Sisters of Mount Saint Joseph building to be demolished

DAVIESS CO., Ky. (WFIE) - The Ursuline Sisters of Mount Saint Joseph are saying goodbye to their nearly 150-year-old retreat ministry building.

Officials said due to instability, the building is being demolished.

Back in the 1870′s, when the Ursuline Sisters were just making their way to Daviess County, Sister Sharon Sullivan told 14 News that the bricks to build the first building wouldn’t dry.

Sister Sullivan said a priest prayed over them knowing the sisters would soon arrive.

“One thing led to another and sure enough the next day those bricks were hard enough to use,” said Sullivan. “So we’ve always called them our miracle bricks, and those are the bricks that made our first building.”

For generations, it was used to train sisters to serve their community, and in more recent memory, it was used as a space for ministry retreats. Now, it’s set to become a grass field.

“Buildings are buildings, and we still have the ministry, the mission, the people who were in the buildings,” said Sullivan. “All of their spirit, I think, it’s still there.”

Sister Sullivan said they believe the building should be completely down within the next few months.

Officials said the furnishings inside the building were taken out and donated to charity. They said they gave a lot of it away to victims of the December 10 tornado in Hopkins County.

The Ursuline Sisters said they’re still deciding what they might do with the space in the future, but rebuilding is a possibility.

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