8/6/06
year:
2006
Tillamook, OR —Sister Theresa Marie Lamkin professed her final vows as a member of the Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia on August 6, 2006. The liturgy, attended by many of Sister Theresa’s family, friends, and community members, was celebrated in Sacred Heart Church here.
The daughter of John and Kerma Lamkin of Tillamook, Oregon, Sister Theresa was born in Portland. She graduated from St. Mary of the Valley High School in Beaverton, Oregon, and holds both a B.A. and an M.A. in Elementary Education from the University of Portland.
Sister Theresa professed her first vows in August 2001. The five years between her first profession and her final vows were, for Sister Theresa, years of discernment. “I felt when I made my first vows that they were forever,” she said. “but I was grateful for this time of temporary vows because it has confirmed my original decision. Now with final vows I am fully committed to spending the rest of my life as a Sister of St. Francis.”
Currently, Sister Theresa ministers at TRANSITIONS in Spokane, Washington, a ministry which provides housing and supportive services for women and children and which the Sisters of St. Francis cosponsor with several other congregations. For Sister Theresa, ministry means service, a way of living out the Franciscan values she has professed. She described her ministry at TRANSITIONS as a “privilege” which “allows people to see who we are as sisters, to downplay stereotypes, and to be in mutual relationships.”
The Sisters of St. Francis also gathered on the east coast to celebrate those members who were either renewing vows or making final vows. On August 10 Sister Patricia Kerezsi, who made first profession in 2005, renewed her vows in Our Lady of Angels Chapel, located in the congregation’s motherhouse in Aston, Pennsylvania. Sister Patricia currently ministers at St. Joseph Family Center in Spokane, Washington.
The following day, August 11, members of the congregation gathered once again in Our Lady of Angels Chapel to join the family and friends of Sister Margaret Grace Gannon who, like Sister Theresa, professed her final vows as a member of the Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia.
To learn more about the Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia, visit our website, www.osfphila.org.
