Meet our other newest members:
Perpetually Professed        Temporary Professed        Postulants        Affiliates
Return to main page for Newest Members

Novices are in the third stage of the process of becoming a sister. They spend time deepening their relationship with God. They study the theology of the vows and see how they impact the daily living of our lives. They learn skills for community life and study our SSND history and charism. At the end of the novitiate, the profess their first vows. Click here to read about our sisters in the Novitate in Ghana, Africa. Click here to read out our sisters in the Novitate in St. Louis, Missouri.

SSND novices in Africa (from left) Janet Odey, Pauline Muoti Mutuku, Mary Aloo Odhiambo, Stella Nkechi Anyanwu, Comfort Nguvan Anum, Helen Galadima, Lilian Awuonda Gor and Monica Adhiambo Juma.

Janet Ugbene Odey
I am from Cross River State of Nigeria, West Africa. I am 32 years old, the fifth born from the family of eleven. I am a teacher by profession. I was an affiliate for five years, a postulant for two years. I have just finished the canonical year in the Novitiate in Ghana. I will be going to the Gambia for six months community and ministry experience as I continue discerning my call to religious life with SSND. I look forward to returning back to the Novitiate, and I hope to profess my first vows on July 11, 2009. 

Pauline Mutuku
I am presently living in our novitiate, Ghana. I come from Kenya, East Africa. I am 28, the last born of eight children; two girls and six boys. I am a primary teacher and I desire to work among youth. I just completed my first year of novitiate and am ready to continue with the second phase which is an apostolic experience in community and ministry to further my discernment. This second phase is six months long, during which I will live in Mkar community, Nigeria. I look forward to moving to the third phase and by the grace of God pronounce my vows on the July 11, 2009.  

Mary Aloo Odhiambo
I am from Kenya and am 29 years. I worked with the St Vincent DePaul in Kibera Slums as a volunteer before joining. My affiliation phase was one year while the postulancy took 18 months. I have just finished the canonical year and I am ready for the six months apostolic phase in Nigeria, Mkar Community. I will, then, return to continue phase III next year and hopefully profess on November 7, 2009.

Stella Anyanwu
I am 32, from the Southeastern part of Nigeria, and the last of nine surviving children of my parents. I graduated in 2005 from the University of Calabar where I read Biology/Education and joined the SSNDs in October of the same year. I have just concluded one year in the Novitiate where I have learned many aspects of religious life as it is lived out in the SSND congregation. I am looking forward to going to the Gambia for my Phase II where I will experience community life, be involved in some form of ministry, live, and integrate the different aspects of religious life which I learned in the Novitiate. I will be back to Ghana after six months to complete my Novitiate and hopefully to take my first vows on July 11, 2009.

Comfort Nguvan Anum
I am 32 years and the sixth of eight children. I am from Nigeria. I am a social worker and I worked as a volunteer with people living with HIV AIDS and the prison before I joined the congregation. I have being in discernment for four years with the School Sisters of Notre Dame and competed the canonical year. I am ready to go out for the apostolic phase to continue my discernment in lived reality in Ghana for six months. It is my hope that after this phase, I will come back for the third phase and in July will profess my first vows in the congregation.

Helen Galadima
I am from Nigeria. I was born in 1975. I am a teacher by profession. I worked with the Nigerian Immigration Service before I joined the SSND congregation. I have finished the first year in the novitiate. I am looking forward to going into the second phase which is community and ministry experience in Cape Coast, Ghana, West Africa. Hopefully, on July 11, 2009, I will take my first vows.

Lilian Awuonda Gor
My name is Lilian Awuonda Gor. I come from the Western part of Kenya. I am just finishing my first year novitiate and ready to begin my apostolic phase in the Gambia. I am 30 years old and the second born in a family of five. I am a teacher. I continue to discern my call to religious life and to the SSND congregation. I also seek to intensify my relationship with God.

Monica Adhiambo Juma
I am from Kenya, and am 33 years old.  At present, I live in Ghana-SSND African Novitiate.  I am the fifth born in a family of eight children, seven girls and one boy.  I studied Sales and Marketing Management in college. I have just finished my canonical year in the novitiate and am moving to the apostolic phase which will be six months ministry and community experience in Cape Coast, Ghana. As I continue with my discernment in SSND, I hope to be open and let God’s spirit lead me. I hope to come back to the Novitiate next year to finish my novitiate and, God willing, to take my first vows on July 11, 2009.

The SSND Novices living in the Interprovincial Novitate Community in St. Louis, Missouri, are (from left) Susan Skidmore, Limétéze Pierre-Gilles and Lori Lisowski.

Susan Skidmore
I am from Louisiana. One of three children, we moved frequently due to my father's military career, which gave me a tremendous appreciation for other cultures and later fed into God's call to SSND. I am 47 years old and, prior to joining SSND community life, was an attorney in both Texas and Louisiana, working primarily in family and juvenile law. In those experiences, I grew in appreciating the need to work for justice and thus peace for marginalized women and children, part of the SSND charism of educating and empowering others to reach their full potential. I also have enjoyed volunteer opportunities by helping with the St. Vincent de Paul Society, teaching Catechism to children and classes on the Sacraments to adults, as well as assisting in RCIA. Knowing the SSNDs for 10 years now and closely discerning together with them God's call the past four years very intensely, I feel very fulfilled emotionally and spiritually, and I am very thankful to God.

Limétéze Pierre-Gilles
Haiti is my original country. I am the seventh  of a family of eleven. I've been living in the United States for five years, and that is where I met the School Sisters of Notre Dame. We journeyed together from the time I met them until now. I've got to know them as they've got to know me, and I made the decision to join them. Right now I am in the novitiate which is the place and a time to deepen my relationship with Christ and to continue to discern the call to SSND.

Lori Lisowski
I am originally from Wisconsin but have lived in many parts of the United States including Los Angeles and the Washington, DC, area. Most recently I lived in Minnesota, which is where I met the School Sisters of Notre Dame. My background is in journalism and history. I became an affiliate in May 2006 and a postulant in August 2007. While I was a postulant, I taught English as a Second Language with our sisters at MORE Multicultural School in St. Paul, Minnesota. I was received into the novitiate in St. Louis in August 2008. We are in the midst of our canonical year, which means a lot of prayer, study, and experiences of community life, as well as our primary goal - to deepen our relationship with God. I am grateful to God and SSND for the opportunities for growth I've had so far, and I look forward to many more as I continue this spiritual journey. 

Back to Top