A Day in the Life of a Sister
The Sylvania Franciscans share common goals through their mission of “joyful servanthood among all people,” but they are individuals who each bring unique talents to their calling to be women of peace and seekers of justice. Following, is a story about the typical day of one of our Sisters, which shows her individuality in living out her Baptismal Call expressed through her vow of commitment.
How did I ever “break into television” as a Sister? It’s a story that began not with cameras but with books!
As a child, I was an avid reader, often withdrawing 12-15 books at a time from our neighborhood library. Biographies, sports, mysteries, adventures—I thrilled to all of them. By 6th grade I knew what I wanted to be more than anything else: a writer.
But I also read the lives of the saints and the dramatic/ romantic life of St Francis touched me deeply—his troubadour soul, encounter with the leper, visit to the Sultan, the Stigmata and his writing of the Canticle as he sat blinded and close to death.
Drawn by the example and mystery of the Sylvania Franciscans who taught me, I saw Franciscanism as a viable and generous response to the God of Creation. Like Francis, I wanted to “outlove” God in passion and generosity!
During high school I first encountered film as an artistic medium. I remember being absolutely gripped in a religion class at a screening of a short film called “The Clown.” Christ was portrayed as a white-clad circus clown whose sacrificial love for his fellow-performers ultimately brought about his death. The film both electrified and drained me. I knew then and there that what I wanted to do more than anything else was to create powerful media uniting words and images in ways that would touch people deeply.
A master’s degree in communications arts from the University of Notre Dame helped me begin the realization of that dream. By the 1980s I began working in communications—first for my community; then for the diocese of Toledo; for the Conference of Religious Orders of Men in Washington, DC; and then for almost ten years at Family Theater Productions, a Catholic Media Production company in Hollywood, California. Currently I continue TV/ radio/ web –based media production at NewGroup Media in South Bend, Indiana.
In the 25-some years I have spent in communications, I have written and produced hundreds of TV and radio programs. These have included TV documentaries, teen dramas, public service announcements, adult education programs for parish and small-group use, meditations for prayer and reflection; vocational programs for religious communities of men and women, fund-raising and development programs for Catholic schools and hospitals; and educational pieces for use in high schools and colleges.
My work has dealt with subjects such as AIDS, family poverty, a scriptural “biography” of Mary and an archaeological tour of the area near the Sea of Galilee, the remotest Catholic missions in the United States, the RCIA process of adult baptism, the Catholic response to the popular “DaVinci Code” novel, and the plight of Catholic Sisters living under Communism in Eastern Europe after World War 2.
These projects have taken me around the globe, shooting in Peru; the Philippines; the Holy Land; Turkey, Greece and Italy; Alaska; Canada; Ukraine, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, and Lithuania—as well as in over 35 states in the US.
In my current work, I continue to create programs for the University of Notre Dame, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Catholic clients all over the United States, and many religious orders of men and women.
In short, I have become, with the support and blessing of my Sisters, what I hoped to be so long ago: a visual and verbal storyteller. I am responsible for taking an untold story, shaping it, and bringing it to the screen in word and image. Because I most often work with people of faith and Gospel values, their stories are significant. They deal with struggle, with faith, with commitment, with sacrifice and hope. They are people and stories with roots in Gospel realities and I feel privileged each time I am invited to share them with others.
Through my ministry of communications, I feel joined to Francis the poet and troubadour, and to Jesus, the teller of parables. I know that stories speak directly to the heart and that people respond to a good story far more powerfully than they do to theology, politics or philosophy. I am humbled to work in this creative ministry and grateful that my life’s Franciscan ministry has been spent in this holy work.
Sister Judith Ann Zielinski, OSF
Director of Faith & Values Programming
NewGroup Media
Photo description: Gabriel Award Description.pdf
Past articles: A Day in the Life of Sister Sharon Derivan .pdf
Call, click, or visit
Sister Julie Myers, OSF
Vocation Minister
419-824-3914
jmyers@sistersosf.org