Meet Sister Pat Cavanagh
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Sister Pat Cavanagh (on the right) and friends,
in Fort Chipewan, AB.
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I grew up in the Ontario farming community of Ennismore,
the eldest of six children. I had a lot of contact with Sisters
during those years, having many in my extended family and
having been
taught by them in high school. After spending a summer doing
volunteer mission work with children in two First Nation communities
in the Georgian Bay area, I entered the Sisters of St. Joseph
of Peterborough in 1967.
Upon obtaining a teaching certificate, I taught at the elementary
level in Almonte, Honey Harbour, Cobourg and Campbellford,
ON. While teaching, I tried to stay involved at the parish
level helping with youth activities, catechetical programming
for various ages, Bible Study groups and Development and Peace.
In 1994 I ventured northwest to teach in a fly-in First
Nation community in northern Saskatchewan. The people and
the land touched my heart. While there, I became very involved
with pastoral ministry. After five years, I finished my classroom
teaching career and studied for two years at Regis College
in Toronto to up-date myself at a theological level.
Since 2001, I have been employed as the Co-ordinator of
Adult Education for the Diocese of MacKenzie-Fort Smith. The
Diocese covers an extensive area including northern Alberta
and northern Saskatchewan, as well as the whole NWT and parts
of Nunivut. My work requires me to encourage and train people
at the local level to take leadership in various ministries
in their local Church. I try to accomplish this by offering
on-site training sessions in small remote communities as well
as longer workshops at Trapper’s Lake Spirituality Centre
outside of Yellowknife.
At the present time, I live in Yellowknife where I also
try to keep involved at the local parish level, helping with
ministry to the prison and the hospital as well as assisting
in the co-ordination of the ALPHA program in the city.
I find my work challenging and energizing. Those I journey
with, call me to very deeper levels of trust and letting go,
as well as the dynamics of trying something new and creating
new paths of learning and ministry in the northern Canadian
Church. Every day offers something new and exciting.
Submitted by
Pat Cavanagh
Peterborough CSJ
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