Vocation Story by Sister Edie Crews, CSA
Congregation of Sisters of St. Agnes
I always thought that I was destined to be with the Sisters of St. Agnes because I was born in an Agnesian hospital and had the Sisters of St. Agnes as teachers from grades 1-12. I, however, did not always dream that I would end up being a Sister of St. Agnes.
I enjoyed life as a teenager and early college student, but in the back of my mind, something was missing. I wanted to give myself to something bigger than myself. In college, I studied special education because that seemed like it was something in which I could make a difference. Even as I did my internships and worked with the special needs children there was a nagging thought in me that this wasn't it. I had always attended daily Mass and even this was not comforting to me as it once was. I was searching, but I did not know for what.
In high school and early college, I was very active in my parish church. While I was in the folk choir several of the sisters joined our choir. I looked up to the sisters and thought, "Did I dare ask to be a sister?" And, I did not know if the Sisters would take me because I was from a divorced family.
I was invited to visit the convent at our local parish and felt at home immediately. The sisters were very kind and caring to me. I became an affiliate and grew to know the sisters in my town a lot better. I traveled to Fond du Lac for information meetings and eventually took the big step to move to Fond du Lac to attend Marian College. This was a big step for me because it meant moving my entire life to a place that was unfamiliar to me. Slowly, I came to realize that my yearning was mellowing and that I was indeed going in the direction of doing something and joining something that was "bigger" than myself.
As I encountered some ups and downs in the days that followed my moving to and living in Fond du Lac, I was still determined to follow my heart and become a Sister of St. Agnes. It wasn't always easy. I had doubts and with every doubt, I would go deeper inside myself to question myself and see if this was truly where I was being led. My belief in myself and in a loving God that I trusted immensely got me through a lot.
With every step, I grew to love the Sisters of St. Agnes more and more. I professed my first vows and grew in the Congregation. With every year that I have lived as a Sister of St. Agnes I have learned more and more about life and about truly giving of myself. I know that I am doing something "bigger" with my life and am very happy. Twenty-five years have passed since I professed vows and I am not only living the life of a Sister of St. Agnes, I am living my life to the fullest and enjoying it every step of the way.
