Religious life offers wonderful experiences, sisters say

Intermountain Catholic

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Sister Cecilia Van Zandt

SALT LAKE CITY — A lifelong devotion to Christ has given religious sisters who serve in the Diocese of Salt Lake City fulfillment, unforgettable experiences and a sense of peace.

Each of the women interviewed for this article has spent her lifetime dedicated to God. They belong to different religious orders and have worked in diverse occupations, but share the same sense of peace and joy, which they attribute to their vocation.

Sister Cecilia Van Zandt, a Daughter of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul, joined the order right out of high school and has been a vowed religious for 67 years. As a Catholic school student she was taught by Daughters of Charity, who not only were good educators but also lived their charism of service to the poor, she said.

"That was what attracted me, their devotion to wanting to do things for other people," Sr. Cecilia said. "I experienced that before joining the order; I was very friendly with all of these sisters. I probably would not have joined an order where I didn’t know someone first."

By contrast, Daughter of Charity Sister Germaine Sarrazin was taught by sisters from two orders, the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, but never met a Daughter of Charity.

"When I began discerning perhaps God wanted me to be a sister, we had long discussions, God and I, about it, and I finally told him I would try. So here I am still trying, 54 years later," Sr. Germaine said.

She researched various orders, but like Sr. Cecilia chose the Daughters of Charity because of their work with the poor.

Sr. Germaine traveled from her home in California to the Daughters of Charity community in St. Louis, Mo.

"I didn’t know a soul," she said. "That was very difficult … but I just figured, ‘If this is what it takes to be a Daughter, than this is what I’ll do.’"

Although both Sr. Germaine and Sr. Cecilia earned teaching degrees, their careers took different paths. Sr. Cecilia spent a few years in the classroom before becoming a school administrator; Sr. Germaine remained an elementary school teacher and even now, in retirement, volunteers as a math tutor for students in the first through third grades at Kearns/St. Ann School in Salt Lake City. She also mentors an extended family of refugees.

"This is where God wanted me," Sr. Germaine said. "When you do what God wants, things work out."

For a time, Holy Cross Sister Miriam Frankenfield thought God’s plan for her was completely different from the path she eventually took. In high school she had accepted a ring from a young man, but at the same time, "God was just very, very special to me."

She asked her fiancé for six months to explore the Holy Cross order. With his blessing, she entered a community, and "it was a peace that came with being there," she said.

Several years later, while she was in her noviate, her former fiancé was killed in combat during the Korean War.

At the old Holy Cross Hospital in Salt Lake City she was in daily contact with Holy Cross sisters, and "they liked one another," she said. "They would go to dinner and then they would walk around the block and they would laugh, just kind of enjoy one another. I thought they just seemed so happy."

She also remembers the sisters pinning up their habits and going out to play tennis. From their example, and the happiness they exuded, "I told God, if I have a vocation I hope it’s Holy Cross," she said; she has now been a sister for 55 years.

"I think I had something stirring inside my soul," she said. "It was something that I did not choose – I was choosing something else – but it was just something that God had in mind for me."

Sr. Miriam worked as a pediatrics nurse and in the emergency room in various hospitals, traveling as the needs of her order required. Now, as she nears her 80th birthday, she is considering retiring but still does home health care visits and works with the elderly.

Yet another path to the vowed religious life was taken by Benedictine Sister Stephanie Mongeon. She was taught by Presentation sisters in high school, and enrolled in the College of Saint Benedict in Minnesota, but her intent was to become a dietician.

"The sisters that I went to high school with, they said, ‘You have a religious vocation,’ and I said, ‘No, I don’t!’" Sr. Stephanie said.

However, as her college graduation approached, she thought, "‘I’m going to graduate, I should be so excited, but there’s something missing.’ And so I thought, ‘Yes, Lord, I know what you’re calling me to do.’"

Sr. Stephanie taught for a while, then received a dietician’s certification from the Mayo Clinic. Forty-seven years ago she was sent to Utah, to St. Benedict’s Hospital (now Ogden Regional Medical Center), where she has served in various capacities, including managing the dietary department and as vice president of public relations.

"I don’t think I could ever, ever have accomplished what I have accomplished if I had not answered the call to be a religious," she said.

Like all the women interviewed for this article, Sr. Stephanie lives in community; in her case, at St. Benedict’s Monastery in Ogden.

"There is actually a sense of security in community that frees you to give of yourself," she said, adding that living in community also helps her hold her idiosyncrasies at bay. "It’s constantly trying to be more thoughtful, more gentle, more patient, more helpful, less selfish, less greedy."

Living together isn’t always easy, all of the sisters agreed, but "we need each other and we share with each other all kinds of things in prayer as well as in play," Sr. Germaine said. "Community ... is our way of regaining strength. We can only do our ministry because we are grounded in God, and if we’re not grounded in God and in community, then we don’t have anything to offer anybody."

Although each of the sisters held what was then a traditional job for women, they say women in their orders now are free to pursue other career choices such as in business, or as attorneys or doctors, all while adhering to the vows of their individual religious order.

"It’s a very definite call," Sr. Miriam said. "God somehow says ‘I want you,’ but he doesn’t come right out and say that; there’s just something inside that you know is not you that’s making you uncomfortable."

Even though she occasionally wonders what her children would have looked like, had she chosen to marry rather than take religious vows, "I don’t think I would be as peaceful if I had been something else," she said. "I feel that, as a consecrated religious, that Jesus is my spouse, and you can’t get better than that."

If you are interested in the religious life, contact any religious order. In Utah, the Daughters of Charity may be reached at 801-295-5504; the St. Benedict’s Monastery at 801-479-6030; the Holy Cross Sisters at 801-313-9611 and the Carmelite Monastery at 801-277-6075.