10 IMPACT MAGAZINE • WINTER 2015/16 Alumni Profile KaitlynKennedy I remember the moment when I read the site description for Mother Teresa House on our Center for Social Concerns summer seminar web page. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with my last summer of college yet, besides the fact that I should probably get more patient care experience hours for Physician Assistant School. But reading about this home for people who have been diagnosed with three months or less to live, who need full-time care their families could no longer give them, I knew it was where I was meant to be. This conviction persisted as I walked into the door of Mother Teresa House on my first day there and does to this day. My daily tasks for the eight weeks I lived and worked at Mother Teresa House included taking care of the three guests’ needs, such as preparing and feeding meals, helping to change their clothes, organizing their rooms, helping with bathroom needs and giving them medications – just as their family members would do at home. Through all of these simple, rather motherly moments, I was able to form beautiful connections with these people in this very precious time in their lives. We were able to talk about their fears, their accomplishments and their prayers. I also had the privilege of getting to know some of the family members of guests we had at the home. All of these people taught me so much about strength, forgiveness and faith. One of the very last guests we had during my time at Mother Teresa House was someone I will carry in my heart forever. On one of her very last days with full cognition, in the midst of painful breaths, I could hear her saying the Our Father. This was a woman who was given her diagnosis exactly two weeks before this moment and three weeks before her actual death. Yet there was no resentment in her, only courage and faith. I felt God with her and her family during this incredibly difficult time, infusing grace into our encounters of prayer, song, laughter and tears. While my heart broke for this family losing such a special woman, I mysteriously felt joy through it all. St. Ignatius is known for promoting the idea that discernment involves a feeling of peace when you end up where God wants you. But I would like to add that there is a feeling, or rather an embodied knowledge, of deep-seated joy. I say embodied knowledge because feelings can be fleeting and not all people consider themselves to be affective people. A lot of my days at Mother Teresa House felt like the opposite of joy. I knew with that faith-like knowledge that we as Christians are familiar with, at the core of my being, that I was experiencing joy. My time at Guerin Catholic prepared me to understand the ways in which I felt God calling me to open my heart, which led me to my time at Mother Teresa House. Our community fosters a passion for vocation through the openness of religious leaders, the theology curriculum and devotion to Mother Guerin. Guerin Catholic also taught me to treasure the vulnerability of the people I was working with. The way faculty and staff showed me love and respect when I was at my weakest helped me to cultivate a sense of compassion that permeated all that I did at Mother Teresa House and beyond. During my time at Guerin Catholic, teachers promoted intellectual curiosity that shaped the way I looked at my studies that accompanied my summer service. But mostly, Guerin Catholic – and all of the people who made that community what it was and continues to be – helped me to be brave and share hope with the people I met at Mother Teresa House. Vocation and calling are always done in community and for community. My experience with the community of Guerin Catholic and many others supported me in my service this summer and continue to help me to best understand where God’s call lies in my life. “Guerin Catholic prepared me to understand the ways in which I felt God calling me …” – Kaitlyn Kennedy (Top) Kaitlyn encouraging a resident. (Above) Mother Teresa House. Guerin Catholic Class of 2012 University of Notre Dame Class of 2016
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