CALLED TO BE...  RELIGIOUS Sr. Lorraine

 

What kind of child were you?
 I was very shy, I would hide behind my dad when company came or hide behind a couch.  I was a tom-boy...I never wanted a doll for Christmas, I wanted more a gun and holster set. I was very smart in school–I always had that gift.  I read a lot.

What were your favorite activities when you were a child?
 I was outside all the time; I was always the cowboy that won.  I was not a housekeeper.  I was very interested in sports.

Please describe your family.
 I was number 6 in the family so that may have had something to do with me being a tom-boy. When we get together as a family I am still the number 6 in the family.  I grew up in a very poor family, now I recognize it–kind of knew it in high school.  We were very limited in the clothes we wore.  But I don’t think it was a real problem.

How did you get along with your brothers and sisters?
 Pretty good, although in our family you fought.  We did not have our feelings squelched.  We had quite a bit of fighting in our home.  Around the table was our best talking time but we had to have good manners, my dad was insistent on that.  That has stuck with me over the years.  That was good and the conversation that went around the table was the best of the day.  We had no tv or anything like that, so we would listen to the radio.  We were not a religious family.  The most prayer I remember was the prayer at table and we went to Sunday Mass faithfully, but I don’t remember any other family prayer.  We didn’t have all the family rituals I hear from others and yet I was called to be a nun.

How did you get along with your mom and dad?
 I had a good relationship with my parents and my dad especially due to being a tom-boy so I would be outside helping him. I remember some really good talking times with him.  I remember talking about politics and things with him.  I was an outside person.  My mom didn’t have a a lot of patience teaching us about cooking and stuff.  My brothers and sisters still tease me about being outside all the time.  That makes it hard now to have an inside office.

What is your favorite childhood memory?
 I don’t know if I have a favorite.  I can say one thing that stands out is Christmases.  My sisters Nora and Jean would put on a little program for mom and dad and sing these little songs.  Nora would go into the alto part.  That makes me laugh now, but I think they enjoyed it.

Did you go to the prom?
Yes.  I went with Eddie Jumper.  I had a really nice prom.  Afterward a whole group of us went to Mitchell and had middle of the night breakfast. I loved to go to ball games and plays.  I was in every play in high school.  Loved plays.  Play practices were fun.  Going out afterward was fun

Did you have a boyfriend?
Yes, sort of.   I had several of them.  None of them really serious, more fun.  That is what is wrong with high school kids today, they don’t know how to have fun on dates.  Too much emphasis on sex and drugs.

If yes, how did you tell them you were going to join the order?
 I wasn’t dating anyone at the time.

What are your hobbies?
 I walk 2-3 times per day, but can’t now due to health.  I still love to be outside.
 Love to watch football, especially the Nebraska Cornhuskers.  GO BIG RED! They are the only football team I have emotions with.

What is your favorite TV show(s)?
 Lifetime Movies I use to watch them with Sister Barbara
 Touched by an Angel
 Talk Shows on Fox
 Dateline

What is your favorite comic strip?
 Peanuts, but I have kind of fallen away from the comic strips.

What led to your decision to join a religious order?
 It has been so long ago.  It took place in high school.  I remember coming home from basketball games and plays and I would look at the stars and it was as if God said to me “I have something different for you”.  I remember the Presentation sisters coming out every summer to teach catechism and they inspired me.  In White Lake we prayed the prayer for vocations after every mass.

When did you first get an inkling that you were "called"?
 From the sisters, first and foremost.

What did you do when you first got the inkling?
 I lived an ordinary life and would think about it a little bit and when I became a senior I thought about it a lot more. Then I went to Mount Marty with the sisters across the street and I knew I needed to try it.

Why did you choose the order that you did?
 Because of the Mount Marty College influence and getting to know them.  One of the them was my counselor in college and that was inspiring to me.  And praying with them.  That was very inspiring.

How do you support yourself?
We have a number of sisters working at Mount Marty College, the hospital, and we send all the money home to the monastery and make a request for living expenses.  We are supported in that way.

Do you get any spending money?
We get a monthly stipend.

