For Sister Mary Anne Schaenzer, the past 60 years have been a wonderful gift. She was 20 years old when, on July 17, 1965, she took her first vows with the School Sisters of Notre Dame (SSND), followed by her final vows in the summer of 1970.
Born in St. Paul, Sister Mary Anne, 80, attended St. Francis de Sales grade school and was taught by religious sisters in the order that she joined.
“I grew up at a time when the Mass was in Latin,” Sister Mary Anne said. “In our parish, the Gospel would be repeated — at least on Sunday — in English from the pulpit. I would pick up on certain phrases. Even if, at the time, I did not think in terms of the word ‘vocation,’ I did have some attraction to being a teacher and a (religious) sister, even as a child.”
Sister Mary Anne began her religious vocation journey in earnest in high school, attending Good Counsel Academy in Mankato, an SSND school to which girls from Mankato came as day students; girls from communities a little farther away came as boarders; and girls who thought they might be interested in religious life came as aspirants.
“As an aspirant is the way I came,” Sister Mary Anne said. “We were all together for school, but in our separate areas, or at home, for living quarters.” Although Sister Mary Anne did consider other religious communities, including a contemplative community, her interest in teaching inspired her to join the SSND.
“When I entered the community in 1963, I thought that I would be teaching in schools all of my ministry life — not only in grade school but beyond,” Sister Mary Anne said. While her ministry took on many forms — from serving as an ecumenical hospital chaplain to being a co-moderator for charismatic prayer groups to providing pastoral care and faith formation at various parishes — she “found the charism of teaching to be in my pocket.”
Teaching, for her, took on many forms and moved beyond children to adults — sometimes in areas of spirituality; sometimes in grief; sometimes in adult faith formation and RCIA (now OCIA); and sometimes in ‘how to’ opportunities (such as how to distribute holy Communion in a home or care facility).
Throughout her tenure with the SSND, Sister Mary Anne said, she has been blessed with travel opportunities.
At the time of the SSND’s Silver Jubilee in 1990, she spent a month at the Generalate in Rome with other sisters from the United States, traveling throughout Europe. In 2000, she took a sabbatical and spent 10 weeks with the Catholic Theological Union (CTU) of Chicago in a biblical archaeological program in Israel. She also visited Greece, Egypt, Turkey and Jordan. She has served in various areas of Guatemala and Haiti.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Sister Mary Anne served as pastoral care director at St. Stephen in Anoka. Due to pandemic restrictions, she was unable to work closely with parishioners and found herself spending more time in prayer.
“During that prayer time, I once had an experience of Jesus on the cross, asking me to, ‘Put your hand on my face. Give me that mercy.’ My response was, ‘But you are risen.’ Jesus’ response was, ‘But I am still suffering in my people.’”
When Sister Mary Anne returned to work, one change in her pastoral care position was not only acting as liturgical director for funeral Masses but being the person with whom the family met to plan the funeral.
“And so, through the funeral ministry and other areas of pastoral care I would sometimes inwardly experience my ‘hand on the face of his people’ in the sense of being with them in their suffering — again, not always perfectly, I am sure, but nevertheless, as I was able.”
It’s been two years since Sister Mary Anne retired from St. Stephen, but she continues to serve as a Eucharistic minister and lector as needed. She serves on the board for the Association of Pastoral Ministers in the archdiocese and on the board for Catholic Charismatic Renewal. She also served on the planning committee for the National Charismatic Conference held at NET Ministries in West St. Paul in October 2024. She continues in her lifelong love of teaching — working with Father Michael Becker, who began a “Discovery of Charisms” series in the archdiocese, serving on the teaching team and educating others on the “charism of teaching.”
Most recently, Sister Mary Anne began painting with acrylics, taking a free five-day online class in abstract painting.
“One Sunday the words came to me — ‘A series on creation.’ I painted a 10-painting series on the first story of creation in the book of Genesis.” She also painted a series on Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday, followed by Pentecost.
“One day I wanted to just work with white and gold and red. It unintentionally became a burning bush. The committee working with the planning pieces of our SSND Central Province, of which I was a member, chose it as a symbol to be incorporated into our 2025 Jubilee logo” for celebrating individual sisters’ milestone anniversaries, Schaenzer said.
Sister Mary Anne said she does not know what the future holds, but she’s continuing her ministry to bring the love of Christ to others.
“On a couple of occasions before I retired people shared that the Lord was saying, ‘I have more for you to do.’ We are all called to live in the present, and to continue serving the Lord,” Sister Mary Anne said. “It may be in active ministry. It may be assisting in challenging situations. It may be in a ministry of prayer and presence, as we say. But hopefully, even in times of wondering, we can continue to say, ‘All for the honor and glory of God.’”
