Going To School With Religious Sisters

[tinytherese]

This thread is for anyone who was taught or is currently still being taught by religious sisters. I wasn't blessed to have them. So share any stories or thoughts about them. Maybe they influenced your vocational journey in some way. Here's a tribute to them.

[CatherineM]

When I went to parochial school, we still had sisters. They were the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth. When I was junior high age our new principal was a Carmelite. When I was grade school age they still wore habits, but started wearing regular clothes about 1973 or so. They no longer staff my old school. They did so for 40 years without having a single vocation to their order from our school.

Being able to hang around with them certainly added to my desire to enter their order, but I received so much opposition from my family that I eventually gave up on the idea. I think my best nun story is when we were having competitions in the cafeteria to see how far we could make a mustard package squirt. Surprisingly far. I made a whole in one on my principals habit, the white part in front. My mom had to sew her a new habit to keep me in school. Once she made for one, all the sisters in our convent wanted a new one. She made me cut every one of those patterns out by myself. I think I still have a scar from the blister the scissors left on my hand.

[Maria Faustina]

Oh man, I loved having religious sisters in school. That was probably one of the best things to happen to my school. We have the Nashville Dominicans. Too bad I gratuated.

Where to start? I have so many good memories of them. I had this one sister, Sr. John Thomas, who I would greet and say goodbye to in different languages. I would say Aloha or something like that, and then she would say hello in a different language. We always used to say goodbye by saying Ciao Bella. Haha great times.

One time, it was recess and it was really cold outside, so the same sister came over and sat down by my friend and I, and then covered us up with her Dominican scapular. Those things are really warm!!!

This is one of my favorite stories. One morning two of my friends and I were hanging out in the girl's bathroom before school started. one of my friends (her name is Meredith) said something reallly funny and so my other friend (Victoria, who has an extremely loud and obnoxious laugh) and I started laughing. Victoria started laughing so hard she tripped and fell and all three of us were on the ground crying because we were laughing so hard. Then my principal, Sr. Anna Grace walked in while we were on the floor and just looked at us like we were lunatics.

Ok, last story. One day, all the guys in my class decided they were going to communicate with each other using gang signs (stupid, I know).They were doing this during class, and they were not even doing them right. Sr. John Thomas caught them, and said "I'll see all of you after class". Then she said, "you weren't even doing them right! This is Eastside, this is Westside", and then she went on and on about the right gang signs and showed them to us. Haha my whole class was just like "How did she know that????"

Haha, and if any of you have ever met Sr. Mary Lucy (which I don't think many have), you know how much she likes to joke. She provided me with some good ones!!!

They were probably the main influence of my vocation. They are so beautiful and they have such a fiery love for Christ.

Edited July 2, 2008 by Maria Faustina

[Andrea348]

I had Sr. Marie from the Sisters of St. Joseph for 4th grade. I don't remember anything about her except that she wore easy spirit shoes. Inspiring, I know!

I went to an all girls private high school run by the Daughters of Our Lady of Mercy (not the Sisters of Mercy.) The Daughters of Mercy were founded by Benedetta Rossello later Sr. Mary Joseph Rossello.

Sr. Grace was and still is the principal. She was just wonderful. She would always say that our school had the best girls in South Jersey.

Sr. Matthew taught me Algebra II. I just remember that she was tough and VERY old school.

I had Sr. Annunziata for freshman year religion. She was one of those cute older sisters. She had the cutest little sayings ("Go fry ice in a bucket in the bay on a cloudy day!!!) and would always tell little stories to illustrate her point.

I had Sr. Joan for religion the other three years. I LOVED HER. She was also the music ministry director, which I was very involved in. She was the disciplinarian of the school. She was always on girls who had skirts that were too short and dealt with the discipline. She was not someone you wanted to mess with, but was a sweetheart if you were good. She would only accept cursive writing in religion class which drove me crazy. I loved listening to her talk about the religous vocation because she would try to convince us that somebody in our class was going to become a sister. Nobody has yet, I was the closest at one point though. She is a wonderful woman.

[MissyP89]

Did you go to OLMA? Just curious.

I went to public school, but my Mom went to parochial school for eight years. She tells a lot of stories--mostly about the dress code and discipline.

[Caramelonion]

I too wasn't blessed to have gone to a Catholic school and at the time, I was glad that I didn't have to go there...because the students had to wear uniforms. But in passing that schoolyard on the way to mine, I got a glimpse of the nuns on the playground and that I believe was the first sign of my calling...I found them amazing and I've never forgotten them.

[VeniteAdoremus]

My mum went to a Catholic boarding school. As a result she, er, isn't very open to the idea of me becoming a religious. 'nuff said.

[cathoholic_anonymous]

[quote name='VeniteAdoremus' post='1589022' date='Jul 2 2008, 04:27 PM']My mum went to a Catholic boarding school. As a result she, er, isn't very open to the idea of me becoming a religious. 'nuff said. [/quote]

Same here, and my mum was only at a day school. All she can remember is Mother Mary Simon's bristly moustache and her much-used wooden ruler...