Sister Ginny with her great grandson, Noah.
Can you please share with us your academic background or degrees/certificates?
As a single mom, I went to Milwaukee Area Technical College and received my associate degree in nursing. I then proceeded to get my bachelor’s degree in nursing at Alverno College and advanced classes at the Medical College of Wisconsin. I worked in various hospitals and nursing homes in several positions, including director of nursing at a local nursing home.
When and why did you join the School Sisters of Notre Dame?
While working at a nursing home, I said to my co-worker one night, “There has to be more to life than this!” She asked, “Have you ever heard of the SSND associates?” She and her sister partner invited me to join them at an associate weekend event. I eventually covenanted with the associates in 1992. It was a turning point in my life. I loved being a part of this group. I made friends and commitments, including spiritual direction with Sister Sharon Roedl.
After several years, a group of associates attended a workshop exploring how to start a “community.” I shared this experience with my director and told her it didn’t really fit for me. Most of them were teachers, and I was in health care. She asked me if I had ever considered becoming a SSND. I was a bit shocked and said to her, “Sister Sharon, I have been divorced, I have children, and I am 50 years old.” She replied, “Well, perhaps you might check into it.” After a time of reflection, I called the vocation director and asked, “if the order would consider a woman who was divorced, annulled, had four children and was older.“ She said, “Ginny, are you talking about yourself?” I said “yes.” She suggested I come in and talk. That was the beginning of life as a professed SSND. In 1995, I sold my house, moved into community and became a postulant. My novitiate was in St. Louis in 1997. I took my first vows in 1999 and perpetual profession in 2003.
What ministries have you served in while a SSND?
After my novitiate in St. Louis, I was asked to consider studying to become a jail chaplain . Again, after some time of reflection, prayer and preparation, I became a chaplain at the House of Correction in Milwaukee and then accepted a position as chaplain at the Kenosha Jail and House of Correction. I ministered there until I retired in 2008. It will always hold a special place in my heart.
I was a teaching assistant with one of our sisters after I retired from prison chaplaincy for a couple of years. Currently, I have been labeled as an “Uber driver” for SSND. I am blessed by many of my sisters who need a ride or companion to medical visits and/or procedures. I can be a second pair of ears and sometimes ask clarifying questions with medical personnel. It also gives me an opportunity to get to know the sisters on a one-to-one basis.
What do you like to do in your free time?
I don’t have a lot of free time between my ministry with my SSND family and my involvement with my blood family. I love to work on Happy Color on my tablet. It is similar to what we used to call paint-by-number, except it is done on the computer. No paint, no mess; just pretty pictures when I am done! I carry my tablet with me wherever I go and “paint” while I am waiting in the car, office, clinic, etc. I have gotten a few of my sisters hooked on it too.
I also meet once a week with one of our sisters in Slovenia for tutoring. We have been meeting for several years now and have become good friends.
What has been most challenging for you as a SSND?
The most challenging part for me as a SSND is balancing time with my vowed family and my blood family. That has worked out best when I can integrate the two of them into my life activities. A card I received at Christmas says it best, “Family is not just blood.”
All of my “former” lives have led me here today. For this, I am most grateful to our loving God.
Sister Comfort Anum
What inspired you to become a School Sister of Notre Dame?
Can you please share with us your academic background or degrees/certificates?
My first degree was an associate's degree in social development which I got from Plateau State Polytechnic in Nigeria. I have a bachelor's degree in early childhood education, and a certificate in peace building from Mount Mary University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I possess a Master of Science in professional counseling from Mount Mary University and a certificate in spiritual guidance from the Siena Retreat Center in Racine, Wisconsin. I have engaged in different professional development programs that have enabled me to further my education in my fields of study.
What is your current ministry with SSND?
I have just completed my studies from Mount Mary University and have returned to my home country Nigeria. Currently I am at Hillside Nursery and Primary School to help me transition into the Nigerian system of education and the whole system in general. I am hoping to share the knowledge I have acquired in the United States to empower those I am called to serve.
What ministries have you served in prior to now?
Before I left for further studies, I had several experiences in three countries in Africa. When I was a postulant, my weekly ministry was at the Akwa Ibom State prison with women. The gift of working with those women at the prison broadened my understanding of what the prison was meant for and to empower them after serving their term in prison. It was then I realized the many injustices in our prison system. It was a gift for me to be there. I also served at the Nsawam Orthopedic Center in Ghana where I worked with children who were traumatized from war. Some of the children lost arms and legs and had other issues which the Center made efforts to attend to. My time there was a blessing for me. It helped me to be grateful for the opportunities I have had in my life knowing that any of those children could have been me if not for the grace of God. After I was professed in 2009, I was sent to Nigeria to serve as a teacher at one of the diocesan schools. I taught first through fifth grade physical health education. It was in this ministry that I got my call to study early childhood and counseling. I met children who needed more help beyond academics. This ministry graced me with the ability to listen deeply and look beyond what I see. Alongside this ministry, I was working at the Akwa Ibom State correctional institute for delinquent children. I taught life skills and counseling. This experience enabled me to see some of the external forces that could affect the development of a child. This ministry confirmed my call to serve children in my society.
