Sowers of Sister Care

Sister Care in Thailand

Thank You, Carolyn

Many thanks to Carolyn Holderread Heggen, psychotherapist specializing in trauma healing, for all that she did to develop and teach the Sister Care seminar over the past 15 years.  She and Rhoda Keener, MW USA Sister Care director, taught their final seminars together in Cairo in September. 

Carolyn is the primary author of the Sister Care International manual which has been translated into 22 languages.  She co-taught the seminar over 80 times throughout the United States and in 22 additional countries on 5 continents.    

Rhoda noted, “Carolyn’s ability to teach in Spanish was a unique asset in the many seminars we led in Latin America. Women often shared personally with her between sessions and it was a special gift that this face-to-face communication could happen without an interpreter needed.” 

Carolyn is the author of Sexual Abuse in Christian Homes and Churches which has also been translated into Spanish and Indonesian. She has offered workshops on sexual violence and healing throughout Canada, the U.S., Latin America, and other countries. While serving with MCC, she was head of pastoral care and counseling for the ecumenical United Mission to Nepal. For several years she was on the teaching staff of the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding in Harrisonburg, Virginia.  Prior to her work with Sister Care, Carolyn served on the Mennonite Women USA board of directors. 

Rhoda says:  "It was a profound privilege for me to partner with Carolyn Heggen for the past 15 years in the Sister Care ministry. We not only shared a mutual vision for helping women find healing for emotional wounds; we lived the message of Sister Care as friends and ‘sisters’ with each other. Carolyn's writing and teaching shaped the content of the seminar and touched the hearts of women worldwide."

Thank you, Carolyn! 

Sister Care in Tanzania

Saying Goodbye: A Note from Rhoda

At the age of 49, I began working as Mennonite Women’s executive director.  After accepting the position, I remember saying to myself, “This job surely can’t mean that I (who am not a seamstress) am now the head of the sewing circles.” Fortunately, the women who created beautiful quilts and kit bags for MCC graciously accepted me as someone who sewed with words if not with stitches. In those early years, it was the sewing circle groups which carried the organization financially; and in later years, hosted Sister Care seminars throughout the US and Canada.

Now, after 25 years and two additional roles with MW USA (co-director with Ruth Lapp Guengerich, and Sister Care director working with Carolyn Holderread Heggen), I am retiring.  My time with Mennonite Women included partnering with a dedicated Board of Directors and staff – to expand the International Women’s fund scholarships for church leadership training, to provide an annual resource meeting for conference women leaders, to create Lydia and Miriam giving circles, to develop Sister-Link relationships and Women in Conversation retreats, and work with Mennonite Women editors who produced Timbrel magazine and an annual Bible study guide. 

What I am most grateful for in this 25-year journey is the opportunity to be part of creating the “Sister Care: Equipping Women for Healing Ministry” seminar, a resource that provides tools for women to experience emotional healing within the context of their faith. When co-teaching Sister Care seminars, I always began by saying, “My vision for Sister Care is to provide a healing ministry in the church for women like myself.”

Beginning in 2012, Sister Care expanded from North America to an additional 21 countries on 5 continents. Carolyn (alongside myself) wrote the international version of the Sister Care manual that has been translated into 23 languages.  We worked with Mennonite Mission Network (MMN), Eastern Mennonite Missions, Mennonite Central Committee, and other organizations to connect us to local international hosts for seminars. We received generous financial support from United Service Foundation and the Schowalter Foundation, and from individuals and churches who designated gifts for Sister Care International. To read the Sister Care International story, contact MMN and request the upcoming Missio Dei booklet about this ministry.  https://www.mennonitemission.net/resources/publications/missio-dei

People often ask, “Who will teach Sister Care International now that you and Carolyn are retiring?”  Our answer is, “the women leaders we taught around the world.”  When planning a seminar, we asked the local hosts to identify 25-40 women with leadership gifts who could most benefit from being trained to then share Sister Care in their communities. Additional Sister Care manuals in their languages were printed and given to participants to use in teaching others. We have heard that after we left, Sister Care multiplied, with thousands more attending seminars in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. In some countries, Sister Care has been modified to become the coed seminar, Compassionate Care. 

Thanks to each of you who were a part of this journey and a special thanks to my husband, Bob, who supported me through the many years of travel.  I look forward with joyful anticipation to this next chapter in life called retirement! 

Rhoda Keener

Retiring as Sister Care Director

Mennonite Women USA

Sister Care in Chile

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