IHM: Then and Now Sept. 2008

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IHM Sisters - Then and Now
September 2008

Sister Rosemary (Leona) Creteau, IHM, always wanted to be a teacher. She entered the IHM community in 1935 and, after receiving her teaching certificate, began 23 years of teaching in grade schools throughout the Detroit area.

When she received a grant from the National Science Foundation to pursue her master's degree in math from the University of Detroit, she jumped at the chance. The grant stipulated that she teach at the high school level, and so she began ministering at Holy Redeemer High School in Detroit. From 1961 through 1974, Sister Rosemary served as a teacher, then assistant principal and finally as principal.

"I knew each of the 800 students at Holy Redeemer by name," she laughs.

Sister Rosemary went to Marian High School in Bloomfield Hills, Mich., in 1975 as a teacher, then served as the school's business manager for the next two years. Her final teaching ministry was at Lumen Christi High School in Jackson, Mich. When she retired as a full-time teacher in 1992, she volunteered as a math tutor at Lumen Christi until 2002.

"I love math!" Sister Rosemary says. "It comes from God. Human beings didn't make any of the rules for math - they only discovered them. For me, it's second only to theology as a way to know God."

Sister Rosemary moved to the IHM Motherhouse in 2005. She once wrote that she is "joining in the joyful shout of what is and what is to come," and her current ministry reflects that.

It is one of visitation and companionship. "I visit with the sisters who are sick, tell them the news of the day and do what I can to cheer them up," she says.

Sister Rosemary continues her spiritual journey each day and is currently reading Illuminated Life: Monastic Wisdom for Seekers of Light, by Joan Chittister, OSB.

"We have so many advantages at the Motherhouse," she notes. "I appreciate every spiritual opportunity we have. The liturgies are wonderful, and I'm grateful for the good cooks, nurses and housekeepers we have here."

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