St. Anne Catholic Church

St. Anne’s convent has been home to a community of Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary for years, their base from which they taught generations of St. Anne’s kids. Times have changed – no sisters teach in the school, but the convent still has a community of four Holy Names sisters. Two are retired, two have responsibilities outside the parish and all are active in the parish, volunteering as lectors, sacristans, lay presiders, working in the parish office and pitching in with yard work.

Two Dominican nuns live elsewhere in the parish and are also involved as lectors, sacristans and lay presiders.

Here’s a brief profile on each of the sisters.

Who's who in the convent: From left -- Sr. Cathy Beckley, Sr. Ethna O'Doherty, Sr. Lillian Anderson and Sr. Crystal Clark.

In the convent

Sr. Ethna O’Doherty
Sister Ethna, a Holy Names sister for 66 years, is a fine Irish lass, born in Bangor, County Down. Coming to Seattle with her family, she attended St. John’s School and Holy Names Academy. Every day you’ll see her at Mass or Morning Prayer and you’ll hear her beautiful singing voice. Music has been a big part of her life. She has a BA in School Music and a teaching norm in French from Marylhurst College in Oregon. After college graduation she entered the Holy Names novitiate and earned a degree in Church Music from the University of Montreal and a Master’s Degree in Voice from USC.

She put that musical training to work teaching voice, piano, organ and choral singing in Spokane and Portland. For a year sister continued her study of French at The Sorbonne in Paris and traveled in Europe and Ireland after which she taught French, English and Theology.at Holy Names Academy in Seattle for eighteen years. A career change led her to a position in the Academic Office of Blanchet High School for nine years and then to a similar occupation at HNA until her retirement from full-time ministry in 1994 when she became proofreader for all the HNA publications until 2001.

Here at St. Anne’s, Sr. Ethna is a member of the RCIA team, helps “stuff” bulletins and conducts an active “ministry of the telephone” where she keeps in touch with the ill and shut-ins. She also plays the piano for Christmas Carol singing at our annual dinner for the homeless and was a speaker at our Lenten Retreat. Sr. Ethna says she’s happy to be at St. Anne’s. “I love it here. It’s my idea of a home parish. I had a choice of places to go in retirement and I checked each place out and St. Anne’s was the right choice. We feel very blessed to be part of this parish.”

Sr. Lillian Anderson
St.Anne’s meant coming home for Sr. Lillian – she was born in Seattle and lived on Queen Anne, attending John Hay elementary school and Holy Names Academy. Sister was a professional student for a while, attending Marylhurst College, Seattle U and St. John’s in Collegeville, Minn. As a result, she has three Master’s Degrees – two in education and one in theology. “I never hankered for those things,” Sr. Lillian says, “I just followed the instructions of the community. Then I was mostly a primary school teacher and I loved that very much.”

She is a well-traveled school teacher, having taught in Eugene, OR; Portland, Everett and St. Joseph’s and Immaculate Conception in Seattle. Later she moved into administrative work in the Holy Names community and then into parish work in Kent and Tacoma.

At St. Anne’s she is involved with Martha’s Workers, baking cookies and helping to make sandwiches and prepare a monthly dinner for the First Avenue Family Center. She also serves as a sacristan for daily Mass and communion services. She says she enjoys St. Anne’s. “I’ve been
very impressed with the people. They have a joy about them and really love being part of the church. I find that very inspiring.”

Sr. Lillian has been in the convent for eight years, but was not very involved in parish work. All that changed when a dynamo named Sr. Cathy Beckley moved into the convent.

Sr. Cathy Beckley
Sr. Lillian says Cathy was at St. Anne’s “for a day and knew everybody.” Sr. Cathy is a warm, gregarious, friendly person whose love of her vocation lights up any room she enters. She needs those qualities in her tough job as a “recruiter for God” -- encouraging vocations to her order. A native of Corvallis, she has 35 years as a sister, two advanced degrees and has tackled challenging ministries such as outreach to women suffering abuse and prostitution. Now she’s focused on encouraging young women to think about the religious life.

“I’m just trying to get it on the radar screens of young women,” she explains. “Just planting seeds. We don’t have much of a vocation culture in the Church these days.” Sr. Cathy spends much of her time talking to young women about the joys of her life as a sister. “It’s an incredibly vital and fulfilling lifestyle, “she says. “It’s so very enriching. I’m so grateful. I feel like it just keeps opening up. I’ve found the right niche and it works for me. God is so good.”

