When
Sister Rita was growing up there, she was taught by Ursuline Sisters throughout
her school years. She came to know them in the classroom and outside as
well. She was attracted by their joy and example. "The way they lived
together, and their relationships with each other and their love of God
captured me. I wanted to be one of them."
Soon
after she joined the Louisville Ursulines, Sister Rita found her vocation
being tested when her father died, and then her younger brother died
of leukemia. "I had the conviction that this was where God wanted
me to be. I was in the right place. I was carried by faith and a deep
trust in God." The gift of her vocation sustained her through those
difficult times of being separated from her family and through the losses
she experienced.
After
teaching for a number of years in Louisville, Sister Rita returned to
Cumberland to teach while caring for her aging mother. Eventually she
moved from teaching in a formal classroom to serving as Director of
Religious Education for Saints Peter and Paul Parish in Cumberland.
In this role she works closely with teachers in their ministry of teaching
Christian living, dealing with family struggles, developing social outreach
awareness and ministering to the area's needy. Her strong commitment
to social justice is currently carried out through her involvement in
an ecumenical effort to provide lunches for children at public playgrounds.
Sister
Rita finds direction and inspiration from the Gospels and the writings
of Saint Angela Merici, the founder of the Ursuline Sisters. Saint Angela's
charism or gift - a contemplative love of God and an eagerness to serve
the needs of others - is particularly meaningful to Sister Rita in her
role of working with a growing number of Ursuline Associates, who share
a life of prayer and mission with Ursuline Sisters.
As
in the early days of her religious life, Sister Rita is sustained by
"a trust in a loving God encountered in prayer, in Eucharist and
in all the people who cross my path each day."
