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Flourishing Sisterhood
Meeting People More Than Halfway: A Conversation with Sr. Celeste Larroque, SEC
00:29:33
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- [00:09]
Host
What is flourishing and how might one flourish in religious life and beyond? That is precisely what the Flourishing Sisterhood podcast explores as we capture the rich stories of Catholic religious sisters to amplify their unique voices. Their powerful experiences have inspired many and deeply transformed the church and the world. Supported by the Conrad N. Hylton Foundation's Catholic Sisters Initiative and recorded at Loyola University New Orleans, this podcast offers opportunities to consider the changing landscape of sisterhood and of the life of faith today. Join us for these stories of spirituality, resilience, innovation, resolve, and Faith in Action. Today's episode features Sister Celeste Larocque, a Sister of the Eucharistic Covenant. For 12 years, she was taught by the Sisters of Mercy in her small Louisiana town, which instilled in her the importance of religious women fulfilling their purpose through their missions. As a young adult, Sister Celeste entered a convent, which opened her up to the concepts of community and prayer life. In the early 80s, Sister Celeste, with four other sisters, founded her current congregation after a period of discernment and discussion with their diocese. For over 40 years, Sister Celeste has ministered in civil and social services as well as in congregational leadership. Most recently, she has ministered as the Diocese of Lafayette's Delegate for Religious. She starts with her introduction.
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Sister Celeste Larocque
My name is Sister Celeste larocque and I am a Sister of the Eucharistic Covenant here in the Diocese of Lafayette, Louisiana.
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Host
Sister Celeste says that there are four things that she carries with her through life.
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Sister Celeste Larocque
Everywhere I go, I bring my family. I. I bring my charism and my spirituality and my community.
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Host
Of course, she looks back on her childhood and the impact her extended family had on her spiritual growth.
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Sister Celeste Larocque
When I was growing up, my family was strongly Catholic. We were seven children and my two parents. My mother was housekeeper, but she had. She was unusual in that she had a college degree. She taught for a couple of years, but then when she started having children, she stayed home. My father owned a pharmacy in a small town in this diocese, and we weren't like gung ho Catholics. We went to Mass every Sunday. We went to Catholic School, grades one through 12. All of us, we were very fortunate that we could do that. You know, we observed all the church holidays, feast days, but as far, you know, we were just kind of middle of the road and didn't think a whole lot of it either here nor there. I had an uncle, he's still alive, who is a priest, and he worked most of his life in this diocese. He went to study canon law and came back and he was always involved in some Administrative position here in the diocese. And the family was very proud of him. And he married everybody and buried everybody and, oh, baptized everybody, too.
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Host
Sister Celeste shares a story from her first communion, where her mother provided her with profound spiritual advice.
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Sister Celeste Larocque
I was really blessed, granted a great grace in my life. If you ask me about my first communion, I don't remember it at all. I do not remember, and I wish I could. It's like if I could be hypnotized and go back to that day in time. But what I remember was right after we had a reception at house, and, you know, close relatives were there. And I'm sure I got a few gifts and stuff, but the only thing I remember is my mother and my grandmother were in the kitchen talking. And I was in there, probably looking for more cake or something. But then I had this thought, and I asked my mother, I said, if. If Jesus is really inside of me, how will I know? How am I going to know? She was my first spiritual advisor. She told me. She says, go in your room. Go stand in the corner and get real quiet. In other words, remove yourself from the crowd, from the celebration here, go in your room. And if you go in a corner and just listen real quietly, you will know. And it was like, from there, I was off to the races. It was a beautiful moment. If ever I doubted about God or anything, I never looked back. It opened my ears and my eyes to what was going on around me. I was looking for something. So when I really contemplated religious life was maybe in the third grade, I felt called. I'm so lucky.
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Host
Sister Celeste tells her vocation story. From an early interest in the sisterhood to the formation of her current congregation.
