SUMMERSIDE, P.E.I. - It may be a large building for the two senior-aged Sisters of the Marguerite Bourgeoys Centre, but the pair never feels lonely.
“You should have been here for my 80th birthday. You’d think we were never alone. It was an amazing time,” said Sister Marie L. Arsenault, with a smile.
Arsenault, along with Sister Joan Marie Chaisson, are the two remaining sisters at the centre.
“The Congrégation de Notre Dame is about meeting the needs of the people at the time. When our order first began, our purpose was in education,” explained Arsenault. “It was established by Marguerite Bourgeoys in Montreal. She is the name-sake of the centre.”
Chaisson remembers thinking in high school that she would never join a religious order, let alone become a nun.
“In high school I liked to go out to parties and thought one day I’d get married and have a family and so on. But probably in my first year of university I felt this calling for something more than I had at the time. When I made the decision, I knew I wanted to be in this order.”
Next came Chaisson’s two-year discernment period.
“That’s when I became sure that this was what I wanted. And over the years I’ve really appreciated being in the ministries and drawing on my educational abilities to help others.”
A brief history of St. Mary’s Convent and the Marguerite Bourgeoys Centre
- October 1868: St. Mary’s Convent and Academy opens in Summerside on Convent Street. Three sisters ran the school, teaching 25 students.
- 1885: School section of the academy demolished. New building was erected to provide home for the sisters and for their ministries.
- September 1943: Sisters open a commercial school. Would operate for 17 years until its closure. Sisters taught students without being paid – depending on the generosity of students, parents and the community.
- 1966: St. Mary’s Academy closes to the public. There were 23 teachers at 800 students. Following the closure, five sisters became staffers of the Summerside Public School System.
- 1968: A Congrégation de Notre Dame Centennial Project launched called “Headstart” for preschool-aged children. Registration was 125 students per year until closure in 2010.
- 1981: Associate relationship (auxiliary organization) introduced to Congrégation de Notre Dame. It allowed men and women an opportunity to deepen their baptismal call and share in the life of the congregation. There are still 25 members to date.
- 2005: a new journey starts when St. Mary’s Convent is named the Marguerite Bourgeoys Centre, an Ecumenical (interreligious/interdenominational) Spirituality and Hospitality Centre.
She says she’s never regretted the decision.
“Of course, I would wonder ‘what if?’, it’s hard not to. But just because I made this decision didn’t mean I couldn’t still have friends that weren’t in the ministry or still couldn’t go out to social activities. We were never living in a cloister . . . ,” said Chaisson, adding “we are les filles de la paroisse. Daughters or women of the parish.”
“Marguerite Bourgeoys never wanted us to be cloistered. We were never meant to have a habit. We were meant to be out in the community and to help in whatever was needed,” said Arsenault, who was in Grade 12 when she decided to join the Congrégation de Notre Dame.
Reenacting the moment that helped her decide, Arsenault raises her arms as if she had them draped around a person’s neck while dancing. She began to sway back and forth and sing the popular “Is This All there Is?”.
“I remember in that moment, dancing with a boy, my head on his chest, and wondering that very thing.”
For her, joining the ministry was like falling in love.
“It’s something within you that attracts you and calls to you. I had a need for a deeper sense of the purpose of life. When I was in novitiate [the period of trial and early years in a religious order] that’s when I knew where I was supposed to be.”
Chaisson did find it difficult originally because she knew she would never have children of her own.
“I was a teacher, and when I think about it, all the kids I taught were like my own in some way. But I was comforted because I found fullness of life in the congregation and I had an intense desire for a deepened relationship with God.”
The pair agrees that even today, people wonder why they’re still active in the ministry.
“I’m in good health. I feel great at 78, and I still want to help others. We go where the need is. I came here almost three years ago when there was a need, and while those needs may change, it’s still here,” said Chaisson.
The pair is also getting ready to mark the centre’s 150th anniversary. On Oct. 3, 1868, the Sisters of Notre Dame came to Summerside, the three founding sisters of St. Mary’s Academy. Ten days later, 25 students were registered in the school. About half of them were non-Catholics.
By the time the school closed in 1966, there were 23 sisters and 800 students.
Now the centre provides a place for hospitality and spirituality to grow.
“We have prayer groups regularly. There is a quilting group from another part of the Island currently staying here for a few days. We can board up to about 18 people at a time. We also act as tutors for newcomers to the area,” Chaisson said, adding it’s hard to feel lonely when so many people visit the centre.
A celebration of the centre’s history is set for Nov. 3 and Nov. 4. There will be a fundraiser at 8 p.m. on Saturday at St. Paul’s Church. The church’s Sunday mass begins at 10:30 a.m., and an open house of the Marguerite Bourgeoys Centre is later that day, 2-5 p.m. The centre is located at 284 Convent St.
