Sister Jeanne McKenna — 50 years

BORN: Kingman, Kan.
ENTERED CONGREGATION: March 18, 1960

My father was a teacher, and both of my parents considered education to be highly important. Eight older siblings read to me and taught me important lessons.

At age 27 I reluctantly decided I wanted to do something important with my life, so I wrote Mother Helena asking to join my sister, Michael Ann, and other friends who were Sisters of St. Joseph of Concordia. Every day of formation was both a struggle and an adventure! At wake-up bell, I told myself that I should make arrangements to leave. But then I always became so intrigued with my charges and teaching that I forgot about making those arrangements.

Sister Mary Mark asked Mother Helena to send me to St. Louis University for a graduate degree. After five years I returned to Marymount College to teach history. The wonderful faculty and staff there were daily inspirations. I seldom woke up in the morning and wondered if I needed to reconsider my vocation.

Sisters Bette Moslander and Christella Buser and all subsequent presidents encouraged my participation in justice organizations, and that has given me the chance to experience ministry situations that were not in the classroom. Whatever the ministry, I always had the opportunity to teach.

Fifty years have passed quickly. I am the last of my siblings to be alive. I have experienced the loss of many good friends. I am encouraged by the energy I find in Refounding. It has been a life of much rejoicing and gratitude.

When I was a substitute in a Catholic high school, a faculty member asked me what I had learned during my 21 years of Catholic education. I said that it had taught me I had been gifted with an inquiring mind, and that I was required to use it.

My entire life has been an opportunity to use this gift. My life has been a jubilee!