Pauline Discipleship Week

Lauren Renke (Michigan) shares an insight,
while Alyson Klimitchek (Texas) and
Gina O'Melia (New Jersey) listen.

A guest during vacation or holidays is nothing unusual, even in the convent. The company we keep, though, may be a little out of the ordinary. Over the past six days our Boston community has hosted the annual Pauline Discipleship Week, a retreat/live-in experience during the Christmas season for young women seriously considering religious life as Daughters of St. Paul. “The Holy Spirit has been active these days – both in the discerners and in the Sisters!” says Sr. Margaret Michael Gillis, the US/ESC province’s vocation director. Unlike our Come and See weekends throughout the U.S. and Canada, or our St. Paul Summer Program for teens, this intensive week opens up our own experience of the charism (the gift of the Holy Spirit that makes us Paulines) to young adults in deeper ways.

This year four women in their late teens and early twenties encountered this charism in interactive classes, extended times of prayer, work in the Pauline Books & Media publishing house, fun with the community, household chores, and a cultural excursion or two. Really—what other community would take a tour of Louisa May Alcott’s home and connect it with evangelization through the written word?


During a moment of prayer, co-foundress
Venerable Sr. Thecla Merlo (1894-1964) companions
these young disciples of Christ and St. Paul.

Why “Discipleship”? Anyone who has even occasionally read this blog gets the sense that Jesus Master, Way, Truth, and Life, is at the center of our spirituality. This approach of the whole person to the “whole” Christ, this following of Christ (discipleship), characterized St. Paul’s relationship with him, too. In fact, as Blessed James Alberione, our founder, often repeated, no one else understood the mind, will, and heart of Christ as Paul did. Paul, then, becomes our “in” with Christ Jesus and becomes a model for the women who consider joining us.

Since mission is both an outgrowth of this discipleship and one of the principal ways we live it, we like to include in the Week a few hours in the publishing house. When I first visited Boston as a prospective postulant, I thought it was the coolest thing to help out. It wasn’t frontline, but it was still meaningful: I knew I was preparing a feast for the Word that someone somewhere would be nourished on. Lauren caught that too. While she really got into the silent retreat over New Year’s Eve—she had never made a silent one before and felt that God graced her in a special way—she “loved the apostolate, working with the books,” and assembling introductory kits about J-Club, our Catholic school book fair program. Katie got to help out in our small Brazilian center; even though she doesn’t speak Portuguese, her Spanish stood her in good stead. They all went “quote hunting”: searching for usable quotations for Pauline Books & Media’s Facebook wall, and then prepared bookmarks for a new initiative, Mission One Million.

Sr. Margaret Michael



Sr. Margaret Michael has organized these events since 2003. She designed this “place of openness and listening,” as she calls it, to provide a deeper level experience for those who’ve attended any of our other programs, as well as to offer pre-entrance formation for the young women who want to apply for the postulancy later. Various sisters teach classes, mentor the participants in apostolic areas, and plan the evening social events. While certainly not all participants sign on, all those who’ve joined since the first one—eleven of us—have participated in this Discipleship Week.

Katie Endrey (Pennsylvania)

The silent retreat and daily Eucharistic adoration appealed to all of them, as did the length of their visit. Alyson noticed how on retreat, what usually distracts her from “thinking deeper things” wasn’t there. For Gina, the hour of adoration on New Year’s Eve beat out “Dick Clark’s Count-down Special.” She drily commented that it gave her “a bit more profound way of bringing in the New Year.” Unanimously, though, the 6:10 A.M. wake-up call was the hardest aspect of the whole week. Full days—sometimes a little too full, according to Katie—made for very short nights!

