Reflecting on the joy of being a Presentation Sister
SISTER JANETTE BROWN
At my first retreat, never in my wildest dreams did I think what a wonderful, happy life I would have in answering God’s call, despite its ups and downs, and growing in my relationship with God and serving Him as a Presentation Sister.
I was born in Greenock, the second eldest and only girl of five children, to my Scottish parents, Annie and Bill Brown. I loved the fact that in Greenock we were surrounded by extended family and the sea. The family moved to Oakley, a small village in Fife, when I was about six years of age. Here the local church community was like our extended family and I loved the countryside but missed the sea, which I then visited in Greenock every school holiday. I had a very happy childhood. I was educated in Holy Name Primary School in the village and in each class won the religious prize; my father was not a Catholic and would often challenge me about Catholic teaching. When it was time for my secondary education I travelled to St Columba’s High School in Cowdenbeath. When a new school was built in Kirkcaldy, St Andrew’s High School, I continued my double bus journey to school. I loved school and never wanted to miss it, not even when I was sick. No Sisters taught in any of the schools I attended. Sisters from different Religious Orders came to our secondary school assemblies to tell us about their congregation.
When I was in my third year at St Andrew’s the girls were taken on an annual weekend, silent retreat to the Marie Reparatrice Convent in Elie. It was during the first weekend that I felt the Lord was calling me to be a Sister. For the next year I fought against this feeling. At the next retreat I went to speak to the priest giving our retreat – feeling sure he would tell me I did not have a vocation. After asking me some questions he said he thought I had a vocation. I was disappointed; I loved the life I was living, I loved music and dancing and I loved wearing nice clothes. When I told him I did not know any nuns, he suggested I should choose a teaching order as I expressed an interest in teaching. When I said I did not know any teaching Order he suggested the Presentation Sisters in Manchester.
The more I prayed and the more I found out about the Presentation Order and the life of their founder, Nano Nagle, the more I became ready to answer God’s call to Religious Life in Manchester. I was ready to enter straight from school but that was not to be. My father would not give his consent. Our parish priest encouraged me to go to Craiglockhart, the Teachers’ Training College in Edinburgh run by Sisters of the Sacred Heart. He said if I really had a vocation the Lord would still be calling me at the end of the three years.
In 1965, a few weeks after graduating as a teacher, I entered the Presentation Convent in Livesey Street. Daily Mass, prayer, meditation and spiritual reading were the backbone of our spiritual life. I taught in St Patrick’s Infant school and then in Corpus Christi Primary School as a class teacher and then as a deputy. I loved teaching and helping to educate the poor children of the area. My first move came after twenty-five years; I joined the Community in Glossop and took up the post of Head in All Saints’ Primary School. After three years I joined the Community in Matlock and was in charge of the Private Nursery there. Two years later I did an acting Headship for a term in the Sacred Heart Primary School in Henley-on-Thames. In 1996 my life’s journey then took me to Maryland for two years to do a Master’s Degree in Pastoral Counselling, at the request of the Provincial. I felt sad to be leaving teaching. My two years in Maryland turned out to be a wonderful experience all round.
After a few months back in Livesey Street, I was asked to go to our convent in Ryde on the Isle of Wight as administrator for a year, after which I returned to Manchester. For a few years I did some counselling in a local secondary school and primary school. For the past seventeen years I have been working as a member of a team interviewing candidates for the priesthood, religious life and the diaconate.