Sharing the Good News About
Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton

My experience since being recycled to the Seton Shrine Center in 1998 is very different from what it was when I served on the shrine staff as office manager during the 80's.

Being a docent at the National Shrine of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton is, indeed, a great privilege, which brings one very close to the source of where it all began. And what is that all? It is the foundation site of the American branch of the Daughters of Charity founded here in 1809 by Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton. It so happens that this is also the place where Saint Elizabeth Ann began the first Catholic School in America. Her school opened its doors in the White House in 1810, one of the shrine's treasured sites which pilgrims visit almost every day of the year.

Elizabeth Ann Seton first played a role in my life when I attended Seton High School in Baltimore, Maryland. During those years as I learned about her life, I began to admire her strength and courage in the midst of the adversities that beset her. However, my own devotion to Elizabeth Ann really began in my college days. That devotion has grown through the years and it has been enriched by the privilege I now have as a docent at the shrine center. Here I can share my love for Saint Elizabeth Ann with the hundreds of visitors who come in faith seeking solace, guidance and hope for themselves or their loved ones. I have welcomed and talked with persons literally from all over the world and from every walk of life. Many identify with Elizabeth Ann as they seek physical and/or emotional healing for themselves or their families since they are encountering the same difficulties she did. Their anxieties are not unlike those Elizabeth Ann experienced for her two sons whose future seemed so uncertain or the suffering she endured during the illness and deaths of her oldest and youngest daughters. She had great concern for her only surviving daughters, Catherine, and sought help from her friends so Catherine would be prepared for life outside a convent setting.

It is very rewarding to listen to their stories and to realize that, in some small way, with God's grace, I may have been the instrument that brought peace and hope to discouraged and heavy hearts. Hearing Elizabeth Ann's story may have given hope and courage to those who came to seek an answer to their needs. Perhaps the visit simply provided others with a happy experience or those who may have just noticed the road sign and dropped in, not knowing who this saint was or why she is a saint.

We have welcomed many school groups, both elementary and high school, from across the United States. A number of them have been confirmation classes. The teachers, who included a trip to the Shrine, have impressed me. They recognized in Elizabeth Ann Seton a model for the young because of her courage in embracing Catholicism against all odds. With total trust in God, she put aside all obstacles, including loss of family and friends, to be true to her own convictions. What an example for today's youth!

Whatever visitors are seeking when they come to the Shrine of Saint Elizabeth Ann or how distraught an individual seems, I have never known anyone to leave without a profound sense of peace and a great sense of gratitude for having come and SEEN!