IHM Sisters Nancy Sylvester, Paula Cathcart, Sue Sattler
Last week as I talked with my friend, Sr. Sue Sattler, IHM, I asked about her vocation story, starting with how she knew she had a vocation. She smiled and said, “You don’t know it ’til you test it.” She was attending Marygrove College, studying education and looking forward to teaching at the high school level. One day she heard Peggy Lee on the radio singing “Is that all there is?” The song captured for her the sense that she wanted more meaning in her life. She had gotten to know the sisters at Marygrove and admired the contributions they were making, particularly in social justice. She felt an interior call to what they were doing that motivated her to find out if the IHM community was right for her.
When I asked Sue how her parents felt she told me, “They were just concerned about whether I’d be happy. My dad wrote me a note that I still have to this day. He said, ‘My life is almost over, and yours is just beginning. All I want is your happiness.’”
I asked Sue if there was a memorable moment, an “Aha” about her vocation. She thought a moment and then shared this story. “I was professed for about three years and was part of the IHM Social Justice Committee. We were working on a Synod document on social justice. During the meeting, Sr. Margaret Brennan, then the Superior of the IHM community, said, “I wish one of our sisters wanted to study poverty law.” I said, “I’ve always wanted to be a lawyer, and I never said it aloud.” We both were surprised, but Sr. Margaret leaned over and said, “Go ahead. Apply,” and I did. The next semester I was studying for my law degree. That amazing moment set me on a path of thirty years of service on non-profit boards in Detroit and beyond, including twenty years of work for justice in El Salvador that is very dear to my heart.”
It’s all about meaning!
