My news! This was crafted to update my facebook friends and the response was overwhelming. You'll forgive me for reposting it here, I hope.
I have news!! (This is a long one). Since my temporary retirement in 2010, I have spent the last 7 marvelous years on PEI teaching engineering, adventuring around the world, and encountering fantastic people along the way. I am excited to share with you that I am entering the Congrégation de Notre-Dame (CND) as a novice on Aug 26, in White Plains NY, one step towards becoming a religious sister. I call these next 2 years: “nun boot camp”, everyone else calls it “the novitiate”.
What drew me to the CNDs is their desire to go to the peripheries of society to serve in unconventional ways, as lawyers, counselors, nurses, teachers, and even as an advocate at the UN. Founded by Saint Marguerite Bourgeoys when she came to Canada in 1653, she said: “All that I have ever desired… is that great precept of the love of God above all things and the love of neighbor as oneself be written on every heart”. I kinda love that. Also – the CNDs have a missionary spirit to go to be present with people in their struggles, like in the Visitation, when Mary learned she was pregnant, she rushed to her cousin Elizabeth who was all kinds of old and pregnant, just to be together. It seems, when you are filled with God’s joy, you can’t help but to share it.
So if you happen to be in NYC over the next few years, I might be able to say hello!
To pre-empt some questions I have been getting:
- Will you wear a habit?? No - CNDs don’t wear habits, so yes I can wear my heels
- What about your stuff? Well, I sold my condo, gave away tons of stuff, and am about to sell my car
- But you love teaching at UPEI? Yes I do, so I am only taking a leave of absence from UPEI to discern if this is right move, and after the 2 years, I can continue teaching engineering – the sisters are all about ‘liberating education’, so I can come back to teach with more focus and intention, recognizing that God’s love can be shared in engineering design courses, through actions, without the necessity of words
- But you love to travel? The CNDs were the first un-cloistered order of sisters in North America, the foundress was the first teacher to come to Montreal back in 1653, they were the first to leave the convent and go to the people most in need, as women of the parish. I have been walking with them for nearly 2 years and have witnessed their influence in Canada, US and France, and yes, I (obviously) hope to see their communities in Japan, Cameroon, and Central America too! So yea – they still travel, just in a different way.
- Are you ready to go? Yes, I am super excited about this, and trying not to wish the summer away!!
So, if you'd like to follow along, I can offer sharing what I learn about religious life, when and how I experience it.
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