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25 Years: Renate Hayum, SP (1930-2011)
Renate Hayum wore her candidate’s medal inside her shirt. As a middle-aged Jewish convert, she didn’t expect others to understand her decision to enter religious life. “It was surprising even to me that the sisters would take me at 52 years of age.”
 She was born to practicing Jews in Germany in the 1930s. Her father, an attorney, had his license revoked by the Nazis and his doctoral thesis declared null and void. Renate and first-grade Jewish classmates, told to leave school, dodged stones thrown at them.
Renate, an only child, and her parents fled Germany for New York through Holland in 1939. Her parents stayed in New York and Renate was sent to live with relatives in Denver, where she learned English. Aided by a Jewish refugee organization, the Hayums were reunited in Seattle, where her father worked as a bookkeeper and then a CPA. Renate attended Sunday School and was confirmed at Temple deHirsch.mShe graduated from Franklin High School.
She first felt drawn to the Catholic Church while at Reed College in Portland, Ore. “For some unknown reason, whenever I had to work out something or make a decision, I walked the two blocks to a Catholic Church nearby and sat there ... I was introduced to the Spirit there without realizing it.” Still, she attended Jewish services in Portland and then in Seattle when she transferred to the University of Washington.
In San Francisco, courage leads her to the rectory
After graduation she moved to San Francisco. Sunday walks in Golden Gate Park led her past the University of San Francisco’s chapel, where organ music filled the air. One day she ventured inside and sat in the back. She went to the public library to read about Jesus and Catholicism, and began attending Mass in downtown San Francisco at the Franciscan Church. Finally, in 1953, she found the courage to walk up to the Rectory and ring the bell, and so her instruction in Catholicism began.
Renate said she came to understand that Jesus is the fulfillment of Judaism. “I learned and took to heart that to be truly Jewish means to be universal, to be catholic (with a small “c”). To believe in Christ, to accept and profess him, is not apostasy but to be one with the Truth which was, which is, and which is to be.”
She moved to New York and for 11 years was editorial assistant for Msgr. John M. Oesterreicher, director of the Institute of Judaeo-Christian Studies at Seton Hall University. Her parents never accepted or acknowledged her conversion. “I shed tears when my Father said that I had ‘now joined the murderers of my relatives in the concentration camps.’”
There was no communication on the subject. “I kept my love of Jesus in my heart.”
In Seattle, accompanies her mother to the temple
After her father’s death, Renate returned to Seattle in 1966 to be with her mother. At the University of Washington, she earned a master’s degree in library science. For 19 years she was a reference librarian and department head at Seattle Public Library. “I kept my Catholicism and prayer life within me and attended Mass on Sundays,” accompanying her mother to the temple during the High Holy Days.
When her mother died in 1982, Renate purchased a condo and was making good money, but that did not fill the void within. Now in her early 50s, she became involved in parish works at St. Patrick’s Church. Doubtful that any religious community would accept her, she nevertheless began to inquire. A phone call led her to Sisters of Providence Vocation Director Sister Mary Hawkins. “It was a miracle. We sort of hit it off from the beginning,” Sister Renate said of the sister she has lived with for 23 years. “She took into account my age ... and she took hold.”
Renate decided to apply to enter the Sisters of Providence and Sister Lucille Dean, then provincial, accepted her application. Renate was interviewed by Sister Lucille’s successor, Sister Barbara Schamber, who said, “If you want to enter, come with our blessings.”
Enters the novitiate in 1986
Sister Renate entered the novitiate in 1986. She made first profession in 1988 and final vows in 1992. In her 25 years in the community her ministries have included being one of five founding sisters in the Philippines and, at the invitation of Principal Sister Lucille Dean, 17 years as school librarian at Providence High School in Burbank, Calif., also working with Sister Mary. “Never in my life have I made really close friends with people,” Sister Renate said. “Meeting a number of people and living with people who have extended friendship to me, and me to them, has been a very satisfying learning experience.”
Providence High School is “a special place with special people,” Sister Renate said. “I met lay people who are living the Providence spirit day in and day out and who, without formal vows, have joined the sisters in living lives of service in the way that Mother Gamelin wanted us to live.” She enjoyed using her library experience in a school and tackling the role of media specialist.
Sister Renate expressed gratitude for the community’s generosity, especially support to attend conferences and classes to update her knowledge and skills. Faced with health problems, she planned to celebrate her jubilee “in whichever ways I can participate."
Sister Renate died January 27, two days before her 81st birthday and just days after her Jubilee interview.
“People will know me through this story,” was her wish.
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