Called by Two Vocations

Sr. Connie Taylor's Journey

Growing up Lutheran in an Ohio city of about 35,000 people, I felt called to two vocations - the religious life, specifically to be a nun, and nursing. Caring daily for my godmother after she had breast cancer surgery and suffered radiation burns, touched my heart in a profound way I could not ignore. The call to religious life was strong too, but I did not have the words to verbalize what I felt.

Then, the summer before 10th grade, I went to a Lutheran church camp and spotted a church magazine ad seeking high school graduates  to join the Deaconesses (Lutheran sisters) in Milwaukee, Wis. And so, after graduating from high school, I  moved to Milwaukee to become a Deaconess and enrolled myself in nursing school at Milwaukee Area Technical College. However, things are never as simple as they seem.

When I joined the Deaconesses, one of my classmates had a friend who was a School Sister of St. Francis. Often we would walk across the 27th Street Bridge to visit the sisters at the St. Joseph Convent. Many were old, but they were all so happy. There was something different about them, which is why I continued to visit.

In addition to school and the Deaconesses, I also began working at Lutheran Hospital part time. Soon, I started to feel restless. I went to the superior and asked for a leave of absence from the Deaconesses. Then, I  moved  in with two nursing school classmates and  began going to church at St. Benedict the Moor, Milwaukee, with them. There I met up with the School Sisters of St. Francis again.

A year later, I decided I could not return to the Deaconesses and converted to Catholicism. Shortly after, I began my undergrad work in Nursing and Psychology at Alverno College. While studying at Alverno, the importance of being an advocate for people, in general, and my patients were greatly stressed. The message struck a chord with me and I took it with me when I graduated from Alverno.

After graduation, I worked as a nurse at Sacred Heart and went to evening prayer at the School Sisters’ Motherhouse. Finally, in 1982, after enjoying their company for years and feeling their call, I became a  School Sister of St. Francis.

As a nun, I continued working in the nursing field and pursued my masters’ degree. Then, in 2000, a training group I was in opened Kyle’s Korner on the north side of Milwaukee. Its mission, to help children and families who had experienced the loss of a significant person in their lives, affected me greatly. There were so many in need and only so many we could service at Kyle’s. I decided I needed to do more.

In 2002, two others and I created My Good Mourning Place, a bereavement center designed to help children and teens cope with the death of a loved one. To date, our free, volunteer-based services have served 183 children. The needs of these children are great and that is why I know this is exactly the place I have been called to be. I am grateful my two vocations were able to lead me to this exact spot.



To find out more about My Good Mourning Place, visit the Web site at http://www.mygoodmourningplace.org/.

 

Article by Sister Connie Taylor
Cover photo courtesy of My Good Mourning Place

(Photo - My Good Mourning Place staff and children)