Sister Frances Sedlacek

I can’t pinpoint when my “call” started. I just remember always having a warm relationship with Jesus. I grew up with my seven brothers and sisters and my parents on a farm in eastern Nebraska. We were practicing Catholics, but we were not a particularly religious family. I don’t remember anything about my First Holy Communion or even my Confirmation. We attended religious education classes on Saturday mornings. Some years the Sisters of Mercy from Omaha were the teachers but that is the only contact I had with Religious Sisters.

After high school, I worked in a factory for two years and then earned a teaching degree at Wayne State College, Wayne, NE. My first teaching experience was at St. Bridget’s elementary school in Omaha, NE. That was also my first experience in a Catholic School.

During Lent of 1974, my second year at St. Bridget’s, I read the Bible from cover to cover. When I finished reading it, I knew I had to “be” more and “do” more. At this point in my life, I had my own red mustang car, shared an apartment with my younger sister, was free from debt and had everything I needed. Still something was missing from my life. So I started to search for volunteer opportunities. I resigned from my teaching contract for the next year and applied to VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America). Finally in late July, I heard back from them and they had rejected me! I later learned that I was overqualified, but what a disappointment! Here it was almost the end of the summer and I didn’t have a job and I still wanted to be a volunteer! I found a book called International Liaison (now known as Connection) that listed all the volunteer ministries around the country and around the world. I started calling various places. When I called Gallup, NM, the person there asked me to call Father Donnan in Lumberton, NM. In my first conversation with Father Donnan, he said, “Tell me about yourself.” I said, “Well, I am a teacher and I grew up on a farm.” He said, “Great, I know you will be just right for here!”

After several more conversations with Father Donnan and a personal visit with Sister Michelle, the principal at the school (who was spending some time in Nebraska that summer), I was convinced this was where I was to volunteer. I gave my sister whatever she needed, gave away other things and packed the rest, including a TV, iron and ironing board into my car and headed west. Sister Michelle had invited me to stop at our Motherhouse in Colorado Springs on my way to New Mexico. It was early afternoon when I reached Colorado Springs and I really didn’t want to stop. I didn’t know much about Sisters and even less about a Motherhouse! But I had a wedding gift with me from another teacher at St. Bridget’s who specifically asked me to leave it at this Motherhouse for her friends to pick up. So what could I do but stop? What a special moment! I was so warmly welcomed and had a wonderful experience. I am sure this was God preparing me for my vocation. I left the next morning with my car loaded down even more with meat and vegetables for the Sisters in Lumberton.

When I arrived in Lumberton that afternoon, the brokenness and poverty of the area shocked me. I was so shocked that I drove straight through the town and kept going! Finally I stopped, turned around and went back and found Sister Michelle and met Father Donnan. Even though it was somewhat overwhelming initially, I did not think about leaving Lumberton. Rather my vocation blossomed I was very much touched by the Sisters’ and Father’s prayerfulness, simplicity, service and dedication. They invited me to participate with them in the Liturgy of the Hours, some meals and other activities. By the end of October 1974, two months after I arrived in Lumberton, I was asking what I needed to do to become a Sister. After many discussions and much discernment with Father Donnan and the Sisters, I finally let go of my dream of being a foreign missionary and became a Sister of St. Francis of Perpetual Adoration of Colorado Springs.