“Sharing the Petals of My Life’s Unfolding”
Growing Up
I will always be grateful to God for the love and support of my parents, who gifted all five of us children with a Catholic school education through high school. All my teachers, except one, were School Sisters of St. Francis. The sometimes tense and difficult times at home were lightened by the fun-loving, kind, and caring sisters who taught at St. Petronelle Grade School in Glen Ellyn, Illinois.
The seed of my vocation was planted in me by Sister Hannah, my seventh-grade teacher. One day, while I was helping to clean the blackboards after school, she said to me, “Maureen, you will make a good sister someday. I can help you.” I entered the aspirancy after eighth grade in 1959.
Ongoing Education and Preparation for Ministry
My Catholic faith continued to ground me throughout my formation in the congregation. I was blessed with inspiring and encouraging role models and a strong spiritual foundation that shaped the life God invited me to live as a School Sister of St. Francis.
In time, I earned a master’s degree in Religious Studies from Mundelein College. This was in the wake of Vatican II, a time of profound social change in both society and the Church. I was especially inspired by the rise of feminist and liberation theologies. Later, I was blessed to receive a graduate certificate in cross-cultural mission from Catholic Theological Union. Looking back, all these opportunities were a blessing upon blessing for my life’s unfolding.
Time Away from the Congregation to Probe My Life’s Calling.
Following all the changes happening in the Church and in religious life during the late 1960s, I entered a period of doubt about my call to religious life. Sisters I had come to know and deeply admire were leaving the congregation. While still in temporary vows, I asked to withdraw for a while. Having lived such a sheltered life away from home during my adolescence and early adult life, I felt a need to discover who I really was and to see if I could make it “on my own,” to experience dating and discern if marriage was my true calling.
After seven years away, I was drawn back to the congregation. I remain profoundly grateful to God and to the Provincial Team who welcomed me back with open arms and helped me to re-integrate.
Immersion in Cross-Cultural Ministry.
From 1977 and 1995, I experienced a deep immersion in mission life, first in Honduras with Sister Maria Rosa Leggol, followed by almost 18 years in three different mission sites in Guatemala with Sisters Anna Maria Noth and Marietta Hanus. We accompanied rural faith communities through the darkest times of a cruel and relentless civil war and persecution of the Catholic Church. Additionally, the local bishop had entrusted us with preparing local women for religious life and mission in Guatemala.
Upon returning to the United States, I was blessed with a sabbatical at Springbank Retreat Center, followed by six years of ministry in village pastoral ministry with the Desert Tohono O’odham Nation, serving as a member of San Solano Mission Team in Sells, Arizona. There, I received so much more than I could ever give!
Called to Provincial and International Leadership.
Though I never imagined myself in provincial or international leadership, I will always be grateful for the opportunity these roles gave me to visit our sisters in their ministries here in the United States and later in Germany and Switzerland, North and South India, and in the countries of Latin America where our sisters live and minister. I will always treasure the gift of experiencing life among our sisters all over the world and witnessing their love and dedication to the people whose lives they touch. What a beautiful tapestry of religious women we are together — for one another, for the Church, and for the world!
Ministry of Spiritual Accompaniment.
What a grace it is for me now, in the elder years of my life, to be entrusted with listening to the stories and noticing how God is at work in the lives of those who come to me for spiritual accompaniment. These are stories of blessing and heartbreak, of breakthroughs, of joys, and challenges. It is truly humbling and inspiring to be a support to each one as they continue the journey of life. I am so blessed to be called into such a soul-filled ministry.