CV NEWS FEED // USA Today this week highlighted the contributions of religious sisters in Catholic education, despite the dwindling numbers of sisters in the United States.
The outlet interviewed Sister Rosa, born Ngoc Hong Thi Pham, from Vietnam, and Sister Gladys Anyanwu, from Nigeria. Both sisters teach in New York City and are beloved by their students, according to the profile.
The sisters are part of only 2.5% of Catholic school faculty in the US who are religious or clergy, and the 1.5% who are religious sisters, according to the National Catholic Educational Association. The organization also reports that in 1920, 92% of Catholic school faculty were religious brothers, sisters, or priests. By 2000, it was only 7%.
Sister Rosa, 35, is a member of the Missionary Sisters of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Queen of the World, and her superiors sent her to America so that she could learn U.S. education methods and apply them in Vietnam.
She teaches kindergarten and prepares second graders for First Holy Communion at St. Thomas the Apostle in the Woodhaven section of Queens. She is the only religious sister teaching at the school, and always wears her full traditional habit, including when she takes classes at St. John’s University to finish her doctorate degree.
Sister Rosa said her students “are really serious to learn,” and she is happy to explain her unique background as a Vietnamese sister, and her choice to maintain the traditional habit.
“People can see what I am, who I am,” Sister Rosa said, “and people can see who they are also, they can see the habit and remember back to their God, and who they belong to.”
“She’s not the stereotype of nuns,” her principal, Thomas Piro, said. “She’s bubbly and conversant, sensitive to the children. She goes above and beyond, and she’s a lot of fun.”
The author also spoke to Sister Gladys, 37, who teaches kindergarten classes, religion classes to second graders, and conducts the choir at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Academy in Brooklyn.
She joined the Sisters of the Compassionate Heart of Christ in 2007 to pursue a calling she had first heard in her childhood, which she said was “like a fire inside me.”
Though teaching is challenging, Sister Gladys said, “I don’t really see the challenges; I see the future. Being given all these children to take care of, the future is placed in your hands. So I ask God for wisdom and guidance.”
She said that sometimes her vows of poverty, chastity, obedience, and order’s fourth vow of compassion can feel like an abnormal life.
“But it’s a special call, trying to be a light to the world. My life is a contradiction to the world.” She said that she brings that light, as a consecrated sister, to her students.
Shawna Sawney-Scott commended Sister Gladys, who has taught two of her daughters. The girls told their mother about the sister’s joyful approach, and that she laughs and sings with them and teaches them how to pray.
“I think (religious education) is better coming from a nun,” said Sawney-Scott. “She’s a different type of nun, not the strict type we grew up seeing on TV. She makes the kids want to learn and participate.”
The post USA Today highlights religious sisters in Catholic education appeared first on CatholicVote org.