Some people might think of the “mother superior” as a stern person, whose job is to enforce rules and discipline in the community.
Sister María Isabel Doñate Valdez, below, has a different vision. She is mother superior of the Missionary Social Workers of the Church. She leads with compassion and care, grounded in her understanding of what it means to be a religious sister in a world where there are so many troubles.
At age 12, while in her home state of Guanajuato, Mexico, she met a group of sisters from the congregation she would one day join. She remembers being immediately drawn to them and their kindness, as they provided compassionate and merciful services to others. Just three years later, at 15 years old, she joined their congregation.
On April 12, 2024, she celebrated 38 years since entering the congregation. Today, she is its leader, thanks in large part to the skills she further developed through Catholic Extension Society’s U.S.-Latin American Sisters Exchange Program. This program invites Catholic sisters from religious congregations founded and based in Latin America to pursue a university degree as they create new ministries in Extension dioceses among the poor. Below, Sister Isabel is pictured in 2017 taking a class at Boston College through the program.
Less than a year after graduating from the program in the U.S., Sister Isabel returned to Mexico, where she was named the new superior general of her congregation. Appointed in 2020 to a six-year term, Sister Isabel currently oversees 65 sisters and 11 in formation.
She credits a marketing course taken during her time at Boston College—through our program—with enhancing her skills to help the congregation attract new potential sisters. This past Easter, 22 young women attended a vocational retreat at the mother house in Morelia, Michoacán, Mexico!
But above all, she aspires “to seek God’s will in everything I do. And be happy with my vocation. Because a happy person makes others happy.” Hence the smile that she wears on her face as if it were part of her religious habit.
Shattered lives
This grounding principle to “be happy and help others find happiness” guides Sister Isabel’s work in Mexico as she serves those whose lives have been shattered by all kinds of injustice.
For example, Sister Isabel is very close with a woman whose husband was kidnapped two years ago by cartels. They took him by force with weapons in hand, his wife and child present. To this day he is missing.
Sister Isabel has been stopped by the cartels herself. Despite the risks and fear, she knows that she must carry on. And she is able to maintain hope and purpose by seeking God’s will in everything she does.
“There’s a biblical text that always accompanies me: ‘I am with you always, even until the end of the world’ (Matthew 28:20).” said Sister Isabel.
She explained,
For me it’s the certainty that Jesus is with me. He won’t leave me alone, no matter what happens.”
Called to serve
Sister Isabel always felt a calling to uplift others and show them that Christ is with them. For her entire life, Sister Isabel has carried this goodness and happiness in her heart.
She has always served in some capacity as a caretaker for others. In her early years as a sister she served the sick not only as a sister but as a nurse. After studying nursing at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, she went on to be the head nurse at a hospital in Morelos, Mexico.
“It was a very fulfilling service in the sense of being able to help people,” said Sister Isabel. “I was able to embody my charism in listening to people who suffer, in listening to people who need to be heard. Giving them a word of encouragement or joy.”
Listening to and empowering people who need to be heard is a skill she brought with her and then further developed during her time in the U.S.-Latin American Sisters Exchange Program. During her five years in the United States (2014-2019), Sister Isabel worked in the Diocese of Yakima, Washington, serving primarily migrant farmworkers who travel to Washington’s central valley each year to cultivate and harvest the summer crops sold across the country. She and her fellow sisters organized meals and prepared migrant farmworkers to receive the sacraments during their time in Yakima.
But Sister Isabel felt it was perhaps the most significant just to be present to listen to these people, who often felt alone. Just as she had done with the sick at the hospital, she wanted to make sure they were heard and loved.
While at Boston College, she took a course in Christology, which helped her put this into practice while serving the Hispanic community in Central Washington.
“Christology helped me to say to them, ‘Christ loves you,’” Sister Isabel said.
Christ is important in your life. Even if you don’t have anyone with you right now, you have Christ with you.”
Through the U.S.-Latin American Sisters Exchange Program, Sister Isabel was able to show this compassion to thousands here in the United States. And now carrying these experiences with her, Sister Isabel, superior general of the Missionary Social Workers of the Church, is forming the next generation of leaders in her congregation, urging young sisters to serve suffering people with compassion, and of course, a smile.
This story first appeared in the summer 2024 issue of Extension magazine. The U.S.-Latin American Sisters Exchange Program is made possible thanks to the generosity of our donors. Please consider supporting our mission!
