“At that time I was saying ‘yes’ to a lifetime commitment to religious life, which I have loved for over 63 years now,” said the 79-year-old former pastoral minister at St. Thomas Aquinas and former principal at Nouvel Catholic Central Elementary and Middle School. “But as we age, change becomes more difficult, so the ‘yes’ I recently said took much more time for discernment and acceptance.”

Sister Ann, along with Sister Jean Therese Baumann and Sister Mary Elizabeth Klier, was officially called back to the Motherhouse in Reading, Pennsylvania, in late March. Leadership first asked the Sisters to consider returning two years ago. But they needed time to pray and discern God’s direction for their lives.

When Sister Jean first entered religious life in 1960 at the age of 19, there were about 1,200 Bernadine Franciscan sisters worldwide. Today there are fewer than 200.

Now 84 years old, Sister Jean was reluctant when first asked to be the property manager of the six buildings at the Motherhouse due to her age. Sister Ann had similar concerns when asked to consider a position at the Motherhouse as assistant to the chief financial officer of the congregation.

But after time spent in discernment and prayer, Sister Jean, Sister Ann and Sister Mary Elizabeth realized they were being called to say ‘yes’ with their lives again, but in a different way.

“This is my family; these are my sisters; this is our need,” Sister Jean said. ”How can we say ‘no?’”

Collectively, the three sisters have spent nearly 95 years in the Diocese of Saginaw in various positions. Since 1951, about 250 Bernardine Franciscan Sisters have taught in schools, staffed healthcare facilities like the St. Francis Home in Shields and worked in numerous pastoral roles across the Diocese.

Sister Jean (affectionately known as “Sister J.T.”) has spent the last 30 years in and out of the diocese working in various positions, including teaching in her hometown of Gladwin. She has worked at many parishes, including St. Agnes in Freeland, St. Anne Church (Prince of Peace) in Linwood, St. Athanasius in Harrison and St. Thomas Aquinas in Saginaw. Sister Jean also has worked as an auditor in the diocesan marriage tribunal (Office of Judicial Vicar and Tribunal) and as a property manager in Farmington, where the order owned property until 2023.

Because of these moves in, out and around the diocese, Sister Jean said the return to the Motherhouse in Pennsylvania is not as difficult as it is for Sister Mary Elizabeth and Sister Ann, who have established deeper roots due to their years of continuous service for the diocese—especially at St. Thomas Aquinas. Sister Jean still has family in Gladwin and a sister in Saginaw, so it is difficult leaving them behind.

Sister Mary Elizabeth struggled to hold back tears on the morning in late September when she sat in the living room of the convent with Sister Ann and Sister Jean, reflecting and talking about their impending move.

For the past 29 years, the 83-year-old sister has devoted her life to serving the Diocese, first as the principal of the Sacred Heart Parish elementary school in Gladwin, and then as assistant director and financial director at the Emmaus House, a transitional home for women reestablishing their lives following jail, prison or time in substance abuse facilities. Sister Mary Elizabeth also has spent many years in the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd program at St. Thomas Aquinas and other parishes. And she established a Bernardine Franciscan Associates group in the diocese 28 years ago.

In the next chapter of her life, Sister Mary Elizabeth still will be helping people on the margins. She’ll be doing clerical work for a place called the Mother Veronica Resource Center, which provides various services to immigrants, including tutoring for English as a second language, mathematics and studying for the U.S. citizenship test.

Still, Sister Mary Elizabeth said she has found the letting go process particularly difficult after spending so many years at the Emmaus House and in the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd Program. And while Sister Mary Elizabeth will maintain contact with the associates—laypeople who volunteer and are committed to the order—she will have to leave behind her work and connections at the Emmaus House and her involvement with the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd ministry.

“The change of season also mimics the change that I am going through now,” she said. “Just as the leaves are beginning to drop, so are some of the things in my own life.

As the three sisters were preparing to move, they let go of a lot of things. They held a yard sale, they gave things away to friends, and for the most part, they did so without difficulty.

But there was Frosty, Sister Ann’s cat, for the past six years. And while Sister Ann carefully rehomed him to the friend of a former pastor, it was very difficult to give him up.

“Even more difficult is saying goodbye to so many friends and people who have touched my life,” Sister Ann said. “I realize change does happen whether we like it or not. I also know there is always something good that comes from it. However, knowing this does not make it any easier.”

A few days before their move, Sister Jean and Sister Ann began clearing out their flower pots, tomato patch and herb garden.

“The beautiful things that graced our backyard,” Sister Jean said. It was, to her, akin to what they were having to do with their entire life in preparation for the move: uprooting everything and getting ready for the new.

“The beautiful memories and connections go with us—there’s a spring ahead,” she said.

Most important in any decision is doing the will of God, Sister Mary Elizabeth said.

So with the season change upon them—in their own lives and in the official arrival of autumn—the three sisters courageously began moving into the next chapter of their lives.

And as they stepped forward, they held onto the words of a prayer written by Mother Veronica Grzedowka, the foundress of their order, the Bernardine Franciscan Sisters:

All is yours, from You and for You.

I have no hand in the arrangement of my life.

The will of God is my only support.

Though I can do nothing,

I rely with a firm faith in the

Presence of God.

I trust in His mercy

And enfold myself in the arms

Of His immense love and unlimited power.