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Sister Celeste Larocque
I always had somewhat of a spiritual life, albeit, you know, it was commensurate with the age I was at at the time. But I always felt close to God and to the Holy Spirit and to his son Jesus. And as I grew older, I did think about entering religious life. But I sort of put that on hold when I went away to college. While I was in college, I made a series of retreats with a particular order. And I grew to like some of the sisters that were there. They were young and they were vibrant, you know, just full of life. And again, that strong attraction came back. So I felt I needed to explore it. Sure enough, I went and inquired about becoming a religious sister with them. And they were very open to me, very welcoming, warm, excited. Especially in the early 70s, you know, more sisters were leaving communities than joining them. So it was a big deal when a young woman would inquire about religious life. And so I entered that community. I had a very good life with those sisters. But at some point, there were several of us who felt that we were going in a different direction as to what the current community was going. So we really discerned. We met with our bishop, actually, we met with the vicar for religious from New Orleans, from the archdiocese, who was a wonderful help. And we decided we would strike out on our own. We began our journey as a new community. And that was in 1983, I believe.
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Host
She explains the importance of the Eucharistic charism to her congregation.
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Sister Celeste Larocque
Regarding our charism, our farmer community had a Eucharistic charism. So we were very much filled with that charism, and we took it with us. Which is probably the greatest gift I say, I got from the earlier community is having that deep appreciation and respect for the role of the Holy Eucharist in my life and the presence of the Eucharistic Christ in others around me and how we share that with one another. And all of us felt like that we could never, ever deny that. And that's where we started. Very focused on the presence of Christ in our midst. The Christ who walks with us, who suffers with us, who gives new life. The paschal mystery, I should say. And we felt it was so necessary to be able to walk with others in that spirit and in that spirituality. Now, we each have our own unique spiritualities, but the Eucharist continues to be the focus. The spirit of the charism, the charism is something I carry within myself. So it's like a charism is like a common thread that runs through the religious life experience. Every pope who has spoken about religious life that I can remember in general terms addresses that charism of each community and how important that is, how that is the Spirit moving within us, but also as a community and how we carry that with us is something very much alive, very much present. And again, the strongest thing, I think that we have, the highest regard we have for Al Kharism is that it needs to be given life every day in God's ongoing creation, in the presence of ministry, of ministering to one another, ministering to anyone we serve, that presence of Christ has to be first and foremost. Sometimes, you know, anything else might just be a distraction, but it is a direction. It is a direction.
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Host
Sister Celeste has ministered in a variety of settings. She gives a broad overview of her missions, then focuses on her work as a licensed clinical social worker.
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Sister Celeste Larocque
I taught for two years. I got a degree in teaching, but I just couldn't go anymore with that track. I started working as a paralegal for the Legal Services Corporation, better known as Legal Aid, and I absolutely love that job. Those were five very good years that I worked there. And what I did mostly was handle appeals for people who had been denied Social Security or SSI or other Medicaid services. And it was very, very rewarding. And so I decided to go back to LSU and get a master's in social work, which I did. And I've had a pretty varied career. I was a hospice social worker for a couple of years. Yes, very, very rewarding. And I got a license. You have to practice for two years before you can get your license. So I did that and became a clinical social worker. I did some psychotherapy for a while, and then I worked in a psychiatric hospital for a couple of years. Also very rewarding. And I applied for a job with the state Department of Health and Hospitals in mental health and then with developmental disabilities. And I worked there for 25 years. I worked here in our regional office, and then I also worked in our state office in Baton Rouge. And then a few years back, I retired from civil service.
- [13:23]
Host
Most recently, Sister Celeste has become the Diocese of Lafayette's delegate for religious. Here she explains her duties and the joys that have come from her work.
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Sister Celeste Larocque
I was in our community leadership for a while. I just finished with that, and now I am here. Every year I go to the National Conference of Vicars for Religious assembly, and I got to know a lot of the sisters there, and somehow they yanked me onto the board. Some on the board, but I love it. I really do.
