Ursuline Sisters from India feel at home on Pine Ridge Reservation

Sr. Rana Rosalia, USF, and Sr. Otoli Sumi, USF, are Ursuline Sisters from India serving in the Diocese of Rapid City. (Photo by Marcus Fast Wolf)

Diocesan residents are accustomed to most of the religious orders working here for many years. There are two nuns serving on the Pine Ridge Reservation, whose order may be less familiar. Sr. Rana Rosalia, USF, and Sr. Otoli Sumi, USF, teach in the Red Cloud Indian School System. The sisters arrived Nov. 2, 2018, and work here based on an the agreement between their province and the Red Cloud schools.

According to Sr. Rana, the Ursuline Franciscan Sisters were founded by Fr. Urban Stein a German Jesuit on April 10, 1887. Their charism is: “To launch deep into the lives of the people, to find God in all things with the freedom to renounce riches and embrace poverty.”

The order’s Motherhouse is in Mangalore, India and there are five provinces in India, and two regions — European Region (Germany and Italy), African Region (Tanzania and Kenya), and a Mission in the United States.

Sr. Rana said, “We got to know about the Pine Ridge Mission from the Kohima Region Jesuits (in India). It is the native ministry among the Lakotas that drew us here. Being religious and serving among the tribes in the North-Eastern part of India, this mission resonates with our mission in many ways. We feel one with them.”

At Red Cloud, the sisters’ primary mission is to teach religion (spiritual formation) for grades K-4 and 5-8.

When asked about Holy Rosary Mission, Sr. Rana said, “We are happy with the mission that is entrusted to us. It is a beautiful place with beautiful people with lots of challenges. We love the diversity of our mission. We love ‘The Lakota Catholic Way’ in dealing with the students in the class, with the parishioners, and people at large.”

(West River Catholic Report)