Fridays with Fiona: A Conversation with Sr. Dolan

 

FIONA:  Thank you for your time, Sister Dolan.

 

SISTER DOLAN:  You’re very welcome.

 

FIONA:  What’s your life like at SHS?

 

SISTER DOLAN:  Well, first of all it’s a very happy life because I love to be around the children and all that you do in school.  It’s also a very busy life because I have a lot of work to do, and I am very privileged because I can work with the parents and the students.

 

FIONA:  What do you like to do in your spare time?

SISTER DOLAN:  I love to read, I love to do crossword puzzles and I like to walk.

 

FIONA:  Do you like the movie “Sound of Music”?

 

SISTER DOLAN:  Yes, I do, and I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen it!  [laughing]  You too?  Have you seen it a lot?

 

FIONA:  Yes!

 

FIONA:  Did you go to a Sacred Heart school?

 

SISTER DOLAN:  Yes, I did.  I went to a Sacred Heart School, just for high school, in Greenwich, Connecticut (Convent of the Sacred Heart), which is not far from where I lived.  I loved every minute of it and I had a wonderful time in school.

 

FIONA:  How did you decide to become a nun?

 

SISTER DOLAN:  That’s a long and hard question.  I think everyone who becomes a nun has a story and God works in wonderful and very different ways.  Part of my story is that I was so happy at school, and in my day all the teachers were nuns except for the PE teacher and the French teacher.  So my day was filled with nuns and other religious, and I loved the way they spent so much of their day praying.  I loved the way they interacted with us as students and so I think that was one way that God called me. 

 

[Following graduation,] I went to a junior college that was also run by RSCJ in New York City and that was also a happy time.  All that time I felt a little nudging and I wasn’t sure.  I didn’t say “Oh, boy, God is calling me to be a nun.”  That wasn’t how my story went.  I fought it a little bit and then finally I said my “yes.”

 

FIONA:  What do you do to get ready for Mass?

 

SISTER DOLAN:  My role is to get all the sacred utensils and all that is needed to set up the altar: the chalice, that paten, the water, the wine, the hosts and the tablecloth.

FIONA:  Where were you born?

 

SITER DOLAN:  Washington, D.C.

 

FIONA:  Same here.

 

SISTER DOLAN:  You too?  That’s exciting!  I didn’t know that.  Oh my goodness, well, my mother’s family was from D.C.

 

FIONA:  Me too.  What is your favorite book now and what was your favorite book when you were a child?

 

SISTER DOLAN:  I love to read mysteries and Nancy Drew mysteries are what got me reading.  I started reading them and I went right through the whole series!  Ever since then I have loved to read.  And I love good novels, but mostly mysteries, some biographies and some non-fiction, but mostly fiction.

 

FIONA:  What’s the best part of Christmas at SHS?

 

SISTER DOLAN:  I think being with family.  My family is spread out, but I do have a brother who lives nearby.  First I have Christmas here with all the nuns at Oakwood because I live on the campus and we have a lovely Christmas.  We have a beautiful Mass and we have a delicious dinner, and then later in the afternoon I go to my brother’s.  So I have a family Christmas with my brother, all his sons and all their children - so it’s a big celebration!

 

FIONA:  Thank you.

 

SISTER DOLAN:  You’re welcome.  You are a good interviewer!