award is the highest award presented only to women by the State of Indiana.
“Upon reviewing the program and seeing the many finalists considered by the board of judges, it was a distinct honor and amazing surprise to have been chosen as one of the winners,” Sister Marie Kevin said. “As I received this award, I thought of the many Sisters of Providence who had contributed to the realization of our hope to have our foundress, St. Mother Theodore, presented to the universal Church and to the world as a saint of God.”
She retired from full-time ministry last year after serving as director of the office for the Shrine of St. Mother Theodore.
In accepting the award, Sister Marie Kevin said, “The fact that this award is from the Indiana Commission for Women is very significant since our beloved predecessor was such a champion of the rights of women and such a dedicated, transplanted French Hoosier!”
She related stories about St. Theodora, who said upon arriving back in Indiana after a trip to France, “Finally on the fifth day, I saw, once more, my Indiana! This land was no longer for the land of exile. It is the portion of my inheritance. In it, I hope to dwell all of the days of my life.”
She also shared briefly St. Theodora’s philosophy in working in a male-dominated society in the mid-1840s: “It embarrasses them a little to have women resist them and speak to them about the law. [A] woman in this country is only yet one-fourth of the family. I hope that through the influences of religion and education, she will eventually become at least one half—the better half.” †