One thing that stood out for them was the prominence of Christ as Word in who we are, what we do, and even how we decorate our home. The connection between Word and Eucharist is equally strong: in our prayer, on the emblem around our necks, in our Pauline Books & Media Centers, even in the Gospel enthroned strategically in our common areas and the publishing house. Lauren, who loves the Liturgy of the Hours and prays it regularly, encountered the richness of the Word there, although she wishes we would use it more in our prayer than we do. Unlike other communities, the Daughters of St. Paul historically were not required to pray the Divine Office; the hour of adoration, our “school of the Divine Master” substituted for it. Since Vatican II, however, we have more often given it pride of place in our Morning and Evening Prayer, even though we still incorporate into it prayers bequeathed to us by our founder.

Gina shoots a little pool.

Evenings were lighter. The first night, “Meet and Greet” helped them break ice with the sisters and with each other. Board games and a viewing Of Gods and Men filled other evenings. Touring a portion of the Freedom Trail took them out on the town on New Year’s Day. This group was praying for snow—last year’s group got snowed in—but this time common sense prevailed up above. No cabin fever!

Alyson offers her perspective.

Levelheaded as they were, I asked them if they had any advice for other young women in discernment. Alyson recalled something Sr. Margaret Michael had said earlier: “It’s not about the doing; it’s about the being. Don’t worry about what you’re called to do. Focus on what you’re called to be.” Gina advises: “Get a good spiritual director. At retreats or conferences, if there’s a good speaker, it’s easy to get caught up in what they say and then forget to listen to your own heart. A director helps you do that.” Lauren cautions seekers not to limit their search to congregations’ and orders’ Web sites, but to visit communities, so they can “see the joy that religious sisters have. On some Web sites you can’t tell what they do or how they live.” A visit can be a real eye-opener.

Many Pauline Faithways readers want to keep informed about religious vocations among the Daughters. In fact, according to the blog’s “Stats” pages, the article about our postulants, “Irrepressible Life” (July 13, 2011), has consistently held first or second place among the most read posts published here. Many friends and donors contribute generously to our vocational discernment and formation programs, but there is always a need for additional funds to maintain and develop them. In fact, the St. Mary Seminary Outreach Trust Fund from Cleveland, Ohio, just issued a grant, so that our postulants can attend classes at the Pauline Center for Media Studies in Los Angeles and earn an Advanced Certificate in Media Literacy Education. If you would like to make a donation to our Vocation Fund, too, click the red Donate Now button near the top of the right sidebar and follow the prompts. No gift is too small. God bless you, as you help to shape the future of religious life in North America!

Irrepressible Life

One question that we often get is, “So how are vocations?” Donors, no less than anyone else, look to the youth among us to gauge our community’s viability. While there are several reasons for a slump in any community’s numbers, understandably people want to support what they perceive as new life and a promising future.


Theresa and Laura after dinner dishes are done.

Life we’ve got. Our two novices here in Boston were joined last week by our four enthusiastic postulants from St. Louis, who are on summer break from their formal studies. These four young women had already become acquainted with us here as they began to discern their call from God before entering the congregation last year. Their postulancy is now introducing them more deeply to religious life and to our “version” of it, our charism, or our “color,” as the founder, Blessed James Alberione, sometimes described it. This two-year period assists each of them in the next step of their discernment and prepares them for their two years as novices, if that’s where their these years of formation take them.

Allow me to introduce you to:
Cheryl Galema, originally from the Philippines then from Toronto, Ontario
Jackie Gitonga originally from Nyeri, Kenya
Theresa Noble from Tulsa, Oklahoma
Laura Nolin from Newport, Vermont.

You can read up on each of them at their blog: Let Christ Be Formed in Me. Before you do, read on. I’ve got an exclusive for you! Just like the four evangelists—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—these four spoke about what God in Jesus is doing in their world and, as they told me about their lives, they inadvertently revealed something about themselves….

When Pad Thai isn't enough.

