While the new work may have a lower profile, it is often much closer to the original intention of the founders of their religious orders. Smaller in number, religious women are returning to their roots.
Sr. Marguerite Letourneau, leader of the Grey Nuns in Alberta and Saskatchewan, says following the transfer of its hospitals to lay-led Catholic institutions, the order dedicated itself to being present to people in a variety of new ministries.
“We were used to running the show and we have to learn now to be part of (other organizations) but not the leaders,” she said. “Now we are more of a community of presence than anything else.”
There are 35 Grey Nuns in Alberta and Saskatchewan and almost all are volunteering in something — from working with native people and tutoring students to teaching English conversation to new immigrants and refugees to assisting patients at Youville Nursing Home in St. Albert and other nursing homes.
“It’s amazing; they are always busy,” Letourneau notes.
Sr. Jeannine Coulombe, a Grey Nun for 53 years, recently returned from Bogota, Colombia, where she spent almost 14 years providing education programs to internally displaced people, especially children. In the past, Coulombe taught aboriginal children in residential schools, taught religious education programs in the Northwest Territories, was in charge of formation of the congregation’s novices in Edmonton, did counselling at a rehabilitation residence for women in Calgary and then returned to formation work in Montreal for a couple of years.
When vocations began to dry up, she left for Colombia, where her Grey Nuns colleagues needed help.
“As you can see, the core of my vocation has not changed,” she said. “I go where there is a need. Whatever we do (as sisters) is because we are always reaching people in need.”
Individual sisters and congregations need to listen to the Gospel and to the events of their lives, said Coulombe.
“Our community listened to the Gospel when we changed, and we sold our hospitals and we got out of residential schools. It was time. The will of God was talking to us to let go of these big institutions. As Mother Teresa said, ‘We are not called to do big deeds but to do small deeds with a lot of love.’ ”
Sr. Diane Brennan, a member of the Sisters of Providence of St. Vincent de Paul (Kingston), spends part of her time at Braemar High School, a school that helps pregnant and parenting teen mothers get an education in a supportive environment. Brennan also works at Changing Together, a centre for immigrant women.
At Braemar, she nurses the babies of the students while they attend classes; at Changing Together she does the accounting. “Our motto is to look at the signs of the times and see the needs,” said Brennan.
Brennan has done that masterfully over the years, transitioning with ease from one ministry to another. In her 49 years as a sister, she has served as school teacher, operator of a group home for single pregnant young women in Ontario and member of the leadership team of her congregation. She is also a trained spiritual director.
In 2007, she came to Edmonton and became administrator of Rosary Hall, a 20-bed residence for women with chronic mental illnesses. She served in that position until Rosary Hall closed last July. In December, she joined the board of Changing Together and was appointed treasurer.
What Brennan does now is not much different from what sisters did when the order was founded in 1861.
“We were founded to work with the poor in Kingston,” she noted. “We looked out for the elderly; we had an orphanage and then went into teaching and hospitals.”
In fact, the Sisters of Providence of St. Vincent de Paul owned two hospitals in Alberta, both of which are currently operated by Covenant Health.
“We are going back to the beginnings of religious life,” said Brennan. “We are again helping out the poor where they are at.”
The Sisters of Charity of Providence of Western Canada, better known as Sisters of Providence, have also rid themselves of most large institutions, except for Providence Renewal Centre, a well-known retreat house in Edmonton. They used to run two hospitals in British Columbia and a large nursing home in Calgary, among others. Now many of the 45 Sisters of Providence in Alberta serve in women’s shelters, do hospital visiting, participate in parish ministries and feed the needy in the inner city.
In more than 50 years as a Sister of Providence, Sr. Germaine Chalifoux has served as an elementary school teacher, catechist, missionary, vocation formation instructor and member of her congregation’s leadership team. Now she is back on the leadership team but also volunteers on the board of Wings of Providence, an organization that provides programs and shelter for women and children fleeing domestic violence.
“This is another way of being involved in what you would call the newer ministries,” said Chalifoux.
However, the new ministries “tie us more directly to our roots,” added Chalifoux.
Sr. Gertrude Sopracolle, a member of the Ursuline Sisters of Prelate for 52 years, more or less continues to do what she has always done — teaching. However, now she doesn’t need a classroom. For a number of years now Sopracolle has been “accompanying people on their spiritual journeys.”
(Western Catholic Reporter)