Surrounded by vocations to the priesthood and religious life as a child, pursuing life as a religious sister felt like a natural progression to Sister Genevieve Raupp, OSF, who, after nearly five decades in service to education – 42 of those years spent at St. Charles Borromeo Parish in Fort Wayne – will open a new chapter in her life and return to her motherhouse in Illinois. Growing up in a rural area outside of Chicago, Sister Genevieve says that she does not actually have a home town. “I grew up on a farm in rural northern Illinois, and my parents did not own the farm. They rented, so when the lease would expire, we moved to another farm. Hence, I don’t have one set place, but in my memory as a youngster, I recall four different farmhouses we lived in, and it was all within the same parish, which was St. Mary’s Parish in Fremont Center Township.” Joshua SchipperSister Genevieve Raupp says goodbye to parishioners at a celebration after Mass on Sunday, October 6, at St. Charles Borromeo in Fort Wayne. Her school had two grades in each room with four Franciscan Sisters of the Sacred Heart instructing students. As a small school, she said, everyone got to know the sisters very well. She said she can still picture where her teacher had a bulletin board about vocations to the priesthood, married life, single life, and religious life. “She really was drawing all of us to think about a religious vocation and what vocation God is calling us to, and that majorly attracted me,” she recalled. Vocations was a topic of discussion in the classroom every year, and by eighth grade, she began seriously considering a vocation to religious life. But by that point, her family had moved again, and she was at another school without the Franciscan Sisters of the Sacred Heart. While she was still drawn to the sisters at her new school, it was not the community to which she felt drawn. “I don’t know why. You know, this is God speaking. I felt drawn to this community.” In high school, her parents encouraged her to write letters to various religious communities and to not just focus on one, but for some reason she kept returning to the Franciscan Sisters of the Sacred Heart. “God knows what He wants, and He gave me these different other options. They’re all good options. And when you discern, you discern between several goods: You don’t discern bad and good, because that’s an obvious choice.” The Franciscan Sisters of the Sacred Heart told her that they did not take people straight from high school, so she enrolled in college, first as a math major but later finishing with a degree in religious studies. After a year of college, the sisters admitted her, and she recalls that the works and ministries of the sisters really drew her in. “And so, that can draw you, but when you feel at peace with it, you have to recognize God’s giving you that gift of peace with it. I’ve always been happy with everything I’ve been asked to do. And there are times I’m like, ‘You really want me to do that? It’s not what I would have chosen.’ But you know, if you go and do in obedience and trust that this is what God wants, you’re at peace with it and just happy with all you do. I’ve never found something I did that I wasn’t happy doing.” Obedience to the will of God, she said, helped to guide her to where she needed to be. The sisters sent her to St. Charles Borromeo where she taught fifth grade for seven years before moving to a different school. It wasn’t long after that when they asked her to start a masters program and become principal of this other school. After five years as principal, however, she realized that some of the stresses that came with the position had begun to impact her health. “So I’m like, ‘Okay, listen to your body.’ I’ve always been told, listen to your body. You know, that’s saying something. So I talked to our superior on that, and she says, ‘I think you’re right.’” Her superior sent her back to the only school that had an assistant principal opening – St. Charles Borromeo. This included teaching part time, and she said that she was excited to return to the classroom after several years spent as just an administrator. Despite a year when she and the school counselor were co-principals while the top position was vacant, Sister Genevieve has remained assistant principal at St. Charles Borromeo since then. However, as her responsibilities grew at the motherhouse in Illinois throughout the past decade, she found herself frequently traveling between there and her home in Fort Wayne. Now, she will return to Illinois to fulfill a new role in her community, the details of which are still being refined. “Am I going to miss it? Absolutely! But if I wasn’t going to miss it, something’s wrong, because you do what you enjoy doing and say, ‘I’m not going to miss doing it,’ like, okay, if you’re not going to miss it, then you must not have given your all in what you were doing. It’ll be great memories, and I’m going to go on to a new adventure, what God is asking of me, and try to be – not just try – but to be open to it.” Her departure this month also marks the final chapter in the order’s 66-year service to the parish, according to pastor Father Tom Shoemaker, who added that nearly 60 sisters from the order had served at St. Charles through the years. Speaking at the end of Mass on Sunday, October 6, as the parish wished her farewell, Sister Genevieve asked for continued prayers to the religious life, after which those gathered at the 9 a.m. Mass gave a standing ovation. The post Sister Genevieve Raupp Begins New Chapter at Motherhouse appeared first on Today's Catholic.