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November
6, 2006
VOL.
44, NO. 19Oakland,
CA
Sixty years a nun, she still works more than full-time
Her pastor
says she’s a “leprechaun powered with an Eveready battery.”
The battery doesn’t seem to be wearing out either. And why should
it? Faith and begorra, Sister Christine Hawkins is a mere 84 going on
85.
With the energy of a 20-year-old, she’s up at the crack of dawn
every day to make sure that St. Jerome Church in El Cerrito is ready for
Mass. She leads the children’s Liturgy of the Word each Sunday.
She helps prepare candidates for First Reconciliation and First Communion.
She serves as chaplain to the local Serra Club chapter. In her spare time,
Sister Christine also coordinates the family faith program.
Does this tireless nun ever stop giving to others one might be tempted
to ask.
Well, the parishioners did manage to slow down their favorite octogenarian
nun just a little bit on Oct. 9. The occasion was Sister Christine‘s
60th jubilee as a religious Sister of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary,
the Irish community that lives in the parish.
Parishioners honored her during the 11 a.m.
Mass, followed by a luncheon.
It was the second honor in recent weeks for Sister Christine. On Sept.
30, she represented St. Jerome Parish as its woman of the year in ceremonies
at St. Ambrose Church in Berkeley, when the Oakland Diocesan Council of
Catholic Women saluted women from a number of East Bay parishes.
Sister Christine Hawkins serves at St. Jerome Parish
in El Cerrito.
The
double honoree has served as a major player on the St. Jerome staff for
the past 11 years. “I supposedly came here to retire and I’ve
never been so busy in my life,” she mused in an Oct. 16 article
in the West County Times.
“People say to me, ‘Sister Christine, when are you going to
retire?’ I say the Lord has blessed me with good health. I’ll
stay active as long as the Lord has blessed me and the children need me.”
Her pastor, Father Jerry Kennedy, characterizes Sister Christine as a
person “who loves children. She has an engaging way of inviting
people to assist us in the work of the church.”
Becoming a nun wasn’t originally in Christine Hawkins’ life
plan. As a teenager she wanted to be a chef, but by the time she graduated
from St. Mary’s High School in Ireland, the economy was in shambles
because of World War II.
Culinary school was out of reach. The young woman began visiting the nuns
at St. John of God convent in her hometown, where she became friends with
Mother Paschal, a senior nursing officer in southern England. Over time,
Christine decided to apply for nursing school and stayed with the nuns
while waiting for her application to be approved. It was during this time
that she realized she had a religious vocation.
Christine joined the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary community and received
her degree from Notre Dame College in Liverpool, England. In 1954, she
and a group of nuns from her order volunteered to teach at schools run
by their order in California.
Sister Christine taught at schools in Atwater, Turlock and Sacramento,
working in every grade through high school. She also served as principal.
Reflecting upon the “then” and “now” of Catholic
education, Sister Christine noted: “I had 50 children in my class
in Turlock.” The tuition was $6 a month for the entire family. Today,
classes average 25 students and the tuition cost for each child has jumped
to $300.
Another major shift, she said, is the ongoing busyness of people. “It
used to be that parents passed the faith to their children,” she
told the West County Times. “But that’s not happening today
because you know people are so busy. It’s very hard to get people
to pray at home or have any discussion about faith. People should sit
down and talk about God, even if it’s a half-hour a month.”
She also urges parents to “sit down at least once a week and have
a meal with their children, have a talk, listen to them and turn off the
TV.”
