During the discernment process to become an Associate, each Candidate writes a personal statement concerning her desire to make a commitment to the community. These statements illustrate the call to which they are responding.
Debra Cooper (Lecanto, Florida)
“I was at the lowest point in my life and God called me to seek out another way to become more spiritual and have a closer relationship with God. I received an invitation from Helen Duffy and I was open to go and learn more and see what it was all about. I got together with Terry Plante and began formation. The more I learned, the more I felt this was the place God wanted me to be. I feel a closeness to Elizabeth Seton, Margaret George and Louise de Marillac as they were married with children and so am I.
What calls to me through the vision statement right now is to witness first with my family not so much by what I say, but what I do. I will be a representative of the Sisters of Charity and hopefully become a compelling witness of Christ’s active presence. I am very patient with my husband and children and also very loving to my family and friends. I am very understanding and have a lot of empathy for others. These are the gifts that God blessed me with. The gifts that God gave, I will channel out to others, and this is what I can bring to the Sisters of Charity.”
Claudia Rogers (Colorado Springs, Colorado)
“I pray that I will bring to this relationship a strong faith, a commitment to help serve the poor, a commitment to my church and a huge amount of love and friendship to each Sister and Associate. I now volunteer at Catholic Charities Marion House Soup Kitchen in the Client Services Department. I give out clothes, etc. to the poor and homeless. I volunteer at St. Mary’s Cathedral on the Community Life Committee and I help Sister Roberta maintain the Sister’s of Charity cabin in Cascade. S. Roberta has been the inspiration behind me getting involved in these activities and because of this I have a whole new wonderfully different attitude for the poor. We have a lot of fun when they come in and I have gotten to know many by name and they now recognize me.
I want to be a part of this community and I am totally committed to the Sisters of Charity Mission Statement and the Associates. I am ready to make my public commitment so I can get more involved and go down whatever path God takes me.”
Susan Gabringer (Kettering, Ohio)
“I am drawn to the Sisters of Charity because of their willingness to accept lay people into their community; willingness to allow lay people to share in their faith, their love of and commitment to God; to help lay people to have a place to openly share their faith and are freely accepted and loved by the sisters. I have never felt as welcome as I have in this community, and though they barely know me they are so loving and encouraging.
I bring to this relationship a willingness to give myself to God, to share my life of faith and prayer with other faith filled men and women. I bring compassion, empathy, joy, gratitude and trust. As a past Hospice nurse, I bring a willingness to be with sisters and associates as they face the end of this life's journey, to spend time with the lonely, to help in whatever way I can to carry out the Vision and Mission of the Sisters of Charity.
Jo Carol Laymon (Washington Court House, Ohio)
“During my years with the Sisters in community, I have seen them living each day in the spirit of our founders. Their example provided the foundation for my spiritual life and taught me to cherish the mission, vision and spirit of this community.It is my hope that the commitment will enable me to experience a closer relationship with the Sisters of Charity and this opportunity will encourage me to deepen my faith and foster growth in my ability to live the gospel message more fully. The mission of the Sisters of Charity is my mission and, living in a rural area where there are no more sisters, my presence and service may serve to bring the spirit of charity to the people I meet every day.”
Ann Lytle (Cincinnati, Ohio)
“I am very impressed by the strength and courage that St. Elizabeth Ann Seton and Mother Margaret George possess. I can easily see that the Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati have inherited and live that legacy.
I am thoroughly delighted in the history of the Sisters. “It cannot be done” is not a phrase in their vocabulary, as evidenced by the schools, hospitals and children’s homes built in the past as well as the ongoing commitments now. The mission statement speaks to my heart and calls me to serve.”
Judith Sauerbrey (Lawrenceburg, Indiana)
“When I think of Louise de Marillac, Elizabeth Seton, Margaret George and all who have followed them for three plus centuries in a long unbroken line of care, prayer and companionship, I see a patchwork quilt of many patterns, a rainbow of colors, and intricate stitches. A traditional block called “Sisters' Choice” comes to mind as I contemplate their charism that covers and comforts, warms and consoles. This quilt's pieces come from many places; many hands have worked to assemble it; and its completion may take years, even generations. But eventually the fabric of our lives becomes a work of sacred art.
A strong sense of the feminine side of the divine has always been a crucial component of my spiritual blueprint. To that end, I spent many years and much trial and error searching for a group of faith-filled women, finally realizing that after 33 years of working for the Sisters of Charity, that group was present all the time. Carrying the vision of the Charity community to countless students at Seton High School and the College of Mount St. Joseph, and now through volunteer work at Mother Margaret Hall, I have been called to add my stitches to this holy Sisters' Choice quilt as a way to give back for the countless blessings I have received.
I am gathered in and nurtured as one small part of the whole cloth. As an associate of the Sisters of Charity, I am filled with peace, with compelling witness, loving trust – and the absolute certainty that around their quilt frame is where I belong.”
Julie Schuster (Cincinnati, Ohio)
“From the moment I began my association with the Sisters of Charity, I knew my life would be forever different. It was many years later that I came to know just how.
Publicly committing to embody the Sisters of Charity spirit and mission will be a beautiful, meaningful and significant step along the path of my faith journey to ultimately serving God. This has been my committed intention from my very first meeting with Sister Rita Hawk, and with my RCIA Leader Marti Barnes. Every evening or Mass spent with God and for God since last summer when I first submitted my application has been an anticipatory breath, another step along the road that I must walk for and with Jesus. The difference this public commitment will make in my life manifests in several ways:
My obligation to SELF – as a person blessed by God with many signs and wonders, many more than I could have ever asked or prayed for, God has shown me He is ready for me and asks me to commit to His Church – that is irrefutable.
My obligation to GOD – to stand before others, including my family – to bring my God-given abilities to this Calling, and to use them to the best of my ability and as God directs, is absolutely essential. This is not a call I can hear and ignore – the ways in which God has worked and continues to work in my life, and has shown me. He needs my gifts towards my community, society, world – I cannot do anything but step forward with God.
