My Vocation Story : Sister Mary Frances Schafer

As a child, I came to Ferdinand with my family every summer to visit my mother’s aunt and uncles, who lived at the foot of the hill in the shadow of the monastery. I remember playing in the backyard with the monastery as a backdrop. I heard the bells ring for vespers, and I watched the nuns riding their bicycles around the grounds “up there.” Did I give it a thought that I might live there one day? No. It honestly never occurred to me!

Then one day, my parents asked my sister and me if we would like to go see the high school up on that hill. I was VERY interested. My sister was not! Unknown to me was the deep desire of my father that his daughters would go to a boarding school. (He thought it would be St. Mary of the Woods, but that school no longer existed.) One spring, my mother encouraged me to talk to some of the girls that were walking around three point but I was too shy. I couldn’t possibly do that! Finally, my parents took me and my sister to visit the Academy and I fell in love. There was no doubt about where I wanted to go to high school and I couldn’t wait. Going to the Academy was the greatest. I never really looked forward to the summers when I had to go home. I somehow knew that I had found my home in Ferdinand. I truly believe I grew up “on the hill” in a way I never would have if I had stayed at home.

For several summers, I returned to help the sisters clean Madonna Hall, and I loved every minute of it. (Not the cleaning, you understand, but being with and getting to know the sisters.) I saw them laugh, cry, work, play, and get angry. I saw them work together, and I saw them disagree. I saw their humanness, their silliness, their brokenness, and their wholeness. They were real, and they somehow encouraged me to be real.

During my Junior year, I began to wonder what it might be like to enter the convent. During one of my less shy moments, I asked one of the sisters what one had to do to find out about “the other side of the hill.” Suddenly I found myself in Benet Hall talking to the Vocation Director about entering the convent and attending one of the “Come and See” weekends. I still wonder how all that happened so fast! I did visit other communities — like the Ursulines of Louisville — but I didn’t find that “realness.” I never felt like I really got to know who those people were. It was never home. (Even though the Ursulines taught me in grade school.)

And so I entered the Ferdinand Community. What I have found is exactly what I experienced as a student at the Academy. A community full of “real people.” I have come to know that God loves us “just as we are,” and this community expresses that by just being who we are. There have been many times when I have been discouraged because I was not perfect. I have found that if I look to others in the community, appreciate who they really are, and realize that not only does God love us “just as we are,” so does this community, that is when I experience God. Through this experience, I have come to trust my gifts, use my talents, and encourage others to do the same.

Again, I find that I have become the person I am today because of being in community with these women. I believe the future of this community is filled with greatness. I know that we are a beacon of hope for other religious communities around the world. I know that others look to us as a community full of life, not just because we are getting vocations but because of how we are with each other. Our genuineness encourages others to trust in themselves and in others. I think our gift and strength are in our unvarnished presence. I do not think we need to set out to do great things. I think we do great things by remaining true to who we are. I have experienced this community struggle with hard decisions, and I have seen us reach for what is ultimately important when making those decisions. Our life together, our relationships with God, with each other, and with those around us — these are what matter. These are the things that will guide us as we face the future. When we hold on to what is truly important and believe in the goodness and gifts God has bestowed on all of us, we have an impact on those around us that is far greater than anything we can imagine.