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by Jim Holman.
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WHAT A MINUTE! WHAT HAPPENED HERE?
By Robert Kumpel
"Growing up, I never wanted to be a sister. I wanted to get married and have children." God, however, had other plans for Sister Margaret Gibbons, now in her 10th year with the Sisters of St. Francis of the Martyr St. George in Wildwood, Missouri.
Colleen Gibbons spent her youth in Vista, attended St. Francis School and Vista High School before leaving for Franciscan University at Steubenville, Ohio. After years in a Catholic Charismatic home, Sister Margaret had a strong faith, but a special program in college led her to consider a vocation. "I took a year off college to be in a traveling youth ministry group called National Evangelization Teams. When I returned to Steubenville the following year, I met the sisters. When I visited their motherhouse convent in Alton, Illinois, I really felt at home."
Sister Margaret, 33, passed through childhood with four brothers and a sister, played flute in her high school band, and swam. "I loved swimming, but after junior high, I never swam on a team again." She dated but never had a steady boyfriend. I had some guys who were friends, but no long-term boyfriends."
Traveling with the evangelization teams awakened a desire for Sister Margaret. "We traveled around the United States, giving retreats for high school students. That year, my spiritual life was deepened, at least deeper than the surfacy, good feelings. I realized there was a lot more to my Catholic faith. It became something stronger and deeper for me, and that led me in the direction of my vocation.
"I always wanted to be a teacher and I'm now in my seventh year of teaching. I've always loved children. I teach fifth grade." Sister Margaret recalls the influence of the nuns who taught her in Vista. "I was drawn to the sisters who taught me growing up. I think that I didn't know it at the time. I was curious. We'd get to go and see their convent sometimes -- it was right on the campus. My seventh grade teacher, Sister Madeleine, a Poor Clare... I had a hard time with her and I didn't like her as a teacher, but as a person she was a good influence on me.
"Our community serves the Church wherever the need is. A lot of the sisters are in nursing. They are in administration, secretarial work, and domestic work. In the last several years, we've branched out into several apostolic activities." With the Mother House in Illinois, most of the order is based in the midwest and east coast, although the order originated in Germany.
"I knew when I was called to be a sister that I wanted to be in a community that followed the Church and wore habits. My community's devotion to the Eucharist and their joy also led me to the community. I thought, if I'm going to be a sister, I'm going to go all the way and live religious life the way it was meant to be -- otherwise I would live life as a layperson. It's important to be a symbol and when people see us, they know right away that we are nuns.
"It was an adjustment in the beginning, but I think my experience with [the evangelization teams] was a very good preparation for me. We lived closely in community and had a set schedule where we would get up early and were very busy, yet prayer was a priority. We also lived very simply and poorly because we were traveling around so we didn't have a lot."
The choice of religious life was a shock to her parents. "It was a little difficult in the beginning for them. They didn't understand because they always thought I wanted to get married and have children. They were like, 'Wait a minute! What happened here?' I think that once my family saw me and realized that I was happy as a sister, they were happy with it. They realized I was doing what I wanted to do and I was very happy with what I was doing, so they support me in that."
"If someone is really called in in the direction of a vocation, don't be afraid to look into it further. Be open. Don't be afraid, even though you are going against the grain of how society thinks. Visit different communities and pray about it. Have a good spiritual director to help and guide you. When I visited the community that I joined, I felt so much peace and somehow that peace was the final step for me. I felt so at home that I thought that must be where God called me to.
"Some people think that there aren't vocations, but I believe that there are a lot of vocations out there. It's just a matter of being open and willing to answer the call."