Conversations on Ministry

Sister Bea LaFramboise

Sister Bea LaFramboise likes to say her origins are shrouded in mystery, because they are.

Her family is Salvadoran, but her mother was forced to leave the country when she was expecting Sister Bea. Born in San Francisco, she never met her natural father, but was adopted at the age of two and took the family name.

Sister Bea enjoys riding her bicycle, walking, listening to reflective music, reading inspirational stories and making homemade cards. She has spent most of her career working with small children and now works with the poor at Providence Hospitality House in Seattle.

What is your ministry as a Sister of Providence?

I?m a supportive person in the lives of women and children in crisis living at Providence Hospitality House. Often, I become a house manager, assisting them in learning basic living skills in parenting, budgeting, making decisions, organizing their personal lives and economical and healthy cooking.

We plant strong family values and practice non-violence in our actions, speech and discipline. We really try to make positive statements to each person, creating a space and place for each person to feel loved, nurtured and appreciated.

How did you start getting involved with Providence Hospitality House?

Prior to going, I was called to be the new vocation director. After my sabbatical, I did three years of that and loved it?but I felt a call to go back to the poor. I?ve been here 10 years.

What are other aspects of your work?

Another key role is building team relationships and helping to supervise women who want to do a year of service. As a pastoral minister, I help them grow spiritually and emotionally while learning their personality styles, work values, personal strengths and weaknesses. It?s helping myself and team members to connect our faith and life. We do this in weekly theological reflections looking at how our ministry affects us and where is God in all of this.

The focus is always on what ways might God be calling me in response to this experience. It?s looking at our ministerial, spiritual and emotional development.

How long do families stay?

They usually stay a month, then get their transitional housing. We assign team members to help them with the application forms. Many of them are brand-new homeless people and 90 percent are here because they can?t manage their funds, or they have a partner who left them with all the bills. Some women work part-time and don?t make enough money to make ends meet.

What do you enjoy most about your ministry?

The diversity. Our women represent a lot of different cultures and ethnicities. Most of our residents are Afro-American, Hispanic and Caucasian. I also really enjoy the children. I taught pre-school for about ten years and bring my Montessori background for children?s activities and ways of learning. I grew up in a family of seven brothers and sisters, so I love the family atmosphere. I am often called Mom, Aunt Bea, Grandma Bea. And I love being all those roles to children.

How have you seen Providence in your ministry?

I have seen Providence many, many times through our benefactors and in-kind donations. We always have enough. Even on those days when we are running out of eggs, someone will knock on the door and deliver eggs or even call and ask what we need. It amazes me how often this happens. It?s too real how Providence is alive here. I have many stories of Providence providing and caring for our families.

What are the values of Hospitality House based on?

They are based on Dorothy Day?s sense of hospitality; what we receive, we share. It?s also based on our Sisters of Providence values that we?ll serve where there is a need. I think it?s a very good combination and that?s what I enjoy the most.

How does the Mother of Sorrows fit into your ministry?

I do my work in light of the Mother of Sorrows. The part of Providence spirituality is that the Mother of Sorrows is in the image of the cross, waiting, accepting and being present to those in need of a listening ear and heart. We live out of the spirituality of the Mother of Sorrows, of Compassion.

Often, our families have experienced the seven sorrows: being told difficult news, fleeing from something, searching for something, meeting their sorrows, sitting and praying with their sorrows, enduring emotional pains, and embracing their losses; then moving to a place of peace and tranquility.The loss of the child in the temple ? that one hits home for me. Children here haven?t been able to be children very often. They take the roles of their mothers, and lose their identities.

Is it hard for the families to accept their situations?

Most of them, when they come here for the first time, are very scared and frightened. It?s very heartwarming to watch that anger and fear begin to disappear. It sometimes takes two weeks, sometimes a week. It?s the whole sense of Providence; hope and the spirit of compassion.

What have been some of the challenges?

I have a quote ? "Everyone makes her own decisions and has to live the consequences." What that means is that some people aren?t ready to live the values that we want them to live. So they may choose not to come home one night, or come home after they?ve been drinking. The hard part is that people aren?t ready to make those changes.

What does it mean to be a Sister of Providence?

To be able to live out my inner call to prayer and ministry with the poor. I have been gifted in so many ways and want to share that with the others. I have been supported, nurtured and affirmed by the Sisters of Providence. They enable me to do this in their name. In being a Sister of Providence, I continue to discover and discern my call to live simply, act justly and be compassionate in all things.