By Jenny Beatrice, Director of Communications
Sister Kristina DeNeve professed her temporary vows with the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet on June 15 in a ceremony in Holy Family Chapel at the Carondelet Motherhouse in St. Louis.
Originally from Moline, Illinois, S. Kristina is the daughter of Ronald DeNeve (deceased) and Karen Clevenger. A cradle Catholic educated in Catholic schools, she was quite familiar with religious life and regularly considered her life’s vocation. However, it took working at a Jesuit university for 15 years to plant the seed that ultimately led her to the Sisters of St. Joseph.
“I was interested in the CSJs because they are the only women’s religious order founded by a Jesuit, imbued with Ignatian spirituality," says S. Kristina. "But it was not until my period of novitiate that I really came to understand and embrace the CSSJ charism that has always been within me—the charism of unioning love, of uniting neighbor with neighbor and neighbor with God."
The inclusiveness of unifying love was woven throughout S. Kristina’s vow ceremony, with each part of the prayer service embodying the CSJ charism. “This ritual was really about how we are all called through baptism and are continually responding to God’s invitation,” she says. “We are all one!”
In 2019, S. Kristina entered the congregation from St. Louis and spent the canonical year of her novitiate in Rochester, New York, with other St. Joseph novices. She returned to St. Louis during the pandemic and remained there throughout her second apostolic year of formation.
S. Kristina holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology and theology from St. Ambrose University in Davenport, Iowa; a master’s and doctorate in social psychology from the University of Missouri-Columbia; and a master’s in Christian spirituality from Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska. She has held positions in academia, both as a professor and administrator. A certified retreat and spiritual director, she also worked in adult faith formation and evangelization for the Diocese of Green Bay and the Diocese of Honolulu.
S. Kristina has already begun full-time ministry at Fontbonne University where she was hired to be an instructor and the program director for Academic Affairs. “During the next academic year, I will mostly be working on special projects for the vice president of Academic Affairs, especially as tied to institutional research and assessment," she says. "I will also be teaching one course each semester, including ‘The Psychology of Happiness’ in the fall.”
S. Kristina also looks forward to deepening her relationships throughout the entire Sisters of St. Joseph community. “Everything excites me about this life I am vowed to live,” she says, “including being energized by the call, as a woman religious, to stand within the institutional church while simultaneously standing alongside the most persecuted and marginalized among us.”
“No matter where I go or what I do, I know God will work in, through and with me to bring about a fuller unity of persons with one another, with God and with all creation,” she says. “God will definitely work around me and in spite of me as well!”
While all sang "Sancte Joseph," Sister Kristina presented a candle to patron St. Joseph. Those gathered asked St. Joseph to continue to intercede for Kristina the congregation and the universal Church. "With you, Joseph, may we continue to risk it all based on a dream—a dream of giving our all for unity of neighbor with neighbor and neighbor with God."