4 The Catholic News & Herald
August 6, 2004
around the diocese
Many ministries
Sister Schmidt leaves North Carolina after four decades of service by
KEVIN E. MURRAY editor
BELMONT — After nearly 40 years in North Carolina, Mercy Sister Antonette Schmidt is moving on. Sister Schmidt, director of diocesan young adult ministry, is beginning a new ministry as vice president for mission and values at Mercy Suburban Hospital in Norristown, Pa. “The Catholic Church has a specific mission in health care — caring for the poor and those who can afford to pay,” said Sister Schmidt. “It’s a constant balancing act, and attention between caring for the poor and making sure the mission endures.” Sister Schmidt, who will be chairing the ethics and bio-ethics committee at the hospital, looks forward to ensuring a respect for life from conception to death. Her new duties in Pennsylvania are similar to those she had at St. Joseph Hospital in Asheville in the 1990s. “You have ethical directives that must be applied to sometimes very difficult medical decisions,” she said. She will also be responsible for ensuring the “respect for the dignity of each person — staff and patients. You treat everyone with dignity.” Sister Schmidt said she would miss the sense of community among Catholics in the Diocese of Charlotte. “The interconnectedness has been a wonderful gift,” she said. “You get to know people who are as committed to the Kingdom of God as you are.” Moving up North will be “very exciting. It will be different working in a diocese that’s old and established,” said Sister Schmidt. “But it is my home — it’s where I came from.” A “great deal” of her family still resides in Pennsylvania. “It (the transition) is not as unsettling as going somewhere where there is no family present,” she said. “But I will miss my sisters in community. I’ll miss the proximity to the sisters I have literally become an adult with.” Growing up in Berwyn, Pa., Sister
Photo by Kevin E. Murray
Mercy Sister Antonette Schmidt chats with diocesan personnel during her farewell party at the Pastoral Center July 27. Schmidt heard her calling to the life of a woman religious in the form of a whisper in her head at the age of 10 or 11. She was at Benediction and looking at the monstrance when she heard the words, “I want you.” As a child, she was aware of the meaning of the words, but did not understand their significance for her life. She heard the call again in high school. “I was sitting there, and the thought came, uninvited and intrusive,” she said. “I said, ‘go knock on someone else’s door.’ I was clear about wanting to be married and wanting to have children.” She became a Catholic schoolteacher but could not ignore her calling. After serious soul-searching, she spoke with a sister in a local community. “She told me to look for a community that had teaching as a ministry, and I happened to be working with the Sisters of Mercy at the time,” said Sister Schmidt.
In 1965, Sister Schmidt entered the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas Regional Community in North Carolina when she was 21. “I remember being homesick only once. I had the feeling that I was home; it was where I was meant to be,” said Sister Schmidt, who professed her final vows in 1971 at her childhood parish. Living and working in the Diocese of Charlotte has been a great experience, she said. “Service in a mission diocese is filled with possibilities for spreading the Word and ministry,” she said. “I’ve been blessed in being able to serve in many ministries.” She continued with her first love of teaching for more than 22 years. She earned a bachelor’s degree in education
from Sacred Heart College in Belmont in 1973 and a master’s degree in religious studies from LaSalle University in Philadelphia in 1980. She studied for a year in Rome and received an advanced certificate in Scripture and theology and had diocesan training for spiritual direction. She worked as a retreat director at Living Waters Catholic Reflection Center in Maggie Valley during the summers from 1986 to 1991, and as a hospital chaplain at St. Joseph Hospital in Asheville from 1990 until 1998 after receiving certification in clinical pastoral services from Carolinas Medical Center. In 2000, she became a member of the American Red Cross’ Spiritual Response Team for national incidents involving mass casualties. In addition to her work in young adult ministry, she served as co-director of McArthur Spirituality Center for youth and young adults and House of Hospitality for young adults, both in Belmont. She said that she can see a continuous thread throughout her work and ministry. “I have always tried to communicate the wonder of God’s love through my ministry. I really believe that’s my mission,” she said. The diocesan Education Vicariate gave a farewell party for her at the Pastoral Center July 27. “The Diocese of Charlotte has been blessed greatly by her spiritual leadership in relation to the young adults of the diocese,” said Father James Hawker, vicar for education and pastor of St. Luke Church in Mint Hill. “As she leaves for new areas of ministry, we are so deeply grateful for her unique contribution here in the diocese by her generous, gracious, competent and consistent service to the young adults,” he said. “I hope I leave behind the impression that one can be a woman who thirsts for God and enjoys life,” said Sister Schmidt. “No matter what I did, I hope that would be what I leave behind.” Contact Editor Kevin E. Murray by calling (704) 370-3334 or e-mail kemurray@charlottediocese.org.