Sister Michele Curtin celebrates 60th anniversary as a religious; recalls highlights of her ministry

Intermountain Catholic

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Sister Michele Curtin said being a sister for 60 years you give in the love of God and you realize you are being graced by Him; you learn that power and you share it with those you meet.

SALT LAKE CITY — Sister Michele Curtin, a Sister of Charity of the Incarnate Word, will celebrate the 60th anniversary of her profession as a religious Dec. 8.

"I’ve really had a beautiful life," she said. "The years just flew so quickly."

Sr. Michele was born in County Cork, Ireland, the youngest of seven children and entered the convent at age 15.

"I wanted to become a missionary sister at age 14, but they said I was too young," she said. "Then I thought about being a nurse and when I saw the ad for the Sisters of Charity, who were predominantly nursing sisters, I thought it would be the greatest thing in the world."

That never came to be because in 1950, when she professed her vows as a Sister of Charity at Villa de Matel in Houston, Texas, the Church needed sisters to teach in the Catholic schools. She taught for 35 years.

On her first day she was sent to work in St. Mary’s orphanage in Lafayette, La. "I was then trained as a teacher and taught 63 third-graders at Saint Francis Cabrini School in Alexandria, La.," she said. "I was young then and had all the energy in the world. I spent 11 years there and our first building was a Quonset hut."

She was then assigned to Our Lady of Fatima in Texas City, Texas, where she worked as the principal and eighth-grade teacher for 16 years.

From there Sr. Michele went to Kenya in East Africa, where she taught in a junior seminary for four years. She arrived in 1983, a drought year. "The men I taught ranged in age from 14 to 25 and they were interested in getting a good Catholic high school education," she said.

Sr. Michele was advised to plant a garden as a model for the local women, who hadn’t. "I planted everything I could think of to encourage them because with the drought, the corn failed and that was their main food," she said. "We made sure the water from the sinks went down into the garden and we ended up with an 11-pound head of cabbage. We heard four people had died of hunger in a nearby town, so I sent the head of cabbage to help in that area."

Following her service in Africa, Sr. Michele went into parish ministry. In addition to visiting the homebound, she helped in RCIA, baptism preparation and catechism. "I worked for 14 years at Saint Anthony of Padua in Helper and have ministered at Saint Ann Parish for the past eight years," she said.

Monsignor Colin Bircumshaw, pastor of Saint Ann Parish, met Sr. Michele when he was the pastor in Price. "She has a tremendous work ethic, and she has done what it would take four or five people to do," said Msgr. Bircumshaw. "She works 12-hour days, taking care of the shut-ins."

Sr. Michele coordinates all the lay people at St. Ann who distribute communion to the homebound, he said. She travels beyond the boundaries if there’s a parishioner who’s in a nursing home outside the parish.

"I don’t know what I’m going to do when she retires," said Msgr. Bircumshaw. "It’s going to be a difficult task to replace her."

The Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word founded CHRISTUS Saint Joseph Villa in 1947 at the request of Bishop Duane G. Hunt and have continued to have a presence there for 63 years. The Villa is up for sale and when it is sold, the sisters will return to Villa de Matel in Houston, Texas.

It’s very painful for the villa to be changing hands, but even more traumatic that the sisters will be leaving, said Msgr. Bircumshaw. "We’ve got so few left," he said. "Whatever the Lord wills is her attitude. We’ll sure miss her."

Sr. Michele loves to garden, read and watch the Utah Jazz.