God is full of surprises! Growing up in a small fishing village on the east coast of New Brunswick, CANADA, I never imagined that my address would ever have New Brunswick in it again. After 25 years in the United State, and becoming a United States citizen in 2005, I get to read ‘New Brunswick’ on my mail again!
 
Growing up as a fisherman’s daughter who gets seasick whenever I see moving water, I was never able to do much fishing. This is why my leaning was toward sports. I love hockey … but who doesn’t … and I can say that I was able to make it through high school only because I had gym class almost every day.  Playing sports was my lifeline during my teen years, but then I graduated.
 
When I was 19 years old, I was invited to a retreat weekend and for the first time in my life I saw some young people who loved God and loved our Catholic faith. Don’t get me wrong, I attended regular weekly Mass, but I surely didn’t know that Jesus not only could but desired to be my best friend. I met the person of Jesus on that weekend. And my life has been a wonderful adventure ever since.
 
God called me to serve Him in the poor at a homeless shelter for 10 years. Then He called me to leave my country, my language (French), my family, and to follow Him to New Jersey so I could become a Sister of Jesus Our Hope. Just as the young man in the parable of the pearl of great price sold all he had to buy the field, I left everything behind because I had found the pearl of great price in the way of life of the Sisters of Jesus Our Hope. I love our life and consider myself very blessed to have found this community.
 
In the twenty-five years of living here in New Jersey,  I have served as a preschool teacher, a religious education teacher, a youth minster, an adult faith formation coordinator and now God has sent me to serve as chaplain here at the Catholic Center at Rutgers. I am excited to be here and can’t wait to meet all of you. As I mentioned earlier, my life has been a wonderful adventure and I am eager to enter into this new adventure with all of you.  
 
In Jesus Our Hope,
 
Sr. Lorraine