Meet the Sisters Series #2

Sister Moira Quinn, OSsR

Sr. Moira is a multi-talented woman of faith and courage, a tremendous gift to our community. Imaginative cook and kitchen manager, artist, liturgical dancer, author, hair dresser and party planner extraordinaire, Sr. Moira brings so much to our Redemptoristine life. Most outstanding of all is her model of patient love and service, her daily pursuit of the way of Christ so as to become his "living memory", a viva memoria of Christ the Redeemer.

Since the second grade I wanted to be a nun – though, in truth, I did not know what that meant – just that my heart had a longing for something other. In the fifth grade I read a biography of Therese of Lisieux and was drawn to her ‘Little Way.’ In high school when all the kids were preparing for college and careers I had another dream yet I wasn’t ready to enter religious life, so I went to school for cosmetology and became a hairdresser.

At the time when my friends were getting married and having children I thought about religious life again, but I didn’t have the chutzpah to take the big step. I had lived on Long Island all my life and I longed for more space. So at 25 I bought a summer cottage up on a hill in the deep woods in upstate New York. That same year, during Advent, I had become fascinated with John the Baptist, so much so that I began to write a novel about his life. A few years later, at a New Year’s Eve party - the same year as my thirtieth birthday - I had a revelation that it was time to move on from hairdressing and follow Jesus’ call for me to be a nun.

I entered the Redemptoristine Nuns 1988 and made my Profession on January 12, 1991. I have served the community in many roles including being on the Council and helping facilitate our Associate meetings. My everyday charge presently revolves around either cooking or coordinating the kitchen. I even find time to give the Sisters haircuts! In Community I have been encouraged to pursue my creative endeavors which include art and liturgical dance. In 2006 I was blessed to have my dream of having my novel on John the Baptist, ‘HERE I AM,’ printed. My life in the monastery has brought me beyond my dreams to the reality of living my life for God in a community of contemplative women who radiate the joy of the Redeemer.