FORT SMITH — God called Sister Pat Bolling, OSB, who will make her final vows next month, on three separate occasions.
She first felt the call in junior high, but the teen years put an end to it. During her 20s, she felt the Lord call again, but family problems prevented her from responding.
“At that point, I put it out of my mind totally,” Sister Pat said.
She led an active life, working as a computer programmer for a Baton Rouge, La., company, serving in her parish, St. Patrick Church, and enjoying close relationships with her family and friends.
In the spring of 1999, St. Patrick Church decided to join its 8 a.m. and 12 p.m. choirs for a joint Easter performance, and Sister Pat sat next to Therese Moreno at a rehearsal. Moreno had already been accepted into the Benedictine community at St. Scholastica Monastery in Fort Smith and invited Bolling to attend a weekend retreat.
“I felt the pull again when Therese told me she was entering and I knew at that moment that that was what I needed to do,” Sister Pat said.
Her belief that God was calling her grew stronger when she attended a weeklong discernment retreat at St. Scholastica in July 1999, but she still wasn’t sure what order to join.
She had had little experience with monastic orders during eight years of Catholic elementary school and had always felt drawn to apostolic communities.
“I visited five communities in Louisiana and this community here and then I told God, ’I’m tired, I’m going to sit down and pray with you,’” Sister Pat said.
During her daily visits to the Blessed Sacrament, she became convinced that God was calling her to the monastic life.
“God knew what he was doing,” she said. “I’ve grown a lot in the 61/2 years since I’ve been here.”
She joined the Benedictine order in September 2000. On Saturday, June 2 she will make her final vows.
Still, her journey was not without its difficulties. Her father, Walter, had just been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, and his memory and faculties gradually declined since she left Gonzales, La., to join the Benedictines. Her mother, Gracie, cares for him at home. Her brother and sister-in-law, Stewart and Deborah Bolling, live next door, and a niece is nearby.
“It would be such a miracle if my Dad could come June 2,” Sister Pat said. “I pray for that every day.”
She is looking forward to seeing her mother, Stewart and Deborah, brother Richard and his wife Ginger, and nephew Christopher.
Sister Pat’s computer skills have been a great blessing to St. Scholastica. She troubleshoots, chooses what computers to purchase, fixes old computers, installs software and works with the network. The monastery used to contract out all its computer service work, and, with the savings it has realized, sent Sister Pat to college to learn the additional skills she needed for computer service.
Sister Pat said she is looking forward to making her final profession.
“I so feel that this is what God wants me to do, that this is where I have grown and will grow. I feel such hope for this community and love for this community.”
On June 24, Sister Cecilia Brickell, formerly of Helena, will make her first vows at St. Scholastica Monastery.
