Section:
vocations
Sister Julia Keegan, OSF
What attracted you to religious life? How did you learn about the Sisters of St. Francis?
I believe I was attracted to religious life from grade school on. I had the Sisters of St. Joseph beginning in first grade. They intrigued me. I knew enough to know that they had dedicated their life to God and I thought that was pretty special, but I was disappointed to find out that they didn’t also get married and have children. Through the years, I admired their patience and sensitivity and learned a lot from them.
When I went to high school, I learned about other religious congregations—that is where I first met our sisters. I volunteered as a candy striper and then also began to work at the old St. Mary Hospital in Philadelphia. I found the Sisters of St. Francis joyful and they truly seemed to like being with one another. I was also impressed that they did so many things more than teaching. I was impressed with how hard they worked and how compassionate they were to people who were very poor and very vulnerable. I remember spending the afternoon with one of the sisters who was bathing a man who had lice; she was unbelievably compassionate. I knew I wanted to follow that example.
I felt drawn to be a sister but I also loved dating and wanted to get married and have a lot of children. As I approached my senior year in high school, I decided that I should at least enter the congregation and see if I had a vocation to religious life. I entered the September after high school; my “trying it out” led me to a lifetime commitment which I have never regretted.
What ministries have you been involved in?
Immediately after profession I went into nursing. I graduated in the first nursing class at Neumann College.
I worked at St. Joseph Hospital in Lancaster, PA for about 10 years as a nurse in the critical care unit. For about five years I rode our Mobile Intensive Care Unit (Ambulance) which dispatched directly from the Intensive Care Unit. It was staffed by two paramedics and a nurse with voice communication to physicians. We were one of the first MICUs in the state. That was a very exciting and riveting ministry. I worked on full-blown resuscitations in people’s homes, in bar rooms, at auto accidents, and, once, in a silo! Every day I woke up with excitement wondering what I would encounter that day. I developed a passion for cardiac care and eventually got my Master’s degree in Cardiovascular Nursing from the Catholic University of America. When I returned, I was the first Cardiovascular Clinical Specialist at St. Joseph. I developed all the initial protocols for Swan Ganz Catheters, arterial monitoring, nitroglycerine drips, etc. It was a very exciting time in health care. My favorite part of the specialist role was patient and staff education. I eventually had a dual position in the School of Nursing and in the hospital.
Around 1980 I was asked to join the faculty of Neumann College where I was mainly responsible for the cardiovascular components of the curriculum and eventually a critical care rotation. I took students to the Critical Care Unit at Crozer Chester Medical Center. I also enjoyed curriculum development.
In 1996 I went into hospital administration as the Vice President for Mission and Ministry. In that role I was at St. Mary Medical Center in Langhorne, Pennsylvania, and St. Francis Hospital in Wilmington, Delaware. My main enjoyment in that position was teaching the staff the congregation’s values and convincing them that they just didn’t have a job—they had a ministry. They could be the eyes, hands, and voice of God’s healing power.
During my time at Neumann and my time in hospital administration, I developed significant computer skills and found that it came naturally to me. In 2003, I transitioned to data management in the Franciscan Ministries Foundation. It is an interesting ministry for me. I have been awed at the generosity of so many people to the Sisters of St. Francis. This ministry is quite different from anything I had done before and, at midlife, I suppose that is a good thing. My research and organizational skills and my analytical mind give me the ability and the desire to keep sacred the gifts God has given us through our donors. My desire is to focus on prospect research so that our sisters can continue our ministries long into the future. In prospect research my task is to find those who have the means and connect them with our sisters so that we can form a partnership. Support of our ministries can enable others to be a part of God’s healing ministry in ways they couldn’t even dream.
I began my ministry desiring to show others God’s compassion and I am now in a ministry where I am able to recognize how much compassion and support others share with us as Sisters of St. Francis. It is their compassion and support that enables us as Sisters of St. Francis to be all that we are and hope to be.
Background
I was born in South Philadelphia but raised in the Kensington section of Philadelphia (in the area where our congregation was born 150 years ago). My father was married and had a daughter named Joan; Joan’s mother died when Joan was very young. When Joan was ten-years old, my father married my mother. Less than a year later, she died delivering me. This was a life-defining experience for me. As a child I grew up hearing stories about how the Sisters of St. Francis at St. Agnes Hospital in Philadelphia put me on the altar right after I was born and prayed that I would live and they dedicated me to God. I always felt even as a young child that there must be a reason why I lived and my mother died. Clearly my desire to be a sister had a lot to do with my response to that question.
I attended St. Michael School in Kensington and Hallahan High School. After I entered I received my Bachelor’s degree in Nursing from Neumann College and my Master’s degree in Cardiovascular Nursing from Catholic University. I also went to New York University for my doctorate; I completed my course work and comps but never completed my dissertation.
In my spare time, I enjoy reading and listening to music. I also like to go fishing—nothing big, just at local creeks. Actually my desire to fish is directly related to my joy at sitting and doing nothing except thinking and soaking in creation. Somehow or other, it is more acceptable to do that with a fishing pole in your hand. (Not that I mind catching a fish—I actually enjoy the rush of it.) When I do catch a fish, though, I just say hello to it, give it a little kiss, and return it to the beautiful water from which it came. Then, I feel like I have a buddy in that water who at least knows my face.
