2023 Vocations Awareness Supplement
New postulant finds a spiritual home with the Sisters of Providence
Stephanie Rivas knocks on the entrance door of Providence Hall on Sept. 9, prior to being welcomed by the Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods in western Indiana as the congregation’s most recent postulant. (Submitted photo)
By Jason Moon (Special to The Criterion)
ST. MARY-OF-THE-WOODS—“I knew when I came here for a month’s stay in 2022, and I didn’t want to leave Providence Hall.”
Stephanie Rivas finally felt like she was home at St. Mary-of-the-Woods in western Indiana when she came to visit with the Sisters of Providence.
After four years of investigating religious life, Stephanie found herself in front of the entrance to historic Providence Hall on Sunday, Sept. 9, 2023. She knocked on the door and was greeted by Providence Sister Dawn Tomaszewski, the sisters’ General Superior. She stepped through the doors and was welcomed as the congregation’s newest postulant.
Stephanie, 36, has visited with the Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woos since 2020. At that time, she stayed at a hermitage because Providence Hall at the motherhouse was closed due to COVID-19. However, during her stay in 2020, she met with Providence Sister Barbara Bluntzer who is from Stephanie’s hometown of Corpus Christi, Texas.
Stephanie’s discernment began in 2019 as she investigated many other religious communities. But after meeting with Sisters of Providence vocations director Providence Sister Joni Luna, she felt God nudging her closer and closer to the congregation founded in 1840 in western Indiana by Mother Theodore Guérin, Indiana’s first saint.
“I always came back here,” Stephanie said. “Sister Joni always reached out to me. It started in 2020 through social media.”
Stephanie has a bachelor’s degree in management from Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio. She later earned a master’s degree in early childhood development at Texas A&M University-San Antonio.
After completing her graduate education, Stephanie started teaching at a reservation in South Dakota, but COVID-19 reared its ugly head and she began to feel something might need to change.
“I wasn’t expecting to not be with students,” she said. “So, I used that time to teach and discern.”
Following her teaching stint in South Dakota, Stephanie found herself compelled to volunteer to aid woman in crisis pregnancies with the Vitae Corps program in Chicago. During her stay there, she met with many members of the Sisters of Providence who lived in Northlake, Ill., and began furthered her discernment process with Providence Sister Teresina Grasso.
“I had to know who I was as a person,” Stephanie said. “I was learning myself and the history of religious life. I wrestled with it.”
Even though she continued to visit with other congregations, Stephanie always felt her heart drawn back to the Sisters of Providence and all of the natural beauty of the motherhouse campus at St. Mary-of-the-Woods.
“I like the quiet pace, and I connected with nature,” she said. “I like to be in nature. Something moved me, that at-home feeling. It was probably very subtle, the at-home feeling, to me in little ways. But the quiet felt loud.”
After her stay in 2022, Stephanie went home to Texas and taught at a charter school before coming back for a come-and-see retreat in October of that year.
“I started the process at that time,” she said. “I applied and only three Sisters of Providence knew. I kept everything quiet. It was hard, but all of my experiences have led me to this point.”
The congregation’s director of postulants, Providence Sister Editha Ben, will help coordinate Stephanie’s new schedule and ministry.
During her postulancy, Stephanie will take part in various ministries within the community while continuing her discernment and initial formation in religious life.
After approximately 10 months in the postulancy, Stephanie will be eligible to enter into the first year of the novitiate. At that point, she will receive the title of sister.
(Jason Moon is the communications director for the Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods. For more information on the community of women religious in western Indiana, visit spsmw.org.) †