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Host
She speaks about the importance of loving, what you do to encourage growth and love.
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Sister Celeste Larocque
I think it was St. Teresa of Avila who said, do that which makes you love, and I take that as meaning. Do the things you love. Do the things you love, because that's where you're going to grow. And sometimes we get into spots where we don't feel like we're growing. We don't feel challenged. We're not happy. So do that which brings you to love, do that which makes you love, and hopefully to feel loved.
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Host
Sister Celeste tells us about a moment her father acted in compassion and empathy. His way of meeting people more than halfway has inspired her in life and as a religious sister.
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Sister Celeste Larocque
Well, God has surely loved me through my life. I can say that I'm so grateful for my family and all that they gave to me. The support in the community that they have given me has been a wonderful Grace in my life. They taught me the basics of getting on in life. They taught well. My mother was my first spiritual director. What can I say? But, you know, my father was a wonderful, generous man, and he helped so many of his customers as a pharmacist, just as in all his little humanitarian ways, you know, helping people with their bills and, you know, just reaching out to people. One of the first experiences I had with that was when I was working in high school at his drugstore. And there was this elderly gentleman, he was African American. He came in, he walked only halfway to the front of the store. My father said. He told me. He pulled me aside. He says, go up there, and that's Mr. So and so. And he's going to give you a bottle of medicine, and he's going to say he wants a dollar's worth. That was a lot of money back then. So I did just that. And when I did, and I reached out and took his. We used to refill bottles back then. It just clicked with me. Meeting him halfway. What a lesson, huh? So that's kind of been my philosophy of life. Kind of brings tears to my eyes every time I think of it. You know, he taught me that. But I could see by the things he did he met people more than halfway. So I tried to emulate that.
- [16:50]
Host
Here she gives an example of working to meet people more than halfway in her own ministry. As a clinical social worker, of course.
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Sister Celeste Larocque
When I had those same similar experiences working with people with disabilities, mental, physical, terminal, you know, just all of those arenas. And again, listening, listening and being a presence as Jesus presence to us in the Eucharist. We carry that same presence to others. And that has carried me through each and every ministry. Each and every decision I make, it has to. I don't see any way around it. I'm a captive audience for Jesus.
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Host
When asked how she moves through times of hardship or challenge with grace, Sister.
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Sister Celeste Larocque
Celeste responds, I get discouraged sometimes. But, you know, things move along. Number one, people need to understand that God's creation continues. It's continuing. Things are expanding. We know more about the universe than we've ever known before. We know more about how we got here through the love of God and all these little stars and phenomena that are just coming at us all the time. Our world is much bigger. You would think we would feel like there's more room for everybody, but not always. It doesn't always work out like that. It's also the legacy of our church. That whole idea of lasting through all these ages, you know, we Have a responsibility to let everybody know that we are still loved in the same way. We still come from the same God, we're going to the same place, but it's like Baskin and Ramens, 39 different flavors, but it's all ice cream. You know, it's faith. We all have that faith. And if we give that up, there's hopelessness.
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Host
On what inspires her positive outlook in times of struggle.
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Sister Celeste Larocque
She says, part of it goes back to my upbringing. I come from a long line of educators and public civil servants and we always had this kind of stick to itness, see it through.
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Host
Sister Celeste offers advice to anyone discerning religious life and the importance of being open minded about the congregation you discern with.
