For most of her life, Nanette Slowik has shared a special relationship with the Sisters of St. Francis of the Neumann Communities.
As a student at Onondaga Hill School and the Convent School in Syracuse, New York, she learned from our sisters about God, Francis and Clare and the importance of right relationship with all creation. She entered the community after high school and spent 13 years as a sister before she was “called to something else.” She married and started a family (two boys) and a career teaching English as a Second Language (ESL) in the city.
Throughout it all, her sisters were there.
“The Sisters of St. Francis are part of my family. They have always been there to replace loneliness with holiness in difficult times,” Nanette says. In 1991, she was asked to be a member of the initial group of Franciscan Associates in Central New York and she was ready and willing. “The Associates Program has been the perfect way for me to continue to live the gospel,” she says. “I believe in the Franciscan core values of right relationship with all God’s creatures, simple living, and service to those in need through ministry and prayer.”
Nanette was compelled to play a more active role as an associate after a Franciscan pilgrimage to Assisi several years ago and so she joined Sister Pat Larkin as co-director of the Associates program in Central New York. Nanette reflects: “The Associates program has always provided me a peaceful, prayerful presence in all of my relationships. My two sons are now grown, my first husband passed away in 1995 but God blessed me with love again and I have remarried, and I have recently retired. Through all this I have had the grace of God and the support of my fellow Associates and community of sisters who journey with me!”
Along with her duties as co-director, Nanette continues to give her time and use her talents by testing students for Catholic Charities Refugee Resettlement Program and being an active member of St. Joseph’s parish in Lafayette, New York.
