September 2005 - Sister Theresa Sarich, OSU

The nun who came before Sister Theresa Sarich, OSU, arrived in El Cenizo, Texas was advised to leave by her doctor after her fourteenth bout with skin cancer. But Sister Theresa is toughing it out here under the relentless desert sun, doing what she was born to do - what the Lord wishes her to do.

She is on mission to deliver an oasis of hope in this rocky, barren desert near the Mexican border south of Laredo at the far end of the Texas panhandle. It's definitely a challenge, not to mention a little frightening at times.

Sister recalls the time two tough-looking young men came sauntering into the small kitchen area one evening and offered, in a semi-threatening way, to sell her a picture. "I don't know where you got it and I don't want to know," she replied, and one of them asked, after taking a menacing sidelong glance around the church, "Are you all alone here?" Sister remembers the moment very well. "That scared me." But when the boys took some soda that was meant for a parish event, she got feisty: "You know the Lord says, 'Thou shalt not steal,'" she admonished in as stern a voice as she could muster. The boys sheepishly looked at their shoes and left.

Sister Theresa made known her wish to become a nun on the day of her first communion, when she prayed, "Jesus, make me a sister." The daughter of Croatian immigrants, Sister Theresa grew up during the depression in a the ethnic neighborhoods of Columbus, Ohio, where the melting pot roiled with Hungarians, Italians, Irish, Lithuanians, and African Americans. Although her family was not wealthy by any means, she didn't seem to miss the things she couldn't have - like new clothes, for example. "We grew up with hand-me-downs," she recalls, "But we were so happy it didn't matter."
She entered the convent at age 18 to become an Ursuline, and spent the next fifty years teaching and serving as Principal in Catholic schools, heading up religious programs.

In high school, Sister took Spanish classes and dreamed of one day working in a Hispanic mission. Her prayers were answered two years ago when she took over for Sister Mary Walden at El Cenizo, a cluster of boxy, modest homes in the desert. Here, with the help of devoted parishioners, Sister Theresa took on some major renovation projects such as the furnace with its missing parts, broken linoleum floors, and scattershot records. She organized and tends to a filing system for baptismal and marriage records, and she recruited bilingual high school students to teach children catechism. She regularly makes home visits to the sick and discouraged, and offers guidance whenever and wherever the need arises. And in the past year, under Sister's tutelage, nearly 100 children received the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist this past season.

Although her means are modest, her brown eyes sparkle with hope, and she knows that she is exactly where the Lord needs her to be right now.

Sister Theresa's ministry is supported by monthly grants from Catholic Extension. Will you join in with your support and make a safe, secure online donation today! Donate now, securely