Impact Stories

Sister Barbara Piller, OSF, a member of the Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis in Oldenburg, IN, shares her story here.  I grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio. My siblings and I are all musicians, thanks to my father. I was educated by the Sisters of St. Francis through my elementary and secondary education….

Fr. Norbert Schappler, a member of the Benedictine Monks at Conception Abbey in Missouri, recently shared her story with SOAR!  This year, Fr. Norbert Schappler, OSB, celebrates his 98th birthday at Conception Abbey in northwest Missouri. Born in 1926 in Atchison, Kansas, he followed in the footsteps of his uncle, Abbot Stephen Schappler, when he…

SOAR! recently had an opportunity to talk with Sister M. Christine Crowder, a member of the Sisters of St. Francis of the Martyr St. George in Alton, Illinois. We share her story here.   When we asked Sister about her vocation path, she said, “I never thought of becoming a Sister until my senior retreat in…

Sister Mary Louise was born on June 22, 1933. She grew up in her family home in Queens, N.Y., along with her parents and her three brothers and two sisters. While visiting her sister, Sister Beth Anne, at the Franciscan Sisters of Baltimore convent, she was edified by the Sisters and their work with African…

Sister Margarita was born in San Juan de los Lagos Jalisco, Mexico in 1948 into a loving family with 12 brothers and sisters. Sister Margarita entered the convent at the age of 16, and she remembers the exact moment she felt that call to become a Sister. She remembers jokingly sneaking into the convent as…

Sister Rita Petrarca, a member of the Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Hamden, Connecticut, shared the story of her life in ministry with SOAR!. The Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus have always been a part of my life.  They were my teachers in both elementary and secondary school, and their…

Born in Washington, DC in 1937, Sister Canisius Hansberry first met the Oblate sisters of Providence when she was in school. While she was at a camp at St. Frances Academy in Baltimore, the Sisters encouraged her to consider becoming a Sister and she entered the order in 1956. Sister took some time away around…

Recently, SOAR! spoke with Father Conrad Schmitt, a priest and Missionary Servant of the Most Holy Trinity. Father Conrad always knew he wanted to be a priest. He also knew he wanted to be a missionary, and part of a religious community. “There was a vocation club,” he recalls, “and each month a different religious…

As a child, Barbara Blackman always thought that she might become a Sister. In 2022 as she celebrated her 70th Jubilee as a member of the Sisters of Saint Ursula of the Blessed Virgin Mary in New York, she looked back on those early days and knew that her thoughts were not her own rather…

After 70 plus years as a professed member of the Sister Servants of the Blessed Sacrament, Sister Maria Whitney (previously featured in 2016) continues to be an inspiration, bringing happiness and joy wherever she goes. Her sense of humor and her ability to tell a story make her a sought after member of the community….