Out of a desire to pursue God’s will, she attended the Catholic University of America, where she prayed daily, “Lord, if you’re real, will you help me to know you and serve you?” And God, as He promises to do for all of us, answered by changing her life; not only did she gain the Holy Spirit, she began to feel called to a religious vocation. She remembers that moment happening at a college dorm pizza night! The Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia had come to give a talk and she saw simply how happy they were. A life she had thought was impossible was right in front of her and God was inviting her in.
Almost immediately, reality came flooding in. She knew her student loan debt would prevent her from joining the Dominicans because they required vows of poverty. She told herself that God would take care of her: that if God were truly calling her to a religious vocation, He would make it clear by removing the roadblocks. “If we take an initiative,” she trusts, “the Lord and the community help to encourage and walk with us.” Sister Ann Dominic came to the Fund for Vocations with over $100,000 in student loan debt which, in this country, is typical of those studying to become teachers. She came with the support of a few benefactors and having also taken on two jobs to shoulder some of her debt.
And because of your generosity, The Fund for Vocations was able to cover the difference, allowing her to enter the Dominicans while the call was fresh. Sister Ann Dominic saw it as an “opportunity for gratitude and humility and receptivity…to let God be God and to let people help,” help she sees as nothing short of a miracle. She entered the convent shortly after and, in 2017, she took vows to give herself to God for all her life. Now, using her funded education, she teaches at St. John Paul the Great Catholic High School, the same school where she started as a lay teacher when she thought she would have to save her salary for years to answer God’s call.