Sister Cecilia Reitzel, SSND (formerly Ceciliana)
June 21, 1926 – August 25, 2018
Sister Cecilia died on August 25, 2018 at the age of 92. She was in her 72nd year as a School Sister of Notre Dame.
Marcella was the first daughter in a family of nine boys and three girls born to Clayton and Cecilia (Ruetz) Reitzel. Marcella attended St. Louis School, Waterloo, where she was taught by the School Sisters. Following Grade 10, Marcella helped at home until August 1942 when she entered the aspiranture at Notre Dame Convent, Waterdown.
On July 26, 1944, she became Novice Mary Ceciliana; the following year she professed her vows.
In 1951, Sister Cecilia completed her B.A. degree at the University of Western Ontario. After graduating from Hamilton Teachers’ College, she began her teaching career at St. Clements School, Cambridge. From 1954-1964, Sister Cecilia taught at St. Mary’s High School, Kitchener. She then was appointed principal at St. Aloysius School, Kitchener. In 1966 Sister Cecilia moved to Notre Dame Convent School, Lingfield, England, where she taught biology, chemistry and religion to senior students until 1980. A group in her religion class formed the club “The Young Apostles.” Each year they went to the Carmelite monastery in Aylesford for a retreat day. They also, knit afghans for Mother Theresa in Calcutta. In 1980, during an experiment in her chemistry class, there was an explosion which caused Sister Cecilia considerable loss of hearing. As a result, she had to retire from classroom teaching.
While in Lingfield, Sister Cecilia took advantage of taking the following courses: Scripture and Catechetics; Theology of Religious Education; the Creed; and she attended Life in the Spirit Seminars, conferences given by the Association of Teaching Religious, and a Christian Mediation program directed by Fr. John Main OSB.
Following a year of religious studies at Gonzaga University, Spokane, Washington, Sister Cecilia returned to England, where she was in parish ministry in Peckham Rye and Dulwich, sections of the city of London. Using her skills as a seamstress, each week she went to a centre where the unemployed and homeless gathered for lunch. Some brought clothing to be mended or in need of alterations.
Sister Cecilia also held weekly sewing classes in the convent for retired women or mothers who wanted to sew. She solicited material from shirt factories and similar outlets.
In 1986 she moved to Cambridge, Ontario, where she was director of the catechetical correspondence program for the Hamilton diocese. When the Cambridge convent closed in 2009, she moved to Notre Dame Convent, Waterdown, and continued on the catechetical team.
Again, Sister Cecilia readily used her sewing and dressmaking skills to assist community members. She enjoyed sewing children’s dresses for Dr. Simone’s, Canadian Food for the Poor.
Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated for Sister Cecilia on August 29 at Notre Dame Convent, Waterdown. The presider was Very Reverend Wayne Lobsinger, Episcopal Vicar for Consecrated Life. Concelebrants were Reverend Ray Reitzel, C.R., and Reverend Harry Reitzel, C. R., brothers of Sister Cecilia, and Reverend Pablito Ladado, Chaplain; Reverend Monsignor Edward Sheridan, Reverend Michael Downey and Reverend Robert Hetu. Reverend Ray Reitzel, C.R. was homilist.
Her funeral liturgy was attended by her brothers, Jerome, Stanley, Louis, Lorne, her two reverend brothers and many nieces and nephews. Her sister, Dolores, and brother, Leo, were unable to attend, as was, her sister, Sister Marcella, SSND, who is missioned in Puerto Rico.
Sister Joan Helm, SSND
