Rising from the razing: Sr. Jane Michele and St. Theresa Place

Article from Global Sisters Report

When the beloved St. Theresa’s Catholic Church in Evansville, Indiana, was torn down, Sr. Jane Michele McClure and her team at Habitat for Humanity had a vision. What if that empty lot, home for decades to a thriving parish community, could become a site for new Habitat homes, and the foundation for an entirely new community?

Sr. Jane is the Major Gifts Officer for Habitat for Humanity in Evansville. With her team and a group of committed volunteers, including an Advisory Council of over 30 St. Theresa’s parishioners and graduates, plus community leaders, they were able to secure the property and begin plans for a new kind of neighborhood — St. Theresa Place — a city block where all of the homes will be Habitat homes.

Sr. Jane is quick to credit Father Ted Temple, who had served as pastor at St. Theresa’s from 1979 to 1993. Inspired by Habitat’s plan to breathe new life into a place that was so special to him, he singlehandedly raised more than a million dollars for the project. His words about his beloved parish apply just as easily to the vision behind St. Theresa Place: “It was the people — that sense of community — that we tried to build. We worked together and played together and accomplished a lot together.”

“It never gets old,” said a beaming Sr. Jane, “watching people who never thought they would own a home walk through that door, look around and say, ‘this is mine.’ That’s the beauty of what we do. We transform lives, one family at a time.”