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 Sr.
Bernardita Abeyta, OP
Golden Jubilarian
50 years (July 9, 1956)
This year, Sr. Bernardita Abeyta celebrates 50 years as a Dominican Sister of St. Mary of the Springs.
When Sr. Bernardita was growing up just north of Abiquiu, New Mexico, the area was without resident Sisters or priests, and their only contact with any was in monthly visits from missionary priests. What she knew about Catholic Sisters she learned from her mother and older relatives. "We used to love to hear the stories," Sr. Bernardita reminisces with a broad smile. "We would pretend to be Sisters, and force our brother to say 'Mass' for us," she laughs. When, in 1946, Dominican Sisters from St. Mary of the Springs arrived to establish a mission, she was thrilled, and immediately drawn to the spirit she saw among them. Eight years later, she entered the Novitiate and began, as she says, "learning to be a Sister" – one of her greatest joys.
After initially working in service to Dominican Sisters and priests, Sr. Bernardita was called to become a teacher. In her first teaching assignment, she returned to Abiquiu to serve initially in a Head Start program and then to teach grade school. Most of her teaching career, however, was spent teaching in Puerto Rico, where she served from 1975 until in 1999, principally at La Piedad school in San Juan. Sr. Bernardita returned to New Mexico in 2002, were she today continues in parish ministry in Espanola, working with the mostly Latino population there in sacramental preparation, liturgical work, visiting the sick and helping in a local soup kitchen.
Although Sr. Bernardita says she always served wherever she was needed, she is especially grateful to be back in New Mexico in her current ministry. "The faith of the people here is so deeply rooted," she says. "I am glad to be of service to such inspirational, faith-filled people."
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