Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul West Central Province
Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul West Central Province
Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul West Central Province
We would love for you to get to know us a bit more. Here you will find a few articles provided to us by Carl R. McQueary, Senior Archivist and Historian for the Seton Family of Hospitals. Each of these Daughters either currently serves or has recently served in the Seton Family of Hospitals.
After eight years of service at Seton Shoal Creek, one Seton Daughter of Charity will be leaving Austin to be missioned to rural Arkansas. Moving and change are nothing new for Sr. Dorothea Moll, however. For this Daughter of Charity, the years she has spent at Seton represent the longest stay in one place she has experienced during her ministry.
During her eight years at SSC, she has accomplished much, including helping to found the volunteer group, and working on the establishment of the clothing closet. Additionally, she has served on the Ethics Committee at Seton Medical Center Austin, as well as on the Board of Providence Hospital in Waco, Texas. Always striving to work within the community, Sr. Dorothea has also been extremely involved in the Mobile Loaves and Fishes program which distributes meals to the homeless population of Austin and the St. Louise House Finance Committee. They offer transitional housing for homeless women.
Sr. Dorothea was born in St. Louis, Missouri and attended Catholic School from Kindergarten through 12th grade, graduating from St. Francis De Sales. The school was operated by the School Sisters of Notre Dame, and it was here she got a glimpse of the lives of Catholic religious women living in community. Her ultimate choice to follow that path was still a few years in the future.
Upon graduating, she went to work for Southwestern Bell, whose downtown office building provided a very clear view of the construction of the St. Louis arch. Watching the legs of the 630 foot tall arch slowly rise up out of the foundations was a thrilling thing. Each day, the women in the office would marvel as the construction crane – the “creeper” – inched its way higher and higher as new sections of the structure were completed.
Dorothea attended Mass at the old cathedral downtown and it was during these quiet moments of contemplation that she began to question what she wanted to do with her life. She was extremely grateful for the opportunities that had been given to her, but felt driven to give something back. For several months, she prayed, seeking an answer.
Randomly, and with no explanation, a brochure from the Daughters of Charity arrived in the mail. None of her friends or classmates got the brochure, and even years later no one has been able to explain exactly how or why it was sent to Dorothea. That brochure was the start of her decision to heed an inner call to follow the religious vocation.
A short while later, a Religious Vocational Conference was held at the St. Louis convention center and representatives from a number of Catholic orders were present with information about their vocations. Dorothea took the information and wrote to several of the groups. Of all of the letters she wrote, it was the Daughters of Charity who maintained contact with Dorothea. Eventually, after a period of gratifying correspondence, she took the three cross-town buses to visit the Marillac Provincialate.
This period of information gathering and personal reflection led to Dorothea making the decision to enter the Daughters of Charity postulancy in 1964. This was a time of great change within the Daughters of Charity. As a postulant, Dorothea clipped a picture of the cornette out of a magazine and affixed it to her high school yearbook picture. She showed the photograph to her great aunt, an energetic, traditional German woman, who replied, “A bride- to-be who sees herself in her wedding dress will never wear one.” A very short time later, the blue woolen habit and large, starched white cornette, which had been worn by Daughters for over three centuries, was discontinued.
By the time she officially became a Daughter of Charity, on September 6, 1964, the close-fitting “strawberry box” head-covering was being worn by Daughters of Charity worldwide. Sr. Dorothea never wore the cornette.
In the decades that have followed, Sr. Dorothea’s career has been wide-ranging and varied. During the early years, Daughters of Charity were typically trained to be teachers, social workers or nurses. She was initially sent to Dallas as a grade school teacher. The result of her time in Dallas served to show her that teaching was not something she wished to pursue.
She enrolled in the University of Missouri, which was across the street from the Marillac Provincialate, and pursued her degree in Business Administration. Upon graduating, she was missioned to DePaul Hospital as assistant comptroller, where she remained for five years.
From there, Sr. Dorothea was missioned to Austin and served on the Seton “Move Team” It during St. Elizabeth Ann Seton was canonized. They were responsible for coordinating the move and transfer from the old Seton Hospital to the new Seton Medical Center on 38th Street. She also oversaw aspects of the Payroll, Accounting, Admissions and Switchboard Departments. This was a frenetic time in the history of Seton and Sr. Dorothea saw the changes and evolving organization firsthand.
