Grateful for the Call
by Sister Marie Celeste Gatti, OP
Professed in 1945
We moved. All summer this 8-year-old dreaded going to a new school. On the fateful day my father took me to the principal's office, and I was marched across the hall to Grade 3-4. Sister Jamesetta welcomed me; however, all week I cried. Weekend came. Having put up such a fuss, my parents relented and sent me back to my old school. This was my introduction to the Sinsinawa Dominicans!
The following year, it was like it or not, you're staying. I had the same teacher! Actually, Sister Jamesetta became my mentor as I moved through school.
It was during sixth grade that I began to think about vocation. Sister Angelus told us about the new Mission the Sisters were opening in South Carolina. She said they were going to live among and teach black children. That fact made a deep impression on me. Sister asked us to bring books, crayons, pencils, etc., to school. I ransacked the attic, closets, and whatever to help open that Mission! Had I had been older, I would have volunteered!
Before we moved, our neighbors were black. On summer evenings, Grandpa Dandrich gathered all the children in the neighborhood and read/told us stories. It was a wonderful time. However, just across the Potomac River, the Jim Crow laws were enforced. Much of the racial bias spilled over into DC. The pastor of my parish had the black parishioners sit in the back and receive Holy Communion last. This bothered me. It was at church that I first experienced racism.
Meanwhile, at home my oldest sister was asking my parents for permission to enter a cloistered community. Thinking back on it, my parents had no idea what the cloister was, much less saying yes to such an idea. Finally they gave permission, and she entered the convent a week after Easter.
Seeing how sure my sister was that God was calling her to join the cloister and her determination to follow that call, I began to pray the rosary each day with the intention that by the time I was 18, I would know what God wanted me to do, and that I would have the courage to do it.
When I entered a Catholic co-ed high school, my other sister was a candidate in a teaching order. Sr. Jamesetta continued to keep in touch even after she left DC. Senior year I told my mother about my desire to enter the Sinsinawa Dominican Congregation.
A year later I told dad. He said, “I don't want to tell St. Peter I wouldn't let you go!” Lest my sisters try to change my mind, I told them a month before I entered! My five brothers were disbelieving but supportive!It has been 63 years since I left home. I am grateful for and at peace answering the call each day, each moment.