Religious Vocations Supplement

Guardian angel helps sister continue vocation tradition

Benedictine Sister Sheila Marie Fitzpatrick, left, a member of Our Lady of Grace Monastery in Beech Grove, talks with Benedictine Sister Carol Falkner, prioress, about scheduling a meeting at the Benedict Inn, a retreat and conference center operated by the monastic community. (Submitted photo)

By John Shaughnessy

BEECH GROVE—Before she heard it from her future sister-in-law, Sheila Marie Fitzpatrick never knew there was a way for people to learn the name of their guardian angel.

Even when she learned the way, Fitzpatrick never imagined it would help her decide whether or not she should pursue a religious vocation.

“In late 1994, after a couple of vocation retreats, I went to visit my brother and his fiancee who were just engaged,” she recalls. “She told me I could pray to God for the name of my guardian angel. I did and, incredibly, it came to me.”

It was a name she never expected, a name that wasn’t exactly among the most popular female names at the time: Gertrude.

Still, the name stuck in her mind. And then she heard it again a short while later as she watched the news on television and saw a woman named Gertrude being interviewed.

So when she returned to Our Lady of Grace Monastery in Beech Grove where she had made her vocation retreats, she told the story about her guardian angel’s name to two of the Benedictine sisters she had come to know.

“They both got big grins on their faces,” she recalls. “They told me, ‘Gertrude was a great Benedictine saint and we belong to the Federation of St. Gertrude.’ ”

She smiles and says, “God speaks to us in all ways.”

So that’s how Sister Sheila Marie joined the Sisters of St. Benedict in 1995.

Still, it was a decision that surprised a lot of people who knew her earlier in her life, including her parents.

“She had a good job, a house, even a dog,” says her mother, Peg Fitzpatrick. “She was dating a nice young man. She seemed settled.”

Six years earlier, in 1989, Fitzpatrick had just graduated with a master’s degree in information science from the University of Pittsburgh. She was hired by Eli Lilly and Company in Indianapolis to work in information technology. She also started dating a gentleman she knew from the University of Pittsburgh, a friend who also took a job at Lilly.

They were a couple for three years when he asked a question that changed everything, “When do we take the next step?”

Trying to sort out that answer, they both met with separate counselors. In the course of their discussion, she told the counselor that on her mother’s side of the family there had been eight consecutive generations of someone choosing a religious vocation.

The counselor asked her, “Do you want to be married the rest of your life, be single or what about religious life?” She said she hadn’t consciously considered a religious vocation, but the counselor still suggested she meet with the vocations director at Our Lady of Grace Monastery.

“One of the things that came up in the conversation with the vocations director was that you can work in a number of settings in monastic life,” Sister Sheila Marie says. “That helped me quite a bit. That put it in front of me. That was in ’92. It would be three years before I entered. I still needed to come to terms that it was the right choice.”

Enter the double-play combination of God and Gertrude.

Fourteen years later, Sister Sheila Marie knows she made the right choice.

“I enjoy being in community with the other sisters and sharing this life,” she says. “The other aspect I appreciate is the constant reminder of God in our lives. As I lived as a single person, it was a struggle for me to find time to pray and find the focus to pray. We have the opportunity to pray several times a day here. It’s helped me grow closer to God.”

That commitment to prayer life includes praying the rosary every weekday as she walks with her close friend, Benedictine Sister Anna Marie Megel.

“We always pray for the special intentions of the day—birthdays, our families, what’s going on in our sisters’ lives,” Sister Anna Marie says. “She’s a quiet leader. She really cares about the environment. She’s the one who keeps us up on all the world events. She has a great love for her family, too.”

Her family, who lives in Effingham, Ill., couldn’t be happier for Sister Sheila Marie.

“We’re absolutely delighted,” her mom says. “She’s always been a caring person and a strong person. There couldn’t be a better community than the one she’s part of. We love going there. It’s very satisfying and the job she has there is challenging, which she needs.”

Sister Sheila Marie serves as the director of facilities for the Benedict Inn Retreat and Conference Center in Beech Grove. She oversees the maintenance, the kitchen, the pool and the housekeeping staff. She also schedules the use of the facilities.

“My nieces and nephews love to come here,” she says. “There’s a pool, a gymnasium, a lot of room outside to run around, and there’s good food, too. The last time they were here, we roasted marshmallows. They love coming here.”

She pauses and smiles, “I may be setting the stage for the 10th generation of religious vocations in our family. We’re praying for that.”

She has a message for her nieces and nephews and all young people about a religious vocation:

“I would definitely tell them to be open to God speaking to them in their lives,” she says.

Never overlook the influence of a guardian angel either.

(For more information about Our Lady of Grace Monastery in Beech Grove, log on to www.benedictine.com.) †