Holy Cross Ministries welcomes a new Sister to Salt Lake

Intermountain Catholic

+ Enlarge

Sister Patricia Rodriguez Leal is shown with some of the children from a group called 'Niños por la Paz' (Kids for Peace) that she worked with while doing her service in Monterrey, Mexico. Courtesy photo

SALT LAKE CITY — A year ago, Holy Cross Ministries in Salt Lake City welcomed Sister Patricia Rodriguez Leal.

Sister Paty, as she’s known, came from Monterrey, Mexico and will be staying in Utah for some months.

For the moment Sr. Paty has taken temporary vows for the order; in a year she will accept perpetual vows.

Sr. Paty entered the Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Cross when she was 27 years old. She remembers that since she was little she used to be very intrigued by the vowed religious women, by the way they lived, and by the desire to know more about them.

"I used to like very much to serve and when I met the sisters I was already working as a teacher. I realized that as a teacher I had always thought that I had to dedicate my whole life … and years ago I realized that I have the invitation to give all my life to service and it was through the religious life," said Sr. Paty.

Her family supported her decision even though her father was a little shocked, she said. He was worried that it might not work for her, that she had already established stability and that she might lose everything by becoming a vowed religious.

"At the end he accepted this because he saw me happy; I told him that this was my life," said Sr. Paty.

Even though she entered the congregation later in her life than many other women, she is very happy that she did it when she did because she felt prepared and completely ready for the life, she said.

Her decision to enter a religious order came after her 1-year-old niece died from cancer.

"When the priest was talking to us he said, ‘She already accomplished her mission. It was a short one … but what is your mission?’ And I thought I had that example of that little one," said Sr. Paty, adding that she decided then to enter the Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Cross. "This is what God wanted for me."

"I think I thought about it a lot, but when I was really prepared and really paid attention to what I was feeling and followed my feelings, that was the moment that I said ‘Let’s do it,’" said Sr. Paty. "God talks to us through situations with other people."

First Sr. Paty spent a year in one of the two communities that the Holy Cross Ministries has in Monterrey.

"After that ... I became a candidate. I was doing my master’s degree studies while in the community," said Sr. Paty. "The congregation in Mexico is very small, we are about six sisters, so I asked to visit other congregations to keep discerning my perpetual vows, to experience a new community and different ministries."

She took the opportunity to go to Los Angeles for two years, then returned to Mexico before coming to Utah.

Here, Sr. Paty is supporting the other sisters working at Holy Cross Ministries in all their ministries: immigration, workshops, health, promotoras and education. She is going to Wendover, Park City and to all the places that Holy Cross serves.

After her time in Utah Sr. Paty will return to Mexico and confirm her perpetual vows.

"I am going to be one of the first Holy Cross Sisters with perpetual vows in Mexico. I want our community to grow there. I have the dream that we will be able to build a school or a center to put all our gifts to work," said Sr. Paty.

"I am learning a lot. This is great! I love what I do," said Sr. Paty, encouraging people to always follow their hearts and listen to what God is telling them. "When we find that in which we are happy we feel a passion. We have to pay attention to it and that’s my foundation."

Sr. Paty is now teaching the religion class for 5th-grade students at St. John the Baptist Elementary School.