Sister Brenda Rowe, RSM



This story was originally published in December 2005.

I was born on February 26, 1943, to Helen and Herbert Rowe in Baltimore, Maryland. I went to live with my grandparents at the age of five. As I grew up, the desire to become a religious took hold of me.

In school, I had the Sisters of Notre Dame. My seventh grade teacher, Sister Marie Jerome, now Sister Kathleen Feeley, was my favorite.  When I began teaching the fourth grade years later, I found myself imitating her in many ways.  She is still alive and a very dear friend.

I entered the Religious Teachers Filippini on November 7, 1959.  While with my former community, I received my undergraduate degree from Seton Hall University in South Orange, New Jersey, and my graduate degree from St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

I would like to share my call to Mercy.  It started with my first experience in 1988 with Sister Dot Jancola at St. George Parish in Trenton, New Jersey. Dot was the Pastoral Associate, and I was in charge of the Religious Education Program for kindergarten through eighth grade.

I continued my journey with the Sisters of the Mount Saint Mary House of Prayer in Watchung, New Jersey, in the early nineties.  The spirit of Mercy called me to this place. It was here that Sister Eileen Smith became my Spiritual Director.

I have come to know this spirit of Mercy as a spirit of welcome, acceptance, and prayerful support.  It is a spirit that frees and empowers me to use my giftedness in loving service for God and all people.  The spirit of Mercy reaches out to the needs of today.  This spirit helps those being served and cared for to become self-sufficient.  Above all, the spirit of Mercy calls forth a deep desire within me to live out more fully the corporal and the spiritual works of mercy in the spirit of Catherine McAuley.

On June 1, 1995, I met with Sister Beth Dempsey.  Beth was completing her term as Formation Director, and she was put in charge of Sisters from other religious communities desiring to transfer.  We met several times and by the end of that August, she told me that she would present me to Sister Diane Szubrowski, President of the New Jersey Regional Community of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas, to begin my probationary period. That September I met with Sister Diane for the first time, and I knew in my heart that I had made the right choice to request a transfer from being a Filippini Sister to a Sister of Mercy.

That year Mercy Day was at Georgian Court College in Lakewood, New Jersey.  I only knew a few Mercy Sisters, but I felt at home.  So many of them offered their prayers and support that day.  After a three-year probationary period, on August 28, 1999, I celebrated the transfer of my vows from the Religious Teachers Filippini to the Sisters of Mercy.

After serving as a Director of Religious Education in several parishes, I became a Hospice Volunteer in the fall of 2003.  For two years I ministered to patients who were dying and to their families.  During this time I saw that God was calling me to a further ministry.  I did not realize how much the patients would affect my spiritual development and touch my life.  It was Sister Diane who first suggested CPE (Clinical Pastoral Education).  I was accepted in the summer CPE program at Overlook Hospital in Summit, New Jersey, for one unit.

Right now I am in the Chaplain Residency Program at Lehigh Valley Hospital in Allentown, Pennsylvania.  This program includes ministry, education, study, and reflection as a chaplain at the hospital.  I minister at traumas, crisis situations, illness, and death.  I have learned that compassion is one of the most important elements of my training. To journey with others is always a challenge.  I need to be grounded in prayer and to realize that although I am the chaplain, I am only an instrument, and I must leave room for God.  It is with dignity and respect and a listening heart that I journey with patients on sacred, holy ground.  Being a chaplain is a humbling experience because I am privileged to be a part of something sacred, especially when the journey leads to the end of a person’s life.

Your prayers are greatly appreciated. God willing, I hope to become a Hospice Chaplain when this year ends.

If you would like to talk further with Sister Brenda about her life and ministry, you may contact her at: rsmbrowe@aol.com