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Sister Julie Fertsch 25, takes a short detour to serve Hispanics of the Eastern Shore

The Road Less Traveled,

EASTON, Md. - It's late Saturday afternoon, not a school day, but something smells good in the cafeteria at Ss. Peter and Paul School, and young people - some carrying bed rolls or sleeping bags, others with guitars - are beginning to arrive.

"Hola!" Sister Julie Fertsch calls from the table where she sits. "Hola!" responds a boy, dwarfed by a bright green pillow.

Hispanic young people were arriving for an overnight retreat, and Sister Julie was there to greet them. Sister Julie, 25, is a Sister of St. Joseph of Philadelphia who since January has come to the Eastern Shore two days a week to minister to Hispanics.

As a novice - a sister who has yet to profess her vows - Sister Julie is unusual; she is the only novice in the Sisters of St. Joseph, a congregation of more than 1,000 religious women. She is also one of only about 700 novices from all religious congregations in the country, according to the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) at Georgetown University. When she takes her final vows several years from now, Sister Julie will be one of about 72,000 women religious in the U.S. (median age 69), a number down from 180,000 in 1965.

Until she completes her ministry on the Eastern Shore later this spring, Sister Julie will continue to work with Sister Dorothy Prettyman, a Sister of St. Joseph who ministers to the Hispanic community around Sts. Peter and Paul Parish in Easton and St. Mary Refuge of Sinners in Cambridge. It is work the young sister loves.

"My [spiritual] director was divinely inspired," she says of her assignment to the Eastern Shore. Both she and Sister Dorothy speak Spanish, have served in Spanish-speaking countries and taught in city schools with Hispanic populations.

On the Eastern Shore, Sisters Dorothy and Julie lead group discussions for troubled immigrants, visit homes to check on how families are doing, drive immigrants to medical appointments, and try to find housing and other basics for those in need. If someone has to appear in court, they may accompany him to translate. Sister Julie also teaches an English class in a home. "We are present to people," Sister Julie says simply. "It is a ministry of presence."

That presence is critical to "welcoming the stranger" in the area, says Father Robert E. Coine, pastor of Ss. Peter and Paul. "I've been very proud of our outreach on the Eastern Shore, and the main reason is that we have been blessed in having Sister Dorothy. But now we have a double blessing with Sister Julie. She too has been just a fantastic asset to the Hispanic ministry. She's been right behind Sister Dorothy with support."

Sr. Julie and friends

Sister Julie usually comes to the Eastern Shore on Sunday night and returns to her convent in Philadelphia on Tuesday afternoon to continue her studies. She has reveled in the opportunity to forge new relationships on the Eastern Shore. "This [religious life] is all about relationship. That's the greatest thing about coming here. The relationships expand every week. If the only reason for my being here is to be in relationship with Sister Dorothy, it's wonderful." Sister Dorothy says her new "assistant" has been an inspiration. "I just appreciate so much her enthusiasm and her energy, her love for the people and her appreciation of the Hispanics and their culture." Nine years ago, when Sister Julie was 16 and a junior at St. Hubert's Catholic High School for Girls in Philadelphia, a religious vocation didn't seem that wonderful. She'd always envisioned the usual life for herself, with a husband and children.

The idea of religious life first crossed her mind through the example of a teacher, Sister Lisa Breslin, a Sister of St. Joseph. "She was great and real, moody and stubborn. It was my first experience seeing sisters as real people. I loved her."

Sister Lisa was a graduate of the Sisters of St. Joseph's Chestnut Hill (Pa.) College; when Julie was offered a full scholarship there, she accepted, majoring in history with minors in French and religion. In college, she says, "I got involved in everything - three sports (field hockey, basketball, lacrosse), student government - I participated in as many activities as I could. And I got to know as many Sisters of St. Joseph as I could; I wanted to know what made them tick."

She spent weekends socializing at nearby universities like LaSalle, Drexel and Penn. During her sophomore year, she signed up for the Sisters of St. Joseph's Good Works Project in Camden, N.J., a week of working with the poor that heightened her interest in social justice. The next two years, she taught religious education in Camden and went to Mexico a few times for mission experience. After graduation, she was accepted by the Jesuit Volunteer Corps and was assigned to a shelter for homeless men in Birmingham, Ala. She lived with three other volunteers and traveled around the south.

"We went to the School of the Americas protest and got arrested," she says, referring to the tax-payer-supported Army school (now called the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation) in Fort Benning, Ga., that attracts annual protesters who say it trains Latin American military to kill and torture. When she returned to Philadelphia in August 2002 she began teaching middle school in Camden and began her two-year candidacy with the Sisters of St. Joseph.

Toward the end of her first year, Sister Julie was sent for four months to Yauri, Peru, a small city about 425 miles southwest of Lima and 14,000 feet up in the Andes. There she learned a lot of Spanish. "It was wonderful, beautiful, the best thing I've done yet," she says. "The whole experience was holy."

Back in Philadelphia, she taught freshman theology at Mercy Vocational High School. During the summer she taught swimming at a camp in Chestnut Hill and spent a few weeks at the sisters' retreat house in Cape May, N.J., before officially becoming a novice.

She now lives most of the week in Philadelphia with six other sisters, ages 47 to 70. "They are very supportive. It's not age, it's personality; people who are fun at 25 are fun at 50." Sister Julie has learned the value of being open to wherever her call might lead. "This is a beautiful life when you can go with God's plan, be open to it, not to your own. It's a hard life when you fight it. I've had times when I felt I want to be married and have a family, but this life has such opportunities and experiences. There is such beauty in the world, so much to do and see and feel."

In May or June she will finish her ministry on the Eastern Shore and spend a few weeks in retreat at Cape May. In August she will go to Boston for the Federated Sisters of St. Joseph meeting of novices from all over the country. In 2005, she will take her first vows. In the meantime, sitting in the cafeteria at Ss. Peter and Paul, Sister Julie watches as more young people arrive. She realizes she has to collect her blanket, pillow and toothbrush from the convent where she stays with Sister Dorothy. She heads off to her car. "This is such an exciting way of living," she says. "Who knows what God has in store for me? I just wait for the surprises."