Nun finds blessings in 50 years of service
By Johanna D. Wilson
Sister Isabel Haughey’s devotion to God deepened when she was 10 and
her mother was dead.
Eleanor Haughey was a zealous Catholic who made prayer as natural as
sleeping. She had a small red prayer book that was worn from use and a deep
faith that lived on through her watchful daughter.
On Nov. 24, 1944, Eleanor Haughey died at 46 after giving birth to her
seventh child. Her fifth child was especially devastated.
“I felt terrible,” says Sister Haughey. “I didn’t understand her death,
and I was crushed.”
But she was also at peace with the loss.
“I was sure she was in heaven,” she says. “I knew I was going to love
God like her.”
Less than 10 years later, Sister Haughey entered the Sisters of St. Francis
in Philadelphia and began her life as a nun. On Feb. 15, she celebrated her
50th year jubilee with family, friends and others at St. Michael Church in
Garden City Beach. About 250 were in attendance.
Sister Haughey’s journey is one that began bumpy and got smoother along
the way.
Everyone wasn’t pleased with her decision in the beginning, but Sister
Haughey, who wrestled with feelings of inferiority early on, found her way
in spite of doubts and doubters.
After her mother’s death, at least one relative, a cousin she highly
respected, told Sister Haughey not to become a nun.
“She said, ‘How can you ever think about leaving your father? How selfish
can you be?’ ” she says. “But even with all the inferiority I had, I knew
she was wrong.”
Both of her parents were from Ireland, arriving at the United States separately
at Ellis Island.
Sister Haughey’s family moved to Wernersville, Pa., shortly after her baptism.
It was there that the Haugheys became extremely close to the Jesuits who had
a novitiate in the tiny town.
The Haughey children were educated by the Jesuits for 10 years at the Wernersville
Novitiate, and their character impressed the children.
“We saw the Jesuits were very happy, peaceful and fun-loving, and that was
something we wanted to imitate,” Sister Haughey said.
Two of her sisters would become nuns, although one of them would eventually
leave the life. Her brother John was ordained a Jesuit priest in 1961.
She says her life as a nun has been beautifully blessed.
If she had never been a nun, Sister Haughey says she would have never taught
first-, second- and third-graders. In addition, she says she would have never
become a nurse or attended three universities.
“If I had not been a nun, I would have not met all the people I love,” says
Sister Haughey, 70.
In 1994, she entered a clinical pastoral education program and later became
certified as a chaplain in the National Association of Catholic Chaplains.
That ministry led her to St. Michael’s.
Joan Rubick has been a member of St. Michael’s for 14 years. She says Sister
Haughey, who is pastoral associate, is a woman of great faith.
Rubick remembers when a former St. Michael’s pastor left the ministry during
Lent in 1997. She says it was Sister Haughey who stepped up to the helm and
guided the parish while it was in turmoil.
Manny Ferreira knows Sister Haughey through her work with the parish’s social
justice and Habitat for Humanity programs.
“Sister Isabel is such a phenomenal woman,” says Ferreira, a church member
for 20 years. “She is there whenever anyone needs her, and she always seems
to have time for everybody’s problem. She is also a good listener. Plus, that
smile of hers just does you in.”
All content © THE SUN NEWS, Myrtle Beac h. Reprinted with permission.
Published March 18, 2004
The Catholic Miscellany