Sister Mary Dominic

When I first heard God tapping on the door of my heart, I was about ten years old and in the 5th grade. I didn’t consider religious life again until I was in high school, even though I often daydreamed about the kind of home I would have when I got married and had a family, including a weeping willow tree on the front lawn and a porch swing!

About a year after graduating from high school, I knew beyond a doubt that God was inviting me to follow him as a consecrated religious. One day I wasn’t even considering it, and the next day I absolutely “knew.” Strangely enough, my discernment at that time wasn’t about whether or not to respond to God’s call, but rather, about which congregation to join.

I initially went to the only congregation I knew – the Dominicans who taught me in grade school. I joined their affiliate program which was the first step toward becoming a postulant. I was ready to come immediately but the Sisters required that anyone entering must first have a college degree. Although disappointed, I began part-time college courses while continuing to work. It was while at college that I first met the Sisters of Christian Charity who were my fellow students. I would often stop by the college chapel for a few minutes whenever I could, and almost every time, I found a few SCCs already there, praying. As I got to know them better, I became more and more impressed with their joyful spirit and deep attitude of prayerfulness.

In the autumn I visited the SCC Motherhouse in Mendham for a spaghetti dinner fundraiser and I was completely overwhelmed with a sense of happiness and peace. Seeing so many joyful, friendly Sisters made me begin to consider this community more seriously. I remember visiting the Motherhouse chapel that day and being very struck by the sense of quiet holiness radiating from that sacred space. Several months later in February I returned to Mendham for a live-in experience. As I was leaving my home to spend the weekend with the SCCs, my mother said to me, “Perhaps you’ll come back wanting to be one of these Sisters instead,” to which I replied, “Oh, no. I’m going to be a Dominican.” I certainly didn’t realize at the time that my mother was a prophet, but God was at work within me. I returned home on Sunday declaring that I was going to be a Sister of Christian Charity!

It was the joyful enthusiasm of the Sisters and their deep Eucharistic spirituality that drew me in and made me want to share in this same charism forever. I still love my Dominican Sisters very much, but I am exactly where God wants me to be … a Sister of Christian Charity for the past forty-two years and still counting!