Community mourns death of Mother Mona Brunner

POCATELLO, ID (10-02-2008) - As a faithful Franciscan in likeness to St. Francis and just prior to the commemoration of St. Francis' own death on October 3rd, Mother Mona Brunner, FSE, welcomed "Sister Death" late tonight at the Franciscan Sisters' Desert House in Pocatello. Our entire Community of Sisters and Brothers mourns her death, even as we rejoice with her entrance into the glory of eternal life. Mother Mona died peacefully with her Sisters keeping prayerful vigil at her side, only eleven days after having been diagnosed with incurable cancer.

Mother Mona, one of the founding members of the FSE Community, was also the foundress of the Franciscan Family Life Center and the Franciscan Counseling Center in Pocatello. As a teacher, a principal and then a marriage and family therapist, she served families in the southeast Idaho region for over 39 years. In the 1970's she helped her self-supporting community by working at Power County Press in American Falls and as an agricultural enumerator for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. In 1977 Mother Mona founded the Franciscan Counseling Center and continued as Director up to the present time. Prior to living in Idaho, Mother Mona was a teacher and principal of elementary schools in St. Mary's Ridge, La Crosse and Edgar, Wisconsin, as a Franciscan Sister of Perpetual Adoration, La Crosse, the community she had joined in 1951. She professed her final vows in 1960. Seven years later she became the Directress of Novices for two years. In that capacity, she realized the need to meet the new challenges to religious life offered by the Second Vatican Council, and became a founding member of the Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist in 1973. Mother Mona was elected to the General Council of the Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist in 1987 and served until 1999.

Mother Mona received a Bachelor of Science in Education degree from Viterbo College, La Crosse, in 1961 and a Master of Arts in Sacred Doctrine from St. Mary's, Notre Dame in 1967. She also studied theology at Fordham University, New York City.

The daughter of Andrew and Emma Brunner, Mother Mona was born February 2, 1933, in Durand, Wisconsin, the youngest of six children. Growing up on a dairy farm and being a member of the farm "threshing crew" by driving the tractor, she loved hard manual labor and work outdoors. Her creativity and passion for work are expressed in the Franciscan Sisters' Family Life Center where numerous sculptures and gardens beautify the desert landscape. The Community remembers her as a pillar of faith, a pioneer in the renewal of religious life, a religious woman whose Spouse was Christ and His Church as she ministered to and enjoyed people of every age. Her forthrightness in asking in-depth questions, her sense of wonder and playfulness, and her clever "prankster" attitude will be the substance of stories told to the younger generations in years to come.

Mother Mona is survived by her Franciscan Community in twelve Centers around the world, her sisters, Winnifred Schuh of Mondovi, Wisconsin, Goldene Weiss of Durand, Wisconsin, Jean McCook of St. Paul, Minnesota, Betty and her husband Bob Hartung of Elmwood, Wisconsin, as well as numerous nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by ten Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist, one Franciscan Brother of the Eucharist, her parents, Andrew and Emma Brunner, and her brother, Hubert.

It was Mother Mona's wish that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to our foreign missions in Jamaica and the Holy Land. Donations may be sent to: The Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist, Family Life Center, 2098 Truckerville Rd. Pocatello, ID 83204. A wake will be held Sunday, October 5th from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, St Anthony's Chapel with a Rosary service to begin at 4:30 p.m. at the church. A Mass of a Christian Burial will be celebrated Monday, October 6th at 2 p.m. at the church with internment to follow at the Family Life Center Cemetery. Arrangements are under the care and Direction of Downard Funeral Home and Sister Patricia Glass, FSE, Licensed Funeral Director. Friends who wish may send online condolences by visiting www.DownardFuneralHome.com.