60th entrance

Sister Patricia Ann (Louis Marie) Rodemann

Service in the archdiocese: Business manager, Providence Center, St. Louis, 1986-2010

Parish ministry and finance, Ascension-St. Paul Parish, Normandy, 2007-11

Administrative assistant, Providence Center, 2011-present

Service outside the archdiocese: Elementary school teacher at St. Elizabeth in Granite City, Ill., and St. Mary in Madison, Ill., and in Missouri, 1961-83

About Sister Patricia Ann Rodemann: Of the influences in her decision to enter religious life, Sister Patricia Ann says, “My parents and family members have strong beliefs in faith. I (also) give credit to the Sisters of Divine Providence, especially the late Sister Mary Ann Haug. She invited me to work with her in the classroom preparing bulletin boards and other little things on the weekends. The sisters expressed their love and gratitude through their lives and their work.”
Self-described as compassionate, responsible and generous with time and talent, Sister Patricia Ann enjoys being outdoors, sewing, reading, listening to music, working number and word puzzles and being present with the homeless and elderly. “As a Sister of Divine Providence, I am called to be a living presence to all I come in contact. I minister by my presence among the elderly at the senior apartment complex where I live and at our homeless shelter. I have a genuine concern for those in need.”

65th entrance

Sister Margaret (Mary) Mertens

Education: Bachelor’s in American studies, Marillac College

Master’s in elementary administration, University of Missouri-Columbia.

Service in the archdiocese: Teacher, Ascension School, Normandy, 1957-59; 1965-72

Teacher, Mount Providence School, Normandy, 1962-65

Principal and teacher, St. John School, Imperial, 1978-84

Local superior, Mount Providence motherhouse, Normandy, 1985

Co-director, Mount Providence motherhouse, Normandy, 1987

Formation/vocation director, Mount Providence motherhouse, Normandy, 1988–94

Area assistant and vocation director for St. Louis, 2011-13

Service outside the archdiocese: Teacher, Annunciation School in California, 1956-57

Teacher, St. Mary School, Madison, Ill., 1959-62

Principal and teacher, St. Mary’s School, Brussels, Ill., 1972-78

Spanish language and Mexican-American culture studies at Florissant Valley Community College in St. Louis and language immersion experience for women in Guadalajara, Mexico

Program director, La Posada Providencia (emergency shelter for immigrants, asylum seekers and asylees seeking legal refuge in the United States), San Benito, Texas, 1995-2008

Ministry with retired sisters at St. Clare’s Villa in Alton, Ill., 2008-10

Assisted novitiate director, Sisters of Divine Providence Novitiate House in Granite City, Ill., 2010

Site coordinator and driver, La Posada Providencia, 2013-present

About Sister Margaret Mertens: She credits the sisters who taught her in school — particularly Sister Mary William Haug, CDP, and Sister Mary Ann Haug, CDP, (her seventh- and eighth grade teachers) — with influencing her decision to enter religious life. As a result of her language education and her ministry in the lower Rio Grande Valley, Sister Margaret is fluent in Spanish and international, intercultural communications. She says of her life as a religious, “I feel I live out the charism of my community by making Providence more visible in all the places I have served.”