Sees vocation work as 'God's resume'

"God is full of surprises. I thought my resume was complete!" remarked Sister Rosemary Cuneo, CR.

After teaching every grade from kindergarten through high school, serving as "vocations directress" for the Resurrection Sisters, working in campus ministry at both Hudson Valley Community College and Russell Sage College in Troy, and then becoming pastoral associate for parish life at St. Henry's parish in Averill Park, Sister Rosemary thought she'd had every job she ever would.

Apparently, God had another idea. "God is writing my resume, but it's all been good," said the enthusiastic new member of the three-person diocesan Vocations Team.

Many hats

Sister Rosemary will now split her time between St. Henry's and vocations work, giving up the campus ministry position she still holds at HVCC as soon as a replacement can be found.

On the Vocations Team, she will work as a liaison to parishes; Rev. James Walsh, associate pastor of St. Pius X Church in Loudonville, is in charge of recruitment; and Rev. David LeFort, pastor of St. Ann's in Fort Ann and Our Lady of Hope in Whitehall, handles formation for the priesthood.

Sister Rosemary believes that all of her previous work involved promoting vocations -- especially her service in campus ministry.

"More kids have asked me at a snack bar about vocations than in my office," she declared. "My attitude toward vocations work is 'you don't push it.' Do all you can to get the message out; but if you're a happy person in your vocation, that's the best seller."

Puppet nun

Asked about her own happiness in religious life, Sister Rosemary eagerly talked about meeting college students whose classrooms she'd visited when they were in grade school to talk about vocations.

"Aren't you the nun with the puppet?" they ask, remembering her props for those talks.

While she allows that they may not have gone on to enter religious life, most of the students do remember that "this nun was happy."

"I had fun; I tried to be kind to them," she said simply.

Invisible option

On the other hand, Sister Rosemary's ire is provoked when she observes that society is not presenting religious vocations as an option any more.

"We're not as visible today," she lamented of her fellow women religious. "How are people going to consider [religious life] if they don't hear about it?"

She also has quick answers for Catholics who tell her, "Oh, I had a nun in grade school; she hit kids with rulers."

"Well, now you have a chance to have a corrective experience," she notes with a smile.

'Real people'

Sister Rosemary's plan for her role on the vocations team is to present people in religious life as "real people. We're people who love, people who are fulfilled. What helps me to understand people is that when I entered the convent, I wasn't sure [about following a vocation]. But I had to find out -- and the shoe fit."

She talks a lot about shoes. Her whole perspective on her new position is based on footwear. "You can't force someone into a shoe that doesn't fit; they'll be limping later," she explained.

Thus, she plans to continue the Vocations Team's effort to present life as a single layperson, marriage and religious life as equally valuable vocations.

Crises

The crises in the Church around decreasing numbers of clergy and religious, and increasing numbers of abuse cases concern her, but not unduly so.

The "many wonderful, dedicated and holy priests we have are being forgotten, because the ones who make the news are the ones who have fallen," she told The Evangelist.

As for the vocations crisis, she called it "historical: It's happened before."

When priests and nuns were sent from America to overseas missions, she noted, it didn't bother Catholics; it's only because the U.S. Church now needs vocations from "mission countries" that some Catholics are uncomfortable.

Message

"I don't think vocations are ever going to end," she added, noting that promoting them is a matter of "getting out there and saying, After you have everything, what is the 'more?'"

Sister Rosemary would like to get that message out through television and radio advertising, but also through direct contact with parishes and with the Diocesan Vocations Council.

"I only have one life to live. I'm not going to solve this," she remarked. "But I want to use up all my energy. We've got a great team; they're wonderful models for anybody!"

(Sister Rosemary is a Mount Vernon, NY, native who has been a Resurrection Sister for 37 years. She helped to start the "Conversations at Seven" vocations discernment group in the Albany Diocese and serves on the Formation for Priests board.)

(8/25/05) [[In-content Ad]]