49 - Sunday, May 20, 1990 - North Shore News LLY SPEAKIN VISIT FRANCE ON A STUDENT EXCHANGE! DRAGONS INTERNATIONAL French Students 16-19 Would like to come to your home and discover your country for 3 weeks (July 1th ‘til August 1st). You would then return to France, with them, and visit their home and country un- til August 23. NEWS photo Neil Lucente SISTER DELORES, Sister Rita and Sister Eleanor (left to right) are among the approximately 30 nuns who live in the Convent of the Child Jesus in North Vancouver. Their order has been active in North Vancouver since 1898. Catholic sister tells of life in early NV FROM THE busy Keith Road hill that runs from Marine Drive to Lonsdale Avenue, the Convent of the Child Jesus, nestled beside St. Thomas Aquinas School, is a barely visi- ble part of the North Shore community. But, when approached from Sixth Street, the Roman Catholic convent reveals itself in all its glory. Reposing in a_ well-tended garden oasis, the large brick struc- ture gives passers-by an idea of the prominent position the nuns held in the community of early North Vancouver. The first sisters who inhabited the building, built in 1932, had been summoned from France in By PEGGY TRENDELL-WHITTAKER News Reporter “They found it very hard,” Sister Rita says of the nuns who came from France to North Van- couver in the early days. ‘‘(But) they speak very well of the good times they had with the Indians. They were accepted by the In- dians."’ The nuns taught native children “In all communities, not just ours, women are beginning to be more and more interested in religious life.’’ —Sister Rita the iate 1890s by Bishop Durieu, who presided over much of B.C. and Washington State. From the founding of their order in France in 1667, the Sisters of the Instruction of the Child Jesus were a teaching order, so it was natural that they would be chosen to travel to the New World to teach Christianity and Western education to the native population. Sister Rita Tellier was a French teacher who joined the order at the age of 22 and who now heads up the 30 or so sisters who live in the North Vancouver convent. sewing, cooking, cleaning and ‘‘the three Rs’’ in St. Paul’s Indian School, which was demolished to make way for St. Thomas Aquinas School in 1959. UBC-educated Sister Rita, who would later travel the province teaching French, was St. Thomas Aquinas’ first principal. The other teachers were nuns as well, except for the male physical education in- structor, but as these women retired from teaching they were gradually replaced by lay people. Today, most of the sisters in the convent are retired and many have been with the order for over 50 years. The more active nuns spend much of their time taking care of their aging sisters, some of whom now live at Evergreen House, by Lions Gate Hospital. But a new breed of young women is following in the footsteps of these women who have devoted their lives to the order. After many years of ex- periencing no growth in their ranks, Sister Rita says a number of women in their 20s are interested in becoming nuns. “In all communities, not just ours, women are beginning to be more and more interested in religious life,’’ she says, noting that this can probably be at- tributed to a reaction against an increasingly industrialized society. The women joining the order now, however, will have a much different experience than did Sister Rita when she joined in 1933. They will be allowed to continue their careers during much of their training, and cach individual will progress to each step at her own, self-determined pace before taking her Perpetual Vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. “We have to move with the times,” commented Sister Rita. Over the years Sister Rita has seen other customs change, such as the necessity for strict silence and the wearing of the full nun’s habit. In her convent today, nuns wear street clothes, a veil, habit or a combination according to their personal choice, but all don a silver cross specially designed for their order and a wedding ring that proclaims them to be a bride of Christ. But “the big, big change from when I was younger is that now we welcome people, relatives and friends in our house. This is what 1 See Nuns Page 50 This week’s religious events Wednesday, May 23: A Baha'i holiday, the Declaration of the Bab, which commemorates the day in 1844 on which the Bab an- nounced his identity as the ‘*Bab’’ (“Gate’’), the herald of the New Age. Thursday, May 24: Ascension Day, the anniversary of Jesus’ ascension into heaven, 40 days after Easter. Sunday, May 27: A special wor- ship service at North Lonsdale United Church, Osborne and Lonsdale, celebrating the 75th an- niversary of the congregation. Guest speaker is Rev. C.R. Ray- mont. For more information please contact Claude Esposito Anditcosts less, too. Socall Weight Watchers today. What've you gotto lose. . . exceptthe pounds? Wegie Safe, sensible weight loss for 26 years, Join by June 9 at these convenient times and locations: NORTH VANCOUVER #102, 123 East 15th St. «Mon. 5:00 & 6:45 pm -Tue. 9:15 am, 5:00 & 6:45 pm -Wed. 5:00 & 6:45 pm «Thu. 12:15 & 6:45 pm «Sat. 9:15 am ALCOHOL + DRUG + CO-DEPENDENCY PROBLEM? 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