Sister sought unity
Thibaudeau helped shed light on Islam
Sister Adele Thibaudeau liked to tell the story of St. Francis of Assisi’s journey in 1219 to meet with the mighty Sultan Malik al-Kamil of Egypt.
It was during the Fifth Crusade, and Francis hoped he might end the war by converting al-Kamil to Christianity. Al-Kamil declined, but as a Sunni Muslim, he was moved by the ragged saint’s devotion to God and hope for peace.
Thibaudeau — a Sister of St. Francis of Assisi who, at 71, died Wednesday — “really lived the Franciscan value of creating dialogue with different communities, especially the Muslim community,” said Janan Najeeb, president the Milwaukee Muslim Women’s Center.
Thibaudeau was involved with the center’s activities since its beginning in 1994, Najeeb said.
“She worked hard with us to highlight the enormous commonality between Christianity and Islam,” she said. “She was a peaceful soul.” Thibaudeau graduated from Cardinal Stritch University in 1967 and served the university community for 27 years, first as a teacher, then as director of campus life and finally as the founder and director of the Center for Justice, Peace and the Integrity of Creation.
“Sister Adele embodied a passion for social justice, both on the local and global levels,” Stritch President James P. Loftus said.
“While at Stritch, her work was marked by this passion,” he said. “She worked with students, faculty and staff to examine the issues of social justice through the lens of faith in the classroom, on service learning trips and doing service throughout the city of Milwaukee.
“She had a gentle spirit, a kind heart, and always had time to listen,” he said.
Thibaudeau was born in Baraboo and professed vows in 1965. Something in Baraboo and its circus history got into her blood. Her master’s degree in theology, which she earned at Mundelein College in Chicago, focused on the arts and spirituality, and she became adept at liturgical pantomime and clowning.
During the early 1970s, Thibaudeau was associate director of vocations for the Sisters of St. Francis of Assisi. During the mid-1970s, she held the same position for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee.
In 2012, she became vocational director for the Sisters of St. Francis of Assisi.
She was diagnosed with abdominal cancer in early February and in March moved to St. Francis Convent, where she died peacefully in the presence of her family.
She donated her body to the Medical College of Wisconsin.
Survivors include five sisters, Yvonne Moyer, Clairese Huennekens, Camille Meyers, Valerie Graczyk and Marguerete Rekittke; and a brother, Raymond Thibaudeau.