Grey Nuns are Carrying Out God’s Will: Sister Maria Christi Drysdale

Written on: January 11, 2016

Sister Maria Christi Drysdale is grateful for all of the values her parents modeled during her childhood but she especially appreciates their example of adaptability to the twists and turns of life’s journey.

“They were Scottish immigrants,” Sister says. “They didn’t mourn their past in another country. They were realists. They were here in this country, and they lived in the now and looked, with hope, to the future. They didn’t look back.”

Sister Maria entered the Grey Nuns of the Sacred Heart congregation in 1960, after graduating from Little Flower High School in Philadelphia. Her vocation flourished from many layers of influence. Praying and attending church daily with her parents, 12 years of Catholic education, visualizing herself as a sister when she was a child, as well as the loving influence of three Grey Nuns of the Sacred Heart: Sister Patricia Smith (Sister Peter Damien), Sister Mary Timothy Donohue and Sister Jean O’Shaunecy (Sister James Marie).

Her religious life has encompassed education, administration and Catholic social services. She taught in elementary schools and high school and in Philadelphia, worked on the Cardinal’s Commission on Human Relations and Urban Ministry as Office and Business Manager and was appointed the first Director of Old St. Joseph’s Outreach to the homeless.

Currently, Sister serves as an administrative assistant in the religious education program at St. John the Evangelist parish in Morrisville, Pennsylvania.

As a sister who can live independently, Sister Maria Christi will be one of the Grey Nuns of the Sacred Heart moving to affordable housing. Living in an apartment will be a new experience in religious life for her. “I have always lived in a convent or at the Motherhouse. I have the gift of adaptability, though, a gift from my parents. They showed me that you live in the present moment and you make the most of your present situation. We Grey Nuns are carrying out God’s will, so I am at peace. God has always taken care of me and I am confident that He will continue to do so as I journey in this next phase of life.”

This entry was posted in From our Sisters and tagged: adaptability, affordable housing, Cardinal's Commission on Human Relations and Urban Ministry, Catholic Education, Catholic Social Services, future, Grey Nuns of the Sacred Heart, hope, immigrants, Little Flower Catholic High School for Girls, live in the present, next phase, Outreach to homeless, realistic, religious education program, Scottish, St. John the Evangelist Church (Morrisville PA), value