Convent Q & A

Next question on the list comes from AL "What other responsibilities do you have besides classes and prayers?"

Answer:  Our actual assigned tasks are called our "assistance."  These include being in the locker section of the high school in mornings to sell breakfast type snacks and be an adult presence, going to the cafeteria during lunch time to help organize the hot lunches, sell snacks, and wipe down tables, and go the the Provincial House for lunch time to eat with the elderly Sisters and then help with the heavier chores since many of them are no longer able to do things like mop or lift the larger dishes.

We also have chores around the house that are assigned on a weekly basis.  On Saturdays, the six aspirants take turns cleaning our study and classroom, cleaning the front entryway to the convent and helping one of the Sisters clean the chapel.  Each night after supper the whole community pitches in with kitchen clean up and each week we have different chores that range from sweeping and mopping the floor to putting away the leftovers.

The Sister who is in charge of the chapel is also taking one of us a month and teaching us the duties of sacristan.  This means we learn how to set up for Mass, clean the church linens, change out candles, and other general upkeep in the chapel.  The person who is the sacristan in training for the month has to be in chapel in plenty of time to make sure the lights and microphone are turned on and the candles are lit.

Each of us has a class or is a teacher's aide for CCD in parish programs near our house.  So each Sunday morning is spent teaching and attending mass with our students.  As an aide I don't have to do any planning and just show up each Sunday, but my companions who are the head teacher for a class spend a decent amount of time preparing their lessons for each week.

Beyond our assigned chores, at any given time we can be pulled from our study room to help with tasks around the house.  Our house is the largest in the Province so this means we often are hosting meetings, workshops and other gatherings of the Sisters.  After these are over, we help clean the rooms and get them ready for the next group.  The Sister in charge of the development of the Province has her office out of our house so when needed we help her get ready for different events and fundraisers.

Being involved in all the different types of ministries that are carried out by the Sisters we live with gives us exposure to the work we can be involved with after we take vows. It also keeps us very and active, giving us a sense of what life will be like as a Sister. The Salesians are contemplatives in action meaning we have our required prayer time but much of our life is spent out working with the young people.  This is not to say we aren't prayerful because as part of our formation process we are learning our work is a way to bring us to closer union with God by offering up all of our chores and duties to Him.