In the popular culture, nuns are synonymous with discipline. There\u2019s something to that, though it\u2019s worth remembering the Latin root for \u201cto discipline\u201d is not \u201cto punish\u201d but \u201cto teach.\u201d As part of preparing their girls for the world, the Filippini sisters endeavor to show them, by example, that when St. Paul wrote that love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things, it was more than pretty words.<\/p>\n
Sometimes love means being the one to deliver bad news; sometimes it\u2019s telling a student to knock off the nonsense and start living up to her God-given potential; sometimes it\u2019s just offering a shoulder to cry on for a girl feeling terribly lost and abandoned. Across our world there are thousands of women who, just like Sr. Pat, bring this love to bear daily in ministries from health care and education to helping victims of sexual trafficking. They are living out their promise to God to put the needs of others before their own.<\/p>\n
Like many moms and dads, my wife and I have our anxious moments when we contemplate the future our daughters will inherit. Again like others, we pray for guidance. Then we send our daughters to Sr. Pat. They arrive as unsure and unformed girls\u2014but leave as capable, confident and well-educated women.<\/p>\n