I was also missioned to Kenya to minister at the Notre Dame Children Outreach Project Nylienga in Kenya. This ministry was a gift because it opened me to another side of a culture that I did not know. This ministry took me deeper into understanding the needs of our world and how circumstances can change everything. I saw myself as a servant called to serve less-privileged children. I moved to Nigeria to serve at Notre Dame Girls’ Secondary School in Mkar. I served as a school matron. Here I was called to oversee the welfare of the students. I got to meet the students where they are and had a good relationship with them. This ministry gave me the gift of understanding myself deeply and my call as a School Sister of Notre Dame. The challenges I had at that time strengthened me and challenged me to listen to what God was calling me to do. My call is a call beyond just being a School Sister of Notre Dame. I am grateful for all these experiences.
What do you like to do in your free time?
I love to watch movies and listen to music. I love to travel around making new memories, and I love crafts like crocheting and felting.
What do you love most about being a SSND?
We work together as a community not letting our differences hinder us from proclaiming the Gospel. I am proud to be a School Sister of Notre Dame because I educate anywhere I find myself, and I am open to learning when an opportunity arises.
Sister Rose Cecile Espinos (right) was delighted to have Sister Martin Radež, General Council, visit Marian Village in Chicago, Illinois, in April 2022.
What inspired you to become a sister?
When I was five, my family moved to Chicago, and I entered first grade at Santa Maria Incoronata School where I met my first School Sister of Notre Dame. Prior to that, I had met the Holy Cross Sisters, the Italian Sisters of Providence and my aunt’s Congregation of Good Shepherd. I did not understand the distinction of the different orders or Congregations, but knew they were special people who did wonderful work with a smile for those in need.
One of my earliest calls to religious life was a summer program with the Sisters of Providence. They would teach girls how to crotchet, do crafts and sing and play games along with the nursery program they organized. I heard a story about how St. Clare of Assisi ran away to become a nun and was much impressed. When I asked what I had to do to become a nun, the response from one of the sisters was ”come and see.” So, several days later, with my newest dress and my doll, I went off to the convent and surprised the sister at the door. I said I came to join her and become a sister. After a little talk between the two of us, she called my parents to pick me up. I was sad and cried that my offer was not accepted, and so I returned home.
When did you join the School Sisters of Notre Dame?
Preparing for high school, I felt the call again and asked if I could go to the aspiranture. After much discussion with my parents and my eighth grade teacher, I went off to St. Mary’s Academy in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin. Continuing the process of formation, I entered the candidature and postulancy in Milwaukee and was received with the name Sister Rose Cecile, my mom’s name in reverse.
What is your current ministry with SSND?
Presently, I am retired and living at Marian Village in Homer Glen, Illinois, which is southwest of the city of Chicago. I am one of 14 SSNDs who live here. We have a wonderful relationship with the other residents and participate in all the activities that are offered. I, though retired, offer my services to our sisters, chauffeuring them to doctors, hospitals and meetings.
What ministries have you served in during your time as a SSND? What memories stand out to you?
I spent most of my early years teaching first grade in Menasha, Wisconsin, and Chicago, then moved to junior and senior high school in Dekalb, Illinois. After 3 years of principalship and part-time teaching, I was called to a year of renewal study in the ARC program in Rome. What a wonderful experience to have the time and experience with other young sisters to study theology and spirituality in the center of the religious world.
When I returned from the year of study, I was appointed Novice Director along with two other directresses. I spent four years in this role in Hinsdale, Illinois.
A year later, I requested an international mission in Guatemala. I did a year of pastoral ministry in Rio Bravo, and then was asked to begin a novitiate program with a single novice in Mexico. Unfortunately, the novice did not stay, and we continued the formation program in Guatemala with vocation awareness and a postulancy. Returning home, I spent three more years teaching Hispanic pre-seminarians English so that they could pass the entrance exams for the seminary.
Then I spent two years in Pedro Juan Caballero on the border of Paraguay and Brazil. Again I was called to formation work and joined the Brazilian directress in Sao Paolo forming a Portuguese/Spanish Novitiate. I fulfilled five years and again returned home.
I felt we could open an English as a second language (ESL) program in Chicago for the new immigrants coming into the area, especially women, who were isolated and sealed in their homes because they couldn’t speak the language. Once we got the ESL program with one-on-one tutoring, the women suggested we also help their children, many of whom had problems with math and reading and understanding. So, we planned an after-school program for children ages 6 to 13. We called this SSND-sponsored organization Corazón a Corazón, and it is still in operation today.
Another intercultural program which touched me was the South Sudan experience helping teachers learn English and then assisting them to teach the language in their schools. I was sent to Old Fangak in the northeast part of the country. We taught English, composition, science, math and some skills of health and morals. Old Fangak was about the poorest place I had ever encountered. I had lived in and seen poor families among migrants here in the States and among the poor of Guatemala, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay and Brazil, but Old Fangak was a whole different experience. Our evening meal consisted mainly of rice or pasta cooked on a small 12-inch Weber grill. Fish was prevalent since a tributary of the Nile ran along the western edge of the town. This tributary also served for bathing and washing of clothes, etc.
All these wonderfully challenging and memorable experiences blessed me with a love for people, their music, dancing, language and customs. How they live ready for whatever comes into life. All is a gift from God and is accepted and used to bless whatever and who ever came into their life. It has left me gifted, and ready as well, to give to others whatever and whomever I meet.