Accounting -- Sister Theresa Rodgers

Looking directly at the camera is Sister Theresa Rodgers. Seated next to her is Linda Langero and next to her is Miss Catalano, who taught me math for one year. The reason for the outdoor assembly was student initiation and kangaroo court. I believe that those practices are banned these days as dehumanizing. Ahhh ... the good old days of stocks and pillories.

Sister Theresa Rodgers taught me accounting and business. Even though I aced calculus, today I am still unsure when you debit and when you credit an account.

Sister Theresa's online bio reads in part:

I was born and raised in the west end of Toronto and am the middle child of three, the only girl with two brothers, one older and one younger. During my elementary school years I attended Our Lady of Victory School and in high school, St. Joseph's High School Islington. Several of my elementary school teachers were Sisters, and in high school the Sisters of St. Joseph taught me. They were good teachers and caring human beings. These were happy years. I also had two aunts, my mother's sisters, who were members of our Congregation so Sisters were part of my life as long as I can remember.

In high school I was a typical teenager of the late 1950s. I had a good friend with whom I travelled to school. She was a grade ahead of me. When she was in Grade 12 she began to think seriously about a religious vocation. In fact after high school she entered a medical missionary congregation in the USA. All through her Grade 12 year she talked to me about her discernment. That started me thinking about how one knew whether or not she has a religious vocation.

This thought disturbed me greatly because I had other ideas about how I was going to spend my life. At that point, marriage and children seemed a lot more attractive. For the most part I kept these thoughts to myself because I did not want to hear anyone say that I should be open to God's call. I had what I thought were some very good arguments against becoming a Sister. But the more I tried not to think about it, the more it would come back and disturb my peace of mind.

When I finished high school I went out to work. I worked for two years at the Head Office of Dominion Stores as a stenographer/secretary. I enjoyed my job and had an active social life. Not so secretly I had convinced myself that once I had left the Catholic High School environment this idea of a religious vocation would disappear. Well, it didn't. So at the end of my second year of work I decided that I would make inquiries about entering. I felt that this would be the only way I could find the peace of mind that was eluding me. I have often said that God was smarter than I was and for this I am deeply grateful.

My life as a Sister of St. Joseph has been a rich and happy one. ...

The entire text may be found here:
http://www.csj-to.ca/Join_us/sr_theresa_rodgers_story.php