Page 42 - eBook Living Water 2

11 Sister Pat

It wasn’t easy moving away from the Jersey Shore where we
knew so many people. We knew no one in Salisbury except the
counselors at the counseling center. One day while I was reading a
little local Christian newspaper called “The Manna”, on the front page
was a picture of some Catholic nuns with two dogs and an article
about them and their ministry called Joseph House. I was drawn to
the doggies and one young nun, in particular, named Sister Pat. In the
article she shared about having been an alcoholic and how she had
gone to the Twelve Step Alcoholics Anonymous program to get
sober. I was really impressed by her openness. I thought that
perhaps this would be a good place for me to meet people.

I got in touch with the Mother Superior, Sister Elizabeth, and
she decided to place me as a volunteer in their center helping the
poor. Sister Pat was in charge of that ministry. I became an
interviewer, one of the people who would meet with those coming in
for assistance, which was usually for money. We would investigate
what they were telling us, by calling their landlords, utility
companies, etc. to make sure that their claims were true.

I met another interviewer named Alice and, come to find out,
she was counseling Sister Pat. When I shared with her about my
training in primal counseling, she asked if I would mind helping her.
She had begun to feel like she was at the end of what she was able to
do for her. I said yes, and began counseling Pat in primal therapy. It
was 1989.

Pat’s issues were a lot deeper than just the alcohol addiction.
She had lived her entire life trying to be good. Her need to please
others caused her to overextend herself at the convent, to the point
that she was suffering from burn-out. It was making it difficult for
her to perform her duties. So, she finally decided to take a one year
sabbatical to come live with us in our newly built home. She was so