Sunday, May 28, 2000

Two nuns see child of their hearts graduate

George Tuley/Caller-Times

Sisters Eileen Doherty (left) and Patricia Burns (right) watched their foster daughter Michelle O'Donnell graduate from Moody High School.

As Moody High School graduating senior Michelle A. O'Donnell walked across the stage at Memorial Coliseum on Saturday to receive her degree, in the audience, amongst cheering parents and family members, sat Incarnate Word High School teachers Sister Patricia Burns and Sister Eileen Doherty.
   Overwhelmed with emotion as they saw their 18-year-old daughter, in blue and gold cap and gown, experience one of life's most poignant milestones, the sisters couldn't help but flash back to 1998, the year they became foster parents of O'Donnell and her two younger sisters.
   They recalled the mother/daughter chats over supper in the years since then, the advice dispensed while doing the dishes and the occasional shoulder offered to cry on. But as O'Donnell's name was called out, all Sister Burns could think of saying was, "Nice work, God."
   For now, O'Donnell concentrates on the future, having been accepted into the freshman honors program at the University of Texas. With seven college scholarships to her name, O'Donnell is determined to pursue a career in family law, a dream she has had ever since her own parents divorced and subsequent troubles at home led to her foster-care arrangement.
   "Having gone through what I have will allow me to understand what other struggling families are going through," O'Donnell said. "I think it's made me a more compassionate and positive person."
   When O'Donnell first learned two years ago that she and her siblings would be living with nuns, the teen-ager wondered how the arrangement would ever work.
   "I seriously thought we'd go to their home, open their door and that it'd be all this Hallelujah stuff," O'Donnell said. Instead, she found two women, although deeply rooted in their faith and ministry, with a sense of humor and a love of children.
   Like any parent, Sisters Burns and Doherty have had their share of "Yes, I know you really want to, but the answer is still no" discussions. There's been give and take but through it all, each is the better for having known the other.
   "These women saved me physically, spiritually and emotionally," O'Donnell said.
   Sister Burns, on the other hand, credits O'Donnell and her 14- and 16-year-old sisters for "making me a better sister.
   "I look at Michelle and I know that in a real sense she's ours. I introduce these kids to people the same way I introduced them to the Bishop - they are our gifts from God. They may not be of our beings, but they are kids of our hearts."
   On a journey
   For Sisters Burns and Doherty, these children of the heart are the result of a lifelong journey that began decades ago before any one of them had met. Although they didn't know each other growing up, Sisters Burns and Doherty had a common experience in their respective high schools. Both had friends and acquaintances ask if they'd ever considered becoming nuns.
   "We've compared notes and, ironically, we both had pretty much the same response," Sister Burns said. "If you can show us a way of being a sister and being a mom, we said we'd do it. Well, indeed, God showed us the way."
   When Burns and Doherty met after entering the religious life, they discovered a common bond. Both felt spiritually called to forge a new ministry within their religious community, the Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity, that of providing a home for children who could no longer live within their own families. After working two years at a residential treatment center in Dallas, "we realized we didn't know enough," said Sister Doherty. "We had teaching degrees but no training in child care."
   Both went back to school, earned master's degrees in adolescent and family counseling. Years of work eventually brought them to Corpus Christi, where they've become the first sisters in the county to undertake foster-care training and receive state certification.
   On the brink of a new chapter in her life, O'Donnell is firmly focused on the future. But whatever lies ahead, she knows where she can always find home, the same place she intends to drop her laundry when in town for the weekends away from college.
   "She'll never get too big for us," Sister Doherty said.
  
  
 

---

  © 2000 Corpus Christi Caller Times, a Scripps Howard newspaper. All rights reserved.