Sister Celine Goessl says she never wanted to wear a religious habit or a Roman collar, but from her late high school years she felt God was calling her to service in the Church.
As a Sister of Mercy of the Holy Cross, Sister Celine Goessl belongs to an international Franciscan congregation with its headquarters in Switzerland. The provincialate for the United States is located in Merrill, Wisconsin, which is where Goessl came to know the sisters as a boarding student in their high school. Entering the community after graduation, she was assigned to the usual kinds of ministries for that time: at first doing catechetical work in northern Wisconsin, where the sisters covered more than 200 miles weekly driving from one small parish to another to teach religion to the children. Then Sister Celine was missioned to an elementary school, eventually becoming its principal. Among the extracurricular activities she enjoyed during her thirteen years there were being the organist, choir director, and primary trainer for a drum and bugle corps in the town. It was here that her community moved Sister Celine toward what would be her life work and the fulfillment of her call.
At this time, a priest in a rural parish in south-central Wisconsin invited Goessl to be his co-pastor. For the next fifteen years, she functioned in various settings as “pastor” knowing that she was on a path from which she would not deviate. Using her God-given talents, Sister Celine was educated by the community in music education, theology (with a concentration in liturgy) and, finally, a doctoral degree in pastoral ministry.
In 1991, after four years of keeping two small parishes afloat while the pastor did the sacramental ministry and worked in the diocesan marriage tribunal, Sister Celine was given full-time responsibility for St. Luke Parish in Bellaire, Michigan. Since that time, Goessl has been involved in building project, ecumenical endeavors, leadership within her religious community, chaplain for the local fire department, and offering workshops for the development of lay leadership, personality development, and spirituality. As a sideline, Sister Celine began a Red Hat Society in her area. Continuing education is very important to her and she attends at least one inservice a year, besides developing a library of books to help her to continue giving workshops for the good of others in the Church.
Prayer has become the core of anything that happens in Sister Celine’s life. Goessl knows that she cannot pass on anything which she doesn’t possess herself. Beyond the formal community prayer which she shares with her small community of sisters and associates, she sees the need to simply “sit and listen” and find power in a daily visit to the Blessed Sacrament.
After two brief years of apparent retirement, Goessl was called back to full time ministry in her religious order. On June 10, 2006, she was commissioned to lead the U.S.A. province as the provincial leader. Today she lives at the provincial headquarters in Merrill, WI., and continues offering spiritual direction and retreats in addition to her leadership ministry.
More information is given on the order's website: holycrosssisters.org. Her office phone is: (715)539-1461.