Relevance to society attracts student

Press, 12 October 1988, Page 19

Relevance to society attracts student

Francine vella is aged 21. Athletic with tennis racket, spiky hair and sparkling brown eyes, she melds into the student crowd at Canterbury University. And indeed she doesn’t see herself as much different. But she is considering a very different future to most. She is in pre-novitiate, one of the very early stages of becoming a Catholic Sister. At times she finds the idea frightening. It’s a whole different culture. There are many older people, she says.

Being young she has much energy and different ideas on how things should work, and is worried she might lose her culture and identity as a young person. Francine Vella didn’t welcome the idea at first and rejected it for several years, but now feels “deep down” it is the best way to live her life. She is attracted to a particular order, the Sisters of Mercy. They are forward-moving and relevant to today’s society, especially in their commitment to women’s issues and biculturalism, she says.