Religious life for me was and is very much connected with ministry- nine years teaching followed by retreat work, parish and religious education, and then service as Vocation and Associate Director. Presently, I am a Pastoral Care Counselor and work for Global Justice.
My vocation is very much about relationship and community. In 1971, through the Charismatic Renewal, my relationship with God became very real. It has been the renewal in my life that has carried me through “thick and thin”. This work of the Spirit has revitalized the prayer, study, community and ministry, which have been so much a part of my life. I have been able to make real the Dominican motto, “To contemplate and to share with others the fruit of our contemplation”. Without a deep relationship with God, others, and myself, there would be little authentic fruit to share and I am very grateful.
Almost 50 years ago, I wanted to live a life of meaning. Perhaps the words of the Swedish diplomat and the second Secretary-General of the United Nations, Dag Hammarskjold, expressed my desire: “I don’t know who or what put the question…I don’t know when it was put. But at some moment, I did answer ‘Yes” to someone and from that hour I was certain that existence is meaningful and that therefore my life in self-surrender had a goal.”
My “Yes” was in response to God’s invitation to follow a path trod by so many before me to become a Dominican Sister, one who is called to be a preacher, entrusted with God’s message, driven to speak words of truth , love, mercy, justice. The path had no road map, but only a call to the mission of preaching. And so, I followed by preaching as a classroom teacher,
Dominican Sisters of Caldwell
administrator, a leader in the Congregation, and presently by ministering to economically deprived women in need of language skills in order to improve their lives and the lives of their children.
Becoming Dominican is a life long journey. I continue to listen deeply to hear what God has to say, responding to the signs of the present times, knowing that the life of a Dominican Sister is not for me alone, but for the world.
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Dominican Sisters of Amityville
Dominican Sisters of Blauvelt
Dominican Sisters of Sparkill
The biggest surprise in my fifty years of Doninican life and Ministry has been the changes in the Church and religious life as the result of Vatician II and how I have been able to adapt with God's graces to these many changes.
Vatician II certainly has openned up new opportunities for woman religious to serve in various Church ministry. I have been able to be involved in the educational minitry of various parishes in our Archdioceses as well as on the national level. We are now able to minister side by side with the laity in Church ministries.
The members of the Dominican Congregation of Our Lady of the Rosary Come together to proclaim with John the apostle the words of Christ:“I have come so that they may have life and have it to the full.”
In late August, I attended the ceremony of a recent graduate who entered the Pax Christi Sisters. That gathering occasioned a flood of memories of my own entrance in1961. My “call” or vocation was an ordinary experience. It was an ongoing nudge during the two years I was a 9-5 secretary. I am a lifer in terms of my education by the Dominican Sisters of Sparkill.
From a brief experience of the pre-Vatican structure of religious life; from the poets and singers of the Vietnam era to the congregation’s corporate stand response; from the classroom to the “board room” as a member of the congregational administrative team; through the life, death and resurrection experiences as a member of a family, congregation and human community, I believe I have lived life to the fullest these past 47 years.
The address at a recent assembly focused on our world view and how it changes and expands through one’s experience. Membership in my congregation has been a powerful force in shaping me into the person I am.
My primary ministry has been in high school education. Each experience has been a response to a call to be a changing force and influence in the lives of high school students at a crucial time of growth. For the past 15 years, I have been privileged to minister at our congregational high school–Aquinas. It has been particularly rewarding as we carry forward the Mission of the Dominican Sisters of Sparkill in this congregational school founded in 1923. It is in this place and time that I commit myself to “proclamation of the reign of God through a ministry for justice.” Each day brings new surprises and is never boring. The interaction with students, partnership with parents, and the collegiality among faculty and staff enable us to do together what could not be done alone. We educate young women in a community of faith and learning rooted in the Catholic tradition and committed to excellence in the education of young women–mind and heart, body and spirit (Mission Statement). The work is challenging, the rewards abundant. Through the legacy of the Dominican Sisters, the giants upon whose shoulders we stand and extraordinary leadership and dedication of the many men and women who have joined us in the ministry of education, we have and continue to make a difference. The hope of the future is in the hands of the young women we send forward to make this world a better one
It was in the fourth grade that I first became interested in religious life. The Dominican Sisters of Blauvelt who taught me made their life real and attractive. In my senior year, they invited me to a gathering of women interested in religious life. Invitation, in-formation, and family were great supports for me.
In 1961 the Catholic Church was “letter of the law” as was religious life and I did a lot of thinking for myself. It was not until 1968, with Vatican Council changes, that I felt like myself again. Study and experience opened my eyes and heart to be my true and authentic self. Dominican life nurtured a healthy interdependence of self within community. Our motto of “Truth” and our four Dominican pillars of prayer, community, study and ministry felt like a perfect fit for me and still do.
www.catholicdominicansisters.org
+ Amityville + Blauvelt + Caldwell + Sparkill