During her four decades of service, her ministerial path has taken her many other places, including El Paso, Kansas City, Waco, San Antonio and St. Louis. She has brought to each a sense of accomplishment. Throughout her career, Sr. Dorothea has always sought to make life easier for patients and for those with whom she worked. This has been a continuing theme for her which eventually led, in 1995, to her returning to school at St. Louis University where she received her MSW.
Throughout the time she was in school, she worked on the mobile outreach team for St. Patrick’s Center in St. Louis, seeking out homeless people with mental illness and addiction. Sr. Dorothea endeavored to establish a rapport with these individuals which led eventually to them gaining access to basic services such as housing, veteran’s benefits, healthcare and mental health services.
Later, while volunteering in East St Louis in the projects, she learned of a position at Seton Shoal Creek Hospital in Austin. Everything came together, although it took some time to accomplish, and in February 2002, she was missioned to Austin and began working at the facilities. Her first duties were in the Child Adolescent unit. That role evolved into facilitating coping skills group therapy.
She has cherished her experiences at Seton Shoal Creek Hospital and leaves many friends, associates and countless patients whose lives she has touched at Seton, for a Mission assignment in rural Arkansas, in what is one of the most impoverished areas in the central United States. In Arkansas, the St. Elizabeth clinic in Gould and the DePaul Clinic in Dumas will be exactly the kind of place where Sr. Dorothea will flourish as she works to make health care accessible to the people there who need it most.
When asked about her Seton Shoal Creek experience, Sr. Dorothea says with a large smile and her signature laugh, “It’s been a great ride.”
Sr. Pat Elder is a reflection of the same philosophy that the Daughters of Charity have embraced for almost four centuries — that of serving the sick and the poor. Through her role as community ambassador for the Children’s Medical Center Foundation of Central Texas, she integrates the mission, vision and values of the Daughters of Charity’s commitment to care of the whole person. She does so with kindness to all she encounters, including the patients, their families, visitors, donors, volunteers and other Seton associates.
Her service at Seton started in 1988, when she served on the Board of Trustees from 1988 - 94 and later became the Chairman serving from 1994 - 2005. In 2006 she became the Community Ambassador for the Children’s Medical Center Foundation where she continues to serve. Even as a child she was surrounded by the love and compassion of the Daughters of Charity and the Vincentian way. She was born in St Louis, Missouri, one of the epicenters of the Daughters of Charity and their works. She attended Catholic schools from the primary grades through high school. There she met Vincentians and, as she put it, she “grew up on Gregorian chants.” She sang in the choir and each day, both at school and in church, where she was surrounded by both the Daughters of Charity and the Vincentians.
During her childhood she lived in St. Louis and moved for High School to her parents’ farm, which possessed a commanding view of the pastoral rolling valley below. This open-air way of life influenced her deeply and has led to a love of nature. Her early adult life sounds like something out of a Currier and Ives engraving: skating on frozen ponds in winter, surrounded by a large extended family in close proximity. She is the eldest of 50 grandchildren on one side and 44 on the other. Needless to say, a sense of family has always been a very important part of her life.
Her vocation came about through her connection to the Vincentians and the Daughters of Charity. The Daughters were her teachers in high school and 20 sisters were five miles away in Perryville teaching at St. Vincent’s. There was a time as a young girl when she thought she might become an English teacher, but somehow beyond that, she just knew she was called to a higher purpose. Her destiny would have been much different had she chosen to go to Fontbonne College (now Fontbonne University) in St. Louis, but instead she knew she wanted to pursue a life as a Daughter of Charity.
Upon entering the formation program, through being fitted with the habit in 1951 to taking her first vows in 1955, Sr. Pat knew she had made the right decision. There were basically three choices for new Daughters’ vocations, teaching, social work or nursing. She was sent after completion of the formation program to St. Joseph’s Hospital in Chicago to enter nursing school.
The trip was made by train. There were 49 other sisters associated with the hospital and they all lived in Sister’s Quarters which were a part of the hospital campus. Winters were very cold in Chicago and it was one of the times that the woolen habit, weighing about ten pounds, came in very handy. Completing the curriculum took three years followed by the exhaustive state boards. Sr. Pat passed with flying colors and was licensed as a registered nurse. She then took a three-month supervisors course after graduation and was supposed to be missioned immediately afterwards. The L and N railway went on strike for many months, however, which delayed her departure.
Eventually, the trains started running again, but not on the full schedule so she had to take a train to Memphis and then ride a bus to Nashville. She began work at St. Thomas Hospital where she served as supervisor of the Med Surg units. She served a year and half there and developed and honed her skills and also ministered to critically ill children and the dying.
