One Remembrance of Christine

For seven years, Christine worked on a Masters degree in Theology at Notre Dame University. The leader of that program, Michael Driscoll, sent us a message to be read at her funeral on December 14. His message described her participation in the program:

Since Monday afternoon the phone lines and electronic media have been burning up with requests for prayer for Christine. Her friends from Notre Dame who live around the world seemed immediately connected by FaceBook. In spite of the great geographical distances, the community gathered—at least virtually— to pray for her and her family and then to mourn her departure.

Let me say a word about how I came to know Christine. We began a new program in 2005 for pastoral musicians. We called it SummerSong. When we announced the first SummerSong in 2005 we did not know who would come. Within weeks, however, the applications began to roll in. Christine Henes was among the first group to apply. She came to us with a background in music therapy and had been associated with St. Coletta in Jefferson, WI. Although she was not Catholic, she felt perfectly at home in Roman Catholic circles. She along with several others discovered very quickly that they could manage the academic study of liturgy and that they were benefiting from the two-week program each summer.

As a result of her involvement in SummerSong, this eventually led her to pursue and achieve the masters degree in liturgy at Notre Dame. A year and half ago she received her diploma. I remember how happy she was and how proud her family and friends were, myself included. We had a wonderful celebration afterwards on the banks of the St. Joseph River. I could tell that Christine was happy to finish but not too eager to give up her two-week sessions at Notre Dame each summer, where she made many wonderful friends.

Within the SummerSong program, she and her dear friend Mark Purcell played a wonderful role as ministers of hospitality. Each summer they would arrive early so that they could meet the incoming and returning SummerSingers and help them move into the dorms and get settled. Christine with her deep maternal instincts played the role of counselor to many of the younger participants.

This past Wednesday the Eucharist was offered in her memory in Malloy Hall Chapel, a place where she had celebrated her faith with the other SummerSong participants from 2005-2011 each day of SummerSong. She would bring her mother down from Buchanan from time to time to be a part of the liturgical celebration.

It is with deep sadness that we let her go but with great joy that she is now in the arms of her loving God. I am sure that the testimonials on FaceBook will continue as the community of SummerSong comes to terms with such a great loss. Our prayers go out to her family and friends. Although we are scattered throughout the country and the world, we stand in the solidarity of prayer with you today.

Michael Driscoll