November 20, 2025 // Diocese

St. Mary’s Students Become ‘Friends with Sisters’

Clare Hildebrandt

Reporter

“Your sister is going to be your on-campus grandma,” Grace O’Donnell told Today’s Catholic.

Enjoying an ice cream cone, taking a stroll around campus, and hanging out at the convent are all activities O’Donnell partakes in with her dear friend, Holy Cross Sister Eva Mary Hooker, as part of Friends with Sisters, a student club at St. Mary’s College.

“Her wisdom and kindness are so great,” O’Donnell said about Sister Eva. “Her guidance is so appreciated.”

St. Mary’s College students are given a unique opportunity to share a campus with women in religious life, the Sisters of the Holy Cross. With the convent located at the heart of the college, the young women regularly come across the sisters on the school grounds. However, previously, there lacked an opportunity for the students to form meaningful relationships with the religious sisters with whom they shared a campus.    

That’s why Friends with Sisters was formed: to foster authentic friendships between the sisters and students.

Nicole Labadie, director of the Center for Faith, Action, and Ministry at St. Mary’s College, told Today’s Catholic that the club has become one of the most popular on campus.

“Each student and sister meet at least monthly together, one on one, although some choose to meet more frequently,” Labadie said. “Once accepted into the program, students are able to continue meeting with their sister-friend during the duration of their time at St. Mary’s if they desire. Many choose to do this.”

‘She Helps Guide Me Along the Right Path’

Labadie told Today’s Catholic that there are currently 42 students who are paired with 42 Sisters of the Holy Cross. One of those 42 students is O’Donnell, a second-year student who was paired with Sister Eva Mary. They are entering their second year of friendship, and they have bonded over a shared love of learning.

“She was a professor, and I am an education major,” O’ Donnell told Today’s Catholic.

Now, the two meet weekly to talk about what’s going on at the college and in their own lives.

“I get to hear a different perspective on my life from someone other than my friends in college,” said O’Donnell, who added that Sister Eva has had a profound effect upon her spiritual life, particularly in helping her understand more about what the Church teaches and why.

“[Being friends with Sister Eva] was one of my first interactions with a religious sister,” O’Donnell said. “She was very kind and welcoming. … I always wanted to get involved in the Catholic Church. … I was baptized, but it can be scary going to church for the first time after a long time, though. When I came to a Catholic school, it was the perfect time to start going.”

O’Donnell found herself exploring Catholicism, and Sister Eva’s friendship aided this endeavor.

“She helped me through the process [of coming to the Faith],” O’Donnell said. “I was able to ask her a lot of questions about religion. She helps to guide me along the right path. … It reminds me of a mom or grandma’s advice,” she said.

As O’Donnell’s faith life grew, so did her friendship with Sister Eva. When she decided to be confirmed within the Catholic Church, she had one person in mind to ask: Sister Eva.

“[When I went up to the bishop to be confirmed], it was nice to feel her hand on my shoulder,” O’Donnell said. “It was really just her presence there with me that was so great.”

Sister Eva said it’s been a blessing to get to know O’Donnell and be a part of her life.

“I always feel so happy after seeing Grace,” Sister Eva said. “I receive things from her as well. I receive her joy. She shares her experiences with me. … At first, we were meeting on Sundays, and we would go to Mass together. Her friends would come with her to Mass, so I would get to meet them. She asked me to be her confirmation sponsor, which is a great honor. Her parents came from Chicago, and I was able to meet them,” Sister Eva told Today’s Catholic.

As a professor, the sister of the Holy Cross spent much time with college students. Taking part in Friends with Sisters, however, allows her to have a less formal relationship with the young women.

“When you are teaching, it is also a friendly relationship, but it is more professional. With this club, I am not her teacher, I am her friend.”

Friends with Sisters allows for the young women and sisters to form long lasting relationships, ones in which personal growth is celebrated.

“When Grace was having her first exams, I was there,” Sister Eva said. “Everything for her was so new as a freshman. I have really enjoyed seeing the college through her eyes.

‘I Am Just Happy to Be There’

Shannon Larkey, a junior at St. Mary’s and a student coordinator in the club, told Today’s Catholic that she has also enjoyed regularly encountering the Sisters of the Holy Cross.   

“It is a very unique experience [to see the sisters on campus],” Larkey said. “You picture sisters in habits or big hats. You come [to St. Mary’s] and they are in normal clothes. They seem to be on an even playing field with us students on how they present themselves.”

Larkey added: “Going into the convent, you get to see where they live and eat but then also work and train novices. It is a hidden world inside of St. Mary’s. You find out a lot about the sisters,” she continued.

Larkey’s relationship with her sister-friend are unique, as her partner, Sister Frances Mary Werland, is in memory care.

“My meetings look very different depending on how her days are going,” Larkey said. “It is a lot of me going to her, and I would be the main person talking. And then some days, she does the most talking. I am just happy to be there,” Larkey explained.

The experience of befriending Sister Frances made the college experience feel “more homey and family-like,” according Larkey, a junior. “It helps with homesickness that I sometimes feel.”

Larkey shared with Today’s Catholic a special moment between herself and Sister Frances, saying: “At Christmastime, we had a meeting where I made her a card. I made a poinsettia basket [on the card] but made it 3D. She has lost a lot of vision, and she was able to touch it and liked the extra detail,” Larkey said.

“At that time, she was watching a black and white Christmas movie in the main living room,” Larkey added. “I joined her and just watched alongside her. I remember sitting there and feeling so at peace. We talked about our families and my time in my home in Chicago.”

Larkey said she collected her belongings, ready to head out for Christmas break, when Sister Frances spoke.

“She looked at me and wished me a very merry Christmas,” Larkey said. “The whole interaction really hit home that I was forming a very special connection.”