Carmelite Sister JonFe de Torres, left, and a student from The Lighthouse Schools in Clinton care for the garden at The Canticle, home of the Sisters of St. Francis, earlier this year in Clinton.
By Lindsay Steele
The Catholic Messenger
CLINTON — Gardening is more than just a hobby for religious sisters living at The Canticle, home of the Clinton Franciscans; it’s a powerful way to connect with nature, improve well-being and support the environment.
“For me, gardening is an expression of creativity,” said Carmelite Sister JonFe de Torres. “It’s not just getting your hands dirty in the soil; it is an extension of being a co-creator. It’s creating beauty and the space for life to grow.”
Sister De Torres is a member of The Canticle’s vegetable garden team, along with Clinton Franciscan Sisters Theresa Judge, Teresa Kunkel, William McCue and Joan Theiss. The team aims to contribute to biodiversity and sustainability by growing healthy foods and reducing The Canticle’s reliance on packaged goods.
The sisters feed the plants with compost made from yard materials and scraps from the kitchen, helping facilitate healthy plant growth and a more plentiful harvest. Rain barrels collect and store water to hydrate the vegetable garden. “We did not use any water from the tap in 2024 and we are proud of it,” said Sister Judge.
In addition to providing fresh produce for those who live and work at The Canticle, the team produced enough food in 2024 to make 70 quarts of pickled beets, 30 quarts of salsa, 42 quarts of pickled cucumbers and 62 quarts of spaghetti sauce. Kitchen staff froze 25 pounds of rhubarb, 30 pounds of green peppers, 70 pounds of zucchini and summer squash, 80 pounds of tomatoes and 40 pounds of green beans. The sisters also grew flowers for the chapel.
The garden blossomed into a place for interfaith and intergenerational connection. Last year, an Islamic boarding school for boys in grades 8-12 opened next door at the former Mount St. Clare College campus. The Sisters of St. Francis founded the college in 1918 and sold the property in 2005, when it became Ashford University. Following a series of transitions, The Lighthouse Schools acquired the property in 2023 and opened last fall. “Our staff had already hoped to start a student garden and it turned out the sisters had a large one already in place and were more than happy to share it,” said Brittany Bennett, the school’s principal.
Eight students volunteered in the garden this spring. A pair of students spent an hour each afternoon on various tasks. “The students helped us clear the garden of what remained from the previous year’s growing season, they sifted the compost and placed it on plant beds, put down stakes for tomatoes and planted lettuce, radishes, onions, tomatoes, etc.,” Sister de Torres said. “Aside from being grateful for the students’ help, the work that we have done together, for me, exemplifies the collaboration that is possible between neighbors with different backgrounds. We don’t need to focus on our differences but to focus on a common goal. Kindness and neighborliness goes a long way for making a better community, a better society.”
“The school year ended just as the plants were starting to grow, but (the students) certainly learned a lot,” Bennett said. Sister de Torres added, “It was a great experience for us and we hope that it was for them, too.”
Cultivating interfaith connection
In addition to working together in The Canticle’s garden, the sisters and Muslim students from Lighthouse Schools are connecting over interfaith dialogue and experiences.
The Islamic boys’ boarding school, the first of its kind in the United States, just wrapped up its first academic year. Founder Akif Aydin dreamed of creating a transformative space where Muslim boys could grow academically, spiritually and socially — guided by faith, discipline and purpose. “When I first came across the former Mount St. Clare campus, I was immediately struck by its beauty, history and potential… I saw in it an opportunity to restore a place of learning and service for a new generation.”
School administrators first connected with the sisters during the school’s community Thanksgiving dinner last year. In February, the sisters invited students and staff over for lunch at The Canticle and spoke about their experiences and the legacy of the campus. “The shared history of the campus between the two faiths is really neat,” Bennett said. “It beautifully reflects an interfaith commitment: brothers and sisters walking in faith together through service, learning and shared community.”
The camaraderie continued in March when the school invited the sisters to attend its Ramadan Iftar event, where students shared presentations on the meaning and culture of Ramadan with Clinton community members.
“We really enjoy the contact with them,” said Sister Jan Cebula, president of the Clinton Franciscans. “It’s very clear that they are living out their faith, which manifests itself in a peacefulness, a gentleness, a welcoming and a kind presence.”
The two communities hope to coordinate an event this fall around the Feast of St. Francis. “We are looking to host a community viewing of The Sultan and the Saint in the theatre on the Lighthouse Campus. This would be free of charge and open to anyone,” Bennett said.
“The interfaith connection with the Sisters of St. Francis has been one of the very beautiful surprises of this journey,” Aydin said. “We believe deeply in building bridges through shared values of community, compassion and service.”
