Sr. Marie Joanna’s Life Leads Her to Chaplaincy
by Marie Joanna Hoffmann, OP
Sr. Marie Joanna Hoffmann (left) with staff at Palos Community Hospital
Becoming a Sister was always a possibility in my mind. In 8th grade, I announced I wanted to join the Carondolet Sisters in Kansas. My parents were very firm in saying, “No, not yet. If you want to join after high school, you may.” Four years seemed like a long time. After the initial disappointment, I decided to forget about it for a while.
I met Sinsinawa Dominicans in Wausau, WI. Still angry at my parents for leaving Michigan, I was a sullen 14-year-old whose mother went with her to register at Newman High School. Sr. Regis [Howden, OP] met us at the door that night. I immediately felt she knew what I was going through as she offered to help us. That one encounter with Sr. Regis was only the beginning of many opportunities for me to see the Sisters extend their hand to others in friendship, welcoming the stranger. Three years later, I learned about a Mound retreat for high school girls thinking about becoming Sisters. I asked Sr. Francis Mary [Deneen, OP] if there was room for me, and she said, “Of course you can come. I never knew you were interested, or I would have told you earlier!”
My pastor, Msgr. Kundinger, was asked to experiment with liturgical changes during my junior and senior high school years (1957–58). I loved learning about Mass, its history, the rubrics, the roles of the celebrant and the people. Our altar was replaced with one closer to the people. Our priest faced us during Mass in the vernacular; it was wonderful to experience the intimacy of the Last Supper! People were actually smiling as they returned from Communion. I felt that we were truly “one in the Spirit, one in the Lord.” More and more I wondered what to do with my life, how to offer my future to God. In their busy lives, the Sisters always made time to pray, work, and enjoy life together. That was inspiring. I entered the novitiate in 1959.
In 1972, I was excited about my teaching assignment to Visitation, Chicago. Unfamiliar with black American and Puerto Rican cultures, I shared my concerns with Sr. Rosetta Marie [Brown, OP] who suggested it would be important for anyone teaching children from a different culture to get to know the adults. There was only one black-owned institution in our neighborhood, a small hospital owned by Tabernacle Baptist Church. The Baptist and Methodist ministers were studying at their seminaries and giving service to the hospital. I felt welcomed by them as they mentored me during the after-school hours three days a week and on Saturdays. Knowing that I had no training for this work, I never hesitated telling them, “I’ll visit, but if they need counseling, I’m calling you!” Happy to have help, they guided me in appropriate approaches to patients. They answered questions I hadn’t thought of yet and introduced me to my first patient who was actively dying of terminal cancer. From this group I also learned about black church history, its spiritual and political importance to the community, and the liberating power of Scripture. From this wonderful experience, I began to know that I would love to become a real chaplain.
After retiring from teaching in the 1990s, I took chaplaincy courses, graduated, and joined the staff as chaplain at Palos Community Hospital, Palos Heights, IL. I also became a spiritual director which enriches my encounters with both patients and staff at the hospital.
At the heart of ministry is relationship with God and with God’s presence in the “living, human document.” As hospital chaplain, I love the opportunities to accompany people through the challenges of hospitalization. It might be a new test, new medicine, or a noisy roommate. It could be shortness of breath and the thought of needing to be intubated. Maybe a surgery is trying to be avoided, or maybe surgery is needed to fix that painful shoulder or hip. Each patient deserves my attentive listening. The challenge of living is only matched by the challenge of thinking about end-of-life care.
In my spare time, I enjoy reading, gardening, bike riding, and nature photography.