Jenny Bullen SHCJ

I am a primary school teacher in London, with a year three class that I enjoy very much. The work is varied, interesting and extremely practical. The children are enthusiastic and eager to learn. They are interested in the world and how it was made and are keen to engage in questions and conversations about the universe and the nature of God. These conversations are probably the aspect of teaching which I enjoy most.

In September I started working part time and have gained a TEFL certificate. In a few months I’m going to start volunteering in a safe house for women rescued from sex trafficking situations. I will be able to offer them help with English and basic computer skills. I have been teaching for a number of years and want to branch out and do something different for people on the margins of society. I am looking forward to starting the work and hope I will learn from the experience and be able to offer something practical which is useful to the women in the house.

People often ask me what difference religious life makes to me. And the answer is: a great deal.

Religious life forms the back drop to everything I do. I’m immersed in a culture which is rich in spiritual experience, and surrounded by women, who like myself, have been inspired by the gospel and desire to make a difference in the world around them. Everything we do comes out of this fundamental commitment to Christ. It informs everything I do and I think my teaching is much better as a result.

It would be easy to make this life sound ideal. It is not. Living vowed life is by no means an easy option. Life in community is sometimes difficult and confusing. It can be lonely living a celibate life and frustrating not having the power to make totally autonomous decisions. But these challenges have moulded me and shaped me spiritually into the person I am. I firmly believe that community living can help us become more and more the people God wants us to be. It can be a rather daunting journey at times, but it is worth it!

Pamela Hussey SHCJ

Mine might be described as a life of two halves or, more accurately, of two continents, South America and Europe. Though my parents were English, I was born and brought up in Argentina, in Buenos Aires. In 1942, at the age of twenty, I sailed to Britain to join the WRNs and ‘do my bit’ for the war effort. Although I returned to Argentina after the war, a desire for a deeper commitment drew me back to Europe and to becoming a member of the Society of the Holy Child Jesus.

For some years I taught modern languages and for a time acted as secretary to the province leader. I was nearly 60 before the two continents of my life came together again. In 1981, at the instigation of Julian Filochowski, I went to work in the Latin American Section of CIIR (the Catholic Institute for International Relations) and I stayed there for a quarter of a century! A number of times during the 1980s I visited Central America, working especially in El Salvador. From these visits, and particularly from my contact with the women there, I developed a new ministry of writing. My first book, Free from Fear: Women in El Salvador’s Church, was published by CIIR in 1989. Since then, in collaboration with Marigold Best, I have written four more books, all concerned with women and faith and reconciliation. Recently I have become a member of the Oscar Romero Trust which is working towards the canonisation of the murdered archbishop.

In 2007, I finally retired from CIIR – now renamed Progressio – where I continued to work as a writer, speaker and translator.  

Now a new life beckons in retirement; and I look forward with interest to whatever unexpected events and invitations may be around the corner.