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All Life is Sacred and Connected – Sister Paula Gonzalez, SC
Sister Paula Gonzalez is a Sister of Charity of Cincinnati and the founder of EarthConnection. She was recently featured in the Cincinnati Enquirer in the article Nun marries science, spirituality: Teaches that all life is sacred and connected by Shauna Steigerwald (July 11, 2010).
A few of my favorite quotes from the article …
On vocation:
… the daughter of two teachers was “a curious little kid” who learned to read at an early age, skipped first grade and was bumped from third grade to fourth, finishing that grade level when she was only 7. She came to the College of Mount St. Joseph on an academic scholarship in 1948, graduating with a bachelor’s in biology in 1952 at age 19. But even at that young age, Gonzalez knew that her life’s calling lay in religious service. She entered the Sisters of Charity two years later, in 1954.
“It just hit me like a ton of bricks, and that was it,” she said. “All of a sudden, I knew.”
On care for God’s creation:
Much of Gonzalez’s reverence for the natural world was instilled by her father, who was raised on a farm and taught his own family to grow food. From his Spanish heritage, he taught her the concept of “La tierra es bendita,” “the land is holy.”
“My father was truly a person of the soil, which got through to me,” said Gonzalez, who calls her own garden her “spiritual director” and cites her spirituality as another contributor to her concern for the planet.
What do you think of the article? What are ways that you recognize “all life is sacred and connected”?
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{ 2 comments }
I really agree with Sr. Paula about the land being sacred and holy. Kind of a stewardship, environmental approach. I also love her quote: “It just hit me like a ton of bricks, and that was it,” she said. “All of a sudden, I knew.”
Yes it was one of the most interesting comments. perhaps we should encourage her to become an author.