When I was growing up I was taught by the Benedictine Sisters from Atchison, Kansas. In High School, I was taught by the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth. After graduation I went to a Jesuit College for two years before entering the convent. I was blessed to have been surrounded by good priests and sisters all my young life and because of this I wanted to follow in their footsteps of dedicating myself to the Lord. They were an inspiration to me. When I was 21 years old I entered the Sisters of St. Joseph the Worker. I came to know them through the Sodality I belonged to in my parish. Our pastor would take us to different convents all over the country in the summer time to experience religious life first hand. I knew I wanted to teach, wear a black and white religious habit, and live in a community that wasn't so big that I wouldn't know all the sisters. In 1977 our group visited such a community in Walton, Kentucky. The sisters had an elementary school and nursing home. They wore a black and white habit and they were a small, family-like group. In 1978 I asked to come back by myself for two weeks and on September 15, 1978, the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows, I entered the community.
I am the second oldest of eight children, four boys and four girls. I finished my education degree while in the convent, then went on to finish my masters, followed by a principal certification. Most of my 37 years of teaching have been in the first and second grades. For five of those years however, I was assigned to teach religion in a high school, and then was assigned as a principal for eleven years. Currently I am teaching 2nd and 6th graders religion while working as vocation director for our community. I am also teaching Adult RCIA members in our Parish Church.
I like the outdoors, especially working in the garden. I enjoy sports of all sorts. If you type "nun playing football in Philadelphia" in Google, you can see the tape someone made of me playing catch in the street while waiting for the arrival of Pope Francis.
My favorite saying is " I shall pass through this world but once. Any good thing, therefore, that I can do to any human being, let me do it now. Let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again."