Sister Jane Kelly, an iconic Catholic nun who forged the creation of Ukiah’s Plowshares center for the homeless and helped foster expanded social justice ministries in Mendocino County, has died at age 95.
Sister Jane’s passing came Saturday morning at the Alma Via Nursing Home in her native San Francisco. Her death was announced by Sister Joanne Oshea, a friend of Sister Jane’s since their teenage years growing up in the same neighborhood in the city. Both joined the Presentation Sisters of the Virgin Mary order within a year of each other.
“She was a remarkable individual,” said Sister Joanne who visited her friend two or three times a week while she was under hospice care.
Sister Jane Kelly (Contributed)Sister Joanne said, “She accepted what life gave her with love, devotion, and loyalty.”
Sister Jane Kelly returned to the motherhouse of her San Francisco order in 2011 after spending nearly four decades living and working within the parish of St. Mary of the Angels in Ukiah.
She lived her last years quietly, said family and friends.
“When she became bedridden, Sister Jane said she had a new ministry: the ministry of prayer,” recalled longtime Ukiah friend Shannon Phelan. “She prayed for the world’s problems, and everyone she knew by name.”
Phelan and husband George said Sister Jane told them in the last few years that she “just wanted to go home, but her doctor told her that her heart was too strong.”
“And that is Jane in a nutshell. She had an incredibly strong heart,” said Shannon Phelan.
Sister Jane’s last years may have been quiet and reflective, but a quarter of a century ago she found herself in the forefront of a national reckoning for the Catholic Church.
As a result, Sister Jane emerged with a reputation as a rabble-rousing nun after exposing thievery and sexual misconduct within the Diocese of Santa Rosa, landing it on a mushrooming list of troubled dioceses across the nation.
Sister Jane’s actions helped topple Bishop G. Patrick Ziemann, a scion of a Southern California family with friends in the highest circles of the Catholic Church hierarchy. Ziemann’s downfall capped a string of disclosures in the 1990s about local priestly sexual misconduct from Santa Rosa to Eureka.
Sister Jane was hailed as a hero in some quarters but she was largely shunned by male colleagues within the church. “That damn nun from Ukiah,” some were heard to grouse during that era.
“Jane was a fearless woman in a man’s world,” recalled nephew Kip Kelly, a Southern California architect and one of several nephews and nieces “Aunt Jane” kept close to her.
“Aunt Jane taught us to stand up for what is right and never back down, that our life had a purpose and if we were willing to put in the work, nothing could get in our way. In a world where so many opt to fight for themselves, she showed us that contributing to others is what leads to a true sense of fulfillment,” said Kelly.
Sister Jane intuitively knew something was amiss when the late Bishop Patrick Ziemann appointed her spiritual adviser to a young man who seemed ill-prepared to become a priest in short order as instructed by the bishop.
Sister Jane began to question Jorge Hume’s alleged educational background in South America, learning of his growing possession of material goods shortly after his arrival at St. Mary church.
Ukiah police investigated theft suspicions and documented the priest’s skimming church collections. In a decision he came to regret, the late Ukiah Police Chief Fred Keplinger, a member of the parish, agreed to meet privately with the bishop and members of the parish council. Keplinger agreed not to seek criminal prosecution of the priest for theft, after Ziemann vowed to “take care of it.” The bishop swore all to secrecy except Sister Jane, who refused to attend the session because she feared that might happen.
When Sister Jane later learned the bishop was allowing Hume to continue acting as a priest in Napa, she took her concerns to diocesan officials.
What she, nor anyone else knew at the time, was that the bishop had become engaged in a sexual relationship with Hume. Ziemann claimed it was consensual. Hume told police investigators the bishop demanded sex in return for not being prosecuted criminally.
Although the Archdiocese of San Francisco learned of the tangled affair, church leaders allowed Ziemann to remain as bishop for another year until it was disclosed publicly. Hume later received a $500,000 cash settlement to end civil litigation against the Santa Rosa diocese, and he returned to his native Costa Rica.
Sister Jane’s role in unraveling the tawdry affair, and her follow-up in exposing other sexual abusers within church ranks, landed her on the March 3, 2000 cover of the National Catholic Reporter.
Writer Arthur Jones wrote, “Sister Jane Kelly has become by default what the diocese lacked: a repository of trust for many Santa Rosa Catholics. She has paid a high price. The silence and lack of support of some priests she’s known for decades. She broke the code of the clerical club.”
NBC News’ anchor Jon Bonne in 2003 did a segment broadcast nationally about Sister Jane’s efforts.
“Until he resigned, Bishop Patrick Ziemann wielded sweeping powers in the Diocese of Santa Rosa. But the outrage of one elderly nun from Ukiah helped knock him off his feet. For Sister Jane Kelly, exposing the bishop turned out to be the final step in an exasperating battle against the institutional power of the Catholic church,” Bonne reported.
