The annual fall Fiesta Fundraiser with the Adoration Sisters. (Photo courtesy of Carol Vaca)
By Mikaela Pannell
For the fourth year now, on the first Sunday of October, a special event will happen next to the Cathedral of Saint Joseph. Overflowing from the Adoration Sisters’ monastery garden will be the sounds of laughter and music, the smells of authentic Hispanic foods and the sights of dancing, playing and memory making. It’s their annual fall Fiesta Fundraiser!
FROM IDEA TO REALITY
Mother Angelica of the Perpetual Adoration Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament (Adoration Sisters for short) has found the fall Fiesta Fundraiser to be a fruitful event in more ways than one. It started simply with an idea amongst their order and grew from there.
“The fiesta was originally an idea from the [religious] community, and it was just in order to raise some money to help with expenses of the community,” Mother Angelica said. “But it had another purpose, too. It was to create communication with the people, interact with the people; many of them didn’t know our community.”
Carol Vaca, the Fiesta Fundraiser Committee chair, described further: “The Adoration Sisters’ Fiesta Fundraiser started as a dream that Mother Angelica and the other sisters have had for many years. The sisters had a strong desire to share their Mexican heritage with the people of Sioux Falls and the surrounding area. With the decision for the monastery to become independent of the Sioux Falls Diocese, the fiesta not only serves to bring a taste of Mexico to Sioux Falls, but also, as a fundraiser, helps support the sisters’ mission to serve their community through prayer.”
FINANCIAL FRUITS
The sisters rely on prayer, donations and proceeds from their gift shop to provide for their needs during the year. Additionally, the local parishes each take a month during the year to provide support. The fiesta has been a helpful addition to their finances.
Mother observes that there has been a slight increase in their monthly donations, which she thinks is due to the awareness raised from having the fiesta. This has come from people not just from Sioux Falls, but also the surrounding area towns. However, she is most grateful for the increase in prayer requests, daily Mass attendees and adoration goers. She also points out that personally knowing the group you’re supporting makes the giving more impactful. This sentiment is reciprocated in that the sisters like to meet and get to know those they are praying for and receiving support from.
While, of course, the fundraising aspect is helpful for the sisters, Mother explains that “what is more rewarding is that our charism is more available and more known for the people, and that we can share part of our life with them.”
TREASURED TIME IN FRATERNITY
Mother Angelica shares that monetary support is not their only goal with the fiesta, but “also to create a fraternity with all the people, no matter which culture, which language, or where they’re coming from.”
Sharing their Mexican heritage with the people of the Sioux Falls area has been a treasured gift for the Adoration Sisters. And once you’ve tried their cookies, you’ll surely agree! More importantly, though, Mother Angelica said, “It has been a great experience for the sisters because this is an opportunity to talk about our charism, why we’re here in the diocese, what we’re doing, what our way of life is.”
Unlike more strictly cloistered religious orders, the Adoration Sisters are actually occasionally able to interact with the general public. The fiesta is one of those times when people are able to be with the sisters for an extended period. Mother Angelica said, while they “are a contemplative community, our charism (as desired by [their] Mother Foundress) is that the Blessed Sacrament be known and adored for the people. So we are allowed to interact with the people in that way, in order to invite them to come and pray with us, and adore Jesus in the most Blessed Sacrament. And I think the fiesta has been an instrument for it.”
And indeed, it has been. The fiesta gives the sisters an opportunity to personally invite people to go to adoration in their chapel.
“I invite them to come and spend time with Jesus, and some of them, after the fiesta, they just continue coming for adoration (to the chapel),” Mother Angelica said. “We have seen a growing number of people coming to adoration during the day. The hours for adoration at the monastery are 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily for the general public, and there is daily Mass Monday through Saturday at 7 a.m. The sisters encourage anyone who would like to come pray with them during those times to feel most welcome.
CONTINUED GROWTH FOR THE FIESTA
This event has grown exponentially in a relatively short time. It initially started with just the monastery garden and a small portion of their parking lot, and now takes up almost half of the pavement.