How has your life changed since Vatican II?
Monastery life changed greatly.  We changed our habits and changed our customs.  We use to have so many rituals, we dropped those for creative and up to date customs.  One of the biggest changes was being able to relate with the laity.  Before, we couldn’t go to their homes and social events.  You couldn’t see your own relatives.  You got to see your family every 5 years for a week.  When I was a novice I couldn’t attend my sister’s wedding in Mitchell.   Things like that don’t happen now a days.

Tell us about your profession day?
 It was wonderful.  It was in 1965, June 29th.  It was a very hot day and we didn’t have air conditioning in the monastery.   Bishop Hoch was the presider and the service took 2 hours.   Both the prioress and the bishop put their name on our vow formulas at the alter.

What scared you the most about making your decision?
 Because it is different.  It is counter-cultural.  I didn’t know what the inner life of the monastery was like.  It was different in those days, you weren’t able to have a monastic period with the sisters.  You just entered on a given day.  It was scary.   I entered with 12 other women and you didn’t know any of them.  Only 4 of those stayed out of the 13.  In the 1960s there was a mass exodus.  A lot of people would enter to see if it was for them.  You didn’t live with the sisters then like you do now.  The people who come to stay are trying to discern if this is for them.

What is your typical day like?
We begin with prayer at 7:00 a prayer in common, called the liturgy of the hours (priests do the same but they do it alone), in the afternoon and again in the evening at 7.  Personal prayer every day.  From 8:30 until 4:30 is devoted to work.  Time out for noon lunch and prayer.  Mass at 5:05.  Dinner at 6.  Then meet in small group for prayer at 7:00.  Then recreation and time together.  Go to rooms about 9 or 9:30, depending on what is happening.   Some sisters get up really early to pray.  I always say that in the monastery, God is praised every hour, due to the schedules of the sisters.  Sometimes don’t get this all in due to work demands.  (This is a different schedule than when Sister Lorraine was living in Aberdeen.)

What has given you the most joy in your life?
 Union with God and relationships--that is what it is all about.  Grace, grace within us and relationships.  What else is there?

What has given you the most sorrow in your life?
One of the times was when I broke my leg so severely.  It changed my life.  I used to run around and be so active and this really slowed me down.  And then in the midst of that my superior transferred me.

What is the funniest thing that has happened since you became a sister?
 That is impossible to answer. We have had so many laughs together.

What book are you currently reading for pleasure?
 I am an avid reader of spiritual books, but I am not a novel reader.  I love to read spiritual books.  I am currently reading Mother Teresa’s A Simple Path and  Benedict’s Way.

What item is always found in your refrigerator?
 Mustard and ketchup and a jar of jam.  Bottle of pop for Sister Barbara.  Can of coffee for me.  Eggs for Sunday morning

If you were giving a dinner party, what three religious people, living or dead, not including Jesus Christ or Mary, would you invite?
 St. Scholastica.  St. Benedict.  Mother Theresa.
 

If you were giving a dinner party, what three non-religious people, living or dead, not including Jesus Christ or Mary, would you invite?
 Margaret Thatcher, George Bush, Sister Barbara

What are your hopes for the future?
 Hope for peace throughout the world.  I hope that soon we will feed the world’s hungry and not just have food for profit.  I hope that in the church that it doesn’t go back to externalism but that there will always be room for creativity and greater roles for women.  For families I have a great hope that our families will be strengthened.

Do you have any regrets?
 I don’t think I have any serious regrets

What advice would you give to a young person who is thinking about joining your order?
 I would invite them to come to the monastery; to come and see and we will go from there.  That is a big thing, come and see.  Just as Jesus said to Peter and Andrew, come and see.  They can live with us and eat with us and they will have a notion in their hearts of whether they will join us.  We also need to have support from the leadership of the church, especially the bishop.

What question would you have liked me to have asked you?
 None, you covered the basics.   I think that priests need to speak out about vocations to the religious life, not just the seminary.  They need to support the sisters currently in the parish.  Say if any young women are interested in the religious life, who they can speak to.  There is a balance that needs to be reached.

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