Sr. Mary Claire Strasser, SOLT, ’02
My most life-changing moment was in March of my freshman year, sitting in the J.C. with next-door neighbor, Nettie (Beaudrie ’02) Sitz. A few SOLT brothers walk through, and she jumps up because she knows one of them from home.
Later that evening, she comes to my room to ask me to go with her to visit with him the next day, because “if you go, he won’t ask me about my vocation and my discernment of religious life!” So, I went with her, had a graced conversation with one of the other SOLT brothers, and kept in touch.
The next year, we planned on meeting up while in Austria, and the brothers and sisters were studying in Rome. The brother introduced me to the SOLT sisters after a Mass with St. John Paul II, and I went to visit their convent with Christy (Hirschfeld ’01) Evans and a few other students who knew them. I knew that evening praying in their chapel, I was home—although Christy had a completely different reaction.
I served a year in the SOLT mission in North Dakota after graduation. Nettie and Christy are both now married with children, and God used their vocational discernment distress to bring me to mine, and we are all still close friends!
I am currently assigned to serve in our Development Office in Corpus Christ, Texas, as we build our first motherhouse. I am also working on a master’s in theology in the online program from Franciscan University.