 What do you like best about being a postulant? Theresa: “The sense of adventure and never knowing what God has in store for you….” (Theresa says she would be up to “hiking through the Amazon” someday, but even more, “traveling by myself for a long time in India.” Adventure, all right.)
Jackie: “The combined experience of our apostolate, prayer and community life…has provided me with some pretty grace-filled moments to grow in love of God and neighbor.”
Laura: “I like the variety of people we meet and the many different ways we meet them through our apostolate.  We go out to some, and some come to us.”
Cheryl: “All the new things that I am able to do and discover about myself, like cooking. I wasn’t very comfortable in the kitchen because I was always afraid of burning myself or the house. Since I entered, I’ve helped cook a few meals and have recently learned to make Pad Thai. It was a hit!”

What’s one of the most challenging things for you?
Laura: “Living in community is probably the most challenging.  I really enjoy it most times, but sometimes it can be very difficult too.”
Cheryl: “Waking up early in the morning (and sleeping earlier than what I’ve been used to). Also, doing homework for our classes. It’s been a while since I was in school, so reading and writing papers have been challenging.”
Theresa: “There are a lot of interior struggles for me as I make these first steps of discernment in religious life. The inner wrestling with myself and with God is the most challenging.”
Jackie: “Community life, growing in love, stretching my heart to love all my sisters as well as people of God in ministry, just as Jesus does even with and through our differences.”

Our Boston community, centered as it is on the Pauline Books & Media publishing house, is dedicated primarily to the creative and technical phases of our mission. Some of us do carry out various forms of person-to-person outreach—book and media center, exhibits, and presentations—but the majority work behind the scenes. However, our branch communities, like St. Louis, serve people primarily one-on-one. A few years ago, it became possible to situate the postulancy there. Now it offers the young women in this early stage of formation a unique opportunity to share in the diffusion, or outreach, aspect of our mission. It gives them a chance to better understand what they’ll probably live for a good part of their lives, if they go on to profess chastity, poverty, and obedience among us. Maintenance, grocery shopping, scheduling, liturgy in common both with us and with the parish and archdiocese, and the countless details of life in a small community offer a more diverse experience of our Pauline religious life. Together with prayer and study, this is indispensable to them as they discern their vocations.

By the way, the novices also go for a similar stint several months during their formation. See Pauline Faithways of October 20, 2010 for Sylwia’s and Emily’s “apostolic experience.”

As Cheryl pointed out, study is a major component of the postulants’ days. In addition to theology courses at the accredited archdiocesan Paul VI Institute, they participate in other  seminars and, when offered, semester-long courses from the seminary. They receive their Pauline religious formation in house. At times, other Daughters of St. Paul are available to teach special intensive sessions, for instance, last year’s ten-day course on media literacy and the Church’s documents on media.

Most of these lively young women never imagined that they would be “on a journey to becoming a nun!” as Jackie put it, a journey that flies them to Boston each summer. The purpose for their month here is multi-faceted. They’re spending time in the motherhouse, reconnecting with our largest community in the US/ESC* province, which is home to a significant number of us. They get to spend time interacting with our elderly, senior sisters. Lastly, they’re introduced to the creative and technical phases of the mission.

Already in St. Louis, the postulants have had opportunities to sharpen their skills and acquire new ones. Instead of nursing, Laura, finds herself living “half-way across the country from the rest of my family,…occasionally doing public speaking” on vocation talks and J-Club school book fairs.

A former Web programmer and development team manager, Cheryl is amazed that she would pack “a van full of books and drive about 13 hours to Texas with a group of women who want to give their life to Jesus and talk to college students about…responding to God’s call to religious life.” (I don’t know why that should surprise someone who pictures herself climbing mountains or flying a hang glider!) Click here for the full story.

Now in Boston, Cheryl relates, “I’m working at digital [publishing]. Sister Kathryn and I are learning how to build an iPhone/Android app using a free online tool. There’s a lot of trial and error in the process, but it’s really fun. I’m also helping with getting the Web site redesign moved along. I used to build Web sites, but a lot has changed, and the tools we’re using are different. I also don’t have very much experience in layout and design, so I’m learning from the rest of the team.”

