2011 Jubilarians
By our profession of vows we are bound to one another in a common life and freed to be sent in a common mission for the world. We profess our intention to live with all people in God's way of justice, peace, freedom, and love. We hope to say by our lives that such a way is possible for all humanity.
(CDP Constitution, #32)
Sister Romaine Bell
When I was promoted to the sixth grade, our parents transferred us from the public school to the Catholic school. Sister Rose Pousson prepared us for our First Communion. Sister told us that when we receive Jesus, we should ask Jesus for something special. One of the students asked Sister what she had asked Jesus for. She said she asked Jesus to become a Sister. Immediately I made up my mind to ask that of Jesus. Then after my First Communion every time I received Communion I reminded Jesus about wanting to be a Sister.
Some years later, Sister Alma took me aside and asked me if I had ever thought about becoming a Sister. I told her I had thought about that since I made my First Communion. Over the next years she encouraged me. So when I was a senior in High School, Sister Alma helped my parents get me ready for the Convent. Sister Alma brought me by train here to Our Lady Lake Convent right after graduation. I was 16. My sister, Sister Ann Linda, was already here, so I had an easy time getting used to Convent life. All my working years I taught first grade and I still dream I am in a classroom teaching first grade.
Sister Mary Elizabeth Jupe
My dream from childhood was to be a teacher. Our frequent trips to the convent to visit relatives made me aware of a religious vocation, but what was really influential in my decision was pondering over the life of St. Therese, the Little Flower. When she arrived each month on the Little Flower magazine, my heart was moved more and more to the personality of a similar call to serve God.
My different teaching ministries held both challenges and rewards. Starting with the first elementary grade at St. Anne, Houston; later I was eventually missioned to open Providence high School and Bishop Kelly in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Besides accrediting the schools, we were called to create unity and loyalty among the students who came from different high schools.
A twenty-year tenure at Our Lady of the Lake College closed my professional life as a teacher. I treasure every experience I had and marvel at how God works through us to do good.
Sister Miriam Fidelis Mellein
My father’s example inspired me to enter religious life. He was a very good, honest and prayerful man. My father and I were very close and he influenced me very much.
I loved to teach. Over the years I taught children all the way from first grade through high school. Teaching religion was my most rewarding experience. I especially loved helping the children develop a relationship with Jesus and Mary.
Sister Redempta Bradley
I had two aunts who were Sisters of Divine Providence. It was Sister Leocadia who wrote to me very often and encourage me to enter the convent. She said it was a lovely life. Several times she even dressed me up in her habit and I saw how I would look. I had another Sister of Divine Providence teach me in second grade. She was happy, jovial and funny. I thought that I wanted to some day be like her.
My most meaningful and rewarding ministry experience has been teaching, both in Catholic day school and in large Parish Catechetical Religious Education Programs. Another rewarding experience for me is that I have pretty much recovered from being hit by a car. For this, I am very grateful.
Sister Paulette Celis
At a very early age, I began attending San Fernando Cathedral School which was staffed by the Sisters of Divine Providence. Not only did they teach content out of books but also by their wonderful examples. Sisters Catherine of Sienna, Anna Theresa and James Elizabeth stand out in my memory as joyful, kind and generous. By the end of my junior year I also pictured my teacher as woman who drew their strength from prayer and silence. So in September 1948 I entered Our Lady of the Lake Convent.
All my ministries have been rewarding but the happiest period of my life has been in the service of abused women and children. My presence, strengthened, by the prayers of the CDP community, has nourished many physically and spiritually. Indeed, God has chosen the BEST for the last.
Sister Jane Coles
Being a student at Our Lady of the Lake College in the late 1940's was the best thing that could've ever happened to me. There I met the Sisters of Divine Providence, professional, wonderful women who inspired me to join them. These women, obviously God's gift to the world of teaching, have been models of professionals in education for years now. Interestingly enough, other than my first five years at Providence High School in San Antonio, I spent the remaining 39 years teaching at OLLU before becoming the Director of Communications for the Congregation.
