Sister Mary Beck, SSND

• Professed 1958
• Current ministry: pioneering Earth Spirituality ministry at Mount Calvary, Wisconsin
• Previous ministries: Teacher at Notre Dame Middle School and various elementary schools in Wisconsin; Missionary in Alaska-Native ministry formation

Mine was a "cradle" vocation. I wanted to be a sister ever since I experienced the joy and commitment of my elementary SSND teachers. In hindsight, I realize that my gravitation toward religious life was more intuited than clearly understood. And just like in marriage or any other calling, I didn't know what I was getting into until I walked the walk of each new challenge. There were times when community life was my greatest blessing and times when it was my greatest cross. But all told, my life has been full of soul satisfying growth and adventure - because of my parents' earthy spirituality and homespun upbringing and the rich opportunities for growth and ministry that an international religious community can provide.

My early years in primary education along with my childhood experience of living sustainably on the land prepared me for a missionary venture among the Native Eskimo people of Alaska. English being their second language, I had to prepare basic materials for training Native catechists and other church ministers. The people in turn taught me subsistence living and deep respect for living simply, peacefully, and harmoniously with Nature and one another.

I used to jokingly say that when my time was up in Alaska, I would come back to home base and teach survival skills. Presently, that is not far fetched from what I am doing by pioneering an eco-spiritual ministry - resurrecting a 40-acre farm site that has encompassed both a rural school and a rural retirement home of our sisters over the past 150 years.

We hope to create a spiritual learning center that will model and teach how to care for and live sustainably on Planet Earth. For unless we create an awareness of responsible-global citizenship and work for the good of all Creation, there won't be a viable planetary home for future generations.

What better teachers do we have but Nature, the earthy wisdom of aboriginal peoples, modern technology to weave a web of awareness-communication-action, and the energy/idealism of young people like you, to help us vision and realize this dream.

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