Sister Anne Jaeger

Anne grew up in Geneva, Illinois. She and her identical twin are among the eight children born to Gene and Florence Jaeger.  When she was seven years old, her family moved to Long Island, where they remained for four years. While they were in New York, Anne’s father allowed his brother, sister-in-law, and their six children to live in his home in Geneva. Unfortunately, that meant that when he moved back, he had nowhere to go with his own family and had to rely on the kindness of others to provide homes for his children. Anne and her twin, Chris, were sent to live with their grandparents.

Although Anne and Chris had been baptized, they grew up unchurched. Grandma changed that. She insisted on enrolling the girls, now in 5th grade, at St. Peter School, where she was taught by the Servants of the Holy Heart of Mary. The girls remained at the school through 8th grade. After graduation, Anne enrolled at Mt. St. Mary’s High School in St. Charles, where she was taught by Adrian Dominican Sisters.  As time passed, Anne met and fell in love with someone and was blessed with a child. A time came though when Anne found herself alone and with a child who was no longer dependent on her. A longing grew in her and she thought about the Sisters and how good the Servants of the Holy Heart of Mary were to each other. She decided to speak to them about the discernment process.

Sister Anne thinks of Sister Linda Hatton, who was her Formation Director, as her mentor. Sister Linda taught her not just about the congregational history and charism, but about care of self.  Sister Anne spent many years in health care ministry, both as a lay woman and as a Sister. For thirty years, she worked in a hospital as an obstetrics nurse. While living in the convent at St. Gall Parish in Chicago, she worked in Pastoral Care at St. James Manor and Villas in Crete. After three years there, she received a call from Sister Virginia Marie, SSCM, who was considering retiring from ministry at St. Mary’s Hospital in Kankakee. Sister Anne took the job of Director of Pastoral Care and moved into the convent at Sacred Heart Church in Hopkins Park.

Sister Anne is very proud of the work she did as Director of Pastoral Care at St. Mary’s. She created an inter-faith Pastoral Team there, one which better reflected the community, and consisted of an Orthodox Christian, a Methodist, a Muslim, and two Catholic deacons. She also had a Muslim prayer room set up in the hospital.

Sister Anne loves diversity and remains open to all the learning it offers. She says it affords her the grace to realize how vast God really is and the many names that God goes by. She sees how God reveals Godself in a way that speaks to the culture of the people and has a growing appreciation of the vastness and love of God, who touches the soul of every person who will allow it.

Sister Anne is currently on staff at Bethany House of Hospitality in Chicago, which offers housing and support services to young immigrant women. It was the charism of Family Spirit in the Servants of the Holy Heart of Mary that Anne was struck by as a 7th grader and it is the aspect which she most appreciates as she ministers in her current position.