Sr. Cathy is a lay presider for communion services. “I love the community here at St. Anne’s and feel honored to be part of it. Our small faith community at daily Mass and communion service has just been very nourishing and supportive. It’s nice to be part of such a beautiful community.”

Sr. Crystal Clark
Sister Crystal Clark is new to the parish. Born and raised in Toledo, Oregon on the central Oregon Coast she earned a degree in liberal studies at Oregon State University. There she became involved in the Newman Center and was attracted to a sister who frequented the Center. “I started to look at her life and saw that she was really happy. She was serving God’s people and that was really attractive to me and I felt the calling to begin looking at different religious communities.” That led to Crystal pronouncing her vows at the convent chapel at Marylhurst in Oregon.

Now, she’s a full-time student working on a Master’s Degree in mental health counseling. She’s not sure where this will take her. “I’m sure I will begin by working in a community health center or I could work with the sisters in our order. There’s also the possibility of starting a new ministry. Sister is also interested in issues relating to refugees and human trafficking. She has worked with refugees in Windsor, Ontario and has been educated on the human trafficking issue by her order. “The sisters of Holy Names have made a corporate stand against human trafficking and given me the background to speak to others about this issue.”

Her studies leave Sr. Crystal little time for parish work, but she is easing into it by helping with the parish gardening. Meanwhile, she enjoys community living in the convent. “I just like sharing different aspects of our lives and the commitment to prayer and social justice.

The Dominican Sisters
Two Dominican sisters live in the parish in a house on 1st West near McGraw. They are:

The Dominican Sisters: Standing, Sr. Sharon Park; seated -- Sr. Virginia Pearson.

Sr. Virginia Pearson
St. Anne’s is a homecoming for Sr. Virginia. She attended St. Anne’s School and then high school at Holy Angels Academy which was at St. Alphonsus Church in Ballard. There she met the Dominican sisters, though the initial attraction to a vocation started with the Holy Names sisters at St. Anne’s. “They were a wonderful example and my parents were very supportive. So I prayed to St. Anne and I just always felt that it was right for me. There’s something in us sometimes that tells us what to do.”

Sr. Virginia went on to become a nurse and hospital administrator in Chehalis and Aberdeen. In her last ten years before she retired, she was a nurse at Assumption Convent in Seattle, home to the retired and ill Dominican sisters. “That was the best ten year of my life,” she says. “It was just an inspiration to be with them. They meet their aging process and health problems with a great deal of courage and good humor. These were people I’d known all my life so it was like taking care of family. My blessings were many.”

Though retired now, she still has community responsibilities and visits sick sisters. “I also have more time for prayer and I keep up with peace and social justice issues before our legislature and congress. I write my letters and become involved if I can.”

She is also involved in parish work as a sacristan, lector and lay presider for communion services. “That’s wonderful. I’m really glad I can do that.”

Sr. Sharon Park
Sr. Sharon was born in Tacoma and raised in Seattle, attending Lady of the Lake School, Christ the King and then Blanchet She has a Master’s in theological studies with a concentration in biomedical ethics from Seattle U.

She put her nursing degree to work in Dominican hospitals and at the University Hospital in Seattle and as a visiting nurse, but she is best known for her political ministry. “I’ve been the associate director and then the director of the Washington State Catholic Conference, which represents the Catholic bishops on issues of public policy.”

She loves the job and has been doing it for 27 years. The job had its genesis at an Archdiocesan sisters council focusing on social issues. When the need for a political ministry became apparent the job fell to Sr. Sharon. “I took the job because I kept seeing elderly people choosing between medicine and food and I said ‘This is wrong. People shouldn’t have to make this choice..’” Programs were needed, which required structural change, funding – and a lobbying effort with the legislature.

Sr. Sharon points to creating the volunteer chore services program for the poor and elderly as a major success of the political ministry. When these services, previously a state program, were cut, Sr. Park and the Washington State Catholic Conference lobbied the legislature for funding to create a volunteer chore program. Now provided by Catholic Community Services, the program is highly successful and available in most parishes. “But we have to lobby for that program every two years. It’s not an item of law.”

Sr. Park enjoys St. Anne’s. “I think the people are really nice and there’s lots of involvement. And all of us together are helping to establish the kingdom. That’s the part that’s great about it.”