Catholic Standard - Catholic Standard

Vocations of women religious

A special series featuring profiles of nearly one dozen religious sisters from various communities present in the Archdiocese of Washington.

In this series

First a religious, then a physician, Sister Grace Miriam Usala continues to serve the sick in the midst of COVID-19 pandemic

Sister Doctor Grace Miriam Usala, a Religious Sister of Mercy and a physician, watched her parents, Dr. Stephen Usala and Dr. Faye Usala, serve the Catholic community with their...

Sister Patricia Ralph finds her 'happy place' in the classroom

For Sister Patricia Ralph, a Sister of St. Joseph of Philadelphia, the school where she teaches, St. Francis Xavier Catholic Academy in Washington, D.C., is her “happy...

Central joy of her life is following Jesus, Sister Carmen Soto says

Whenever Sister Carmen Soto, a Carmelite Sister of Charity of the Vedruna province, thought about what she saw in her future as a young girl, she envisioned a life with a family...

Before the convent: Student debt delays Gretchen Erlichman’s entrance to religious life

Gretchen Erlichman was accepted to enter the religious order of the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist this past year, but her entrance has been postponed until...

Religious life is a ‘dynamic experience of life and God,’ Sister Áine O’Connor says

Nearly 25 years since joining the Sisters of Mercy, Sister Áine O’Connor said she still finds her vocation and life as a religious woman a “dynamic experience of life and God.”...

'It's worth the risk to really follow your heart,' says Sister Ruth Harkins

In early elementary school, Sister Ruth Harkins, a member of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, remembers one distinct moment that set her life apart for God,...

'Our whole life is a prayer,' says Carmelite Mother Virginia Marie O'Connor

Deep in Southern Maryland in the rolling hills of Charles County, 10 Carmelite nuns live in individual hermitages, complete with a bed, a working table and a bathroom. Their lives...

God 'walked into my life in a beautiful and demanding way,' says Sister Maria Theotókos Adams

When she was growing up, Sister Maria Theotókos Adams, a member of the Servants of the Lord and the Virgin of Matara, said she did not have a complete catechetical...

‘That’s the source of my vocation, serving children’: Daughter of Charity Sister Mary Bader leads St. Ann’s Center for Children, Youth and Families

A native and longtime resident of the Washington, D.C., area, Sister Mary Bader, who has been a Daughter of Charity for 28 years, said she still isn’t quite sure how her...

God ‘will never disappoint you’: Time for prayer, study and recreation interwoven in Sister Maria Francisco Molina’s life as a Dominican Sister of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist

With an aerospace engineering degree from the University of Minnesota and a new job in Kalamazoo, Michigan, Sister Maria Francisco Molina, now a member of the Dominican Sisters of...

'It met the desire of my heart perfectly': Prayer and her commitment to the pro-life cause led Sister Mary Elizabeth Wusinich to join the Sisters of Life

The Perpetual Adoration chapel at Franciscan University of Steubenville in Ohio is the place that played a pivotal role in Sister Mary Elizabeth Wusinich’s answer to a call to a...

‘I fell in love with the elderly’: Sister Constance Veit serves at Washington home operated by the Little Sisters of the Poor

Like many 10th graders beginning their college search as high schoolers, Sister Constance Veit, who is now a Little Sister of the Poor, sought ways to boost her resume -- good...