COURTESY PHOTOS

Sister Marla Gipson prepares to take final vows.

Following the path to God

By Eileen Connelly, OSU and David Eck

ARCHDIOCESE — The spiritual journeys of two women who answered God’s call to religious life started on a new path on Aug. 30 as they professed their final vows during joyous celebrations with their respective communities.

At St. Monica-St. George Parish Newman Center in Cincinnati, 300 people, including members of the Congregation of Divine Providence, family and friends, joined Sister Leslie Keener for an afternoon Mass celebrated by Franciscan Father Al Hirt, pastor. Also present were students from the University of Cincinnati who have come to know Sister Leslie in her role as campus minister.

"It was so moving to have everyone there, so many people who have contributed to my spiritual development," Sister Leslie said. "I felt such a sense of God’s presence."

It was that same presence, and providence, that ultimately led her to religious life. "It was sudden and gradual for me," Sister Leslie explained. "I wasn’t one of those kids who at First Communion knew that I was going to be a Sister."

The call became stronger after she graduated from McAuley High School in 1993 and continued her studies at UC. She became an active member of St. Monica-St. George, participating in student retreats and service projects, assisting with RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults) and joining the women’s spirituality group.

All of these activities fed her spiritually, Sister Leslie said, and she was happy but also restless. "There was something I was searching for, but I didn’t know what it was."

Her discernment "kicked up a notch," after she left UC, armed with degrees in English and education, and began teaching at Notre Dame Academy in Covington. Surrounded by the nuns there and mentored by Congregation of Divine Providence Sister Lucy Zientek, then on staff at the parish, she found affirmation and answers. Although she admits to some doubts and fears, as well, Sister Leslie said, "I knew religious life would make me happy, so why avoid it? I had support from my family, friends, co-workers and students, and there was such a sense of being at home with the Sisters and so much love from them, I knew I could do it."

Sister Leslie entered her congregation as a novice in 2001 and made her first vows in 2003. She recently began her fourth year as one of two full-time campus ministers serving the Catholic population at U.C. "I just love the students," she said. "They’re in such a pivotal places in their lives, looking at serious things like their careers and vocations. They’re trying to answer questions like ‘What does my faith mean to me?’ and ‘Who am I as an adult Catholic?’ I don’t have all the answers, but it’s great to be present to them as they go through it."

Congregation of Divine Providence Sister Leslie Keener, right, professed her final vows during a joyous Mass at St. Monica-St. George Parish Newman Center on Aug. 30. Pictured with her are Sisters Janet Schneider, formation director, left, and Fran Moore, provincial.

While Sister Leslie was professing her final vows, Sister Marla Gipson, a good friend, was doing the same at Salem Heights in Dayton, the motherhouse of the Sisters of the Precious Blood. Sister Marla was the first member to profess final vows in the order in about a decade.

Around 200 people filled the chapel at Salem Heights for the 90-minute liturgy, including Sisters, family and friends. Father William Kramer, pastor of Our Lady of the Visitation Parish in Cincinnati, celebrated the Mass.

"I was on cloud nine," said Sister Marla, who serves as pastoral associate at Our Lady of the Visitation. "I thought it was a wonderful liturgy and celebration. All the people in my life were there."

The event capped a 10-year journey that began in the mid-1990s, when a friend introduced Sister Marla to Catholicism. She had grown up in Marion, Ohio, in the First United Church of Christ, but had become an inactive member.

"I was seeking a faith community," said Sister Marla, who was working for a computer company at the time. "I was like anybody who stops going to church in their teens and 20s."

She loved RCIA and became active in St. Patrick Parish in Troy. Her relationship with God blossomed, and by 1998 she started inquiry with the Sisters of the Precious Blood. She became a candidate in 2000, a novice in 2001 and professed temporary vows in 2003.

Along the path, however, there were obstacles. A priest who encouraged her as she began contemplating religious life resigned from his parish for misconduct and was subsequently laicized. When she took a job at a parish, the pastor there resigned on her first day in the job. In early 2007 Sister Marie Langhals, her novice director, was diagnosed with lung cancer. Sister Marie died later that year.

These were lessons in adversity that strengthened her bond with God and religious life. "What I learned is that God is there even if you don’t feel that God is there," she said. "I feel like God was stripping me of people I was dependent on so I could become more dependent on God."

As she recounts the process that led to that special liturgy on a beautiful summer afternoon, Sister Marla looks to the future. She felt the calling of religious life and being in parish work.

"I think God has gotten me where He wants me," she said. "I look forward to what God has in store."