Judith Mayer, SNJM

Sister Judith Mayer celebrates 2016 with gratitude to the Sisters of the Holy Names Community and Leadership who have supported her in a life of discernment of the heart. Fifty years as a Sister of the Holy Names has given her opportunities that have filled her life with great love and great challenges.

During these 50 years she first became a nurse and worked in the original Sisters Care Center out of which Mary’s Woods has grown. She later worked on the first Hospice Home Health program in the Portland Metro Area and in a Health Center with volunteer health care professionals to provide outpatient care to persons with no or low income.

Her life took a change when she and Sister Joanne Maney took in two children, siblings Chance and Misty. The children were raised by them and now she enjoys being a grandparent to five young children. So, she celebrates 2016 as a time of gratitude to her children as a mother for 30 years and to her precious grandchildren as their Nana for 10 years.

During her parenting years she pursued a degree in social work. She worked in programs for children and families as well as advocacy and program development.

When the children were raised and began their adult lives, she returned to nursing and social work in the Sisters’ Community developing partnerships and support services for their health and well-being.

The vowed life of a religious has given her great freedom to live out the desires of her heart to be of care and service. As Misty so wisely said when she was 18, “Sisters give up having their own children to love all children.”

The year of Jubilee is about letting the land lie fallow, so as Judith lives this year, she does so with gratitude to all those persons who have crossed the threshold into her life and plans to keep the door open to surprises for what comes next. The SPIRIT is always ALIVE.