Good morning.
For those of you who may not know me… my name is Sister Chris, and it is with great pride that I stand before you as a Dominican Sister.

Tuesday of this week will mark the beginning of National Catholic Sisters Week. This is an annual celebration, created to honor women religious; to bring greater focus to the lives of these women, who they are and the gifts they bring. It’s our chance to recognize all they have done for us. It is also our hope that as more young women learn about women religious, more will choose to follow their example.

In 2014, there were approximately 50,000 Catholic sisters in the United States, compared to the over 700,000 there were in 1970. Of the number of Catholic sisters across the globe, 7 percent are American. I was a junior at SLU when the thought of religious life was rekindled from my childhood. This is not far from the statistic given that the age of 20 is the average age today’s newly professed sisters say they first considered religious life.

In the few short years I have been among our sisters, I have heard names and listened to stories of great women. Since we made our announcement that we will be leaving Epiphany, how many more stories I have heard from you, those who were taught by our sisters.

As part of my formation, I spent one year living at our Collaborative Dominican Novitiate. During this time of continued discernment, we live with other Dominican novices and our directors. We learn at a deeper level what it means to be Dominican, studying each vow and Dominican pillar with greater intensity. Throughout my novitiate, God gave to me a greater awareness that the sister I was becoming was part of a larger Dominican family of priests, brothers, sisters and laity, whose desire it is to praise, to bless and to preach.

During that year, while taking classes at Aquinas institute, I also was blessed to meet novices from other congregations (Sisters of Divine Providence, Franciscan, and the Daughters of Charity). By walking this part of my journey with these women, also in discernment, it became clearer to me that we each hear God’s call and go where God wills.

At this time, I would like to invite you to write, call or pray to those one or two sisters whose lives touched yours. True, many of them may have taught hundreds of children, like yourself, and they may not remember your name, but I guarantee they will be touched that you remembered theirs.

And if a daughter, sister, cousin, friend comes to you to ask for your help in discerning if God may be calling them to religious life, listen to them. Pray to the Spirit to guide your words, and her discernment. As my father once told me, “there are three vocations in life. The married life, the single life, and the religious life.” Each is given by God to know God better, and to bring God to those we meet along the way.

Thank you.