Sisters of the Incarnate Word and Blessed Sacrament
Install Leadership Team, Set Future Direction

Corpus Christi, Texas – The Sisters of the Incarnate Word and Blessed Sacrament have elected Sister Michelle Marie Kuntscher to lead their congregation of 57 Sisters during the next four years as Superior General.

Sister Michelle Marie will work with a team of four general councilors who also were elected Saturday, December 22, 2007. They include Sister Mary Ann Korczynski, elected First Councilor and Assistant, Sister Martha O’Gara, Sister Barbara Marie Netek, and Sister Esther Dunegan.

The newly-elected General Council members will begin a four-year term at their installation on Saturday, June 14, 2008. The Installation Liturgy will begin at 1:30 p.m. at the Incarnate Word and Blessed Sacrament Chapel located at 2930 South Alameda.

Sister Michelle Marie, who is completing her term as a member of the present Leadership Team, will convene the General Chapter for the Sisters one week later, as her first order of business. Every four years the Sisters meets in assembly to consider the basic Chapter question: “How can we proclaim and make present the grace of the Incarnation at this time in history?”

A native of Vattmann, Texas, Sister Michelle Marie entered Incarnate Word and Blessed Sacrament Convent in 1960 and made First Profession 1963.

Sister Michelle Marie holds degrees from Our Lady of the Lake University and Texas A&M University. Her years of ministry include teaching at St. Patrick School, Corpus Christi; Villa Maria High School, Brownsville; and Incarnate Word Academy, Corpus Christi.

Sister Michelle Marie succeeds Sister Irma Gonzalez from Brownsville, Texas, who has served as Superior General of the congregation for the past eight years.

Sister Michelle Marie and the newly elected general councilors will be responsible for helping to animate the members of the congregation to live more completely their call “to be the human face of God’s love to those they meet.”

“During the General Chapter, we will carefully listen to the Holy Spirit’s call to renewal through our communal prayer, faith-sharing and deliberations,” Sister Michelle Marie said. “Our mission and ministry will continue to focus on celebrating Jesus, the Incarnate Word in daily life within our community and among those we serve.”

This Chapter of Affairs marks the congregation’s 155th year in the South Texas area and 137 years in Corpus Christi.