God is Patient!
By: Sister Kathy Lange
I was following a lifelong career, or so I thought as a business teacher in the public school system of Bellaire, Michigan. God, however, had other ideas for me. When S. Celine Goessl came to my parish in Bellaire as a pastoral associate, everything changed for me.
She changed my idea of what "contemporary" religious life was all about. I became a lay associate of the Sisters of Mercy of the Holy Cross, and went to Merrill, Wisconsin, headquarters of the USA province, each summer after that to meet the sisters and become an observer when they held their Chapter meetings.
Eventually, I took an early retirement from teaching and became pastoral associate to S. Celine after she had become the pastoral administrator of St. Luke Parish. Under her tutelage, I found that pastoral work was something I dearly loved. During that time, when both my parents and my sister died, the Holy Cross Sisters and Associates were my spiritual support system.
I went to Rome for the beatification of Blessed Mother Mary Theresa Scherer, our co-founder, with several sisters in October 1995. From these experiences, I discovered that God was calling me to make a more permanent commitment to the Holy Cross Sisters. I took my first vows at age 50, and my final vows at age 56.
Today, I am doing what I dearly love--working in a parish of about 800 families as a pastoral associate. I am involved on committees for the Holy Cross Sisters and am grateful to God for guiding me throughout my life thus far. I am a living example that God's calling can come at any age and that God is very patient in waiting for a person to answer that call.