Law Enforcement Analyst Embraces Religious Life

From Maryknoll Sisters

Sister Mara Rutten, a former law enforcement analyst, officially began her canonical year with Maryknoll Sisters at a special liturgical service held August 9, 2014, at Annunciation Chapel, Maryknoll Sisters Center.

Surrounded by many of her Maryknoll family, the Austin, MN, born Sister Mara, commenting on a Bible passage from the Book of Matthew read durin the ceremony, spoke fondly of having “sold all that I had and bought this field and treasure” and her intention to “make God’s love visible” wherever He would send her.

A graduate of Arizona State University, with a Doctorate of Philosophy in history, the 42-year-old Sister Mara said the call to be a woman religious had come to her at a very early age. “The murders of the four churchwomen in El Salvador, including Maryknoll Sisters Maura Clarke and Ita Ford, made a big impression on me when was young. That was a standard I always looked up to: to give yourself entirely for the poor. When I went to El Salvador years later with people from my parish’s JustFaith group, I felt like I had come full circle. I applied to Maryknoll soon after.”

The Minnesota native, pictured above with Maryknoll Sisters President Janice McLaughlin, MM, to her right, also holds a master’s degree in history from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale and a bachelor’s degree in history from the University of Minnesota, Morris, MN. She entered Maryknoll at Hyde Park House, a Maryknoll Sisters orientation residence located in Chicago, IL, on July 27, 2013.

Pursuing religious life over other avenues by which she might make a difference in the world seemed, for Sister Mara, a life that “chose me,” rather than she who chose it. “After years of working high-profile jobs and volunteering in my spare time, I just knew that, for me, there needed to be a fuller commitment. I had everything I was supposed to want: a successful, high-paying career, a home, time and money to travel. But it wasn’t enough. I just knew what I wanted didn’t match everyone else’s standards.”

During the canonical year, Sister Mara, who just completed a year of theological studies with Maryknoll at an intercongregational novitiate program in Chicago, will spend time in reflection before God, and in company with Sisters guiding her on the journey, studying the constitution of her congregation, its particular religious life and vows, the Maryknoll charism and spirituality, prayer forms and meditation. She will also actively participate in community living, personal and communal prayer, as well as some part-time involvement in local apostolic activities. At the conclusion of this orientation period, a Sister who chooses to make First Vows will then embark on her first official missionary period with the congregation.

Founded in 1912, Maryknoll Sisters is the first US-based congregation of women religious dedicated to world mission. Working primarily among the poor and marginalized in 22 countries around the world, they now number nearly 450 members.