FOLLOW ME
2002 FOLLOW ME
April
ARTICLES
Little Notes
Letters
Confessions
Talk About Movies
Roamin' Catholic
Contents © 2001
by Jim Holman.
All rights reserved.
HERMIT SISTER
By Robert Kumpel
Even when growing up as a Protestant in Oklahoma, Sister Claire Marie of Christ wanted to be a nun. "I've always been fascinated with religious life. I remember asking my mother as a little girl if Protestants could be nuns. I never had any thought in the world of becoming Catholic, so it kind of ended there."
Realizing that the convent was only for Catholics, Terrye Newkirk (her secular name) grew up, got married, had a son, and divorced. "Even when I got my divorce, I immediately applied for annulment, as I knew I would need one if I ever wanted to become a nun. I became a Catholic at 33, and at the time I was a single mother. I read Thomas Merton. Even before I became Catholic, I found a fascinating book in a university library called Great American Foundresses that was all about religious orders that were brought to America or founded in America." Raising her son alone, Newkirk ended up in California and found herself in San Diego in 1996. "At that point, my son was grown, and I tried living as a resident at the Carmel on Hawley Boulevard in San Diego but soon realized that I did not have the Carmelite vocation." Newkirk went to work for Catholic Answers, becoming assistant editor of This Rock magazine.
Illnesses took Newkirk back to her parents' Oklahoma in 1997, where she met the Benedictine monks from France who were establishing a monastery in the woods of the Ozark Plateau near Clear Creek. After three years of getting established, the Father Abbot, Philip Anderson, consented to her staying on their property as a hermit. She was given permission to profess herself as a hermit nun to the Bishop Edward Slattery of Tulsa (a frequent guest on Catholic Answers) under Canon 603 -- a rare opportunity in the United States. "At Easter last year, they told me that they had a little travel trailer here and that I could come and try it out and I've been here since. I am in the process of a five-year formation right now, under the direction of the Benedictine monks here. They're a Benedictine branch of Solesme -- the order that restored Gregorian Chant in the 19th century. These particular monks come from Fontgombault abbey in France. They've been delegated the oversight of my daily life."
At 54 years old, Sister Claire Marie is disabled by four illnesses. While she requested that her afflictions be left out of the story, she did say that she believes that suffering is part of her vocation. "I offer up my pain for the poor souls in Purgatory."
Sister Claire Marie's parents live about one hour away from her. As Protestants, they were concerned about her conversion. "I gave them a copy of 'Where We Got the Bible' and they read it. I had them listen to a Rosalind Moss tape. Like most parents, they see the results -- that I'm happy and that this life is a good fit for me.
"They're now well-versed in Catholic theology. They go to an independent Protestant church where erroneous things about the Catholic Church are often voiced, and they will speak up and say, 'No that's not true.' They find themselves defending the Catholic Church!"
Her son became Catholic when she converted but has left the church. "But he is more open to it now than he has been in a long time. I sense he's kind of proud of me. I just got a birthday card from him and his wife in Nashville, and it was addressed to 'Sister Mom.'"
"I wear a religious habit, and I have to go out to do shopping for food and supplies. When I go to Walmart or the hardware store in town, people stop me to talk. A lady who had been baptized in California asked me if I could get her a rosary. I suspect she doesn't go to a Catholic church anymore, but something about seeing a nun in a store awakened this in her. Little children come up to me and they are so open -- even the ones who have never seen a nun. One little girl shopping with her mother said, 'Look mommy! A church lady!' I've had people come up to me and ask if I was just dressed up as a nun or if I was really a nun. I had two Catholic women come up to me one time and say, 'I just had to give you a hug. It's been so long since I've seen a sister in a habit.'"