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by Sister Mary Doran, OLVM
“I don’t know when I realized my calling to religious life. There were many events that led up to it. In 2nd grade in catholic school the Sister said to pray for your vocation. I wasn’t sure what it meant but I knew she was serious about it so I always prayed for my vocation, whatever it meant.
There were religious in the family so we were used to their lifestyle. My aunt is an Oldenburg Franciscan and on some days dad would pile us in the car and off we would go to see who would be first to spot the steeple in the parish where my aunt lived. There were other religious in the family—a great uncle who was a Christian Brother, a great aunt who was a Cleveland St. Joseph Sister and a cousin is a Jesuit priest.
At this time of growing up the saying was, ‘the family that prayed together, stayed together.’ Every evening after dinner and before dishes we all knelt and recited the rosary. Sometimes it was hard to finish because of the antics of my little brother who made us laugh as he would run around and make faces.
I grew up in a small town on the Ohio River in Kentucky. There were seven of us in the family, my parents, two brothers and two sisters. I went to catholic schools and did not know much about catholic children who attended public school. All catholic children had to go to a catholic school or would have to answer to the pastor. In the small town in which I lived there were two catholic schools and one public school. Because of the small enrollment there were usually three grades in one room. To this day I never remember being bored as Sister kept each grade busy.
I often thought about doing something good for the poor. If I ever got lots of money I could buy food or whatever was needed and give it to the families in need. My high school was a girls’ academy in a different town. The school bus would drive through some of these places where the homes were run down or the children in cold weather were running around without shoes. I dreamed about how happy they would be if I could help them in some way. But where would I get the money to do these things?
The money never came but the calling was there. One day while reading Our Sunday Visitor I saw a picture of a Sister sitting under a tree and gathered around her were some children. Sister had a catechism book in hand. In that instant I knew this was for me. However, I decided to continue to pray and wait and see what came out the next week.
From when I was little I always wanted to travel. Since we lived across the river from Cincinnati the big event was to visit the big city. But I had other things in mind. I bought an Atlas and in the evenings would sit with dad and plan a trip to California. This trip never happened. Well when the ad came out the next week in Our Sunday Visitor it was a map of the United States and the many missions throughout the United States where the Sisters served were listed. California had many mission houses at that time. In fact, my first assignment was California. And during my second year my family finally made the trip. At last my dream was fulfilled. We were all together in California and had a fun-filled two weeks.
Photo: Mary Doran (right) enters Victory Noll in 1953.
When I came to the realization that God was leading me to religious life, I came to the decision that Our Lady of Victory Missionary Sisters was the Congregation that I wanted to enter. The next big step in realizing my vocation was to tell the family. Even though I thought of it often I never shared my thoughts with anyone so I knew it would come as a surprise. After graduation I worked at an insurance company in Cincinnati and at the end of the day I decided to tell the family about my calling. They were surprised but elated. Before I entered dad drove us to Victory Noll to talk with the Sisters and see the place for the first time. We were all impressed and thrilled with my decision.
I have been in religious life for 54 years and never regretted a day. There were hardships but nothing ever caused me to question my religious vocation. I was always happy with my decision. With my education in religious studies I did catechetical programs on parish and diocesan levels, starting out in California and then going to Indiana, Florida and back to California. Even though some parishes had a catholic school there were hundreds of catholic children attending public schools. While living in San Pedro, CA, I had as many as 500 children in a week. I often wonder how they are doing today. Each Sister must have touched the lives of many hundreds of children, teaching under trees and in living rooms and eventually training lay people to be involved in the catechetical ministry who to this day are doing an excellent job.
In doing catechetical ministry on the diocesan level in Miami, FL, I sometimes volunteered with the United Farm Workers in their struggles for decent working conditions and wages. Finally, with the approval of the Congregation, I applied to the National Farm Worker Ministry who then assigned volunteers to the United Farm Workers (UFW). I spent five years with the UFW in Florida, Arizona and California organizing picket lines and education programs of ‘Si, se Puede’ (Yes, we Can) in small group communities. For this ministry, Cesar Chavez assigned the volunteers.
During these years of ministry I met many people who needed legal help and had no money to pay for an attorney. This led me to the idea of studying to be a paralegal which again the Congregation approved. Now my ministry is with Inland Counties Legal Services, a private agency that does free legal services for low income people. I have been with them in Indio, CA, for the past 12 years. When I started full time I represented people at hearings for Social Security disability benefits. It was a heart warming experience to assist a disabled person to get benefits for the rest of his/her life. The difficult part was standing before the judge with questions for my client which hopefully would prove that he/she could no longer work because of the disability. Their future security relied on how well I did my job. Most waited for two years without any income before the hearing.
 Photo: Sr. Mary Doran (left) before the administrative judge in 1998.
A younger very capable paralegal does the disability cases as I am now part time and serve seniors. Many of them know me from the nearby parish in which I ministered for five years and request that their appointment be with me. This is easier as I no longer do briefs nor represent people before an administrative law judge. Now that I serve the seniors with legal issues they are most appreciative to have someone who listens to them. Many of the senior citizens are alone and have no family nor friends with whom to share so are grateful for a person who takes time to listen. Often their credit card debt is beyond their capacity to repay or they have been cheated out of their savings by a person who appeared friendly and compassionate. It is so sad to talk with persons 80 and older who have lost everything and only have minimum Social Security benefits on which to survive.
It is difficult to fathom all the people over the years I have met and served in some way. Together we have been sowing the seeds of the Kingdom—from the child in the CCD class, the person being trained to do the catechetical work, the joining together in the struggle of the farm workers, and giving legal assistance. Each person has been a blessing to me. I don’t remember most of the people with whom I have ministered nor know what they are doing today. But someday we will be united together in the Kingdom of God to rejoice together and to share our stories.”
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