In 1958 she was missioned to go to school at Marillac College, sometimes referred to as the West Point for nuns, in St. Louis full time. There she received a Bachelors in nursing and a liberal arts education. It was there that she developed a love of literature, art and music. She graduated in 1960 and was missioned to go to midwifery school in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The school was operated by the Medical mission Sisters. Her one year training in the Land of Enchantment ended, and she was immediately missioned to Indianapolis to start a Family Center Maternity Care Program as a supervisor for the maternity department. She taught childbirth prep classes as well.
She was missioned in 1963 to Washington, DC, to obtain her graduate degree in Maternal Child Nursing, graduating in 1965. Her next assignment took her to Ecuador as part of the USAID project Universidad Catolica, to start the Baccalaureate Nursing Program. In 1973 she was missioned to St. Louis where she started and taught in the Nurse Mid-wifery School while also working.
Sr. Pat has taken her skills and mid-wife training to many points across the globe including diverse locales ranging from Taiwan and Mainland China to the foothills of Kentucky. Poverty and sickness know no geographic boundaries, so in each setting she has been among those who need her most. In each place she has served, Sr. Pat has had a tremendous impact and left behind a legacy that includes the establishment and improvement of midwife training programs around the world.
These experiences, coupled with years of other formalized education and a life lived serving the sick and the poor, have culminated in a career spanning six decades. Currently, as community ambassador for the Children’s Medical Center Foundation, she continues to touch people’s lives, encouraging them, mentoring them while sharing kind words and a warm smile. Sr. Pat lives the mission of the Seton Family of Hospitals each and every day.
Sr. Patricia Bachman, DC, loves being outside. When she is not traveling between the Seton sites she serves, she loves to take walks around any number of Austin’s beautiful parks.
An avid reader, Sr. Patricia confesses a penchant for the works of humorist Erma Bombeck. After talking with Sister for even a few minutes, her sparkling wit shines through and it is easy to understand why she loves Bombeck’s classic gentle humor.
She also loves to crochet, but there is not usually much time for that.
Her jam-packed schedule often takes her far away from her office in the Professional office building at University Medical Center Brackenridge. “My theme song probably should be Mr. Nelson’s ‘On the Road Again,’ ” she said with a beaming smile. “It seems I am always on my way to somewhere in the Seton Family.”
Her area of ministry encompasses seven Seton facilities including UMCB and the outlying regional clinics.
Sr. Patricia was missioned to Austin a little more than a year ago. Prior to coming to Seton, she had most recently been working in social services for FEMA doing case management for those involved in the hurricanes on the Gulf Coast.
A Daughter of Charity since 1967, Sr. Patricia’s work with the Daughters began when she was still in high school. At the age of 15, Sr. Patricia was an after-school childcare worker at St. Pius the X Home for Boys in Kansas City, Mo. This experience cemented her commitment to become a Daughter of Charity.
After graduating from college at Loyola University, she began her service as a social worker in parish-based ministries. Her career has included works ranging from shelters in New Orleans to caring for senior Daughters of Charity.
When asked about her Seton experience, Sr. Patricia said, “The people at Seton are so nice and accepting. Every site in which I serve is unique, but I love them all. When you look at the Mission of the Seton Family of Hospitals, the associates are living it every day.”
Seton Family of Hospitals Board of Trustees Chair Sister Helen Brewer, DC, has been involved in social justice and equality issues for most of her life.
Prior to first entering the postulancy of the Daughters of Charity Community at the age of 17, she attended both elementary and secondary schools operated by the Daughters, as did all of her six siblings. During her childhood in Perryville, Mo., Sr. Helen was literally surrounded by aspects of the Vincentian tradition. At that time, Perryville was the home of the Vincentian formation program for men entering the priesthood and also home of The National Shrine of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal.
As a young Daughter, she attended Marillac College in St. Louis and was immediately assigned a ministry. Ministry choices are given by the Daughters of Charity based on the continually evolving needs of the communities they serve. Sr. Helen became an educator and obtained a bachelor’s degree in English and later a degree in History as well as two master’s degrees – one in Secondary Administration and the other in Religious Education. Her career has included teaching in both elementary and secondary schools as well as serving as a principal of both elementary and high schools.
It was teaching, in part, that fostered Sr. Helen’s personal commitment to social justice issues. Her first teaching assignment sent her to Mobile, Ala., during the height of the civil rights movement. There, she saw first-hand the horrific effects of racism and poverty and, as a result, she has worked diligently since that time lobbying for social justice and equality.
