Eri Benedictine Mary Lou Kownacki, founder of Emmaus Soup Kitchen

Facts gleaned from her obituary reveal a lot about Mary Lou Kownacki, a member of the Benedictine Sisters of Erie, who died on January 6 at the age of 81.

Kownacki taught at the school and worked for the Erie Daily Times for a couple of years. She was a published poet and peace activist—in fact, she received bachelor’s and master’s degrees in peace studies and taught the subject at a number of schools and seminars around the country.

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A founding member of Emmaus Ministries Soup Kitchen and Erie’s Inner-City Neighborhood Art House, Kownacki helped form Benedictines for Peace and served as national coordinator from 1980 to 1985.

Muse Joan Chittister

Kownacki also collaborated with Sister Joan Chittister, a Benedictine nun who has written extensively on women’s rights and religious life.

While Chittister is known all over the world, Kownacki played a minor role.

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But Kownacki was irreplaceable, Chittister said.

“We’ve been working together on ideas for 60 years in a row,” Chittister said. “Of the 60 books that came out of this, I brought her every manuscript and we discussed them together.”

Chittister, who called Kownacki her muse, appreciated her honest criticism.

“She was a very tough editor and a very good one,” Chittister said. “Her editing was really soulful. She looked at me and said, “You don’t need those 10 pages.” She edited for thought and impact.”

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Her long list of accomplishments testified to a life of movement to change the world.

“Shining Goodness”

But there was more to her, starting with a captivating smile that was displayed at peace marches or while working with children at the Neighborhood Art House.

A Chittister will always remember a smile and a woman who had a sense of fun.

“The woman radiated goodness,” Chittister said. “It wasn’t a struggle for her. It was an outpouring of herself. She just let you know that happier people are peaceful people.”

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Chittister recalls an unforgettable piece of wisdom from her friend: “If you’re as unhappy as you look, you should think about it.”

Get up

But a poet with a sunny smile could be tough.

The thing is, she grew up that way, said Sister Mary Miller, who is the director of Emmaus Soup Kitchen and has shared a house with Kownack — in fact, the house Kownacki grew up in — for the past 17 years.

According to Miller, Kownacki, who attended St. Benedict’s Educational Center, “got into trouble sometimes.” “She almost got expelled. Her father had to beg (school officials). It didn’t hurt that she was a star basketball player.”

But Kownacki wasn’t afraid to stand up for what she believed in.

A veteran of countless marches and demonstrations. “She was arrested 13 times,” Miller said.

And she defended the right of others to protest.

In 2018, when students at Cathedral Preparatory School took to the streets for a walk after school authorities banned them from participating in the National Student Strike, Kownatsky defended students who were told they would face arrest if they left.

“They should have the right to follow their conscience,” Kownacki told Erie Times-News at the time. “These young people are only shaping and shaping their conscience. … I’m sad that their opportunity was wasted.”

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In addition to her work with Chittister, Kownacki has published Peace Is Our Vocation: Modern Monasticism and the Peace Movement, along with numerous collections of poetry.

She shared her love of poetry with the development of Poetry Park on the 600 block of East 22nd Street in the neighborhood where she grew up. Two abandoned houses were demolished to make way for a nearby garden and green space, including a stage, aluminum sculptures, and painted poetic murals.

Live to the end

Kownacki, who battled choroid cancer for three years, fought to the bitter end, said Miller, who has been driving her for weekly checkups in Pittsburgh for more than two years.

“She didn’t want to die,” Miller said. “She lived her life until the last minute.”

While going through Kownacki’s purse after her death, Miller found one of the many little notes that Kownacki always wrote.

It was just a couple of phrases from a woman who accepted life.

The note said something like this: “My doctor just told me that there is nothing else they can do for me. But on the way home, I ate the best bowl of clam chowder I’ve had in my 80s.”

So it was with Kownacki as she enjoyed one of life’s little pleasures, even as her own death approached.

These memories led Miller to reflect on the great journeys she made with Kownacki, visiting places like Paris and Poland, and the years they spent in the same house, where Kownacki treasured both her solitude and the time spent in fellowship. with friends who included bishops and poor neighborhood children.

“Living with her was a blessing,” Miller said. “She loved so many different people. She was faithful to the end with everyone. Loyalty was one of her strongest gifts.”

It was during these final weeks of Kownacki’s life that Chittister paid a visit to her editor.

“I took the eulogy to her,” Chittester said. “The days were getting shorter and we both knew it. I told her, “The eulogy has been written. She is raw. Do you want to know what’s in it?”

Chittister said, “She looked at me with that look – a twinkle in her eye and a smile – and she said it would be fun.”

Contact Jim Martin at [email protected].

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