Theresa Koernke, IHM
Born Theresa Flora Koernke on Feb.23, 1943, in Detroit, Mich. Theresa (TK) was baptized,
confirmed and participated in Communion on February 26, according to the tradition of the
Byzantine Catholic Church. TK, her older sister, Albertina and younger sister, Florence, were
blessed to have loving parents: Albert Franz Koernke (Scandinavian) and Flora Silage of
Romania.
TK’s encounter with IHM began at Our Lady of Good
Counsel School in the third grade. There she met Sisters
Agnes Loretta, Patricia Hogan, Theresa Milne, Frances
Edward, Malachy and Donatus. As much as she loved the
Racine Wisconsin Dominicans after she moved to St.
Clement High in Centerline, Mich., the humanity, and
peaceful presence of the IHMs won her heart.
Prior to his reception into full communion with the
Catholic Church, her father was an Enlightenment
Evangelical Lutheran who loved to question all things
religious. This is the root of TK’s interest in the
Ecumenical Movement and her eventual appointment by the United States Conference of
Catholic Bishops, (USCCB) Committee on Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs to the Faith
and Order Commission of the National Council of Churches. Her mother and grandmother’s rich
faith and celebration of the Liturgical Year in the Byzantine Tradition implanted the power of the
Liturgy in Theresa’s moral life.
TK’s missions included: Holy Redeemer Grade School,
St. Matthew School, St. Rene Goupil School, Our Lady
of Lake Huron School, St. Ann School, Marian High
School, Visitation House of Prayer, and the University of
Notre Dame for doctoral studies, The Athenaeum of
Ohio and Mercyhurst College, Erie, PA. She most
treasures her twenty-one years on the faculty of the
Washington Theological Union in Washington, DC for
the precious opportunity in the formation of lay and
religious order ministers for the Church.
Her studies at the University of Notre Dame in South
Bend, Ind. were in Historical Systematic Theology with
a view to how the conscious and unconscious systems of
thought impact liturgical practice and how people
interpret it. These studies led to an appointment to the
International Commission on English in the Liturgy at
the USCCB.

It is difficult to isolate one ‘greatest’ joy since TK joined the congregation on Sept. 6, 1961, yet
here is the top of the list: Hearing Mother Anna Marie knock on the pew twice and say From the
Dawn of the Day,
hearing hundreds of
sisters respond Be Thou
Hailed Mary Full of
Grace, or the first time
she heard Magnificat
Anima Mea Dominum
(My soul magnifies the
Lord) on Vocation Day
when she knew she
could never leave; or
maybe simply walking
into a room with the
sisters and knowing the
beauty of her
inheritance.
If Feb. 23, 1943 was the day of her birth into her family and Feb. 26, 1943 her birth into the
Church, then Sept. 6, 1961 marks the day of her birth in the IHM Congregation. She will never
forget the things her eyes have seen, nor let them slip from her heart all the days of her life.