Sister Genevieve Robinson

A reflection on the ministry in which I am engaged has little order, but is related to what I have been trained for throughout my life. I am a Ph.D. trained historian. Even though I did not begin my academic career as a student of history, the history of people and places has always fascinated me. My greatest excitement was as a four year old in California and I met the Pacific Ocean. To this day, I still recall the excitement that I felt.

Now that I have officially retired from academe as, first, a faculty member and, lastly, as an administrator, my ministries have changed greatly. For the last few years – probably eight – I am engaged in the primary life of a Benedictine: praying the divine office daily in community. 

After that, what?

As a trained researcher, I am presently researching and writing the history of Queen of the World Hospital, the first racially integrated hospital in Kansas City, Missouri. It has been an exhilarating undertaking to research the history, the people, and the time. To meet one of the original African American physicians who served at the hospital, Dr. Samuel Rodgers, and interview some of the Maryknoll sisters who served there – in particular, Sister Madelina Dorsey – was a privilege.

There is no argument that many researchers could do what I am doing. Perhaps one unique advantage was that I am a nun and some of the sisters felt very comfortable being interviewed by me because of my religious affiliation. While researching, I was housed in the convent and I ate with the sisters in their dining room. There was an obvious comfortableness with me being among them.  

In addition to praying and researching, I also shelve books in the community library, wash dishes in the community kitchen, clean bathrooms, and empty the trash. Such is part of the balance of Benedictine life.