Stories of Our Call

The particular charism which informs our mission is confidence that God is provident—guiding, loving, and caring for all creation. The identifying spirit in which we live out this charism is that of our four fundamental virtues of abandonment to Divine Providence, simplicity, poverty, and charity. (CDP Constitution, #2)

Sister Regina Decker

Confidence in the providence of God is what keeps me motivated to live my life as a Sister of Divine Providence. I have enough years behind me to see how God has been a consistent loving presence in my life. While there are any number of ways that same loving God could be present in the world through me, living as a Sister of Divine Providence helps me stay focused and willing to live a life devoted to spreading this good news wherever I am and with whomever I encounter.

The ministries I have been engaged in over the years have been varied and different: missionary to the Navajo people, kindergarten teacher, bookkeeper for a private school, retirement center coordinator, parish pastoral associate, diocesan vicar for women religious, member of the CDP General Council, overseer of major renovations in Sacred Heart Chapel, and presently staff for CDP Mission Support, Pastoral Care and Communications. Underlying all these activities, the motivation has always been our CDP mission of helping people recognize the loving presence of God in their lives; in ALL the circumstances of their lives. God’s love is already present for everyone so our CDP mission, my mission, is to make that love visible and tangible. The primary ways I do that is by the way I intentionally interact with people around me; bringing the concerns of all these people, as well as the wider community, to prayer; the ways I promote nonviolence in speech and action, as well as the ways I care for the earth.

Sister Mary Bordelon

I minister in a small parish in Metter, Georgia which provides charity to the migrant workers who plant and harvest vegetable crops in the area. Many arrive with only the clothes on their back, so I get packets of personal hygiene items, food, clothing and blankets for them. Most of the migrant workers are from various parts of Mexico, most of who are here legally on a limited work visa. These farm workers do not get paid immediately, which is why they need our help.

The church where I work has about 35 English-speaking families and 50 Spanish-speaking families and migrant workers who reside in the area twice a year for planting and harvesting season. As the pastoral coordinator, I am in charge of liturgy, religious education, social services and all the other facets of parish life.

One of the workers I’m helping is a man from Guatemala who had a huge mass on his neck. Doctors said it was a rare form of cancer. I’ve been helping him by taking him to chemotherapy treatments, arranging for people to reduce or eliminate his medical expenses and contributing money from our charitable fund for his treatments and medications. He is a long way from family and friends in Guatemala, so the parishioner and I pray God will heal him.

Sister Rita Rose Bily

I was 25 years old when I entered the Convent. It was 1946, just after the War. I had been helping my father run the family farm because my brother had gone to the seminary. That was such a difficult decision. I felt I was getting too old. I knew I had to trust God with the care of my family and the farm. I had a great desire to do something good for God with my life. So I entered.

My first mission was as an assistant cook at Our Lady of the Lake Convent Kitchen. I didn’t know how to cook, but I learned from Sister Emil Schlesinger, who was a very good cook. In my life of prayer and service, I helped feed the Sisters. I was there my first eight years of my Religious Profession.

After this, I was missioned to Moye Military School in Castroville, Texas. I fed them and cared for them. They came to the kitchen for food and attention. Cooking for a hundred Sisters, Novices and Candidates, was challenging enough. Cooking for a hundred boarding boys three meals a day was even more challenging.

Those Boys could eat. For example, twenty pounds of bacon was plenty for the Sisters, but I had to prepare fifty pounds for the boys. One day one of my helpers came to tell me “Losoya” asked four times for seconds. He was a sixteen-year-old husky boy. I enjoyed the cooking, and I learned it the hard way.

I had been cooking for thirty-seven years in different kitchens, and now I am in charge of the Sacred Heart Chapel, helping with wedding rehearsals and weddings. Each wedding is different; some go very smoothly, and others don’t. One day, a priest forgot to come, and we couldn’t get hold of him, so the nervous groom asked me if I would perform their marriage, and I said no, that I can not do it. Finally we got hold of the priest an hour later. Sometimes they forgot their marriage license, unity candle, or even the rings, or are late—and especially when there is another wedding scheduled, everybody is getting nervous.

I am very grateful for all of these experiences, and I thank God for calling me to Religious Life. I am still serving around a table. Now it is the table of the Lord. I have touched the lives of many people. I am delighted to continue doing something good for God.

Sr. Rita Rose Bily is a Sacristan at Sacred Heart Conventual Chapel at Our Lady of the Lake Convent.

Sister Paulette Celis
God's Call: How do you show God's love

Ministering to mothers and their children who have experienced violence, was the last thing Sister Paulette Celis expected after her ministry ended with the 1999 closure of Providence Home for Children with AIDS; she thought she was ready for a vacation. Yet when God called, she responded. For the last six years she has been in what she calls, “this ministry of love, service, and compassion,” to victims of domestic violence. No two days are alike, and she leans heavily on God’s gifts of strength and patience. Sister Paulette cooks in the kitchen of a women’s shelter and enjoys setting a banquet-like table for the women and their families, so that they may feel like the special children of God that they are. She walks out into the dining hall and asks the women and children if the food is good, and do they want seconds? Thirds? Sometimes, a mother may have a stressful time in court and not eat all day, or at the group supper, so Sister Paulette prepares an appetizing plate, setting it aside in case the woman gets hungry later that evening. The women respond to her many kindnesses and some even walk into the kitchen to ask for the Sister’s blessing. Sister Paulette is glad to set down her cooking spoon, wipe her hands on her apron, and pray with the distressed women. “I truly believe that God has saved the best for last,” she says, quoting scripture: “You are my servant through whom I show my glory” Isaiah 49:3.

Sister Julian Honza
God's Call: How do you show God's love?

Sister Julian Honza’s previous experiences as instructor and administrator of a Library Science Program have been useful in bringing order to the myriad of small items found in the Our Lady of the Lake Convent Center Gift Shop, but it is her relationship with God that transforms it into a place of peace and beauty. “I want the place to look professional,” she says, adding that she uses the new shelving and lighting, and beautiful music to help make it a place to relax, rest the eyes from the computer, and see what’s new. Thoughtfully, she creates a setting that engages university students and staff, faculty and former clients alike to browse, and perhaps make a purchase, or just to sit and visit with her. Sister Julian is a good listener and friend to all. Her greatest joy and energy comes from the persons with whom she comes in contact. “I try to be hospitable, helpful, and interested in who they are. I look at it as my ministry. I am always glad to see those friends I have made in the many years I worked on this campus, and other visitors. I think God reveals Himself to us in other people, and we reveal Him to others. I call these Providence moments.”

Sister Patricia Regan

I admired the Sisters of Divine Providence as women who made a difference. When they were founded in France in the 1700’s, they changed the lives of the young by educating them. Whether it be ministry in education, to the homeless, in health care, pastoral or catechetical work, to those displaced because of the hurricanes, the Sisters have made a difference in the lives of many people. I also want to make a difference.

Sister Margaret Ann Verzwyvelt
God's Call: We're Moved to Love

Alexandria, Louisiana -- “I sometimes go for walks around my apartment complex after the evening news. One evening, I saw a man and a young boy walking the same way that I was. The man looked so very tired. We began talking and he told me that he and his family were evacuees from New Orleans. The man was looking for the nearest McDonalds to get a cup of coffee. I told him that it was some distance and asked if he had a car, which he did not. I believe here is where Providence came in. I told him that I had an extra percolator that a lady had given me when she moved. I gave him the percolator, a package of coffee and some sugar. He was delighted. The young boy needed a notebook for school the next day, so I got one and went over to take it to him later that evening. When I arrived, the coffee was perking rapidly!”