Although I have never met Sister Joyce in person, I feel that I know her since she contributed to our Sister Art Display in the Heritage Room two years ago. Her quilting and handicrafts are exceptional and items such as gift bags and uniquely designed sweatshirts are available for sale at Lindenwood Gift Shop. I must confess that I have a fondness for her unique gift bags and keep several on hand always for that special gift that needs to be presented nicely. As her ministry she also offered retreat services and spiritual direction from Bethany Retreat House in East Chicago, Indiana until it closed in 2018. Seeing photographs of the quilts that she makes also causes me to realize that she is not a craftsperson, but rather an artisan who allows the Spirit to move through her in everything she does. A purposeful and unique person, Sister Joyce has created a life where she both services others by using her unique talents and gifts that God has given her.
From getting to know Sister Joyce, I became aware of one other thing we have in common. In her writings, she references, John O’Donohue, an Irish writer. It seems that as the Spirit moves one, it moves another, and this leads to new friendships and opportunities to know another on a deeper, spiritual level. Donohue writes: “May you treasure your friends. May you be good to them, and may you be there for them; may they bring you all the blessings, challenges, truth, and light that you need for your journey. May you never be isolated. May you always be in the gentle nest of belonging with your anam cara.”
Read below to learn how Sister Joyce lives out this blessing in her own life and in the lives of others. I grew up in Mishawaka, the first of seven children where I attended Saint Monica’s grade school where Sister Jean Christianson and I were classmates all eight years. I was a pretty typical energetic child who loved to read, to twirl my baton, to visit with family and friends, and to babysit for my younger siblings. In junior high I was a cheerleader.
At age five, my mother introduced me to sewing by giving me a child sized tablecloth and napkins to cross stitch with variegated pink and magenta thread, I loved doing that, and I’ve been sewing ever since, and I am still fascinated with variegated threads? As a child I sewed doll clothes and then clothes for myself, learning by asking my mother, “What do I do next?” As a young Sister, I continued to make my own clothes, a frugal choice. In the process, I couldn’t bear to throw away the scraps of fabric, so I made them into little gift wrap bags. Eventually I shifted away from sewing my own clothes to making lots of gift wrap bags (affectionately called “Joyce bags” by the Sisters), and some tote bags and purses.
Eventually I began to quilt, starting with sweatshirts that were small enough to manage with my other responsibilities. I keep Lindenwood bookstore stocked with sweatshirts to sell, and many of my sweatshirts can be seen walking the campus and beyond. I sometimes see one whose design I’ve forgotten and so I ask if I may take a picture!
I’ve made several bed quilts and hope to make many more. I love playing with color and texture and have bundles of related fabrics waiting to become quilts. In this day of long-arm quilting, I most enjoy quilting by hand and find that very centering for me. I usually quilt while watching the evening news, so the people and events of the day and my prayer for them are literally stitched into my quilts.
I began ministry as a PHJC classroom teacher but I knew quickly that was not my true calling. A couple years into the classroom, I said to God, “I know this is not my true calling. What do you want me to do for the rest of my life?” and I got the answer: spiritual direction. The sense of call became my guiding light. I eventually found a program at Creighton University to prepare me to do spiritual direction. This experience (1995-97) broadened my sense of Church as I studied with people from all over the U.S. and Canada, and it gave me the background and skills that made it possible for me to do spiritual direction and retreat ministry.
For a number of years, I received invitations to help with individually directed retreats, serving on six retreat teams each summer, traveling to motherhouses and retreat houses throughout the Midwest. For three years I worked at Crosier Ministry Center in Ft. Wayne, where I was responsible for one wing of the center dedicated to private and individually directed retreats. Out of a desire to be able to do retreat ministry all year round and to not need to travel to do so, with the community’s blessing, I began Bethany Retreat House in East Chicago, Indiana, serving there for 25 years. In those years I felt very close to Saint Katharina, living her experience of depending on God’s inspiration and guidance at every turn, both discerning how to work with each individual retreatant and spiritual directees but also how to shape the retreat house, to advertise it, what programs to offer, how to work with volunteers, how to raise necessary funds, etc.
I now live in Hammond where I continue to do spiritual direction with individuals and to facilitate a dream group. I also convene two groups of spiritual directors who meet to do peer review work together. I’m back to traveling a couple times a summer to join individually directed retreat teams, currently in Wisconsin and Ohio.
When I think of all the things I’ve done in my life, I see a rich array of so many people I’ve been privileged to walk with in retreats and spiritual direction. What I would most like to be remembered for is that I have helped people grow in relationship with God. And I have helped to establish the ministry of spiritual direction in the Diocese of Gary. What motivates me is a desire to help people grow attuned to God present in their lives, living ever attentive to the Holy Spirit as Saint Katharina did. In the groups I convene, I want participants to have an experience of living in God’s reign with God’s values of love, compassion, and justice.
I sometimes think, had my life gone in a different direction, that I might have been a journalist. I so value the work journalists do of informing the public on important issues. I have some gifts for writing, and I have worked on newspapers in high school and college, so there is some grounding for this road not taken. That side of me does find expression in occasional columns I write for the Northwest Indiana Catholic.
Recent years have taught me that life is really about loving. Ultimately, that is what gives life meaning and purpose. My frequent prayer is asking to be God’s presence of love in the world. “God, how do you invite me to love today?” And “Show me how to love this person, in this situation.
I have so many favorite places in scripture, but the farewell discourse in John (chapters 13-17) is so full of God’s love for us. Jesus says there so many times that he and the Father will come to live in us and we in them. I count on this reality, God living at the heart of me, of all of us. God is not far away, but very close, so close that we sometimes miss God’s presence. And our desire for God, our longing, is but a mirror of God’s deep longing for each of us.
As a PHJC, I am so appreciative of the space in our lives for prayer and reflection. I am so grateful that we are encouraged to use our gifts in community and in ministry, so that our energies flow creatively and lovingly in endeavors that are meaningful for us and that help to further God’s reign in our world. In our province-wide conversations and deliberations, I am so touched by the times when we are of one heart as we make decisions together.