My Ministries

Hello, readers!

Today I thought I'd share about my ministries, what they are and what I do and all that. In religious life, and really in works of service and charity, the work that is done goes beyond the status of being a job. The effort is to work in tandem with the Lord, His will and His heart, and to be His presence in this world for others. It isn't just a source of a paycheck or a career path.

I have what we call internal ministries, which essentially means that I work for my religious community, rather than for outside institutions like a school, parish, or hospital. Much is done behind the scenes, as numerous sisters and lay people work to support the community in different ways. I work full time for the community in three different roles: archivist for our province, writer of a book of the local history of our sisters in this area of the country (New England), and as an IT helper in the house and liaison with our IT department. All this comes together, in a flexible and spontaneous way, to be full time service to the community.

This is my second year as archivist and my first as the only archivist for the province. The first year I shared the role with another sister. I didn't set out to be an archivist; I was interested in getting my MLIS to be a librarian and my community sent me for the degree, with the understanding that when they needed an archivist, I would be called upon. (The degree is also the one for training to be an archivist; they're related fields.) At the time, I was eager to stop being a teacher in elementary school  classrooms and was ready to do something more academically challenging. Being archivist sounded good  to me! As an archivist, I process and organize the records of the province, which come to me either through the community email or as documents or media that people give me. I respond to research requests about the community, too. When people talk to me about being an archivist, they're not shy about letting me know that they could never do it; it's quiet, solitary work that is thorough  and detail-driven, after all. It suits my nature, though, and I've always liked information and history. I also see the importance of being the keeper of the province's history.

I enjoy telling people that I'm the historian for the community when they ask me what I do. Between being archivist and writing the history book, it's certainly true. I've never even tried to write a book before, and it's definitely a big project. I use the records in the archive, interviews with sisters who were there, and newspaper articles from the time in an effort to paint a well-balanced picture of what happened. It's an interesting story to tell.  I recently signed up for a class on the fundamentals of writing non-fiction, which should help me to learn and hone my skills as a writer. I'm almost done with the first chapter.

My third hat is that of IT helper in the house. This one can get quirky, as I live with numerous elderly people, some of whom are experiencing cognitive issues like dementia. I'm able to help them with small matters and I reach out to our IT department in Livonia, MI for the assistance that I need to handle the problem.

Living in one of our convents that provides nursing care and the comforts of retirement creates a fourth, unofficial ministry. Being by far the youngest in the house makes me a go-to helper. I've been asked to do many tasks and services for the sisters and friars here. I do airport drop-offs and pick-ups, pick up cakes from bakeries, run errands for them, push them in their wheelchairs, and assist at outings that we go on. People here are understanding about my other responsibilities, though, and I'm not the only one who does things like this. I consider it part of being in community, too. I'm also a member of two committees for the community, one of which  I'm  a co-chair for. These tasks need to be done as they come up.

An interesting aspect of being in internal ministry is that I work where I live. The archive is literally down the hall from my bedroom! I keep office hours, though, which means that I don't work on evenings or weekends. I make exceptions for IT needs that pop up sometimes. It's important to me that I still have time to be with community, to pray, and to take my introvert time. It has been working for me so far.