Carol describes both the growth and the feel of the event: “The Fiesta Fundraiser has grown immensely over the years! As we’ve seen an influx in attendance, we’ve tweaked each fiesta to highlight more of the sisters’ culture. For example, we’ve expanded to include new performers such as a high school mariachi band and traditional Mexican dancers from the Sioux Falls area as well as new crafts like dahlia flower making, which is the national flower of Mexico. Our cuisine has expanded to include local partnerships with the Dahlia Mexican Kitchen in the Steel District, Mr. Churro, El Chamoy, authentic cooks who travel from Minnesota and Father Kayser chilling on the grill serving up hot dogs and burgers.
“A fun tradition that we’ve started is ‘The Three Amigos,’ where we have three priests from the diocese featured in a piñata contest, with whoever successfully breaks the piñata crowned as the victor for the year, bragging rights included,” Carol continued. “Father Pasquale from the cathedral is our reigning champ from last year, and we’re excited to see if he keeps his title at the fiesta this October. However, Mother Angelica also has quite the swing, so her piñata skills match the fervor of her prayers!”
HELP FROM OTHERS
Karla Ball, another member of the committee, is in charge of the children’s area of the fiesta. She explains that over the years, it has grown into games, a raffle and a cake walk. These activity stations are manned by teens from the area parishes and Catholic schools. They earn service hours for their time. She observed that both the youth who attend and those who work the event all are “just over the top happy” to be part of the fiesta.
The prizes and cakes for the kids’ activities are all donated by local parishioners, which has been so humbling for the sisters and committee members. Attendees come from all over the greater Sioux Falls area, including Brandon, Harrisburg, Tea, Hartford and Dell Rapids. The sisters are all very thankful for the committee members and volunteers who give their time, talents and ideas to continually make the event better every year.
The reach of the sisters and their fiesta goes beyond the Diocese of Sioux Falls. Yadira Rivera lives in Shakopee, Minnesota, and got to know the Adoration Sisters through a mutual friend. During their visits with the sisters, they found out about the fiesta and wanted to get involved. Yadira and some friends (also from Shakopee) have been providing some of the authentic Mexican dishes for the fiesta, most notably the raspados. These are Mexican slushies, and she makes most of the traditional syrup toppings herself, with natural flavors like pineapple, coconut, tamarind and strawberry.
Yadira said she appreciates how everyone has a good time at the fiesta and that it brings people together in community. She also wants the public to know that “it’s a very family oriented environment and it’s very friendly and open, and it makes people feel connected with each other. People can learn about [their Mexican] culture, heritage, food and such. It just brings people together and exposes them to more cultures.”
The Adoration Sisters are a very special group of women who hold so many people up in prayer. “You can really rely on them and come to them at any time of need,” Yadira said. “They’re always there and very welcoming. And very happy in general! They transfer that peacefulness and happiness to people.”
GROWTH IN PRAYER AND JOY
“One of the fruits we have seen is how the people come more often to the chapel, because when the fiesta is going on, we also have the Blessed Sacrament exposed so that the people can come and pray and spend some time in adoration,” Mother Angelica said. “I think that is the center of everything; I think this has been one of the highlights of the fiesta.”
She also highlights the sisters’ desire to provide intercessory prayer for whomever asks. “We have the opportunity to take prayer requests from them. We promote this by giving them small papers where they can write down their intentions, and we place them in front of the Blessed Sacrament in our list of daily prayers. This is a way we can help and support the people.”
In many ways, the event fills the sisters’ hearts with an extra portion of joy and encouragement. Mother said they love seeing “the way the people enjoy it, seeing how families come and enjoy the fiesta. But also to see the creativity and the way people want to participate. Being from another country and coming to the U.S.A., everybody is family for us. And we are more than happy to see the interaction that has been created. It has been very moving, and very encouraging to us, too.”
GET INVOLVED
Karla would like everyone to know that this is a great opportunity “to get to know the sisters, more than anything. It’s not only a fundraiser for the sisters, it’s bringing awareness to them because not everybody knows about them.”
It’s one of the only times the public is able to really interact with all of the sisters. “They’re amazing,” Karla said. “And they’re so sincere, so sweet, and so dedicated to what they do. And they are funny! They are so fun. … They just find goodness in everything.”
If you are interested in donating or getting involved with the fiesta in another way, please reach out to Karla at krb2014@gmail.com.
*responses from Yadira Rivera and Mother Angelica edited for clarity*
