Vocation Stories
A Lifelong Learner
by Monica Oboagwina,
OP Technology Support Specialist Edgewood College
My name is Monica Oboagwina, OP, and I always wanted to be a Sister. I remember my siblings asking me what I would be when I grew up. “A Sister,” I replied instantly. They kept reminding me that Sisters have professions, so what will I do: teach, practice law, accounting, or medicine? I said, “The major superior will tell me what to do.”
I have since learned that it doesn’t work that way! I have grown up, and I have matured; am responsible; and am capable of making decisions in dialogue with my Sisters, my Congregation. I answered my call as I admired the Dominican priests and brothers in my home parish of St. Dominic in Nigeria. I learned about their way of preaching: how they prayed the office and the rosary before Mass, how they celebrated Eucharist, and how they loved to visit and eat with our parishioners in their homes. They were always joyful and humble. I learned about St. Dominic, and I loved his contemplative life. Quiet time is very special to me. That’s when I humanly try to just let go; relax; pray; and drink in the happy, peaceful silence I feel in my whole being.
I recognize my vocation to vowed life as a gift from God to love and serve God in relationship with God’s people. Living out my vow of obedience enhances my spiritual life. I’m happy and at peace. There are challenges just as there are in single or married life, but, with the grace of God, I will continue to learn and live out my calling as a Dominican Sister of Sinsinawa, even unto death!
33 Years of Unplanned, Joyful Life
Sister Tina Heltsley, OP
Twenty years old, a student at the University of California, engaged to be married, and on top of the world-this is a description of a person who decided that it might be fun to go to a foreign place (Chicago, IL) to give a year of service before continuing on my planned path of marriage, children, enormous success, and happiness!
Who would have guessed that my volunteer year would allow me to live with 11 of the most amazing, self-actualized, educated, and service-oriented women one could imagine! In a way never expected, I fell in love; I fell in love with the idea that education was not for one’s self-aggrandizement, but to be offered in service of others. I fell in love with the idea of living in community and working in harmony with totally other-centered, politically versed, and globally aware Sinsinawa Dominican Sisters.
Though the Sisters in the house with whom I lived were actually more in love with my fiancé than I, they, who had walked their own decision-filled paths to Dominican life, understood and supported my decision to enter the Congregation. I was never an angel, and my childhood friends still think that perhaps this is a phase I am going through, but my year of volunteer service has turned into 33 years of unplanned (at least not by me), yet very joyful, years as a Dominican Sister.
You could become part of this vibrant work. Contact us today.
Sinsinawa Dominicans
Membership Office
585 County Road Z
Sinsinawa, WI 53824-9701
(608) 748-4411, ext. 278
member@sinsinawa.org