Previously a systems analyst in San Francisco, Theresa seconds that and adds:

“Before I came to the postulancy I was working for a corporation with tons of resources. It is very different here; we have really limited resources. It becomes an exercise in creativity to work on the cutting edge. But the challenge is exciting, and knowing that God is right behind us inspiring our work and our ideas makes it really rewarding.”

Laura doubles as an assistant to Sr. Patricia in the Web store, and a sales associate in the PBM center in Dedham, a town just outside Boston. She confides:

With a picking ticket in one hand
and books in the other, Laura fills
a Web store order.



“The book center is good in that it’s helping me with my people skills (I tend to be shy), but it’s also helping me be even more confident in the things I already know about the book center. The Web store will stretch me a lot. I only know the basics when it comes to computers, so it will take a lot more brain energy. The learning curve will be steep, but I’m looking forward to learning something new.”



With Sr. Rebecca behind her, Jackie
prays for the people she met at the
PBM Center that day.

 Having earned her doctorate in human resource education right before joining the congregation (You’d never know that her secret dream is to drive an 18-wheeler), Jackie also appreciates working in both the Web store and PBM center:

“Both require people skills in different ways—face-to-face in the book center and behind the scenes [with] good customer service in the Web store. In these apostolates, I am constantly being drawn to find ways that I can bring people to Jesus by reaching out to them with utmost charity. I am also growing in my technical skills of running the Web store. In the book center, I am learning about the design and ambiance—creating an even better place where people can encounter the Lord through the media we provide.”

In case you couldn’t tell, they’ve got high hopes for the future:

Jackie: “There is such depth, breadth and height to the calling we have received as Daughters of St. Paul—to bring Jesus to all peoples using the most modern means—that I think its only going to get better and I would certainly want to be a part of it!”
Laura: “The Daughters of St. Paul are always willing to change to meet the needs of the people according to the times when it comes to evangelization and at the same time they hold fast to the teachings and traditions of the Church, that are timeless and never changing.”
Theresa: “I visited a lot of different congregations and the thing I was impressed the most about the Daughters was their reliance on God amidst a busy apostolate. It is so tempting to begin to rely on your own abilities and intelligence and to forget God’s part in it all. I do not see this playing out in the Daughters. I think this is partly because their mission is so immense, not many people would make the mistake of thinking they could tackle it on their own!”
Cheryl: “Our founder, Blessed James Alberione, had one love—Jesus Christ, and one mission—to give him to souls. I can see the sisters live this with joy and passion, even with the difficulties that they have faced through the years. It is obvious that the Lord has blessed our community tremendously and continues to do so.”

Sister Rebecca Marie Hoffart, originally from Houston, has been the postulant director for the past three years. She has a full plate, not because the postulants are all that tough to work with, but because she’s continuing her own education at the same time. She recently earned a certificate in spiritual direction, and now her Master’s degree in Christian Spirituality from Creighton University is actually within reach; she hopes to finish her thesis within the next year. So the hope the postulants expressed is not only theirs. “It’s incredible to see the Pauline charism blossoming in them,” Sr. Rebecca shared, “to see them growing closer to God, getting to know the founder and his writings, resonating with the spirituality and mission. They have a lot of hope in our mission, because they see how necessary and how vast it is, how it reaches people and how important it is.” She speaks for us all.

You’ll see on the postulants’ blog the photo of a fifth young woman, Erin Nolan, who had been a postulant this past year. The discernment process is doing what it’s designed to do also for those who do not stay: Over the past few months, Erin and the formation team realized that God is calling her elsewhere. She left with deep affection for the community—and the community’s lasting affection for her.

Laura and Jackie will enter the novitiate this August, as Emily and Sylwia become second-year novices. We’re delighted to welcome three new postulants in September, young women whom we’ve known for a few years. Two of them were frequent participants in our summer discernment programs. So that means four novices and five postulants will bring their irrepressible life among us. If you would like to donate to their formation program this coming year, click here. Sr. Rebecca is hoping to raise $6,000 for projects and specialized courses for them, so that they might continue to be a sign of the life that has nurtured them here.
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* United States/English-Speaking Canada