THEY have been called to do “insignificant” work in the eyes of the world, and now three fully professed religious sisters have promised to do God’s work for life.
Sr Theresa Maria Dao Thi Xuan, Sr Teresa Francis Pham Huu Hoang Trieu and Sr Teresa Monica Nguyen Thi Loc, made their perpetual profession on May 30 at St Bernardine’s Parish, Regents Park.
All three women were born in Vietnam, but both Sr Theresa Maria and Sr Teresa Monica met the Sisters of St Paul de Chartres in Australia.
Sr Theresa Maria was a student in Melbourne when she met several young sisters at a bus stop.
The chance encounter inspired her to leave her university studies in pharmacy, and her family in Vietnam, to pursue a life with the sisters in Australia.
Ten years later, the 30-year-old is now a sister for life.
“It’s come to this stage, as I reflect deeply, I only want to say thank-you to God for the graces and giving me the courage to say yes to this vocation, because I cannot imagine I could be anywhere else that could make me find the fulfilment in life and the happiness as to be His bride, and to be learning to be a spiritual mother to the people that God entrusted to me,” Sr Theresa Maria told The Catholic Leader.
As a Sister of St Paul de Chartres, an order dedicated to doing work not so common among other congregations, she’s been called to work with young babies in a Montessori atrium, right through to accompanying people on their deathbed.
“My friends are usually aged under 10 or over 70,” she laughs.
“It just humbled me very much in my apostolic area – who am I to have the privilege to encounter Jesus Christ through all different levels of ages?”
Sr Teresa Monica also met the sisters in Australia but, unlike Sr Theresa Maria, she was not actually in the country.
The 33 -year-old was living in Vietnam when Sr Teresa Lau, from the Brisbane community, paid a visit to her parish priest.
She had never heard of the Sisters of St Paul de Chartres, despite there being more of them there in Vietnam than anywhere else in the world.
“I messaged Sr Teresa in Vietnam, then joined the convent,” Sr Teresa Monica said.
“I did not know anything about the Sisters of St Paul de Chartres at that moment.
“Even in my parish now, I am the only one as a Sister of St Paul at this moment.”
Sr Teresa Monica is one of seven, and her eldest brother also left the family to become a priest.
“Actually I make a joke – I say the head and the tail, they chopped it off, and my parents kept the middle,” she said.
The long discernment has given Sr Teresa Monica a chance to reflect on God’s mercy in her life.
“Sometimes I think, who am I and what am I that God called me to this stage of life, and to walk in this path of life?” Sr Teresa Monica said.
Sr Teresa Francis’ has a similar disbelief in being called to religious life.
The former computer programmer was “nearly a pagan” who at one point felt more drawn to Buddhism than Catholicism.
“To get to this stage, to me, it was a really, really a miracle from God to me,” she said.
Sr Teresa Francis has learnt to lean on God’s mercy and forgiveness every day.
“There might be something like I said something not nice to my sister, or just raised the voice or something,” she said.
“I just say sorry to God and just ask for his mercy.”
During her formative years in the convent, Sr Teresa Francis has also had to adapt to a new career as a nurse, which she believes would make her father proud.
“My dad always loved us to become a doctor,” she said.
Sr Teresa Francis supports other sisters at St Paul de Chartres Residential Aged Care in Boronia Heights, which was established by the sisters in 1989.
At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, when aged care and nursing homes were forced into lockdown, the sisters were some of the only familiar faces for the residents.
Sr Teresa Monica said she never knew she could care so deeply for another person until she worked in aged care.
“Just for me, one word is the simplicity, to be with them and to be able to be present with them; it really, really touched me,” she said.
“That is my job, that I feel, maybe people think it’s not much to do with, but for me it’s a joy to be in here and share with people in this way.”
Although Australia has become their second home for the past decade, the three sisters also understand that being in a missionary order means they could be sent to a new country at any moment.
It’s unlikely they will return to Vietnam, but if God wants, tomorrow they could be packing their bags for a new adventure.
“That is also something that makes our life more interesting, though it might be hard in one way,” Sr Teresa Francis said.
“To others they might say it’s really unstable, tomorrow you don’t know where you are.
“We sleep standing.”
