Safe Haven - Regis College

wordsin my ownAlways a TeacherSister Betty Cawley ’63, CSJ, PhD10REGIS TODAYI grew up in Brighton. My parents were what you’d callmiddle-class. I have two older brothers. They bothwent to Boston College High School. I went to MountSaint Joseph Academy.Our parents, although they had limited education,were very committed to education as the way for theirchildren to succeed.I knew I wanted to be a Sister when I was very young.I had so much contact with the Sisters. I alwaysadmired them and thought it would be a meaningfulway of life.I entered the Sisters of Saint Joseph in 1953, afterhigh school. I had three years of training, whichconsisted of becoming a woman religious, and somecollege-level work. After that you were out thereteaching. I taught one year in junior high and 16years in high school.Then I went on my great adventure—a year of studyin Italy. It was part of my doctoral program at Tufts.When I returned, I began teaching at Regis. I’vebeen here since the fall of 1970.Religious vocation is the most important thing. It’smy life.But I would have been a teacher in any case. WhenI played “school” as a child, I always managed to bethe teacher.Sister Mary Ellen was my religious name. Anotherthing was going back to our baptismal names andgiving up our religious names, much as we likedthem. I chose Mary Ellen because it was the nameof my 5th-grade teacher. She is still alive.I love music. I play the piano and the organ, not well,but well enough to enjoy it. Now I mostly play for ourliturgical services, Masses at the Mother House, andunfortunately I play for a lot of funerals.I live in a convent, which is set up like an apartmentbuilding. We have these little garden plots on theproperty. I grow all kinds of vegetables, whatevermy group likes to eat. I like to cook. I find it enjoyableand relaxing.The College is founded on the values of the Sisters.There is still a small group of us here. We have triedto impart the culture and values of the Sisters of St.Joseph. We’re not the only ones who can and do promotethose values. You’d be amazed at the way thosecome forward. Sometimes it’s not even conscious.We expect and hope that what we did here for morethan 75 years, other people will carry it on.What strikes me now is the thought of all the lives youknow you have influenced. When, years later, you getan unexpected note from someone you haven’t heardfrom in heaven knows how long. They will say somethingthat makes you realize you made a difference.In the 1960s all the religious congregations did go backto their roots and look at the early Sisters, in Francein the 17th century. We were supposed to make surewe were still embodying those values, and one of themwas that they wear the dress of the women of the day.They weren’t supposed to stand out. I wore a habituntil 1969.That of all things is the overriding thing you take away.Sister Betty Cawley ’63 is leaving her current positionas dean at the end of the academic year. In a morethan 40-year career at Regis, she taught in the classicsdepartment, administered a number of programs,and was interim dean of the School of Liberal Arts,Education and Social Sciences. She has served asassistant president of the Sisters of St. Joseph from1986–1994 and then from 2000–2006.photo: Kathleen Dooher