EAST GREENWICH — After her final vows committed her life to serving the people of God as a Sister of Notre Dame de Namur, and after the 200 friends, family members and area religious greeted her on their way out of Our Lady of Mercy Church at noontime Saturday, Nov. 23, Sister Ellen McAdam was asked why at age 40 did she become a nun.
The former Providence public school teacher and parishioner at St. Augustine Church smiled the smile that illuminated the entire morning ceremony.
“You know I hit my 30s, and not being satisfied with life and knowing that there is something else out there, I finally found myself listening to God,” she said.
Earlier during the homily, her father, Deacon Robert McAdam, said, “She has accepted this gracious gift of God...this is a free gift given to you dear Ellen.”
Sister Ellen is one of 22 women from around the world who lived together in the order’s mother house in Belgium last summer preparing to make their final vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. They come from Japan, The Congo, Peru, Brazil and other countries, all represented by their nation’s flags that were sewn on a quilt that was draped from the pulpit. Sister Ellen is the only American in the group.
The sisters work in North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia and Africa. Sister Ellen will teach at St. Patrick’s School and Educational Center in Lowell, Mass. She lives in Lawrence and is a parishioner at Our Lady of Consolation Church in that city. The church pastor concelebrated Saturday’s Mass with Our Lady of Mercy pastor Father Bernard A. Healy.
Sister Ellen’s aunt, Sister Madeline McAdam, is also a nun in the order — 62 years — and remembers her niece’s interest as a young woman.
“She talked to me about it when she was in high school and then nothing,” Sister Madeline said before Mass on Saturday. “I am ecstatic about her taking her perpetual vows. She is a great gift for us.”
Ellen is the fourth of five children and her mother, Toni McAdam, said the day was exciting.
“She wanted to be a nun for a long time. My hope for her is the same as it is for all our children: That she be happy,” McAdam said of her daughter.
After the homily, Sister Mary Rose Crowley, a leadership representative for the order, called Sister Ellen to the altar where the Rite of Profession was conducted. Among the several questions asked in the rite was, “Are you aware that you, in your uniqueness, have something valuable to contribute to community that no one else has?”
Sister Ellen answered, “Yes, I am aware of this and also that I am still in the process of becoming a free and loving person before God.”
Then Sister Ellen walked to a side tabernacle, picked up a candle, lit it from the Paschal candle and blessed herself with baptismal water.
“I commit my one and only life to the Sisters of Notre Dame, women with hearts as wide as the world to continue the tradition of education and to stand with the poor in the most abandoned places,” she said, eager to embark on her new mission in life.
