Sac City native uses vocation to see her through tough time

By KATIE LEFEBVRE, Globe staff reporter
August 5, 2004

SAC CITY - A native of the Diocese of Sioux City answered her call to religious life.

Sister Michelle Moore of the Marian Sisters of the Diocese of Lincoln is originally from Sac City and was a parishioner of St. Mary's. Her parents, Wayne and Ruth Moore, along with other family members still live in Sac City.

Before entering the religious community, Sister Michelle taught at Holy Spirit in Carroll and attended Briar Cliff College in Sioux City from 1978 to 1981. She graduated from a college in South Dakota with a degree in education.

"I had a conversion or a reversion when I was 29,"said Sister Michelle. "I always went to church and I always participated but I was like a Catholic with a chip on my shoulder. I wasn't very happy about it."

Sister Michelle traveled Europe and "fell in love with the church for the first time." She gives credit to Mary for leading her back to the church.

"After that, I just knew that whatever God asked of me, I was willing to do because I knew I would be happiest," said Sister Michelle. "What I learned there was that I could truly be myself. I love being Catholic, and I love Jesus. I felt like I had lost 100 pounds off my shoulders, and I was walking on air."

After going to Europe, Sister Michelle was open to whatever God would ask of her. She went to a Marian Conference in Des Moines. At the conference, she picked up a pamphlet at a table she was interested in. When she got home, she realized the pamphlet was for the Marian Sisters of the Diocese of Lincoln. The brochure asked, "How do you know you don't have a vocation to religious life?"

"I couldn't really answer that," said Sister Michelle. "I called them that night. When I went and visited the Marian Sisters, I knew it was home. That was it. When I went back and told my principal and superintendent, they were very happy. My family was very supportive."

Sister Michelle has been a Marian Sister for 12 years now and added that she has never been bored and loves her vocation. She is currently the vocation director for the Marian Sisters. Prior to that, she taught middle school aged children in the Lincoln area.

The people that she has been able to meet and the students that continue to call her are some of the blessings of her vocation. Her former students keep in contact with her and visit her at the convent.

"I feel very blessed, very honored that they would want to still keep in contact," said Sister Michelle. "All of the people that God has sent to me that I never would have met otherwise are a blessing. With my family, even though we are not together physically, again we are on the supernatural relationship level. We are so close."

Sister Michelle was diagnosed in March of 2000 with sarcoma of the soft tissue, muscle. It is a rare form of cancer. When she was told that she had it, the doctors told her that she had a 50/50 chance of making it five years. If it shows up, then her chances would drop. The cancer has shown up quite often. Now she has been told that she will confidently be here through 2004 but from then on, they don't know for sure.

"My date for seeing Jesus face to face is coming pretty close," said Sister Michelle. "I can't imagine how people make it without their faith. It has given me a sense of peace that it is not an end, that I am going somewhere where I am loved, where I am going to see people that I know. The hardest part is saying good-bye here. I am not afraid."

Another blessing she has experienced is all the prayers, especially with her cancer. She has felt an incredible love through prayer.

"I cannot believe the number of people that are praying for me and supporting me," said Sister Michelle. "Just the fact that I am not afraid to die is a huge blessing. I know that there is a God. I know that there is a place I am going from here. I would have never had that peace without my vocation."

The Marian Sisters in Lincoln was founded in 1954 by Sisters Marta and Theresa, two Franciscan sisters who escaped from Czechoslovakia during the political turmoil after World War II.

This year the community is celebrating 50 years of serving the Diocese of Lincoln. For the celebration, Sister Theresa's family and a sister from the original community in Czechoslovakia came to see the Marian Sisters. They along with the majority of the other sisters went to Sac City to visit Sister Michelle's family.

Sister Michelle noted that it is amazing "to think that Sister Theresa was 28 when she escaped from the Czech Republic and ended up in Lincoln, Neb. at an orphanage. Now there are 37 who have a life because she said 'yes.' She came and gave up her whole family, her whole community and put her life on the line so we have a place. It is a thrill to see the providence of God. You know it is from God. You know he set it up because a human couldn't have. I can't imagine doing anything else."

Their work began at St. Thomas Orphanage in Lincoln and has since branched out into the apostolates of teaching, health care, social work and special education. Their home is in the country near Waverly, Neb.

"We do God's will joyfully in imitation of Mary and St. Francis," said Sister Michelle. "No matter what we are asked to do. In our community, part of the teaching that we want to help build up the church in is 'don't be afraid to do God's will.' It brings you joy. That is where you find your happiness."

Another Marian Sister, Sister Loretta Happe, is a native of Carroll and a graduate of Kuemper High School.