Interview with Sister Rosalie Digenan by Tara Friga

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Narrative Summary

Interview with Sister Rosalie Digenan by Tara Friga

I interviewed Sister Rosalie Digenan. She is a Roman Catholic sister and is a part of the Daughters of Charity order. The interview took place in her office at the Catholic Campus Ministry located near Missouri State University,where she works as Campus Minister. Her disposition was lively and upbeat. She is short in height but big in personality.

She was born near St. Joseph, Missouri. She has lived in the Ozarks for 21 years; Louisiana for five years; Colorado forfive years; northern Missouri for 18 years; Utah for five years;Illinois for six years; Michiganfor six years; and California for four years. She has taken three-week trips to Guatemala six times, and has also visited Europe, Norway, Sweden, and the British Isles.

She was born inthe 1930s, making her 76 at the time of the interview. She has a bachelor’s degree in education from FontbonneUniversity. She went on to get a master’s degree in special education from Saint Louis University and a master’s degree in theology,with a specialty in spiritual direction,from St. Thomas Seminary. She has been a sister 58 years.

Because she wanted a better education, she went to a Catholic high school and worked as a live-in nanny, staying with a family who paid her so she could afford the tuition. When askedhow she thought that being a woman has affected her spiritual life she said, “It is more personality than it is more male and female, but women tend to use much more—I tend to use much more images that are feminine and—like imagining yourself in the hands of God. You imagine yourself as an infant and caressed by a God or as a dance partner of God where he leads you in the dance, or he is your brother.”

When asked what the most significant thing was to her about her religious life she said:

It’s really hard to say because…the relationship with God is both vertical and horizontal for me. Vertical because I sometimes spend time and do often with God and really in conversation or walking, or in prayer it is more conversation for me, it’s an ongoing conversation, fights, and all that kind of stuff with him. [A] love relationship. That is very significant thing for me with—with my relationship with God. I joined the Daughters of Charity thinking that I was going to give God a life of work because Daughters of Charity work hard, but what I discovered after I was a sister for a few years was that being a sister is about a love relationship with God and you work. But I thought that something to give, like boy I could do things for God! And the reality is that he is doing things for me all of the time, it is kind of like if you, I don’t know, you get married for one reason you stay married for another reason and that’s the way it is for me, I thought I was the big giver when I joined. I found out that he is really the giver.

This spoke to me on so many levels. To add to that she said, “The other part of the religious life [. . .] is horizontal [meaning that] you can’t love God without loving people; you don’t really love God unless you love people.”

She also considers women to be powerful, and she equally respects priests because almost all of them respect her. Sister Rosalie talked about the dedication that the Daughters of Charity has and the missions and the main provincial office in Paris, France. She has given lectures to the International Congresses as a sister. In the interview, she described the years she has worked with children and seen poverty, discrimination, and hope. Sister Rosalie worked with the past Bishop of the Springfield-Cape Girardeau diocese Bishop J.Leibrechtas his director of religious education. The position caused her to be on the road a lot, visiting 84 parishes across 34 counties.She also discussed, “equality of women in the church today, [saying] that [it] is very refreshing. Women have earned that by being competent and being educated, and sisters—religious sisters did that first and the reason was that religious sisters didn’t have the barrier of being mothers and [the idea that] ‘you stay at home and you take care of these children and that’s where a woman belongs.’”

She also discussed meeting Mother Teresa, she said, “the thing I remembered about her was she said that people admired her for working with the poor and seeing Christ in them. She said [that] Christ is in that person next to you, [even though] that person may be poor. Your poor people see Christ in you, and she said what’s in front of your face, do that.Don’t be admiring me and thinking you ought to do what I do. She said [do] what is in front of your face today, and see God there, and bring God there.”

She has been an educator working with children with special needs, teaching seminarians, and working with young adults in the Catholic faith, and she also remains faithful to God. After listening to the interview, she made me realize all of the hurt in the world and how powerful women are. The many lessons I have learned while listening to her will last for a long time. Her thoughts on women being ordained is not a big issue to her, instead she focuses on helping people in need. She mentioned that you don’t have to be constantly worried about giving to God; God wants you to be happy. He is the giver, and wants you to find your own happiness.

Her dedication to being a sister is really remarkable. Even though she can’t speak many foreign languages, she has managed to talk with the people in different countries. Her dedication to the Catholic faith as a woman, sister, and person is a true testament of faith and love.

Missouri State UniversityFall 2008Religious Lives of Ozarks Women