From Mobile, Sr. Helen was missioned to Salt Lake City, where she spent several years teaching before being sent to another radically different, but no less important, epicenter of social upheaval. She arrived in San Francisco in 1965 during the early days of the Haight Ashbury movement. Its associated drug culture and the resulting social changes were sweeping the country. Memories of the turbulent four years that she taught high school in San Francisco remain vivid in her mind.
As time passed, Sr. Helen became mission vice president of St. Joseph Hospital in Fort Worth in 1992, then mission vice president of the entire Daughters of Charity National Health System in St. Louis. It was during her term as Provincial Councillor that she expressed a desire to the Superiors to further explore opportunities working with social justice and advocacy because she was energized by the work.
In October of 1998, Sr. Helen was missioned to Austin and the Seton Family of Hospitals. From her arrival until January 2006, she served Seton in the area of Advocacy and Public Policy with special emphasis on children’s issues. She frequented the halls of state government and worked tirelessly for passage of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program legislation that was adopted in Texas during that time.
Sr. Helen’s efforts were the beginning of a long working association with state officials that continues to this day. She is known and respected at the Capitol and was, when necessary, a force to be reckoned with in the areas of social justice and equality.
In January 2006, Sr. Helen was appointed Chair of the Seton Board, a position in which she continues to serve.
Sr. Jean Wesselman, DC, has a long connection with the Seton Family of Hospitals. She entered the Seton School of Nursing in 1953, graduating in 1956. In October of that year, she entered the postulancy of the Daughters of Charity Community, then, after a year in the Seminary (the Daughters of Charity “Noviatiate”) she received the Holy Habit of the Daughters in 1958. She enjoyed the “white wings” of the traditional cornette and habit for a few years before the Vatican II changes took effect. Fifty years later, following a long and accomplished career during which she has touched thousands of lives, Sr. Jean celebrated her Golden Jubilee at Seton in 2007 amid a huge circle of friends, associates and admirers.
First missioned to San Jose, Calif., Sr. Jean served as a supervisor of nurses. This post was busy in the days before intensive care units became the norm. Beginning with her first days on the wards at Seton as a nursing probie, Sr. Jean Ann has seen many changes in technology and has watched care at the bedside evolve. Her nursing role was varied through the years including time in pediatrics. The one constant she notes is, despite the evolution of technologies in patient care, it is still the human touch and the caring spirit of love and respect that is the foundation of nursing.
In 1978, Sr. Jean was missioned to the Shrine of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in Emmitsburg, Md., and served there for about a year. St. Elizabeth, first native born Saint, had just been canonized three years earlier. As a result, the Shrine was very busy. Here, Sr. Jean was immersed in the story of the lifetime and works of St. Elizabeth.
As her time in Emmitsburg was drawing to a close, Sr. Mary Rose McPhee asked Sr. Jean if she would be interested in becoming a chaplain. Readily accepting the offer, Sr. Jean Ann began attending the Chaplain Training Program at the Episcopal Seminary of the Southwest in Austin. After completing the program, she became a part of the Chaplain staff in St. Louis, where she served for almost three years.
She then returned once again to Austin in 1982 and served as a chaplain for Seton Medical Center. The new facility, which she had seen during her chaplain training a few years earlier, was much different than the old Seton Hospital where she had trained as a nurse 29 years before. Its halls gleamed and the operating suites contained the latest technology.
Although her time as a nurse was extremely rewarding, she also truly loved chaplaincy.
“I always enjoyed chaplains and patients from different cultures and different denominations working together,” she explained. One of the key aspects of her ministry as chaplain was the inclusion of art, poetry and music as key elements in offering relaxation and comfort to patients and nurses alike.
During a career that is now entering its sixth decade, Sr. Jean has impacted the lives of countless patients, families, nurses and associates - both as a nurse and a chaplain. Everyone who has worked closely with her has a favorite Sr. Jean story, all of which inevitably include details of her compassion and sweet gentle spirit.
Mary Faria, PhD, FACHE, vice president and administrator of Seton Southwest Hospital, best summed up the contributions Sr. Jean has made to the Seton Family in this way:
”In our lives, if we are so blessed, we have the opportunity to share time on this earth with angels. Sr. Jean Ann is one of those rare human angels. She has been such a blessing to all of us who have had the great joy of knowing and working with her. Her kindness and generosity of spirit are boundless. She has a gentle but firm way of reminding us of our mission and our calling. I am much richer in my life having her in it. All of us who know her and have worked with her feel the same way. She is a remarkable human being.”