- March 3, 2025 Association, Spirituality, Community
During the CSJ/A Kansas City Retreat in June 2024, five associates gave witness talks, sharing about their experiences becoming and being an associate and how their lives have been changed by the CSJ charism. In this issue, we feature Associate Diana Burdett’s presentation. Diana is from Kansas City and became an associate in 2024.
I was raised Presbyterian. My mom took us to church and Sunday School, but we didn’t go to any church activities. I married Michael in 1990. He is a cradle Catholic but had not attended Mass for many years. We have two daughters, Mary Josephine is 32 and Audrey Gloria is 28. We decided to send the girls to St. Elizabeth. My mom bought the house across the street, retired and became the caretaker of my kids and frankly, for myself and my husband, too. At this time, I would have told you that life was pretty perfect.
Shortly after Audrey was born, my mom was diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and told she had six months, but she was with us five more years. Mom told me before she passed that she had asked God to let her stay until Audrey was in school. God said yes.
I had always attended the weekly school Mass. In 1999, my oldest daughter was in second grade and started preparing for First Communion. I never really had any interest in converting. Then, one Tuesday, I heard God’s call and it felt urgent. I called the church office and the first Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA) meeting was that night. I told my mom and she asked to come with me. This is when I met my first faith mentors, Toni and Jim Walters. Jim was paralyzed from the neck down at the age of 18. When I met him, he was in his 50s. Jim and Toni’s faith and service were inspirational. My mom and I converted to Catholicism in the jubilee year of 2000. My mom passed one year later. I know that I was pushed by God’s hand. When she was physically dying, Fr. Gregory came to the ICU and prayed with her and whispered something in her ear that immediately calmed her and she had a gentle death. I volunteered every year to sponsor or just help with RCIA. The true base of my active faith life was built in those years with Toni and Jim.
My youngest daughter, Audrey, graduated from St. Elizabeth in 2010 and we decided to look into other parishes. At this time, I was a volunteer at St. Joseph Hospital in the Pastoral Care Department and that is where I met Sister Gabe Smits. She told me to check out her parish, St. Therese Little Flower. My husband and I went to Mass that Sunday and we knew we were at our parish. As a convert, I didn’t really know any nuns. I was now sitting behind Sisters Gabe, Ann, Helen (make that two), Martha, Joan, Fran and more. This is when I found out that it is pretty much impossible to say no to S. Ann. My husband joined the Pastoral Council, just because she asked. I love being with the sisters. They are joyful. They love what they do. They love their neighbors without distinction. I started to realize that I was always happy when I was working beside them. So, I started attending Linger Over Breakfast and Uncorked, where I realized that I liked socializing with them too!
This past year has been a major shift in my life. Being retired opened a whole new world for me. Volunteering beside the sisters and other associates has taught me to be open and willing to engage with others. I promise this is life changing. In the last year, I have made a pledge to live out my active charism by saying hello and smiling at people I pass, I give compliments to strangers, I danced with a 2-year-old in a buffet line, I offer hugs. Why? Because being an associate of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet (CSJ) means that I have vowed to live the charism of the CSJs.
I will love my neighbor without distinction.