"Life's too short to do things that don't make a positive difference in the lives of others," Sister Lisa Kane responded when asked what drew her to make a dramatic life change at the age of 35. That's when she began exploring the possibility of becoming a sister. On Sunday, October 30, 2006, she made her final profession of vows as a Racine Dominican Sister.

Before coming to the community, Sister Lisa was working her 18th year for a large paper converter as well as moonlighting part-time as a point-of-sale supervisor for a large department store, each in Green Bay, WI. In 1992, following the death of her mother, she began assessing the meaning and purpose of her own life and what she might want, some day, "to be caught dead doing."

"I was wrestling with the question of why God put me on this earth," she said. She visited the local technical school and took a battery of interest and aptitude surveys. Later that year, she explored religious life through a "come and see" retreat experience at Siena Center, home of the Sisters of St. Dominic in Racine, WI. Within months, she requested an application for initial acceptance, and in May 1995 was formally accepted to begin exploring the lifestyle with the Racine Dominicans.

"I entered candidacy, which means I moved in with a community of sisters and began to explore their lifestyle as the initial phase," she said. Feeling some sense of 'fit,' Lisa then requested movement into the novitiate phase (a two-year process) where she experienced ministry possibilities, studied Dominican history, particularly that of the Racine Dominicans, and focused on the meaning and purpose of vowed religious life.

October 1999, Lisa professed her first (also known as "temporary") vows. At that time, she took on the title of Sister. "This is the time when the process moves from a relationship between 'me and the community' and expands to include the more formal ecclesial commitment," she explained. In expressing her final vows, she committed to becoming Sister Lisa for life.

During these years of her religious formation and incorporation into the community, Sister Lisa has continued her formal education and experienced several ministries. She completed undergraduate studies at Alverno College in Milwaukee and worked as an addictions counselor in public health in Waukegan, IL. While completing graduate work in Pastoral Counseling at Loyola University, Chicago, she ministered in a residential facility for dually-diagnosed (mental health and substance abuse) adults.

In reflecting upon professing her life commitment to God and the community at this time, Sister Lisa says, "It's an act of faith, trust and hope. The church is in turmoil, the country is at war, and the planet is in peril; so we ask the obvious "where is God?" Hopefully, religious life, lived joyfully and faithfully, provides confidence in God's presence in and among us despite the chaos in the world.

"Unfortunately, there are fewer sisters, they are generally older, and there exists a common lack of understanding in our society about what a sister is and does. Again, hopefully our lives can demonstrate that there is meaning and purpose."
In spite of - and perhaps even because of - all this, she is comfortable and confident in her decision. She feels she is responding to God's call for her and believes she has something to offer. The woman who began a life-altering journey a decade ago because "life's too short to do things that don't make a positive difference" has discovered a life through which she can, indeed, make a great difference in people's lives.