Sister Jane relished a good fight and pressed her challenge to the church hierarchy about sexual and fiscal misconduct. She authored books, including one called “Taught to Believe the Unbelievable.” It is her story of a crisis of faith, and a reminder that “…the call of one’s own heart and conscience supersedes all externally imposed authority.”
An image forever imprinted in the minds of many Catholics in Ukiah is Sister Jane confronting the late Archbishop William Levada of San Francisco as he entered St. Mary church to convince parishioners that church authorities were managing the abuse and fiscal turmoil.
Sister Jane, a finger waving in Levada’s face, demanded to know why he had not responded to a letter from her outlining other abuse issues she had uncovered about three priests in the diocese. Levada tried to appease her by saying he would “look into it.”
Her moment with Archbishop Levada, captured in a front page newspaper photo published the next day, forever cemented Sister Jane’s image as the nun who stood up to the church hierarchy. Levada in 2005 was named head of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, making him the highest-ranking American in the Roman Curia.
Today it is Sister Jane’s remarkable community and family accomplishments that are being remembered rather than her national recognition.
After arriving in Ukiah in 1973, Sister Jane organized a parish school of religion and then expanded it to the local Native American community, visited rancherias, and advocated for native children and their families. She served on the board of the non-profit Senior Indian Nutrition Center.
Martin Bradley, a social justice advocate and close friend of Sister Jane, recalled how she was asked in 1977 to serve on the Ukiah Planning Commission.
“Sister Jane made decisions based on the needs of the community, and not on what was the most expedient or with the highest profit return for a land developer,” said Bradley.
Bradley remembered how he and other then young activists asked Sister Jane to help them plan a community dining room.
“Sister Jane gave credibility to an unknown group of young Ukiah newcomers organizing the Plowshares Peace and Justice Center. Her reputation drew support from members of the community that none of us knew,” said Bradley.
Bradley said it was Sister Jane’s “honesty and integrity combined with a keen knack of one-to-one fundraising that allowed Plowshares to open and thrive.”
The Rev. Gary Lombardi, now a retired pastor from St. Vincent’s Church in Petaluma, collaborated with Sister Jane in Ukiah when he was the newly appointed parish priest. (Lombardi was transferred before the local parish scandal emerged, and Sister Jane received national attention.)
“While we worked together at St. Mary’s, I experienced her as a woman of great wisdom, sound spirituality, and a passionate commitment to the social justice teaching of the Catholic Church,” recalled Lombardi.
Lombardi, who is widely known on the North Coast for his work in parishes from Petaluma to Eureka, said he valued Sister Jane’s insight and advice highly.
“She worked very well with me and our parish team in whatever aspect of parish ministry we were working on, with a special focus on involvement in the larger community of Ukiah. Her deep involvement with Plowshares was an example of how her focus on social justice worked itself out.”
Mary Leittem-Thomas, a former pastoral associate at St. Mary during the troubled times, and later principal of St. Mary School, recalled Sister Jane as a “powerful force for good. She loved being Catholic. She wanted to be a controversial yet good voice for change in the Church.”
“Sister Jane worked with Father Gary to start building parish ministries by hosting dinners at the rectory and then putting people to work on committees,” said Leittem-Thomas.
On a personal level, Leittem-Thomas said, “working with Sister Jane has given me a spiritual and professional depth that has helped define my adult life here in Ukiah, in ways for which I am truly grateful.”
Sister Jane remained close to her sister, the late Kay Barrow of Cotati, and older brother, Edward Casey Kelly, of San Francisco, and their families.
On a personal level, it was the family ties that mattered most to Sister Jane.
Niece Nancy Hamann of Boston said “Aunt Jane was at all our family holiday gatherings. She had a deep abiding love for family and its history.”
“I was the only girl in my family, and she made the special effort to connect with me, and make sure I felt equal to all the boys!” said Hamann.
Nephew Sam Hamann said, “The bond between Jane and her twin sister, my mom, was something to behold. They were inseparable and lifelong companions.”
Sister Jane dedicated one of her books to sister Kay Barrow and her husband, and nephew Sam and his partner Scott Daigre, whom she believed to be “examples of what it means to be in a loving and committed relationship.”
Sam Hamann said, “Aunt Jane was always supportive and accepting. She made it clear early in my life that she would not only accept me for whatever I ended up being but insisted that I be exactly that, true to myself.”
Nephew Jeff Kelly of San Francisco said his Aunt Jane was driven by a sense of fairness. “She told us the greatest gift was to treat others how we would like to be treated.”
Greg Kelly, another nephew, said he would like people to remember Sister Jane’s daily prayer.
“The Lord is my refuge, the lord is my refuge, peace and justice have met and God has set me free!”
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