IHM: Then and Now August 2008

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IHM Sisters - Then and Now
August 2008

Sister Cecilia (Hermes) Campbell, IHM, earned a master's degree in education from Wayne State University and also received a basic certification in speech. She spent 31 years as a classroom teacher in schools in and around Detroit; 16 years in school administration and seven years supervising student teachers from Marygrove and supervising students at the Marygrove Speech Clinic for their clinical practice in speech correction.

From 1968 to 2003, Sister Cecilia ministered at Gesu Elementary School in Detroit. She taught fifth and sixth grades, served as an assistant administrator and, after she "retired," became a volunteer office assistant. She says one of her greatest joys was in watching students grow up to raise their families in the parish and send their children to Gesu. In fact, some of the students she knew were the grandchildren of those she had taught!

She moved to the IHM Motherhouse in 2003 and maintains an active ministry of prayer and visiting the sick.

"There was a lot of busy work in my youth," Sister Cecilia says. "God is slowing me down now to do his work in a different way."

Sister Cecilia continues to nurture her spiritual life through centering prayer. She read M. Basil Pennington's Call to the Center several times to learn how to integrate centering prayer into her life at the Motherhouse. She also has a collection of books to enhance her prayer life, including those by theologians Elizabeth Johnson, CSJ, and Thomas Keating, OCSO. Sister Cecilia is currently reading In the Service of Life: Widening and Deepening Religious Commitment, by Elaine Prevallet, SL.

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