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sister diane turner celebrates her 50th anniversary as an ssnd

Story by LIZ QUIRIN
Messenger editor

A diocesan native, Sister Diane Turner SSND, grew up in Centreville and East St. Louis, attending school at Immaculate Conception in Centreville before her family moved and lived close to St. Philip’s Church in East St. Louis.

Now 70, Sister Turner has been a parish life coordinator at St. Felicitas in Beaver Prairie since Nov. 1, 2000.
She arrived at the parish after finishing a certificate in spiritual direction from Aquinas Institute of Theology in St. Louis, Mo.

Her dreams of becoming a sister began early in her life, and she wanted to enter at the end of eighth grade. Her father persuaded her to wait until after high school, so she attended St. Teresa Academy in East St. Louis.
Because the high school was so crowded, the juniors and seniors attended school in shifts. Her senior year, Sister Turner worked as a volunteer at St. Philip’s in the afternoons.

She graduated in May 1958 and entered the convent at Ripa in Missouri in August of the same year.
It was pre-Vatican II so the rules were different, she said.

“It was exciting but scary. I didn’t know what I was getting into, but I knew I was in the right place.”

When she spoke with the person in charge, she was asked what grades she would like to teach. “I wanted to be a sister, but not to teach,” she said. “I ended up teaching 17 years, all elementary grades.”

Two of the schools — St. Philip’s and Our Lady of Mt. Carmel in Herrin — were in the diocese.

She switched to working in parish religious education when she went to Iowa and continued when she spent six years in the Springfield diocese.

Sister Turner returned to the Belleville diocese to minister for five years at St. Boniface in Evansville and St. Pius V in Walsh.

During her time at Aquinas Institute she lived at St. Mary’s in Belleville, and Tom Smith, then director of Pastoral Services in the diocese, asked her to become a parish life coordinator.

Sister Turner has enjoyed her time at St. Felicitas, “being part of people’s lives and working with them,” she said.
Sacramental minister, Father Larry Nickels, OFM has been a great help in her ministry.

Father Ed Schaefer in St. Rose is the parish pastor.

While she continues to struggle with various health issues, she keeps up with the parish: taking care of religious education, visiting the sick and preparing parishioners for the sacraments.

Sister Turner said: “Watching people grow to new realizations of who they are and who God is to them is exciting.”
Some of the journeys with the people are difficult. “I don’t always know what to say, but I’ve discovered I don’t have to say anything, just be there,” she said.

Gratifying also are the happy times when people are preparing for baptisms, weddings and anniversaries.

Sister Turner said she has been supported by the people of St. Felicitas and especially by the School Sisters.
“My commitment to the School Sisters of Notre Dame has never wavered,” Sister Turner said. “I have never regretted or doubted that being a Notre Dame is where I belong.”

Thinking about her life as an SSND, Sister Turner quoted the mission of the SSNDs: “We are women of hope, directing our entire lives toward that oneness for which Jesus Christ was sent.”