Sr. de Montfort Babb, IHM
"A 'calling' indeed!"My vocation has been just that — a "calling", a "summons". As a child — a non-Catholic — I only remember one instance of seeing nuns. I was in town, shopping with my Mother. Walking down Main Street, we passed two women dressed in long blackand-white dresses and black cloaks and veils. I asked Mother what they were. She responded that they were nuns. 
As I grew up, I read voraciously, and developed a better understanding of nuns, though I did not meet any. By Junior High School, and as I learned more of Faith ( I was Episcopalian at the time), I somehow knew that I wanted to be "with God" — be a nun. I did not speak of this, nor was it influenced by clergy. Only literature — both fictional and spiritual — gave me any ideas about religious life.
I realized, as I went through Confirmation instruction, that there was one Church — and I was not in it! Thus began my journey into Catholicism. It is a story in itself — to be considered at another time. I can only say that the "calling" strengthened. When I was in college, I asked the local Catholic Priest for instruction, and during these, spoke of my "vocation". He gave me addresses of Religious Communities in the Diocese, and I wrote to all of them. Father directed me to visit those nearby. I remember saying, "Just go up and ring the doorbell?" He answered in the affirmative.
I went to the Newberry Dominicans at the local church and school — whom I had seen by this time, then to the IHM Sisters in Raleigh, NC (my home, at that time). As directed, I went to the convent and rang the doorbell. Sister Marianne Addy, IHM, opened the door — and I knew — even as she greeted me — that this was IT! I had found my Community! The rest — is History!
Sister de Montfort is currently serving as a prayer minister at Our Lady of Peace Residence in Scranton, PA.
