Sister Norma: After her three-mile run with friends, Lauren met me at Cracker Barrel in Rootstown. For several years we’ve met regularly in order to keep in touch, and she has offered helpful suggestions in the process of establishing Angela's Villa -- especially in the area of environmentalism.
Lauren moves to Indiana this month to complete her Ph.D. in clinical psychology. She plans to graduate from Kent State University in August of 2018.
Lauren: Since I made a spring retreat at the Ursuline Motherhouse in 2015, I’ve been blessed by the friendship of Sister Norma and the opportunity to meet with other young women who are involved with service and fellowship with the Ursuline Sisters of Youngstown. Although my involvement has been sporadic due to a busy and unconventional schedule with graduate school and being located an hour away, I've enjoyed the occasional visits I've been able to make to the Motherhouse, Angela's Villa, and breakfasts with Sister Norma.
In a few weeks I'll be moving to a new state for a yearlong internship to complete my graduate program, where I'll have to opportunity to work with children, adolescents and families in a hospital setting in a variety of capacities. While I'm excited for this experience, I am sad to be leaving a community in Ohio that I've come to love!
Part of my involvement at Angela's Villa has been informal "consulting" with Sister Norma on ways to live sustainably -- something I've become passionate about over the years. Pope Francis reminds us how important our role is in caring for our Earthly home is, and I believe we can make a difference even with small commitments to reducing our consumption and waste output. Sister Norma has taken care to make many awesome commitments to sustainability at Angela's Villa, such as composting food scraps, gardening to reduce grocery packaging, and employing reusable cloth napkins and glassware for gatherings.
Since my family is from Pennsylvania, I am hopeful that I'll be able to make stops in Youngstown to visit when I travel there from Indiana, and I will be keeping this awesome community of young women in my prayers!