Sister Bernice (Celestine) Klostermann, ASC, celebrated 65 years as a vowed member of the Adorers of the Blood of Christ on July 1, 2025, in the chapel of Benedictine Living Community at the Shrine of Our Lady of the Snows. She made her first profession on July 1, 1960, and her final vows on July 1, 1965, in Ruma, IL. She marked her anniversary with the Eucharist and a reception with the ASC community.
Sister Bernice was born in St. Rose, IL, to Arthur and Regina (Rehkemper) Klostermann. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Latin in 1964, and her master’s in Elementary School Administration in 1979, both from St. Louis University in St. Louis, MO. She also holds an Associate degree in Data Processing from Belleville Area College (now Southwestern Illinois College) in Belleville, IL, and a certificate in Theology from Fontbonne University in St. Louis.
Her versatile ministry began as a teacher of Latin at Althoff Catholic High School in Belleville, IL. She then taught elementary students at Immaculate Conception in Columbia, St. Augustine in Belleville, St. John the Baptist in Smithton, and Damiansville Public School in Damiansville, all in IL. She also taught in the Missouri schools of St. Augustine in Kelso, Visitation in Vienna, and Guardian Angel in Oran. Her business skills were employed as bookkeeper at Southern Illinois Hospice in Belleville and as Secretary for the Small Business Department at Belleville Area College in Belleville. She worked with Project Unmet Needs at Maria’s Vineyard in Cairo, IL, for several years.
Sister Bernice actively participated in the protests by ASC members and community supporters of the Adorers of the Blood of Christ from 2016-2019 against the Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline, which would run through ASC farmland in Columbia, PA.
Sister Bernice’s community service included serving as Co-Director of the ASC Associate Program for the former Ruma province, then as the Administrator of the Ruma Center. She served for almost 20 years as the Coordinator of the Sisters at St. Anne’s Retirement Community in Columbia, PA.
When the sisters at Ruma transitioned to Belleville Living Community at the Shrine, Sister Bernice returned to Illinois and began Living Mission in Later Life.