A Coming Out
Sister Jan Futrel,OSB, Reflects on How
God's Call to Her Heart Allowed
Her to 'Come Our of Herself'
Sister Jan Futrell, OSB, surrounded by her family during a gathering at
Red Plains Monestary. Photo Sooner Catholic/Cara Koenig. 

By Sister Jan Futrell, OSB
For the Sooner Catholic

EDITOR'S NOTE: Our series celebrating the different ways in which Oklahoma Catholics heard and answered the call to serve the Church continues during this Centennial year of the Diocese of Oklahoma.

This is my “golden jubilee” year, my special time for remembering not only 50 years as a vowed member of a Benedictine community in Oklahoma but also the years preceding that as a native born “Okie.” I am Sr. Jan Futrell, a Sister of Benedict of Red Plains Monastery, Piedmont, Ok. I entered St. Joseph’s Monastery in Guthrie, Ok., on June 16, 1953, having spent my freshman year at Marquette University, Milwaukee, Wis. I simply did not know whether God wanted me to be a cloistered Carmelite or an active Benedictine, so I needed a little extra time to find out. And God said, “You need to go where you will come out of yourself!” Indeed, that is what has happened!

But first, let me reminis about my family and its background. I grew up in the shadow of Oklahoma City University, on 27th St. and Blackwelder. We were members of Our Lady’s Cathedral during the days of Msgr. John Mason Connor and went to John Carroll School taught by the Sisters of Mercy. It was a parish which usually had a new young priest assigned every year or two, so we enjoyed the vitality and enthusiasm of those just starting out, such as Fr. James Ross. I was the fifth child of George and Martha Rose Futrell, the oldest having died as an infant. Then came Mary Joanne, followed by John Carroll and then James Francis. Our Mother was born in 1895 on land at now Noble, Ok., claimed by my grandfather in the Run of 1889. My Dad came to Shawnee, Ok., as a young man from Kentucky via St. Louis.

Our family loved to share our table and our home with others. Frequently on Sundays, we had folks, especially single and widowed persons, come over after Mass and spend the day. We ate, we played games, we picked out pecans, and we laughed a lot. Truly we children experienced them as part of our family!            

 And we were home for a number of priests and sisters. A Carmelite from Little Flower Church, Father Vincent, was often with us for a meal and a good visit. And in the summer, a Franciscan Sister Libentia spent a week or so relaxing with us; she had taught my Mother when she was a child growing up in Purcell and then my sister when she attended a Catholic boarding school for a couple of her high school years in Chickasha. They felt like part of our family! Life in our parish was very vital and certainly had an impact on us-with its novenas and missions as well as daily 6:30 a.m. Mass for my parents. All of this was formative for the four Futrell offspring. We knew beyond words that “vocation” means single, married, priests, religious.

My sister is a Carmelite nun, Sr. Jeanne Marie, at St. Joseph Monastery in Piedmont, Ok. What a blessing for me to have her live so close, just on the other side of that little town from our own monastery. The nuns are such good friends to us!!

And my brother John is a Jesuit priest of the St. Louis Province, presently living in Denver while still traveling internationally for some of his ministry. It is amazing that I was able to be on staff with him in the 1970s first at St. Louis University and then in Denver; through that I learned and experienced so much in terms of spiritual direction, especially as based in The Exercises of St. Ignatius, as well as other approaches for spiritual growth. How God has used that within the ministries which our community offers at our Benedictine Spirituality Center! My brother Jim married a wonderful woman Joanne, and they have five adult children and five grandchildren. He worked most of his adult life in the field of development at Catholic institutions, the last one being with Chicago’s Jesuit Province. Joanne, with him, so graciously opened their home to us, the aunts and uncle, from their first baby and onward. I know I am loved, and I am so grateful!

And what about my being a Benedictine? For me the emphasis on life together as a community, committed to the daily growth which that requires, while devoted to our communal praying of the Church’s Liturgy of the Hours has been both a source of challenge, a source of joy. Life and prayer with my Sisters these many years has nourished the various calls I have experienced in terms of ministry. A graduate of the new Catholic High School in Oklahoma City in 1952, I returned there (now known as Bishop McGuinness) to teach journalism and English in 1960-62. I also taught in Tulsa at Madalene, Marquette and Monte Cassino, and I had a wonderful experience for one year at the Catholic parish and school in Okeene, my only time in a small town and country situation. Next came my being on staff first in St. Louis and then Denver, which included some work in various aspects of spiritual formation in countries such as Australia, Africa, Canada, England, Ireland and Singapore.

Back in Oklahoma City in the 1980s, I was invited by Archbishop Salatka to direct the Renew program, which I did along with Joan Dark; he also invited my joining in with Fathers Joe Ross and Bill Ross in initiating a series of workshops for priests, deacons, Sisters and other pastoral ministers regarding the ministry of spiritual direction. Our community began offering retreats, graciously hosted in those years by the Carmelite Sisters at Villa Teresa, and we continued to develop the ministry of spiritual direction, including the seven-month program of Retreat in Daily Life (Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius) and a training program for spiritual directors.

In the 20-plus years of the Daily Life Retreat, well over 1,000 persons of various faiths have participated, and almost 100 persons have completed the training program, with about half of these available for that ministry in various parts of the state while others serve, for example, as hospice and parish ministers. We also offer a variety of retreats, workshops and classes at Benedictine Spirituality Center as well as other locations.

In the 1990s, I was a part time staff person in the Archdiocesan Pastoral Ministry program, handling the spiritual formation component for the Masters’ Program. I appreciated once again working at the Catholic Pastoral Center, this time with Archbishop Beltran and the many others devoted to various works extending out into all parts of our archdiocese. Currently I serve as prioress of Red Plains Monastery, another opportunity God provides so that I may continue “to come out of myself.” I am daily touched by the deep devotion and dedication of the monastery’s members to our shared life, prayer, hospitality and ministries. I look forward to God’s drawing other women to become Sisters of Benedict together with us in living out today the vibrant 6th century Rule of St. Benedict.

Yes, I am celebrating these 50+ years!! On June 26 members of my family came from throughout the United States, little children included, to join with my community in “joyful thanksgiving with me to our faithful God.” It has been a good life, and I want to invite any of you who wish to do so to join with the Sisters and our Oblates at the  monastery on Sunday, September 11, for an Open House between 2 - 5 p.m.

Yes, God gives each and all of us a vocation, so, come, let’s celebrate!!