As a community of committed persons we CDPs widen our circle of influence. We open the doors and empower others to come to the table and be active participants in the realization of our mission.To have students return to me to this day and say that I did indeed inspire them, teach them to be the success they are today--what a tribute!
Sister Maria E. Guerra
Wanting to do something with my life as a service to others is what inspired me to enter religious life.
My most rewarding experience in ministry was my work as Chaplain with HOSPICE. This ministry stretched me to use the gifts that God gave me. As the first Hispanic staff member, I was able to minister with the Hispanic community, translating materials, providing curriculum and training for Spanish speaking staff and volunteers. As part of a holistic team approach, we were able to provide professional and compassionate services to those who needed our care.
Sister Teresa Pauline Hereford
I was very attracted to teaching as a career and also to a life of service in the Church. Religious life seemed to be an excellent way of combining these two goals.
Of all my ministries, that of Director of Parish RCIA has been the most rewarding. The participants were also so interest and eager to grow in their understanding and following of Our Lord and very happy to receive the sacraments of initiation.
Sister Mary Lin Koesler
The Lord called me to be a Sister of Divine Providence and I answered his call.
From youth I was attracted to health care. Already as a child I always thought of working in a hospital and taking care of the sick. I love being a nurse! All those years of working the night shift, I thoroughly enjoyed my work. It was such a wonderful thing to see people get well again. Although we are primarily a teaching order, I was never attracted to teaching. I am forever grateful that the Congregation supported me in my call to health care.
Sister Mildred Leonards
It seems that even as a child, I knew in my heart that God had called me to consecrated life. As an 18 year old teenager I struggled. I knew of several religious communities but did not feel drawn to any of them. It was my uncle, a priest of the Alexandria Diocese who introduced me to the Sisters of Divine Providence of San Antonio, Texas. Upon a visit during the 1947 Christmas holidays it became very clear that “this is the one”.
In my journey of faith with the God of Providence, I have ministered in several different areas: teacher, principal, Director of Religious Education in parishes and a staff member in my home diocese of Lafayette, La. Each call had its challenges and blessings. But being Vicar for Religious and Diocesan Director for the Propagation of the Faith for 21 years with four different bishops has been outstanding. I have had opportunities and experiences of Church that have been enriching beyond my wildest dreams.
Today, as an Active Retiree, another wonderful door has opened. Involvement with Hospice, Eucharistic minister at Lafayette General and involvement as a parish team member for Communion Services in nursing homes has been another blessing. I identify with the priest in Georges Bernanos novel, The Diary of a Country Priest, who at the sunset of his life realized that “All is Grace.” YES, all is grace, all along the way!
Sister Loretta Liebscher
In the early 1940’s and a number of summers thereafter, Our Lady of the lake College held a one week workshop for young Catholics. It was called the Summer School of Catholic Action –SSCA. Father Daniel Lord, SJ and his fellow Jesuits, plus a good staff of lay people, were the excellent teachers of the classes and activities. By the time I was in public high school and attended SSCA, I was sure that I wanted to be a music teacher. But it wasn’t until after I had attended two of the SSCA classes and read a book about vocations, which had been given me by a Vincentian priest, that the Holy Spirit began to nudge me in regard to thinking about religious life. So I can say that the Holy Spirit, with the help of the Jesuits and the Vincentians, inspired me to enter religious life at the end of my junior year as a student at OLL College.
Over these sixty years I enjoyed giving private music lessons to students ranging in age from six through adults, middle school band and choir and college piano pedagogy classes. I also experienced a few years of family ministry because my mother lived to the age of 102 years. They were rewarding years because I was able to help parents broaden the education of their children, and at the same time benefit from the spiritual advantages of religious life lived in community with the Sisters of Divine Providence.
Sister Mary Christine Morkovsky
What inspired me to enter religious life?
The example of service I saw in dedicated women of the church inspired me to enter religious life
What has been your most rewarding experience or accomplishment in your ministries?
My most rewarding experience or accomplishments have been the times when people I work with show growth in their faith and/or their understanding of their faith.
