Sister Gloria Therese
My parents come from different faith backgrounds, but they both had the same joyful openness to my vocation. My Methodist mother thought it would be better if I entered a community just ten minutes away, yet she understood that my heart was with the California Carmelites! My Catholic father’s mother always wanted a religious in the family, so Dad in his own quiet way was pretty proud to see that his daughter had a vocation to religious life. I loved to tease my mother that I am sure she never thought when she promised Dad that all the children would be raised Catholic that she would have a religious sister in the mix! Praise God for family surprises!
