THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, September 22, 1996 TAG: 9609200005
SECTION: COMMENTARY PAGE: J4 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: 30 lines
I am impelled to respond to some of the statements made by Molly Ivins (Sept. 12, Perspectives) about the Catholic school system.
I have been a woman religious for 26 years. For 20 of those years I was a full-time teacher in Catholic schools in various parishes along the East Coast. I did not work for ``free.'' I ministered alongside many fine men and women, religious and lay, always receiving a just stipend.
I must also strongly disagree with the statement, ``In 20 years there will be no American nuns.'' I am confident that 20 years from now I will be living in community with others who continue to respond to the call to religious life. Our numbers may be decreasing, but there are women entering religious life.
The reality of the decreasing numbers became all too clear to myself and others the past two years as I and members of my religious community and parish have been involved in the painful process of finding it necessary to withdraw our teaching sisters from the parish school where I continue to serve.
As difficult as this process has been, we have been consoled with the knowledge that the lay teachers in our school are more than capable of continuing to minister to the children, giving them a quality education whose foundation is the message of Christ himself.
SISTER DELORES SABISKY
Virginia Beach, Sept. 13, 1996 by CNB