Sister Suzanne Sims started the new year leaving one ministry where she had deep roots and exchanging it for the place that has been her “home” for 54 years.

Sister Suzanne served as director of Faith Formation at St. Pius Tenth Church in Owensboro, Ky., since December 2016. Her family were charter members of the parish and she attended the fifth through eighth grades at the school, taught by Ursuline Sisters.

A few days prior to Christmas 2020, she was asked to consider moving to Maple Mount to take on the duties as director of Local Community Life. Sister Alicia Coomes, who had served in the role since 2018, is now the director of Nursing at the Mount.

“I had a lot of prayer and alone time over the next two weeks to pray, journal, talk to some trusted friends and consult with my spiritual director,” Sister Suzanne said. “As I learned more from the Sisters who live and minister here, I realized how urgent the need was and that others were trying to take up the slack, adding to their own stresses in their full-time ministries. I can say that after looking at all of the work at St. Pius and here, my heart led me to be available to my Sisters. I am both humbled by their awesomeness and happy to serve as needed.”

Sister Suzanne joined the Ursuline Sisters as a postulant in 1966 after graduating from Mount Saint Joseph Academy. She entered the novitiate the following year, making this her 54^th year as a Sister.

She began her new ministry in January. It is a multi-faceted role as the person who is responsible for the needs of the Ursuline Sisters living at the Motherhouse. Sister Marie Joseph Coomes – Sister Suzanne’s former housemate in Owensboro – continues to serve as her assistant.

“I am trying to learn all that the role requires and am dependent on everyone else to teach me,” Sister Suzanne said. “The Sisters and employees are very welcoming. I’m enjoying being with my Sisters very much. I have missed them the past year.”

The limitations due to the Covid-19 pandemic have kept even the Sisters who live away from the Mount from visiting campus. Now part of Sister Suzanne’s duties include serving on the Emergency Response Team at the Mount, the group that recommends what safeguards need to be in place to keep the Sisters safe. On Feb. 13, all the Sisters at the Mount received their second Covid vaccine.