World Day of Consecrated Life: ‘Soul’ fishing

By Lou Baldwin
CS&T Staff Writer

Some were experienced fishers, others, apprentice fishers. Still others were considering a career in fishing. On Saturday, Feb. 7, they converged on Mother of Good Counsel Church, Bryn Mawr, for World Day of Consecrated Life.
In the afternoon a dozen or so young people met with vocations directors and men and women in the early stages of their journey in religious life to help them discover if God was calling them to become “fishers of men.”
Later, during the 5 p.m. Mass, more than 50 Religious women and men, representing a number of religious congregations and all ages, stood to reaffirm their commitment to their solemn vows.
The Scripture readings for this particular weekend focused on God’s calling, ending with Christ’s call to Peter, telling him he would be a “fisher of men.”
“The church, needs you, the church wants you,” Augustinian Father James Martinez, pastor of Our Mother of Good Counsel, advised during his homily. “Don’t be afraid to cast your nets, cast your hearts out into deep waters.”
After the discerning session, Sister of St. Joseph Michelle Lesher, 25, Holy Redeemer Sister Ana Dura, 28, and De La Salle Christian Brother John Alger, 39, all in the very early stages of their commitment, spoke of what brought them to religious life.
Sister Michelle, of St. Mary of Assumption Parish, Manayunk and Hallahan High School, became attracted to the St. Joseph Sisters while attending Chestnut Hill College and then working alongside the Sisters at Mount St. Joseph Academy. “It was seeing them so actively involved, working with the poor and giving of themselves,” she said, “and just the connection of their prayer life.”
Sister Ana, a Californian, never knew religious Sisters growing up, attending public schools and Penn State University and Thomas Jefferson University. Her vocation had its roots in a desire for a deeper relationship with God. Living in community life, one would be with others sharing that same desire, she concluded. She came upon the Holy Redeemer Sisters during a vocation awareness retreat, and was interested because they were active in health care ministry, which was her field. “I volunteered with them at Holy Redeemer Hospital,” she said, and that further drew her to the congregation.
John Alger, who is from the Philippines, was taught by Christian Brothers from first grade through his first year of college, and had a very good idea of what it means to be a Brother long before he joined. After completing college in Washington, D.C., he worked for a number of years.
“I was in music ministry in a parish and getting more involved in other areas of parish ministry and outreach,” Brother John said. He decided to formalize the work he was already doing by entering religious life. During his search, he tried retreats with another order, but “there was a disconnect. Only with the Christian Brothers could I find a home.”
All three have firm ideas of what can be done to encourage more young people to consider the option of religious life.
“Parents have a large role in this as well as those who work with young people,” Sister Ana said. Her own parents were supportive and she remembers her father asking her if she was considering becoming a Sister.
Those already in religion “should be a faithful witness, speaking the possibility. I think a lot of people are afraid of religious life, it should be presented as a normal choice and a valuable one.”
Sister Michelle also believes this witness by religious is crucial. “I think people can influence vocations just by the way they live. If they are living their life honestly and really showing that reflection of service people will respond to their authenticity.”
A freshman at Neumann College, Sarah Tomlinson, 19, from Lancaster, is just beginning to discern the possibility of a religious vocation.
So far her greatest influence toward this consideration has been her campus minister at Sisters of St. Francis-conducted Neumann College.
But she has not fixed on a congregation to enter, she said. “I’m open to entering religion. Whatever God calls me to do, I’ll do. I think we should live as God wants us to live and be an instrument of God.”
Father Martinez sat in on the afternoon vocation awareness program, and was encouraged by the potential young candidates to religious life. “They had wonderful questions, they are definitely searching.”
He invited religious men and women from the surrounding area to come to his church for the renewal of vows ceremony, and they were joined by others, including the vocations directors who were at the earlier session.
Among them was Daughter of St. Paul, Sister Laura Brown, originally from North Carolina. She entered 22 years ago at age 25.
“I just became convinced that the Lord was asking me to follow this particular way of life, and it was the only way I could be truly happy,” she said.
Sister Laura first encountered the Daughters through one of their famous bookstores while visiting her seminarian brother in Boston. Later, while living in New Orleans she encountered them at another book store and cemented her relationship with the congregation.
Her religious vocation, she said, was nurtured through her family upbringing and her teachers. “The first thing is always to pray, but it really starts with the family,” she observed. With that said, families sometimes discourage a religious vocation. “My mother had a hard time with it,” Sister Laura confessed. “She asked, ‘how can you be happy without a family?’”
Religious Sister of Mercy Mary Andrea Mitchell, in religious life 42 years, is a Philadelphian. She is a proud “two-streeter” from Sacred Heart and St. Maria Goretti High where she first met Mercy Sisters.
For her, the secret of promoting religious vocations lies with men and women already in religious life.
“Talk positively about it. Talk positively about the experiences,”
Sister Mary Andrea said.
God often knows us better than we know ourselves. Sister Pat Suchalski, a Chicago-born Sister of the Blessed Sacrament, has found that to be true. Growing up in the 60s, she saw many injustices and wanted to make a difference. While many in her generation tried to do this through activism, she opted for the religious life, and a congregation which focused on social justice. She also had a great love for the Eucharist, which would make the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament a natural on both counts.
“Truthfully, when I was making my decision, I don’t think I had the brains to figure all of that out. Years later I saw how God put these things all together in terms of Eucharist and service to the poor.”
Her vocation as a home missionary has taken her all over the country, and it’s been wonderful
“I think people today, even if they don’t understand religious life, should know it’s a life of happiness,” Sister Pat said. “If I had to do it over again, I would not have a moment’s hesitation. I would do the same thing all over. It gets better with each passing year.”

Contact Lou Baldwin at (215) 587-3672 or lbaldwin@adphila.org.