Sister Agnes Leonard Thevis
Being taught by the Most Holy Sacrament Sisters gave me the insight into women religious and their devotion and love of God. It was after my first visit to Our Lady of the Lake Convent that I knew God was calling me to the CDP’s. It was Divine Providence.
All of the varied ministries I have experienced have been most rewarding. The satisfaction of religious life, the love, care, and guidance of Divine Providence was, and still is, manifested in so many awesome and challenging ways and varied ministries to which the Providence Spirit called me and always followed up with the strength and grace to say, Here I am Lord, I come to do your will. Praised, blessed, thanks be Divine Providence now and forever.
Sister Rose Ann Blair
Reflecting upon my 50 years of ministry has been a Provident Moment. It has led me to ministering with different races and cultures. This weaving of races and cultures has enriched my life in untold ways. Some of these races and cultures took me to the Rio Grande Valley, Texas; Glennon, Missouri; Cajun Country, Louisiana; Point a La Hache, Louisiana; and to Ronkonkoma, Long Island, New York. You might say these Provident Moments have taken me to many areas of the United States.
Sister Rosalie Karstedt
What inspired me to enter Religious Life?
When the Sisters of Divine Providence opened the first Catholic school in El Campo, Texas, I was so intrigued with the life of these dedicated women that I wanted to be with them all the time. They were happy and friendly. They had a good sense of humor. They loved everyone. They were excellent teachers and throughout the years of interacting with them they introduced me to the spiritual life and the commitment to service in the Church. In time, I felt called by God not just to be with them, but to be one of them. In 1961, I professed my first vows, and became one of “them.”
What has been your most rewarding experience or accomplishment in your ministries?
Wherever I have been in ministry, I have always enjoyed my commitment to service whether it was in teaching or in parish ministry or in diocesan ministry. What I treasure most, however, are the years I spent in the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston doing vocation work. I found working with the men and women who were intrigued with priesthood and consecrated life very rewarding. It gave me the opportunity to share with them the different facets of the spiritual life and the many ways in which one can find fulfillment in the priesthood and consecrated life. One of the most gratifying highlights in this ministry was seeing the men I worked with get ordained and the women whom I helped find a religious congregation become vowed women religious.
Sister Lourdes Leal
What inspired me?
Being taught by Sisters from the first grade through college, Women Religious who shared their love of God, inspired me. The Incarnate Word Sisters (CCVI) at St Ann School and the Holy Spirit Sisters (SHSp)
at Little Flower School and then the CDPs at Providence High School helped confirm my desire to serve God. Sr. Jane Coles and Sr. M. Arthur (Dr. Elizabeth Carrow Woolfolk) personally invited me to be a Sister but I waited until my last year in college at OLLU to enter the convent.
Most Rewarding Experience
The most rewarding experiences have been the people, the friendships, and the faith community. Of all the places, there have been three most wonderful and very different ministries:
- Teaching in Speech Pathology at Harry Jersig Center, OLLU, teaming with dedicated professionals, being part of the University community and helping students begin their careers.
- Pastoral work in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas walking in a faith journey with RCIA, prayer groups, vocation discerners, immigrants, priests and many Religious who I still hear from today.
- Mission work in Jalpan and El Pueblito, Queretaro, Mexico and in Villa Union, Coahuila, Mexico,
living in community, working, and praying with our own Sisters in three different places.
Sister Anna Marie Vrazel
I wanted to be of service to others and that is what inspired me to enter religious life.
My most rewarding experiences have been serving others where needed.
Sister Karen Kudlac
What inspired me to enter religious life?
I was teaching in an inner city school and felt that there had to be more ways to be of service. I wanted to be part of a group that ministered to various groups of people and who were living a Christ centered life.
What has been your most rewarding experience or accomplishment in your ministries?
I’ve had so many rewarding experiences. Teaching in New Orleans and at Providence High School was very rewarding for me. The ministry I do now counseling a variety of people is one that I enjoy and find very challenging which in turn is rewarding.
