We can also learn from the call stories of others.  The following are personal accounts of Sisters and their journeys into religious life.  These stories may help you come to know more clearly how God is calling you ... often it is in the very ordinariness of our lives. God was offering me a choice ... I watched them closely ... I was attracted by their way of life of prayer... The Sisters were always so happy to see them ... Why I am happy to be an SSND ... More stories... Return to "Am I Being Called?"

"The Sisters were always so happy to see them ..."

Sister Doreen Schommer

The desire was in my heart from the time that I was able to read.  In my home were magazines from the missions and, because I am an avid reader, I absorbed their contents and felt drawn to that type of life.  Part of my childhood attraction was the fact that my older siblings had boarded and attended school at the SSND convent in Leipzig, Saskatchewan.  When they were grown up and teaching, they would spend their summer vacations at home.  They would take me with them when they went to visit their former teachers whom they held in high esteem.   The Sisters were always so happy to see them.  Sister Cajetan would delight in standing me on her classroom desk and feed me goodies from her candy jar.

Later, when I attended the same convent school, I was deeply impressed with the life of sacrifice evidenced by the Sisters.  However, I was not very enthusiastic about emulating that kind of life.  Nevertheless, whenever I was partying or dancing I felt that this was not the place for me.  Success in my Grade 12 exams was the sign I'd asked of God that I was called to religious life.   Surrender followed notification of success, and I entered the following September.

Sister Doreen is presently on sabbatical and has recently returned from ministry in Africa.