Sisters of the Holy Cross novices experience Utah as part of their formation program

Intermountain Catholic

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From left, Holy Cross Sisters Esperanza Jacobo, Thais Bitencourt, Veronica Fajardo, Manorma Kerketti, Karla McKinnie and Celine Dounies visit Bryce Canyon to show Utah to the novices who are here on a mission experience. The sisters also visited other areas of Utah. Courtesy photos/Sr. Karla McKinnie

SALT LAKE CITY — The initial formation program for second-year novices in the Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Cross includes a three-month mission experience living and working with sisters throughout the United States. On Sept. 30, the Holy Cross Sisters in Utah welcomed three novices, who will stay until Dec. 30, when they return to Saint Mary’s Convent in Notre Dame, Ind.

Holy Cross Sisters Thais Bitencourt, Manorma Kerketti and Esperanza Jacobo are among a group of 15 novices hoping to take their first vows in June. The novices have spent 18 months studying in the novitiate before coming to Utah. They have learned about their vows of chastity, obedience and poverty and "how to communicate with others," said Sr. Thais. "Many in our group are from different countries."

"We have learned about the charism of the sisters, which is responding to people’s needs and how the sisters are reaching out to many throughout the world," said Sr. Manorma.

Sr. Manorma’s journey began when she heard the call to religious life in elementary school. At 17, she told her parents she wanted to spend her life as a religious, she said. She grew up in India and was taught by the Saint Ann Sisters at Saint Ann Catholic School for girls, but wasn’t drawn to that order.

She was attracted to the Holy Cross Sisters when her uncle, a Holy Cross brother, gave her a Holy Cross calendar. In Utah she has been assisting in the library at Saint John the Baptist Elementary School and Saint Andrew Catholic School. Sr. Manorma is discerning nursing and teaching as she discerns her vocation.

Like Sr. Manorma, Sr. Thais has also been working with children; she has been a teacher’s assistant in Kathy Sandoval’s first grade class at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School in Salt Lake City. She also has been helping with the Holy Cross Ministries After School Program in Park City.

"Each time I hear the experiences of the other sisters, I get more inspired to serve," said Sr. Thais. "In my prayer time, I also listen to how God is speaking to me through the people around me."

As a teenager, Sr. Thais started working in different parish ministries helping with youth groups, visiting the sick and doing catechesis, music and liturgical programs. "I learned from my mother how to help the less fortunate and to hear their stories. I was inspired by a missionary who was happy working with the poor in our parish neighborhood. I wanted to know more about religious life."

Sr. Thais’ neighbor introduced her to the Holy Cross Sisters. "They were welcoming and their environment was prayerful," she said. "I felt a part of them because their charism was what I was already doing."

Sr. Thais has studied psychology and would like to go into counseling.

"It has been wonderful having Sr. Thais helping the kids," said Sandoval. "She has helped those kids who need a little extra attention and need to learn why we have rules. The kids are really going to miss her, but we will wish her well on her journey."

Sr. Esperanza began her journey in religious life working on a team instructing youth in the sacraments, while at the same time working as a quality inspector at Kemet de Mexico, a computer company in Guadalupe City, Mexico, where she grew up.

"The Holy Cross sisters were working in our parish," said Sr. Esperanza. "Holy Cross Sr. Michelle Toepp invited me to a Come and See program for three months and I liked it. I had never really thought about becoming a sister, but I was inspired by the work they were doing and how happy the sisters were. They were so compassionate and I liked the way they interacted with people. For me it was an opportunity to help the poor."

In Utah Sr. Esperanza has been discerning the vocation of social work and has been spending her time in Wendover tutoring children after school and, in Salt Lake City, taking communion to the elderly. In addition, she has been working in the Holy Cross Ministries School Readiness program in Park City preparing children for school and working at Holy Cross Ministries helping out in the office.