"You called. I answered and entered the ministry of teaching…I survived only on your mercy and strength along with the wisdom of those around me."
~Sister Regina Marie Bernet
Did you miss part one of Sister Regina Marie's story? Catch-up on the story of how she went from a loving home in Springfield to winding up in prison! Read more here.
After 18 months in formation, Marilyn made her profession of vows, took the name Regina Marie, and launched off to points north, beginning her teaching ministry among the littlest students at Our Lady of Grace School on Chicago’s north side. For twelve years she taught in crowded Baby Boom-generation classrooms full of students—from kindergarten to fifth grade—at schools in Chicago and its suburbs as well as in rural Irwin, Ill., and in Decatur. Her first principalship was at St. Margaret Mary Parish, Algonquin and then St. Walter on Chicago’s southside.
For those first 20 years of religious life, from 1955 until 1975, Sister Regina Marie gave her all for her students while she continued to study herself. During summer “vacations” she completed a bachelor’s in art at St. Xavier College, Chicago; a teaching, supervision and administration certificate for k-12 education, and a master’s of education in teaching administration and supervision from the University of Illinois! It was not an unusual program for Springfield Dominican Sisters at the time. Today, though, recalling the relentless cycle of teaching, studying, and returning to the classroom with little or no time for rest still fills faint hearts with admiration and wonder!
Interested in hearing directly from some of Sister Regina Marie's former students from Sacred Heart Academy? Click through the stories below to read just how she became a Living Hope for past students and still gives them hope today.
You might imagine that during these two decades of her life, Sister Regina Marie could see ahead on the path God had chosen for her: teaching and administration all the active days of her life. But she would be surprised, again and again, at the ways God continued to call her forth to a new and expanding life of ministry and adventure. Don’t miss the rest of the story!
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Share the gift of Living Hope with Sister Regina Marie and her fellow sisters.
To share a gift of gratitude for Sister Regina Marie’s years of selfless service in Illinois’ parochial school classrooms, click here.
I had Sister Regina Marie in 4th grade at Holy Family Catholic School in Decatur, IL..
She was very young and very soft spoken, kind and fair. One of my favorite teachers.
Pam (Smith) Cox, Decatur, IL