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Sister Celeste Larocque
Well, first of all, I want to thank them for discerning it. It's a great grace. And even if you don't choose religious life, you're, you're on, on the correct path to a good life. For those discerning, don't get caught up in the parochialism in the context of, oh, well, this community wears habits, so I'm going to look at them, or this community doesn't wear habits, so I'm going to look at them. Or these sisters say the chaplet of divine mercy every day, so I'm going to, you know, we latch on to these things and it's all about identity. That's what parochial is. You know, it's about the identity of your own movement. And what do you want to define as your own movement? It's not going to be a habit, it's not going to be not a habit, it's not going to be those material things. But be open to everything. When you're discerning, when you're discerning, be sure you are open that you don't already have your mind made up. You know, don't check out just one order or one style of consecrated life. Check them all out. Look for where, number one, you can bethat that community is a fit for you or you are a good fit for them. Be aware of your weaknesses. That's why it's really good when people take time in the discernment process to have a sense of self awareness, self direction, all of those things. To have a spiritual director, our spiritual guide, and to bring, bring to that process, bring it to prayer always, always, always. And try and have a good prayer life before you make the big step.
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Host
She shares her vision for a flourishing church.
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Sister Celeste Larocque
My vision is that many of the things that were discovered about the church and about One another in the church in the synod will be imparted and that we all share that baptismal call and we all have to find our way of bringing it to fruition, which is being in the heavenly kingdom. And the other thing is, I have a vision of us being more inclusive as time goes on, more forgiving, looking at the things we have in common more than keep looking at what we don't have in common and to even those things we don't have in common. Let's find a way to connect to them. Let's connect to them. Let's meet them halfway.
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Host
Sister Celeste expands upon how diversity and inclusivity are important to a flourishing church to create a welcoming presence and learn from everyone's experiences.
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Sister Celeste Larocque
One way diversity was brought to my mind in my experience recently was through the synod process that we did a couple of years ago and how the Pope opened up the church for questions. And for me, it was a wonderful experience talking to people. I was tasked with getting the sisters in our dioceses to respond to the questions that the synod was asking of us. And the answers just blew me away because talk about diversity and people's response to what Pope Francis was asking us to do. To me, it was such an enriching experience to hear people talk about inclusivity in the church and how we need to pay attention to that. No one person is alike, no one culture is alike, no one's upbringing is alike. You know, we're all just so richly different, and we have to find a way to better respond to that. You know, being a social worker, we talk a lot about diversity and inclusion. And, you know, people are trying really hard to stand to that, that task of, you know, being more inclusive, you know, be more welcoming to people of other faiths, other life choices, other races. And I know we're not there yet, and we probably won't be until the kingdom comes, because like we were talking about before, we're only human. But we can make it better. We can be more welcoming while learning, you know, more and more as we welcome people into our midst and give them a seat at the table.
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Host
She ends with a hopeful reflection on the exchange of ministry between her and her fellow sisters and the ways the congregation provides support and love for their.
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Sister Celeste Larocque
Members in our community. Our sisters are getting older. They have health needs that need to be. That we need to respond to as best as we can, in love and being very focused, being very intentional, as best as we can. And when we can't, we know how to go to plan B. And we do a lot of that through prayer and just maintaining that contact with God and his spirit, you know, to find those places and events or experiences, anything that comes along our way. How can we make it better now? We don't always do that. You know, I'm human. Everybody's human. No one religious congregation is, you know, the end all and the be all. We just, we try. We try like we have all our lives, you know, we, we are imperfect, trying to model a perfect Jesus. And that ain't going to happen, as you know. That's why we have the grace of the sacraments. All of those things lead us to God. And the sacraments minister to us as much as we minister within. The sacraments are as a result of the sacraments, you know, so we should take some comfort in that when we feel like we're falling short to look to what the church has offered us for centuries. So, yes, we do minister to one another. All I can say is the best we can in a spirit of joy, in a spirit of holy presence, and in the spirit of hope, especially in difficult times.
- [28:54]
Host
This has been an episode of the Flourishing Sisterhood podcast. Thank you to the amazing Sisters for their contributions to our project. We're also grateful to you, the listener, and hope the Sisters stories encourage you to reflect on what flourishing means in your own life. If you enjoyed today's episode, consider subscribing or leaving us a review on your favorite podcast platform. Platform. The Flourishing Sisterhood podcast is produced by Loyola Institute for Ministry and retained by the university's Digital Humanities Archive.